Námestovo
Encyclopedia
Námestovo is a town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 in northern Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

. It is the capital and largest town of Námestovo District
Námestovo District
Námestovo District is adistrict inthe Žilina Region of central Slovakia.Until 1918, the district was part of theHungarian countyof Orava.- Municipalities :*Babín*Beňadovo*Bobrov*Breza*Hruštín*Klin*Krušetnica*Lokca*Lomná...

 in the Žilina Region
Žilina Region
The Žilina Region is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 11 districts .-Geography:It is located in northern Slovakia and has an area of 6,804 km² and a population of 694,763 . The whole area is mountainous, belonging to the Western Carpathians...

. its population was 8,094.

Geography

The town is located under the Orava Highlands
Orava Highlands
The Orava Highlights is a range of small mountains in the Žilina Region of north central Slovakia, part of the Outer Western Carpathians...

 at the shores of the Orava reservoir, not far from the Polish border, around 15 km (9.32 mi) from Tvrdošín
Tvrdošín
Tvrdošín ; ; ) is a town in central Slovakia.-Geography:The town is located at the confluence of the Orava and Oravica rivers, from the Polish borders and cca. from Dolný Kubín. It consists of the boroughs of Krásna Hôrka, Medvedzie, and Tvrdošín....

 and 30 km (18.64 mi) from Dolný Kubín
Dolný Kubín
Dolný Kubín is a town in northern Slovakia in the Žilina Region. It is the historical capital of the Orava region.-Geography:Dolný Kubín lies at an altitude of above sea level and covers an area of ....

.

History

The town was mentioned in the 16th century, when the massive colonisation of Orava
Orava (county)
Árva is the Hungarian name of a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in northern Slovakia and southern Poland...

 took place. It was growing quickly, thanks to its favourable location on the trade route to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. The town was burned down at the end of the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The construction of the Orava reservoir
Orava (reservoir)
Orava is a reservoir in northernmost Slovakia, which is the largest lake in Slovakia . It has been constructed between 1941 and 1953 as a dam built on the former two sources of the Orava river. Several former villages had to be inundated for this purpose...

 affected the way of life in the town, as two-thirds of the town were inundated, including the town centre. Boom of the industry and the following apartment construction in the 1970s contributed to the growth of the town.

Meteorite Magura
Meteorite Magura

Demographics

According to the 2001 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

, the town had 8,135 inhabitants. 98.65% of inhabitants were Slovaks
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...

 and 0.65% Czechs
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...

. The religious makeup was 92.12% Roman Catholics, 4.95% people with no religious affiliation and 0.84% Lutherans.

External links

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