Editing Slovaks (section)

=== Great Moravia ===
[[File:Pribina, Nitra (2008).jpg|left|thumb|[[Pribina]], ruler of Principality of Nitra,<ref name=Kirschbaum25>{{Harvnb|Kirschbaum|1995| p=25}}</ref> established and ruled the [[Balaton Principality]] from 839/840 to 861.<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Bagnell Bury
  | first = John
  | title = The Cambridge Medieval History
  | publisher = [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]
  | year = 1923
  | location = Cambridge
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_9IHAAAAIAAJ&q=Balaton+Principality
  | page = 211}}</ref>]]
[[Great Moravia]] (833 – 902-907) was a Slavic state in the 9th and early 10th centuries, whose creators were the ancestors of the Czechs and Slovaks.<ref>Ference Gregory Curtis. Chronology of 20th-century eastern European history. Gale Research, Inc., 1994. {{ISBN|978-0-8103-8879-6}}, p. 103</ref><ref>{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5D4uAQAAIAAJ&q=%22great+moravia%22+ancestors+slovakq | title = The Great Moravia Exhibition: 1100 years of tradition of state and cultural life | last1 = Věd | first1 = Archeologický Ústav (Československá Akademie)| year = 1964}}</ref> Important developments took place at this time, including the mission of Byzantine monks [[Cyril and Methodius]], the development of the [[Glagolitic]] alphabet (an early form of the [[Cyrillic script]]), and the use of [[Old Church Slavonic]] as the official and literary language. Its formation and rich cultural heritage have attracted somewhat more interest since the 19th century.

The original territory inhabited by the Slavic tribes included not only present-day Slovakia, but also parts of present-day Poland, southeastern Moravia and approximately the entire northern half of present-day Hungary.<ref>A history of Eastern Europe: crisis and change, Robert Bideleux, Ian Jeffries</ref>