Slovak Geographical Society SAS (Slovenská geografická spoločnosť pri SAV)

The first Slovak geographers would regularly participate in meetings and other events organized by Czechoslovak Geographical Society, dating back to 1894. In 1946 the branch in Bratislava was established named the Slovak Geographic Society led by Jan Hromádka.

The development of Slovak geography as a science, its wider penetration into the school system on all levels, and the continuous growth of personal background were the basic premises for the formation of independent geographical society. In 1955 the preparatory committee started to work (Mikuláš Konček, Michal Lukniš and Ján Hanzlík) and on December 8th in 1955 the constitutive meeting of the Slovak Geographic Society under Slovak Academy of Sciences took place in Bratislava. Michal Lukniš had been elected the first chairman of the society.

In 1959 the first regional branch was established – the East Slovakian subsidiary in Prešov. The first meeting of the society took place in Bratislava in 1959. At this time the society registered 175 members. In the following period, further regional branches were established – the West Slovakian in Bratislava (in 1965, called the Bratislava Branch since 1998) and the Central Slovakian in Banská Bystrica (in 1966), (Nitra Local Group) in Nitra (called West Slovakian since 1998), Košice branch in Košice (in 2006) and North Slovakian in Ružomberok (in 2009). Furthermore, in 1960 the speleological branch was founded seating in Liptovský Mikuláš. The society had 372 members in 1967. The members would regularly meet at general assembly within the congress. Until now there took place 18 meetings (since 1998 they are called congresses) – in 1959, 1961, 1991 and 2018 in Bratislava, in 1964 and 2010 in Košice, in 1967 in Liptovský Mikuláš, in 1970, 1986 and 2006 in Banská Bystrica, in 1974 and 2002 in Nitra, in 1978 in Levice, in 1982 and 1998 in Prešov, in 1994 in Častá, in 2014 in Praha and in 2022 in Olomouc. At the head of the society were Michal Lukniš (1955-1970), Pavol Plesník (1970-1974), Emil Mazúr (1974-1978), Ján Drdoš (1978-1986, 1990-1992), Oliver Bašovský (1986-1990), Michal Zaťko (1992-1998), Jozef Mládek (1998-2006), René Matlovič (2006-2014, Ladislav Tolmáči (2014-2022) and Martin Boltižiar (since 2022).

At present there are nine geography workplaces (8 university departments and 1 research institute) representing the base of the Slovak geography in the six centres (Bratislava, Prešov, Banská Bystrica, Nitra, Košice and Ružomberok). Nowadays the Slovak Geographic Society has 300 geographers. It has six regional branches (Bratislava, the West Slovakian, the Central Slovakian, the East Slovakian, the North Slovakian and Košice) and five specialised committees (geographical thought, applied geography, geographic education, travel-expeditionary, young geographers and students of geography). Every four years the society organizes the congress, which includes the general assembly, the supreme body of the society. The last congress was in Olomouc in 2022 in the Czech Republic. (Since 2014, joint congresses have been organized with the Czech Geographical Society). The forthcoming joint congress is to be held in 2026.

The Slovak Geographical Society also organized 2nd EUGEO congress, which was in Bratislava in 2009.