Zvolen county (in Latin: comitatus Zoliensis, in Hungarian Zólyom (vár)megye, in Slovak Zvolenský komitát/ Zvolenská stolica/ Zvolenská župa, in German Sohler Gespanschaft/Komitat Sohl) is the name of a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in central Slovakia.

Geography

Zvolen county shared borders with the Hungarian counties Bars (Tekov), Turóc (Turiec), Liptó (Liptov), Gömör-Kishont (Gemer-Malohont), Nógrád (Novohrad) and Hont. The county's territory was situated along the central Hron river, approximately between (excluding) Krupina and (including) Brezno. Its area was 2730 km² around 1910. The county was characterised by extensive mining activities.

Capitals

The capital of the county was the Pustý Castle near Zvolen, then from the late 15th century the Zvolen Castle and from the 1760's the town of Banská Bystrica.

History

Zvolen county arose as a Hungarian comitatus in the 12th century, when most parts of the territory were conquered by the Kingdom of Hungary, from a huge royal property (the Zvolen dominium). Initially, its territory included the later counties Orava, Turiec and Liptov, which became separate counties in the early 14th century.

When Slovakia became part of Czechoslovakia in 1918, the Zvolen county (Zvolenská župa) continued to exist till 1927, but it had completely different powers etc. and somewhat different borders. When Slovakia became independent temporarily between 1939 and 1945, the Hron county (Pohronská župa) was created in 1940, whose territory roughly corresponded to that of the Zvolen county. The capital was Banská Bystrica.

Together with the Slovak parts of Hont and Gemer, it became part of the Banská Bystrica region (Banskobystrický kraj) created in 1948. In 1993, Czechoslovakia was split and Zvolen became part of Slovakia.

Districts

In the early 20th century, the districts and their capitals were:

• Banská Bystrica (Hungarian: Besztercebánya)
• Brezno (Hungarian: Breznóbánya)
• Zvolen (Hungarian: Zólyom)
• Zvolenská Slatina (Hungarian: Nagyszalatna)

Urban districts:

• Banská Bystrica (Hungarian: Besztercebánya)
• Brezno (Hungarian: Breznóbánya)
• Zvolen (Hungarian: Zólyom)