Slovenia Historical Geography

Slovenia is traditionally divided into eight regions. The traditional regions of Slovenia based on the former four Habsburg crown lands (Carniola, Carinthia, Styria, and the Littoral) are the following:

Goriška and Slovenian Istria together are known as the Littoral region (Slovene: Primorska). White Carniola (Slovene: Bela krajina), otherwise part of Lower Carniola, is considered a separate region of Slovenia, as are Zasavje and Posavje, the former being a part of Upper Carniola, Lower Carniola and Styria; and the latter part of Lower Carniola and Styria.

Natural regions

Landscape types in Slovenia


 * Alpine landscape
 * Panonnian landscape
 * Dinaric landscape
 * Mediterranean landscape

The first regionalisations of Slovenia were made by geographers Anton Melik (1935-1936) and Svetozar Ilešič (1968). The newer regionalisation by Ivan Gams divides Slovenia in the following macroregions:


 * the Alps (visokogorske Alpe)
 * the Prealpine Hills (predalpsko hribovje)
 * the Ljubljana Basin (Ljubljanska kotlina)
 * Submediterranean (Littoral) Slovenia (submediteranska - primorska Slovenija)
 * the Dinaric Karst of inner Slovenia (dinarski kras notranje Slovenije)
 * Subpannonian Slovenia (subpanonska Slovenija)

According to a newer natural geographic regionalisation, the country consists of four macroregions. These are the alpine region, the mediterranean region, the dinaric region, and the pannonian region. Macroregions are defined according to major relief units (the Alps, the Pannonian plain, the Dinaric mountains) and climate types (continental, alpine, mediterranean). These are often quite interwoven. Macroregions consist of multiple and very diverse mesoregions. The main factor that defines them is the relief together with the geologic composition. Mesoregions in turn consist of numerous microregions.