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Spiš (in Latin: Scepusium, in Polish: Spisz, in German: Zips, in Hungarian: Szepes) is the name of a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in north-eastern Slovakia and south-eastern Poland.
Today it is an informal designation of the corresponding territory (like Burgundy or Basque in France), but also one of official 21 tourism regions of Slovakia.
Spiš county shared borders with the Austrian land Galicia and the Hungarian counties Liptó (Liptov), Gömör-Kishont (Gemer-Malohont), Abaúj-Torna (Abov-Turňa) and Sáros (Šariš). Spiš was situated between the High Tatras and the Dunajec river in the north, the springs of the Váh river in the west, the Slovenské rudohorie mountains in the south, and the line (including) town of Stará Ľubovňa - Branisko Mountain (with 4822m long Slovakia's longest tunnel) - town of Jaklovce in the east. Its area was 3668 km² in 1910.
The capitals of the Spiš county were the Spiš Castle and then from the 16th century Levoča (in Hungarian: Lőcse).
The southern part of the territory was conquered by the Kingdom of Hungary at the end of the 11th century and the county Spiš was created in the 2nd half of the 12th century. Until WW II it had a large German population. Between 1412 and 1772, 13 towns in the Spiš were pawned by the Kingdom of Hungary to Poland.
In 1918 (confirmed by the Treaty of Trianon 1920), the county became part of newly formed Czechoslovakia. As treated in detail below, 195 km² of the county were annexed by Poland.
During World War II, when Czechoslovakia was split temporarily, Spiš was part of independent Slovakia. After World War II Spiš county was in Czechoslovakia again. In 1993, Czechoslovakia was split and Spiš became part of Slovakia.
The county is now part of the Kosice region and of the Presov region. Nowadays, the historical Spiš is approximately covered by the following six administrative districts: Poprad, Kežmarok, Stará Ľubovňa, Spišská Nová Ves, Levoča and Gelnica, except for the eastern half of the Stará Ľubovňa District and three villages of the Poprad district.
A tiny part of the territory (situated in today's Poland below the Rysy) became part of Austria (at that time the western part of Austria-Hungary) as early as in 1902. In 1918, when Austria-Hungary ceased to exist, the territory thus "automatically" became part of Poland.
When Czechoslovakia arose in 1918, Poland wanted to annex the prosperous Spiš region and Polish troops occupied Spiš on November 6 1918. But after a defeat at Kežmarok on December 7, 1918, the Poles were forced to leave the territory. In June 1919, however, the Poles occupied again northern Spiš and in addition northern Orava. In Spiš they demanded the whole northern half of the region down to Poprad. At the Paris Peace Conference (1920) they reduced their demands to the northwesternmost Spiš (including the region around Javorina). Almost the present-day border line was set by a conference of ambassadors held at Spa (Belgium) on July 28, 1920: Edvard Benes agreed to cease to Poland 13 villages (especially Nowa Biala, Jurgów and Niedzica; 195 km2; pop. 8747) in northwestern Spiš and 12 villages in northern Orava (around Jablonka; 389 km2; pop. 16133). Poland however still demanded further territories, especially those around Javorina and Ždiar (both in the Tatras). The conflict was only resolved by the Council of the League of Nations (International Court of Justice) on March 12 1924, which decided that Czechoslovakia can keep the territory of Javorina and Ždiar and which entailed (in the same year) an additional exchange of territories in Orava (the territory around Nižná Lipnica went to Poland, the territory around Suchá Hora and Hladovka went to Czechoslovakia). The new frontiers were confirmed by a Czechoslovak-Polish Treaty on April 24 1925 and are identical with present-day borders. Poland however remained unsatisfied.
In October 1938, on the eve of World War II, Poland occupied some northern parts of Slovakia and - as a result of the Munich Agreement (see also First Vienna Award)- Poland received from Czechoslovakia the above mentioned territories around Suchá Hora and Hladovka, around Javorina, and in addition the territory around Lesnica in the attractive Pieniny Mountains, a small territory around Skalité and some other very small border regions (they officially received the territories on November 1 1938). The newly formed (on March 14 1939) independent Slovakia, however, received back both the territories lost in 1938 and the territories "lost" in 1920-1924. The reannexation happened in October 1939 (officially confirmed on November 24 1939). The reason for this was that Slovakia participated in fascist Germany's attack on Poland in September 1939 (although the Slovak participation was rather symbolic in reality due to the small size of the country's army).
In 1945, however, pre-WWII borders between Czechoslovakia (Slovakia ceased to exist again) and Poland were restored. After World War II, about 6000 people (25% of local population)left Orava and Spiš villages in Poland. Slovaks from the Polish part of Spiš settled in the newly created town of Svit near Poprad, and in Kežmarok, Poprad, and Germans villages near Kežmarok. Slovaks from the Polish part of Orava settled in Czech Silesia, and in German villages in Czechia.
Though a prosperous region throughout its history, many parts of Spiš are poor regions today. But the territory features many sights, prosperous touristic activities and industry. It is one of the most attractive regions of Slovakia with beautiful mountains - the national parks High Tatras in the northwest, Pieniny at the Slovak-Polish border, the Slovak Paradise (Slovenský raj) in the southwest, and the ancient castles Spiš Castle and Stará Ľubovňa Castle.
According to censuses performed in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1869 (1900, 1910) the population of Spiš included the following nationalities: Slovaks 50.4%, (58.2%, 58%), Germans 35% (25%, 25%), Ruthenians/Ukrainians 13.8 %(8.4%, 8%) and 0.7% (6%, 6%) Magyars (Hungarians). Almost no Hungarians had been living in the territory throughout the centuries of the existence of the Kingdom of Hungary. The sudden increase after 1869 is due to statistical manipulations ("most frequently used language" as criterion) and extensive Magyarisation which entailed assimilation especially of Germans.
There is a very small minority of so-called Slovak and Polish (a negligible number in censuses). They also live in Poland. Poland has considered even the Slovak Gorals Poles, as the Polish government in 1918 said: ,,They are Polish". Although the Polish government promised to carry out plebiscites in these villages, there weren´t any. In reality, the Gorals in Slovakia have been considered Slovaks already since the 18th century.
In the early 20th century, the districts and their capitals were:
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