Roman Empire (27 bc-ad 476), Slovenia was part of the provinces of Pannonia and Noricum. During the 6th century ad, the region was invaded by the Mongolian Avars and later by Slavs who threw off Avar domination. A period of Bavarian rule ensued, during which most of the people converted to Roman Catholicism. In ad 623, chieftain Franko Samo created the first independent Slovene state, which stretched from Lake Balaton (now located within Hungary) to the Mediterranean. It lasted until late in the 8th century, when the region became part of the Frankish Empire. In the 10th century it was reorganized as the duchy of Carantania by Holy Roman Emperor Otto I. From 1335 until 1918, except for a brief interlude from 1809 to 1814, Slovenes were governed by the Habsburgs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Austrian crown lands of Kärnten (Carinthia), Carniola, and Steiermark (Styria), except for a minority in the republic of Venice.

10th century, after the partitioning of the Frankish empire, the lands in which Slovene speakers lived were assigned to the German kingdom. As part of the defense of that kingdom against Magyar invaders, they were divided among the marks, or border marches, of Carinthia, Carniola, and Styria. German lay and clerical lords arrived, along with dependent peasants, and enserfed the Slovenes, whom they called Wends or Winds. Over the next three centuries the marches came under the tenuous authority of several territorial dynasts. In the 13th century they fell to Otakar II of Bohemia, who, like Samo, tried to establish a Slavic empire. Following the defeat of Otakar in 1278, Styria was acquired by the Habsburg family. Carinthia and Carniola fell into Habsburg hands in 1335, Istria in 1374, and the city of Trieste in 1382. Habsburg rule was based on a bureaucracy that shared power with local noble-run estates. One of these was run by the counts of Celje, who were powerful in the Middle Ages but whose lineage died out in 1456.

Independent Slovenia’s first presidential and parliamentary elections were held in December 1992. Milan Kucan, president of the republic since 1990, was reelected to the office by 64 percent of the vote. The center-left Liberal Democracy of Slovenia (LDS), headed by Janez Drnovšek, won a plurality of seats in parliament, and Drnovšek became the country’s prime minister. The Christian Democratic Party won the second largest number of parliamentary seats.