OBALNO-KRAŠKA - Geography and history
Slovenia's only coastal region
Small by its size and population, this is the only region extending all the way to the Adriatic Sea; its geographical position along with its natural, cultural and historical characteristics makes it special among the Slovene regions. It is exceptionally important for Slovenia as it is the "gateway to the world", the link with the Mediterranean and the gateway to the world seas.
Unlike the continental part of Slovenia which had been under the German cultural influence for more than a millennium, its coastal area came under the Mediterranean cultural influence in the 1st century BC, when it became part of the Roman Empire. Later it was governed by the Patriarchs of Aquileia and the Venice Republic. The area was under the rule of the Habsburg Empire only from 1797 (The Treaty of Campo-Formio) until the end of World War I - this period brought considerable economic bloom into the rural hinterland of Trieste. The area was granted to Italy with the Treaty of Rapallo (1920), while after World War II the allies established the short-lived Free Trieste Area in the area of dispute which was divided between Italy and Yugoslavia in 1954. The disputed border between the countries was eventually confirmed by the Treaties of Osimo (1975), while the sea border between Slovenia and Croatia is still not finally established.
In terms of landscape characteristics, the region can be divided in two areas: a waterless karst interior, descending with a picturesque cliff into the gently undulating Mediterranean hill country along the coast. In the area named Kras (Carso in Italian, Karst in German) in the immediate hinterland of Trieste, first scientific karst research started in the 19th century; since then, world-wide natural phenomena of this kind have been named after this region.
The region is divided among 7 municipalities. It is easily accessible by the Slovene and Italian road and railway networks; connections with tourist areas in the Croatian part of the Istria peninsula are also relatively good. In Koper, there is the most important Slovene port with an extensive hinterland reaching all the way to Austria, Slovakia and Hungary.
Small, but important Slovene gateway to the world
Although the region had extremely turbulent history in the 20th century and witnessed drastic demographic and economic changes, it can be considered one of the most economically successful regions in Slovenia.
A large proportion of the economy is related to the sea in one way or the other - from the Port of Koper with its port activities to the towns of Portorož, Piran and Izola with their marine tourism, and agriculture which is oriented into Mediterranean crops and wine-growing. As a whole, the region is only slightly behind the Osrednjeslovenska region in terms of economical prosperity, successfully taking advantage of its coastal position.
Only 46.6 km long, the Slovene coast is too short for all the activities (from different kinds of tourism to port activities and industry) Slovenia wants to develop there. Intensive littoralisation, i.e. moving of the population and economic activities from the hinterland to the coast, is one of the causes for the saturation of the coastal belt and in some places polluted sea.
Koper is a small port by European standards ? it was established after 1945 as a direct competition to the nearby and larger Trieste. For the time being, its connections with the hinterland are not as good as those of Trieste, but it has better possibilities for further territorial expansion, providing that competition is replaced by the division of activities between both ports in the future. The Slovene and Italian minorities on both sides of the border could be considered an important bridge for co-operation.
A serious limiting factor of further development is the lack of drinking water, since most of the region is supplied from two larger karst water sources. Agriculture, primarily oriented into growing of Mediterranean crops, has problems with both, water scarcity and the lack of suitable agricultural land, combined with stony karst terrain in the majority of the Kras area.
By the Slovene sea
The region which occupies 1 044 km² (5.2% of the national territory) can be divided into two parts - the karst interior, covering almost two thirds of the region, and low hills in the coastal belt. The karst interior is characterised by the undulating landscape, dotted with numerous dolines, with no water sources and surface waters; the only surface water is the Reka river, disappearing underground in the magnificent ?kocjan caves and flowing through unknown channels towards karst springs of the Timavo river near Monfalcone in Italy. More than one third of the region is covered with broadleaf and pine forests and shrubs. The rest are pastures under the process of rapid overgrowing, fields, meadows and vineyards around clustered villages, typically situated on low hilltops.
The karst area descends with a picturesque, up to 300 m high cliff towards the hilly flysch country, extending all the way to the Adriatic coast, where villages with fields, vineyards and orchards are situated on wide ridges with an altitude of 100-400 m. Steep slopes, mostly overgrown by shrubs and economically unimportant broadleaf forest, descend into the valleys of short streams where most of the region's flatland is found at their outlet into the sea. The largest rivers are the Rižana and the border river Dragonja; in the Dragonja mouth, extensive salt pans are located.
The climate is sub-Mediterranean with the average annual precipitation between 1 000 mm and 1 400 mm. The average monthly temperatures in Portorož are between 4.8ºC (January) and 22.8ºC (August).
The old towns of Koper (Capodistria, population 23 700), Izola (Isola, 10 400) and Piran (Pirano, 4 100) are situated along the coast. They preserved all the characteristics of the ancient Mediterranean towns, while the tourist resort of Portorož (Portorose, 2 800) was established later. Inland, along the main Vienna-Trieste railway and road, the towns of Sežana (4 900) and Divača (1 300) are situated.
The most important natural resource of the region is the sea, important for tourism, fishing industry and salt production and, of course, as a Slovene gateway to the world. The Coastal-karst region has no ore or fossil fuel deposits. It also has proportionally the smallest agricultural land area (11.5%) among the Slovene regions and suffers from the shortage of drinking water ? the supply is almost entirely dependent on the Rižana river karst spring and a karst water well near Brestovica in the eastern part of Kras.
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