HISTORY OF THE SLOVAK GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY

Abstract

The first Slovak geographers regularly participated in meetings and other events organized by Czechoslovak Geographical Society, dating back to 1894. In 1946 the branch in Bratislava was established named the Slovak Geographic Society led by Jan Hromádka. The development of Slovak geography as a science, its wider penetration into the school system on all levels, and the continuous growth of personal background were the basic premises for the formation of independent geographical society. In 1955 the preparatory committee started to work (Mikuláš Konček, Michal Lukniš and Ján Hanzlík) and on December 8th in 1955 the constitutive meeting of the Slovak Geographic Society under Slovak Academy of Sciences took place in Bratislava. Michal Lukniš had been elected the first chairman of the society. In 1959 the first regional branch was established—the East Slovakian subsidiary in Prešov. The first meeting of the society took place in Bratislava in 1959. At this time the society registered 175 members. In the following period, further regional branches were established—the West Slovakian in Bratislava (in 1965, called the Bratislava Branch since 1998) and the Central Slovakian in Banská Bystrica (in 1966), Nitra Local Group in Nitra (called West Slovakian since 1998), Košice branch in Košice (in 2006) and North Slovakian in Ružomberok (in 2009). The society had 372 members in 1967. The members would regularly meet at general assembly within the congress. Until now 18 meetings took place (since 1998 they are called congresses). At the head of the society were Michal Lukniš (1955–1970), Pavol Plesník (1970–1974), Emil Mazúr (1974–1978), Ján Drdoš (1978–1986, 1990–1992), Oliver Bašovský (1986–1990), Michal Zaťko (1992–1998), Jozef Mládek (1998–2006), René Matlovič (2006–2014), Ladislav Tolmáči (2014–2022), and Martin Boltižiar (since 2022). At present there are nine geography workplaces (eight university departments and one research institute) representing the base of the Slovak geography in the six centres (Bratislava, Prešov, Banská Bystrica, Nitra, Košice and Ružomberok). Nowadays the Slovak Geographic Society has 300 geographers. It has six regional branches (Bratislava, the West Slovakian, the Central Slovakian, the East Slovakian, the North Slovakian and Košice) and five specialised committees (geographical thought, applied geography, geographic education, travel-expeditionary, young geographers and students of geography).