History

Some Important Milestones:

250,000 BC: The first evidence of human habitation on the territory of the present-day Slovenia

120,000 to 33,000 BC:  Remains from the early Stone Age - the Palaeolithic

3,900 BC: Pile dwellings  on the Ljubljana Marshes

4th and 3rd century BC: The arrival of Celts; the Noricum kingdom

circa 10 BC:  The Roman Empire

5th and 6th century AD:  Invasions by the Huns and Germanic tribes

6th century AD: The Slavic ancestors of present-day Slovenia first settle in the area

7th century: The Duchy of Carantania, the oldest known independent Slavonic tribal union in this area 

745: Carantania  becomes part of the Frankish empire; the Slavs convert to Christianity and gradually lose their independence

around 1000: The Freising manuscripts , the first known writings in the Slovene and Slavic dialect in Latin script

14th century to 1918: All the Slovenian regions pass into the possession of the Habsburgs, later the Austro-Hungarian monarchy; in 1456, the Celje counts  become extinct - this was the last Slovenian feudal dynasty

1550 and 1584: The Reformation brings literacy, the first printed book in 1550  and in 1584: the first Slovene translation of the Bible

18th century: Enlightenment and compulsory universal education

1809-1813: Napoleonic conquest - Illyrian Provinces 

1848: Unified Slovenia, the first Slovenian political programme 

1918: Formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

1945: Federal Peoples' Republic of Yugoslavia (officially declared on 29 November 1945)

April 1990: First democratic elections 

23 December 1990:  88.5% of voters in a referendum vote in favour of an independent Slovenia

25 June 1991: Slovenia officially declares its independence 

23 December 1991: adoption of the new Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia 

15 January 1992: The EU officially recognises Slovenia's independence

22 May 1992: Slovenia becomes a member of the UNO

29 March 2004: Slovenia becomes a member of NATO

May 2004: Slovenia becomes a member of the EU 

1 January 2007:  Slovenia introduced euro 

1 January - 30 June 2008: Slovenian Presidency of the EU 2008