Slovenes
The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians, are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, culture, and history, and speak Slovene as their native language.
Outside of Slovenia and Europe, Slovenes form diaspora groups in the United States, Canada, Argentina and Australia.
Population
Population in Slovenia
Most Slovenes live within the borders of the independent Slovenia. In the Slovenian national census of 2002, 1,631,363 people ethnically declared themselves as Slovenes, while 1,723,434 people claimed Slovene as their native language.Population abroad
The autochthonous Slovene minority in Italy is estimated at 83,000 to 100,000, the Slovene minority in southern Austria at 24,855, in Croatia at 13,200, and in Hungary at 3,180.Significant Slovene expatriate communities live in the United States and Canada, in other European countries, in South America, and in Australia and New Zealand. The largest population of Slovenes outside of Slovenia is in Cleveland.
Genetics
In a 2013 Y-DNA study, 29-32% of 399–458 sampled Slovenian males belong to Y-DNA Haplogroup R1a, more frequent than in South Slavic peoples. The second largest Haplogroup was the Haplogroup R1b, which was at 26-28%, following was the Haplogroup I, with 30-31%. Due to the geographic position of Slovenia, the population is substantially diverse, sharing genes with Italic peoples, Germanic, Slavs and Hungarians. The Slovenian population displays close genetic affiliations with West Slavic, South Slavic, Austrians and Italic populations. The homogenous genetic strata of the West Slavic populations and the Slovenian population suggest the existence of a common ancestral population in the central European region. The R-Z92 branch of R-Z280 which is significant among East Slavs is recorded as completely absent among Slovenes. In 2016 study, including 100 sampled Slovenians, 27.1% belong to R1b, of which 11.03% of R1b belongs to the R-P312 branch, 6% to the eastern and 4% to R-U106. In the 2018 autosomal analysis of Slovenian population, the Slovenes clustered with Hungarians and were close to Czechs.Although Slovenes are linguistically classified as South Slavs, genetic studies indicate that, by certain markers, they share closer genetic affinities with West Slavic populations than with other South Slavs such as Bulgarians and Macedonians.
History
Early Alpine Slavs
In the 6th century AD, Slavic people settled the region between the Alps and the Adriatic Sea in two consecutive migration waves: the first wave came from the Moravian lands around 550,while the second wave, coming from the southeast, moved into the area after the migration of the Lombards to Italy in 568.
From 623 to 658 Slavic peoples between the upper Elbe River and the Karawanks mountain range united under the leadership of King Samo in what became known as "Samo's Tribal Union". The tribal union collapsed after Samo's death in 658, but a smaller Slavic tribal principality, Carantania, remained, with its centre in the present-day region of Carinthia.
Alpine Slavs during the Frankish Empire
Faced with the pressing danger of Avar tribes from the east, the Carantanians accepted a union with Bavaria in 745, and later in the 8th century recognized Frankish rule and accepted Christianity. The last Slavic state formation in the region, the principality of Prince Kocel, lost its independence in 874. Slovene ethnic territory subsequently shrank due to pressure from Germans from the west and the arrival of Hungarians in the Pannonian plain; it stabilized in its present form in the 15th century.16th century: Slovene Protestant reformation and consolidation of Slovene
The first mentions of a common Slovene ethnic identity, transcending regional boundaries, date from the 16th century. During this period, the first books in Slovene were written by the Protestant preacher Primož Trubar and his followers, establishing the base for the development of standard Slovene. In the second half of the 16th century, numerous books were printed in Slovene, including an integral translation of the Bible by Jurij Dalmatin.At the beginning of the 17th century, Protestantism was suppressed by the Habsburg-sponsored Counter Reformation, which introduced the new aesthetics of Baroque culture.
