Árva (county)

Infobox Former Subdivision
native_name =
conventional_long_name = Árva County
common_name = Árva
subdivision = County
nation = the Kingdom of Hungary
p1 =
s1 =
year_start = 15th century
event_end = Treaty of Trianon
year_end = 1920
date_end = June 4




capital = Alsókubin
stat_area1 = 2019
stat_pop1 = 78700
stat_year1 = 1910
today = Slovakia, Poland
footnotes = Dolný Kubín is the current name of the capital.

Árva (Slovak: "Orava", Polish: "Orawa", German: "Arwa") is the name of a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in northern Slovakia and southern Poland. Today, the Slovak name is only used as an informal designation of the corresponding territory (see Orava (region)).

Geography

In the past Árva county shared borders with the Austrian land Galicia and the Hungarian counties Trencsén (Trenčín), Turóc (Turiec) and Liptó (Liptov). The county's territory was situated along the Orava River between Zázrivá and the Tatra mountains. Its area was 2,019 km² around 1910. Now its territory is divided by the Polish-Slovakian border. The main Polish city of Árva is Jabłonka.

Capitals

The capital of the county was the Orava Castle, then Veličná and since the late 17th century Dolný Kubín.

History

Árva county as a Hungarian comitatus arose before the 15th century. In the aftermath of World War I, the area became part of newly formed Czechoslovakia, as recognized by the concerned states in the 1920 Treaty of Trianon. After a border dispute (treated in detail under Szepes county) several villages in the north-east of Árva county's territory were exchanged between Poland and Czechoslovakia.

During World War II, when Czechoslovakia was split temporarily, Orava was part of independent Slovakia. After World War II Orava county was in Czechoslovakia again. In 1993, Czechoslovakia was split and Orava became part of Slovakia.

Demographics

Population by language (1910 census):
*Slovak = 59,096
*Polish = 16,131
*Hungarian = 2,000
*German = 1,518

Districts

In the early 20th century, the districts and their capitals were:

External links

* http://www.orava.sk
* http://skansen.nowotarski.pl Orawa Ethnographic Park
* http://www.oravafoto.com