Hauerland (also called ''Kremnitz-Deutschprobener Sprachinsel'') is the German name for a region presently located in central

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

once inhabited by

Carpathian Germans Carpathian Germans (, or ''felvidéki németek'', , , ) are a group of Germans, ethnic Germans in Central and Eastern Europe. The term was coined by the historian :de:Raimund Friedrich Kaindl, Raimund Friederich Kaindl (1866–1930), originally ...

. Arisen from medieval ''

Ostsiedlung (, ) is the term for the Early Middle Ages, early medieval and High Middle Ages, high medieval migration of Germanic peoples and Germanisation of the areas populated by Slavs, Slavic, Balts, Baltic and Uralic languages, Uralic peoples; the ...

'' population movements, it belonged to three German

language island A language island (a calque of German ''Sprachinsel''; also language enclave, language pocket) is an enclave of a language that is surrounded by one or more different languages. The term was introduced in 1847. Many speakers of these languages als ...

s within a greater Slovakian-speaking area. The other two were situated in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

() and the

Spiš Spiš ( ; or ; ) is a region in north-eastern Slovakia, with a very small area in south-eastern Poland (more specifically encompassing 14 former Slovak villages). Spiš is an informal designation of the territory, but it is also the name of one ...

() region.

Geography

The area laid within the forested Western Carpathians mountain range around the towns of

Kremnica Kremnica (; , ) is a town in central Slovakia. It has around 5,300 inhabitants. The well-preserved medieval town built above important gold mines is the site of the oldest still-working mint in the world. Name The name is derived from Slovak '' ...

() in the south and Nitrianske Pravno () in the north. The term ''Hauerland'' was coined by German

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

s in the 1930s referring to several German placenames in the region bearing the

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

''-hau'' ("hew (off)", i.e. to clear woodland). Most Hauerland villages are laid out as '' Waldhufendorf'' ("forest village") in areas of forest clearing with the farms arranged in a series along a road or stream.

History

In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, the Kremnica Mountains () were an important

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from Alluvium, alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to mor ...

area within

Upper Hungary Upper Hungary (, "Upland"), is the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been called ''Felső-Magyarország'' ( literally: "Upper Hungary"; ). During the ...

() and directly subordinate to the Hungarian monarch. Numerous villages, mostly spread out in the mountainous and hilly areas, were agricultural and developed a special kind of German subculture. In 1328, King Charles I granted Kremnica

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

, followed by the foundation of

Kunešov Kunešov (; ) is a village and municipality in Žiar nad Hronom District in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia. The village once belonged to the German language island of Hauerland but the majority of the German population was exp ...

() in 1342, Sklené () in 1360,

Kremnické Bane Kremnické Bane (; ) is a village and municipality in Žiar nad Hronom District in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia. The village once belonged to the German language island of Hauerland but the majority of the German population w ...

() in 1361, Turček/Dolný Turček () in 1371, Horná Štubňa () in 1390,

Krahule Krahule (; , until 1890: ) is a village in Žiar nad Hronom District in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia. It is the only municipality in Slovakia that officially uses German along with Slovak. History The town was first mentione ...

() in 1422, and

Janova Lehota Janova Lehota (; ) is a village and municipality in Žiar nad Hronom District in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia. History In historical records, the village was first mentioned in 1487 as a German settlement founded by a certai ...

() in 1487. The largest Hauerland municipality was

Handlová Handlová (, , before 1913 ) is a town in the Prievidza District, Trenčín Region in the middle of Slovakia. It is made up of the three parts Handlová, Nová Lehota and Morovno. Geography It is located in the ''Handlovka'' brook valley, surrou ...

(), established in 1367 within the

Bojnice Bojnice (; ) is a historical town in east Slovakia located on the Nitra (river), Nitra river, near the city of Prievidza. The town is situated just below the Bojnice Castle. It has a population of around 5,000. Bojnice is best known for its popul ...

() castle estates, where in the 19th century, coal deposits were discovered. In the northern part, the town of Nitrianske Pravno was founded about 1337, followed by Malinová () in 1339, Kľačno (), Tužina () about 1350, Vrícko () in 1488, and Chvojnica () in 1614. Over the centuries, the German-speaking population of these areas gradually diminished, decimated already in the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...

of the 1420s and 1430s respectively, in the 16th century

Ottoman–Habsburg wars The Ottoman–Habsburg wars were fought from the 16th to the 18th centuries between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy, which was at times supported by the Kingdom of Hungary, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Holy Roman Empire, The ...

, and again by insurgent Hungarian troops under Stephen Bocskay in 1605/06, succeeded by the forces of Gabriel Bethlen and George I Rákóczi.

Geography

History

See also