18th century: Slovenes under Maria Theresa and Joseph II
The Enlightenment in the Habsburg monarchy brought significant social and cultural progress to the Slovene people. It hastened economic development and facilitated the appearance of a middle class. Under the reign of Maria Theresa and Emperor Joseph II many reforms were undertaken in the administration and society, including land reforms, the modernization of the Church and compulsory primary education in Slovene. The start of cultural-linguistic activities by Slovene intellectuals of the time brought about a national revival and the birth of the Slovene nation in the modern sense of the word. Before the Napoleonic Wars, some secular literature in Slovene emerged. During the same period, the first history of the Slovene Lands as an ethnic unity was written by Anton Tomaž Linhart, while Jernej Kopitar compiled the first comprehensive grammar of Slovene.Slovenes under Napoleon (1809–1813)
Between 1809 and 1813, Slovenia was part of the Illyrian Provinces, an autonomous province of the Napoleonic French Empire, with Ljubljana as the capital. Although the French rule was short-lived, it significantly contributed to the rise of national consciousness and political awareness of Slovenes. After the fall of Napoleon, all Slovene Lands were once again included in the Austrian Empire. Gradually, a distinct Slovene national consciousness developed, and the quest for a political unification of all Slovenes became widespread. In the 1820s and 1840s, the interest in Slovene language and folklore grew enormously, with numerous philologists advancing the first steps towards standardization of the language. Illyrian movement, Pan-Slavic and Austro-Slavic ideas gained importance. However, the intellectual circle around the philologist Matija Čop and the Romantic poet France Prešeren was influential in affirming the idea of Slovene linguistic and cultural individuality, refusing the idea of merging Slovenes into a wider Slavic nation.1840s: the first Slovene national political programme
In the 1840s, the Slovene national movement developed far beyond literary expression. In 1848, the first Slovene national political programme, called United Slovenia, was written in the context of the Spring of Nations movement within the Austrian Empire. It demanded a unification of all Slovene-speaking territories in an autonomous kingdom, named Slovenija, within the empire and an official status for Slovene. Although the project failed, it served as an important platform of Slovene political activity in the following decades, particularly in the 1860s and 1870s, when mass Slovene rallies, named tabori, were organised. The conflict between Slovene and German nationalists deepened. In 1866, some Slovenes were left to Italy, and in 1867 some remained in the Hungarian part of the Austria-Hungary. This significantly affected the nation and led to further radicalisation of the Slovene national movement. In the 1890s, the first Slovene political parties were established. All of them were loyal to Austria, but they were also espousing a common South Slavic cause.Emigration
Between 1880 and World War I, the largest numbers of Slovenes emigrated to America. Most of these went between 1905 and 1913, although the exact number is impossible to determine because Slovenes were often classified as Austrians, Italians, Croats, or under other, broader labels, such as Slavonic or Slavic. Those who settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania came to be called Windish, from the Austrian German term Windisch 'Wend'.The largest group of Slovenes in the United States eventually settled in Cleveland, Ohio, and the surrounding area. The second-largest group settled in Chicago, principally on the Lower West Side. The American Slovenian Catholic Union was founded as an organization to protect Slovene-American rights in Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago, and in Cleveland. Today there are KSKJ branches all over the country offering life insurance and other services to Slovene-Americans. Freethinkers were centered around 18th and Racine Ave. in Chicago, where they founded the Slovene National Benefit Society; other Slovene immigrants went to southwestern Pennsylvania, southeastern Ohio and the state of West Virginia to work in the coal mines and lumber industry. Some Slovenes also went to the Pittsburgh or Youngstown, Ohio, areas, to work in the steel mills, as well as Minnesota's Iron Range, to work in the iron mines and also to Copper Country on the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan for copper mining. Many also went west to Rock Springs in Wyoming to work in the coal mines that supported the Union Pacific Railway.
World War I
There were more than 30,000 casualties among ethnic Slovenes during World War I because they were and still are inhabiting the territory where the Isonzo Front was fought. While the majority of them were drafted in the Austro-Hungarian Army, also Slovene civil inhabitants from the Gorizia and Gradisca region suffered in hundreds of thousands because they were resettled in refugee camps where, however, Slovene refugees were treated as state enemies by Italians and several thousands died of malnutrition in Italian refugee camps.Fascist Italianization of Littoral Slovenes
The annexed western quarter of Slovene speaking territory, and approximately 327,000 out of the total population of 1.3 million Slovenes, were subjected to forced Fascist Italianization. On the map of present-day Slovenia with its traditional regions' boundaries.
After the First World War, the majority of Slovenes joined other South Slavs in the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, followed by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and finally the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In the new system of banovinas, Slovenes formed a majority in the Drava Banovina.
In the ex-Austrian Empire area given to Italy in exchange for joining Great Britain in World War I, the forced Fascist Italianization of the Slovene minority in Italy was under no international restraint especially after Benito Mussolini came to power in 1922. Already during the period of Italian occupation, between the years 1918 and 1920, all Slovene cultural associations had been forbidden. Fascist Italy brought Italian teachers from southern Italy to Italianize ethnic Slovene and Croatian children, while the Slovene and Croatian teachers, poets, writers, artists and clergy were exiled to Sardinia and elsewhere to southern Italy. In 1926, claiming that it was restoring surnames to their original Italian form, the Italian government announced the Italianization of names and surnames not only of citizens of the Slovene minority, but also of Croatian and German. Some Slovenes willingly accepted Italianization in order to lose the status of being second-class citizens with no upward social mobility. By the mid-1930s, around 70,000 Slovenes had fled the region, mostly to Yugoslavia and South America.
In the bilingual regions people of Carinthia decided in a 1920 referendum that most of Carinthia should remain in Austria.
Slovene volunteers also participated in the Spanish Civil War and the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.