Bratislava (, ), currently the capital of Slovakia and the country's largest city, has existed for about a thousand years. Because of the city's strategic geographical location, it was an important European hub due to its proximity to the advanced cultures of the Mediterranean and the Orient as well as its link to the rest of Europe, which were possible by the Danube River.
Prehistory Paleontology In the area where present-day Bratislava lies, three skeletons of the (Epi)Pliopithecus vindobonensis were found in the borough Devínska Nová Ves in 1957, dating to 25–15 million years ago. Teeth of the Griphopithecus suessi (formerly known as Sivapithecus darwiny or Dryopithecus darwiny), dating 14–10 million years ago, were also found in Devínska Nová Ves, this time in 1902.
Stone Age and Bronze Age From the Paleolithic period, hand-axes and other stone tools of Homo heidelbergensis (from the periods about 0.45 million years and about 0.3 million years ago) and of Neanderthal man were found.
The first known permanent settlements on the town's territory (Linear Ceramics Culture) was during the Neolithic period. However, during the Early Stone Age there was already a settlement in the general area. But this was not within the present territory of the city. The first known fortified settlement on the area of later medieval castle of Bratislava appeared in Eneolithic. In the Bronze Age there were settlements from both older and younger (Urnfield cultures) part of the period. On the area of later Devín castle one finds important clues to the final period of the Bronze Age (Podoli Culture), when a fortified settlement arose on the strategic place: rock-cliff over river Morava joining river Danube.
Iron Age
The early Iron Age brought a shift of the settlements focus again to the area of today's historical centre and the castle of Bratislava. This period is considered an epilogue to Central European pre-history and this is attributed to the migration of the Thracian tribes, which brought with them their version of the Hellenic civilization. Many archaeological finds support the theory that both the castle-hill and the area of the town (on an important river-crossing) formed an important seat of local Hallstatt culture and that the richly furnished mounds (barrows) excavated on eastern suburbs of the city may have been burial grounds of princes.
The La Tène period is defined as from 450 BC to 50 BC. Celts (more exactly the tribe of Boii) formed between 125 and 50 BC an important Celtic oppidum (fortified town) with a mint in the area of the castle hill and the historical centre. There is an acropolis on the castle hill and some settlements below (crafts) and around it (farming). Bratislava then became a genuine town for the first time in history (it will become a de facto town again in the 9th century AD and then again in the 11th century). The most notable finds are represented by silver coins, bearing inscriptions (biatecs in most cases). Biatec may have been the name of the local prince who organized the minting or the name of the place itself. After the bloody defeat at the hands of Dacian forces under the leadership of King Burebista (shortly after the middle of the 1st century BC) the remaining Celts retreated to the site of Devín, creating a smaller, more easily protected hill-fort settlement. The arrival of Germans from the west forced the rest of the Celts to seek protection under the Romans on the other (right) side of Danube.
1st century–10th century From the 1st to 4th centuries the border of the Roman Empire (Limes Romanus) ran along the Danube.Kováč et al., "Kronika Slovenska 1", p. 73. The northern side belonged to the Free Barbaricum (German tribes – Marcomanni) and southern side belonged to Rome. Under the suburb of Rusovce, the remains of the Roman border town Gerulata have been excavated, as well as cemeteries and farming background of the town (Villa Rusticas). Despite belonging officially to Barbaricum, several sites of Roman presence are to be found on the area of the city. There is, for example, the case of the Devín Castle, which historical records such as the Chronicle of Fulda alluded to as the impregnable Roman military garrison called Dowina. Traces of Roman influence also include Roman baths in Dúbravka which are interpreted as a local chieftain's seat, and a complex in the nearby town of Stupava that has traditionally been interpreted as a Roman military base or as a Roman trading station but which may also have been the seat of a local chieftain.Turčan, Vladimír (2012). "Ein Baukomplex aus der Römischen Kaiserzeit in Stupava" [A Building Complex from the Roman Imperial Age at Stupava]. In: Březinová, Gertrúda; Varsik, vladimír (eds). Archeológia na prahu histórie k životnému jubileu karola pietu. Nitra: Archeologický ústav SAV, , pp. 419–427.
The Slavs arrived in the area between the 5th and 6th centuries during the Migration Period (375–568). Recently, archaeologists found a carbonized loaf of bread at Devin and its age was estimated to be older than the Slavic settlement but still fell within the period of the migration of nations.
