Kočevje
| Kočevje | |
|---|---|
| City | |
The Rinža River in Kočevje
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 Kočevje
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| Coordinates: 45°38′34.66″N 14°51′33.78″E / 45.6429611°N 14.8593833°ECoordinates: 45°38′34.66″N 14°51′33.78″E / 45.6429611°N 14.8593833°E | |
| Country |
 Slovenia
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| Government | |
| • Mayor | Vladimir Prebilič |
| Area | |
| • Total | 14.14 km2 (5.46 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 465 m (1,526 ft) |
| Population (2012) | |
| • Total | 8,616 |
| • Density | 610/km2 (1,600/sq mi) |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+01) |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+02) |
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| Use | Municipality wide flag |
|---|---|
| Proportion | 1:2 |
| Adopted | 28 June 1999 |
| Design | A horizontal tricolor of blue and white, defaced with the coat of arms of Kočevje. |
Kočevje (pronounced [kɔˈtʃeːu̯jɛ]; German: Gottschee;Göttscheab or Gətscheab in the local Gottscheerish dialect; Italian: Cocevie) is a city in the Municipality of Kočevje in southern Slovenia. It is the seat of the municipality.
The town is located at the foot of the Kočevski Rog karst plateau on the Rinža River in the historic Lower Carniola region. It is nowadays part of the Southeast Slovenia Statistical Region.
Kočevje was attested in written sources in 1363 as Gotsche (and as Gotsew in 1386, Kotsche in 1425, and propre Koczeuiam in 1478). The name is derived from *Hvojčevje (from hvoja 'fir, spruce'), referring to the local vegetation. The initial hv- changed to k- under the influence of German phonology. Older discredited explanations include derivation from the hypothetical common noun *kočevje 'nomadic settlement' and Slovene koča 'shack'. The former German name was Gottschee.
In 1247 Bertoldo de Merania, Patriarch of Aquileia, granted the area around Ribnica within the Imperial March of Carniola to the Carinthian counts of Ortenburg. When the counts had received further estates in 1336 on the wooded plateau down to Kostel on the Kolpa River from the hands of Patriarch Bertram, they called for German-speaking settlers from Carinthia and Tyrol. In the following decades they established the town of Gottschee, which was first mentioned in a 1363 deed. The settlement received market rights in 1377 and town privileges in 1471.
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