Liptó

Liptov is a historical and geographical region in northern Slovakia with around 140,000 inhabitants. The area is also known by the German name Liptau, the Polish Liptów, the Hungarian Liptó and the Latin name Liptovium.

The name is derived from some Slavic personal name beginning with Ľub- with a possessive suffix -ov. Ľúbiť – to love, derived personal names are Ľubomír, Ľubota (potentially the Czech House of Lubota) and others. E.g. Ľubtov (pronunciation Ľuptov) - Ľubota's castle or his territory. The form Ľuptov has been preserved in Orava and in a frequent Slovak surname Ľupták (Liptovian).

The first known inhabitants came to Liptov during the Neolithic age around 6000 years ago. Celts represent an important time period of Liptov during the Iron Age. The Celtic tribal village can be seen in the archeological site of Havránok near Liptovský Mikuláš. The first settlements of Slavic people in Liptov region began approximately in the 6th century BC. The first written evidence about Liptov came from 1231 AD during the rule of the Hungarian king Andrew II when Liptov was a permanent comitatus (county) of the Hungarian empire. The dissolution of Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918 led to the creation of Czechoslovakia as a successor country, including Liptov as one of the integral regions of the new state. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, Liptov became the region of present-day Slovakia.

There are currently three remains of castles that were built in the Liptov region. They are the Likava castle, the Liptov castle, and the Liptovský Hrádok castle. Liptov is also a place where the legendary Slovak figure of the 17th and 18th Century, Juraj Jánošík, was sentenced to death.

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