In 568, the Eurasian Avars arrived in the area. After a successful insurrection of the Slavs (probably at Bratislava-Devín) against Avarian rule in this region, Samo was made King of the Slavs in 623, establishing the first known Slavic political entity, Samo's Empire, which lasted until 658.Kováč et al., "Kronika Slovenska 1", p. 94 From the 8th century until 907 the Pressburg fortress as well as the Dowina (Devín) Castle are important centres of the Principality of Nitra.Kováč et al., "Kronika Slovenska 1", p. 95
In 864, the first written reference to the Devín Castle (Dowina) appears in the Fuldish Annals. Around 900 it was probably owned by the (originally) Lower Pannonian prince Braslav (Bräslav, Brazlaw) - or by a magnate of the same name - who was a vassal of Bavaria (Germany). Earlier, it was thought that Bräslav was the person who gave the town Bratislava its German name Brezalauspurc (see 907), later Pressburg, and maybe also its new Slovak name Bratislava; nowadays, it is assumed that Pressburg/Brezalauspurc is a distortion of Predeslausburg, a name derived from Predslav, who was (according to some historians) the ruler of Bratislava around 900 and the 3rd son of the Great Moravian king Svätopluk; the modern Slovak name Bratislava, however, is assumed to be derived (by mistake) from the name of the Czech ruler Bretislav I. The first written reference to Bratislava (as Brezalauspurc)Špiesz, "Bratislava v stredoveku", p. 9 appears in 1837 by J. Safarik Slovak historian. The Bavarians were totally defeated by the Magyars; as a result, the Frankish East March dissolved and was occupied by the Magyars (907–955). Pressburg then became part of emerging medieval Hungary.
1000–1241
From around 1000, a market settlement (the future town centre) grew below the Pozsony Castle (first written reference in 1151) and emerged as an important hub in the early 13th century. Further settlements in the surrounding areas followed. The castle became one of the best fortifications in Hungary because of its position, and (along with the city) became a site of frequent attacks and battles, and a place of frequent stay by Hungarian kings. Around 1000, the Pozsony county (comitatus), one of the first counties in Hungary, was founded, probably by Grand Prince Stephen I. Coins with the inscriptions "PHANUS REX" and "RESLAVVA CIV" have been found in Sweden; some scholars claim that the coins were minted in "(p)RESLAVVA CIV(itas)" or "(b)RESLAVVA CIV(itas)" (i.e., in the town of Bratislava), but other authors point out that no coins of this type have been found on the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary, their weight and diameter differ from King Stephen's other coins and their inscriptions are confused which suggest that they are counterfeit coins minted abroad on the sample of other coins that had been minted following the patterns of King Stephen's coins with the inscriptions "STEPHANUS REX" and "REGIA CIVITAS".
Pressburg (Bratislava) in 1588
In 1030, the Czech duke Břetislav I, participating in a campaign of the German emperor Konrad II against Hungary, devastated present-day western Slovakia and undertook an attack against the Pozsony castle but was defeated by the Hungarian king. 12 years later Břetislav I and the troops of the German king Henry III temporarily conquered Pozsony. Henry undertook a new invasion in 1043.
In 1052, the German king Henry III besieged Pozsony for 2 months without success, but caused considerable damage to the castle. The following year, Pope Leo IX personally visited the town to achieve a peace between Henry and the Hungarian king. In 1073 and 1074, Hungarian king Solomon, who was based at Pozsony castle during his fighting against Géza and Duke Ladislaus, had the castle reconstructed. Hungarians settled in the market settlement below the castle in several waves in the 12th and 13th centuries, joining the previously predominantly Slovak inhabitants there. In 1108, the German king Henry V, along with the Czech duke Svatopluk, failed to conquer Pozsony/Pressburg castle. In 1109, a new attack of the Czechs (undertaken as a revenge for a Hungarian attack of Moravia) failed. Boris, who claimed the throne against King Géza I of Hungary (although his mother had been removed by her husband, King Coloman of Hungary because of adultery), besieged and conquered Pressburg Castle in 1146. The Hungarian king has to buy it back. The Hungarian king Stephen III was living in Pozsony castle in the 1160s and had its fortification improved. Participants of the Third Crusade to the Holy Land, led by the German king Frederick I Barbarossa, gathered at Pozsony castle in 1189.
1241–1536
In 1241 and 1242, the Mongols failed to conquer the fortified castle and the town below it, but temporarily devastated the surrounding settlements. The castle was adapted after these attacks. After 1242, German colonists came to the town and their number gradually increased, so that until the late 19th century they represented by far the largest ethnic group in the town. In 1271, and 1273–1276 the town was captured by the King of Bohemia, Ottakar II in connection with fighting between Hungary and Bohemia because of Styria. In this connection, the (1st) Peace of Pressburg was signed in 1271.
The city was captured by the Hungarian nobleman and palatine Nicholas Kőszegi in 1285–1286, who (temporarily) burned down the castle in 1286, but his revolt against the king was defeated. In 1287–1291, the city was captured by the Austrian duke Albert of Habsburg. Albert was defeated by the Hungarian nobleman Matthew III Csák of Trenčín, who was the leader of Pozsony and Trenčín counties at that time and Pozsony belonged to Hungary again.