Slovene Lands or
Slovenian Lands ( or in short ) is the historical denomination for the territories in
Central and
Southern Europe where people primarily spoke
Slovene. The Slovene Lands were part of the
Illyrian provinces, the
Austrian Empire and
Austria-Hungary (in
Cisleithania). They encompassed
Carniola, southern part of
Carinthia, southern part of
Styria,
Istria,
Gorizia and Gradisca,
Trieste, and
Prekmurje. Their territory more or less corresponds to modern
Slovenia and the adjacent territories in
Italy,
Austria,
Hungary, and
Croatia, where
autochthonous Slovene
minorities live. In the areas where present-day Slovenia borders to neighboring countries, they were never homogeneously ethnically
Slovene.