Slovene March (Kingdom of Hungary)

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The Slovene March or Slovene krajina (Slovene: Slovenska krajina, Hungarian: Vendvidék, Szlovenszka krajina, Szlovén krajina) was the traditional denomination of the Slovene-speaking areas of the Vas and Zala County in the Kingdom of Hungary from the late 18th century until the Treaty of Trianon in 1919. It comprised approximately two-thirds of modern Prekmurje, Slovenia, and the modern area between the current Slovenian-Hungarian border and the town of Szentgotthárd, where Hungarian Slovenes still live. In Hungarian, the latter area is still known as Vendvidék, which is the Hungarian denomination for the Slovene March, while in Slovene it is referred as Porabje (literally, 'the area along the Rába river').

It should not be confused with the medieval Slovene (or Windic) March of the Holy Roman Empire which was located in the present-day south-east Slovenia, roughly in the areas of the regions of Lower Carniola, White Carniola and Lower Sava Valley.

Origins of the name

March, or "territory" (cognate to "mark"), is a word indicating a border county of a kingdom.

Since the 10th century, the

After 1919, the name Slovene March fell into disuse. In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, it was gradually replaced by the name Prekmurje, although most of the local elites preferred the old name Slovene March. The name however made little sense in the changed circumstances, since the region was not any more a Slovene-speaking peripheral area of Hungary, but was considered part of Slovenia. During the 1920s, the name Slovene March was thus replaced by 'March of the Mura' (Slovene: Murska krajina; Prekmurje dialect: Mörska krajina^{[citation needed]}), which was used together with the denomination Prekmurje (literally 'the region over the Mura' or 'Trans-Mura'). After World War Two, this latter name prevailed, and all the others fell in disuse.

See also

• Prekmurje
• Hungarian Slovenes
• Prekmurje Slovene
• Republic of Prekmurje

Sources

• Források a Muravidék Történetéhez/Viri za zgodovino Prekmurja (Sources with the history of Prekmurje) 2. tome, Edit: László Mayer és András Molnár, Slovene translation: Magda Berden,
  ISBN 978-963-7227-19-6
• Göncz László: A muravidéki magyarság 1918-1941 (Prekmurje Hungarians in 1918-1941)
• Tengely Adrienn: Az egyházak és a nemzetiségi kérdés 1918-ban
• Nemzetiségi viszonyok és nemzetiségi politika Magyarországon 1901-1919