Our town-PRESOV

[edit] History
Habitation in the region of Prešov dates as far back as the Paleolithic period. The oldest discovered tools and mammoth bones are 28,000 years old. Slavic people have lived in the area of the city since the 4th or 5th century.

By the end of the 11th century the town had become part of the Kingdom of Hungary, and Hungarian soldiers settled in the town. In the 13th century many German settlers moved to Prešov from the Spiš region.

The first written record of Prešov dates back to 1247. In 1299 Prešov received municipal privileges, and in 1374 it was declared a free royal town. This led to the development of crafts and trade (especially the export of wine from the Tisza region to Poland). In the 15th century Prešov joined the Pentapolitana, an alliance of five towns of eastern Slovakia (Bardejov, Levoča, Košice, Prešov, and Sabinov).

The first record of a school dates to 1429. In 1572, salt mining began in Solivar (at that time a nearby town, now part of Prešov). Prešov's increased importance meant that in 1647 it became the seat of the Šariš county.

In 1667 the important Evangelic Lutheran College of Prešov was established by Lutherans in the town. In 1687 twenty four prominent citizens and noblemen were executed for supporting the uprising of Imre Thököly.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the population was decimated by the Bubonic plague and by fires to a mere 2,000 inhabitants. By the second half of the century the town had recovered, crafts and trade improved again, and new factories were built. In 1752 the salt mine in Solivar was flooded. Ever since then salt has been produced from salt brine through boiling.

In 1870 the first railway was built to the town from Košice. At the end of the 19th century, the town introduced electricity, telephone, telegraph, and a sewage system. In 1887 fire destroyed a large part of the town. In 1918 Prešov became part of the newly created Czechoslovakia. During World War II, the nearby town of Košice became again part of Hungary by the First Vienna Award. As a result, many institutions moved from Košice to Prešov, thus increasing its importance. In 1944, a professional Slovak Theatre was established in Prešov.

During the Communist Czechoslovakia era after 1948, Prešov became an industrial center. The population increased rapidly from 28,000 in 1950 to 52,000 in 1970 and 91000in 1990

Geography
Prešov lies at an altitude of 250 metres (820 ft) above sea level and covers an area of 70.4 square kilometres (27.2 sq mi).[1] It is located in the north-eastern Slovakia, at the northern reaches of the Košice Basin, at the confluence of the Torysa River with its tributary Sekčov. Mountain ranges nearby include Slanské vrchy (south-east), Šarišská vrchovina (south-west), Bachureň (west) and Čergov (north). The neighbouring city of Košice is 34 kilometres (21 mi) to the south, around 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the Polish border and 410 kilometres (255 mi) away from Bratislava (by road).


Climate
Prešov lies in the north temperate zone and has a continental climate with four distinct seasons. It is characterized by a significant variation between hot summers and cold, snowy winters.

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