Skalité () is a village and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Čadca District Čadca District (''okres Čadca'') is a Districts of Slovakia, district in the Žilina Region of northern central Slovakia, in the Kysuce region. It had been established in 1923 and the current borders exist from 1996. Forest covers 58% of the dist ...

in the

Žilina Region The Žilina Region (; ; ) is one of the eight Regions of Slovakia, Slovak administrative regions and consists of 11 districts (okresy) and 315 municipalities, from which 18 have a town status. The region was established in 1923, however, in its p ...

of northern

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 ...

History

In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1662. In late October 1938, Skalite, together with adjacent villages, was occupied by the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

. In response, units of the Czechoslovak Border Guard opened fire on the Polish units, and a skirmish took place, with some victims. On November 1, 1938, Poland and Czechoslovakia signed a treaty, after which a commission was created to establish a new borderline. On November 30 in

Zakopane Zakopane (Gorals#Language, Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has ...

, both sides agreed that Skalité would be annexed by the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. As a result, the town became a border station of the

Polish State Railways The Polish State Railways ( , abbr.: PKP S.A.) is a Polish state-owned holding company (legally a sole-shareholder company of the State Treasury) comprising the rail transport holdings of the country's formerly dominant namesake railway oper ...

, along the strategic line from Zwardoń to

Čadca Čadca (; until 1918 Čatca, Czača, , ) is a district town in northern Slovakia, near the border with Poland and the Czech Republic. Etymology The name is derived from a word ''čad'' (smoke, soot; Proto-Slavic: ''čadъ'', Slovak/ Czech: ''ča ...

. In the period fall 1938 - September 1939, Polish trains ran along the Zwardoń - Čadca - Mosty Slaskie line, without stopping at Čadca railway station, which remained part of Czechoslovakia (later Slovakia). In September 1939, following the

Polish September Campaign The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak Republic, and the Soviet ...

, Skalité was re-annexed by Slovakia.

Geography

The municipality lies at an altitude of 524 metres and covers an area of 33.163 km². It has a population of 5,265 people.

References

External links

*http://www.skalite.sk Villages and municipalities in Čadca District {{Žilina-geo-stub