Important dates for Slovenia

1 January–30 June 2008: Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU.  

1 January 2007: Slovenia introduces the euro.

1 May 2004: Slovenia becomes a member of the EU.

29 March 2004: Slovenia becomes a member of NATO.

1 February 1999: The association agreement with the EU enters into force.

22 May 1992: Slovenia becomes a permanent member of the UN.

15 January 1992: The EU officially recognises Slovenia.

25 June 1991: Declaration of the independent Republic of Slovenia.

23 December 1991: Adoption of the new Slovenian Constitution.

1990: Plebiscite on independence.

1945: The formation of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, with the People's Republic of Slovenia as one of its six federal entities.

1941–1945: The dismemberment of Yugoslavia by the Axis Powers.

1918: The defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; the creation of the state of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs; the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.

1848: Unified Slovenia, the first Slovenian political programme.

1809–1813: Napoleonic occupation – the Illyrian Provinces.

18th century: The Enlightenment and compulsory universal education.

1550: Protestantism; the first book in the Slovenian language.

15th to 17th centuries: Peasant revolts.

15th century: Turkish invasions begin.

14th to 15th centuries: Most of the territory of Slovenia, including all its hereditary estates, is taken over by the Habsburgs; in 1456, the Counts of Celje, the last feudal dynasty in Slovenia, die out.

11th to 14th centuries: The development of medieval towns in Slovenia.

11th century: The regions of Carniola, Styria, Carinthia and Gorizia begin to develop; intensive German colonisation.

10th century: The appearance of the Freising Manuscripts, the earliest known text written in Slovenian.

9th century: The spread of the Frankish feudal system; the Slovenian nation begins to form.

8th century: The beginnings of the conversion to Christianity.

7th to 11th century: The State of Carantania, the oldest known independent

Slavonic tribal union in this region.

After 568: Dominance of Slavic people on the territory of Slovenia.

5th and 6th century CE: Invasions by the Huns and Germanic tribes.

Around 10 BCE: The Roman Empire; the appearance of the first towns.

4th and 3rd century BCE: The arrival of Celts; the Noricum Kingdom.

120,000 to 1,300 BCE: Remains from the early Stone Age – the Palaeolithic; among them the oldest musical instrument in the world; evidence of hunting and Urnfield culture.

250,000 BCE: The first evidence of human habitation on the territory of present-day Slovenia (two tools made of stone from Jama Cave in the Loza Woods near Orehek).