The area that is now the Slovak Republic was for a number of centuries part of various multi-ethnic states. The position of Slovak representatives in the parliaments of these states reflected the unequal standing of their nation as such, and the history of the Slovaks is very much that of their struggle to achieve their own national identity and state sovereignty. In the wake of November 1989 the development of Slovak society was very much influenced by a process of national emancipation whose issue was the creation of an independent Slovak Republic. In November 1992 the Deputies of the Federal Assembly approved a Government proposal for the demise of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic. January 1.st, 1993 witnessed the birth of the independent and sovereign Slovak Republic, to be followed by the passing of various legislative provisions necessary to its functioning. The historic longing and endeavour of the Slovaks to have their own state had at last been realised. The stamp's central composition is a collation of the major landmarks of the Slovak capital, Bratislava. At the sides are the coat-of-arms of the county towns of Bratislava, Trnava, Trenčín, Nitra, Žilina, Banská Bystrica, Prešov and Košice. The FDC features a view to Kriváň and the hilt of a sword from the period of the Great Moravian empire, from the Blatnica site near Martin.