Before turning to the South into Hungary, the Danube cuts across the Southern border of modern-day Slovakia. The rolling hills of the Little-Carpathian foothills and the sloping plain of the Danube are filled with the legacy of the Austrian court in Vienna and Budapest. Easily connected to the rest of the Danube monarchy, this region was the gateway to Poland and East. It was a region known for its mixture of culture and identities.
The gentle slopes of the Danube basin and the Little-Carpathian foothills formed the heart of a short lived early Medieval state called Nitra, likely representing the only Slovakian state prior to the 20th century. The fertile plain was part of the Pannonian valley and was firmly incorporated into the Hungarian Kingdom already in the 13th century. Until the end of the Kingdom of Hungary, the region was considered a core part of Hungary. When the Ottomans occupied most of Hungary in the 15th cenutry, the capital moved to Bratislava, then known as Pozsony or Pressburg. The city remained the official coronation venue for the Hungarian Kings through the 19th century. A region known for it mixture of German, Hungarian and Slovak cultures, the fertile plains were famous for its wine.
