Prekmurje (; dialectically: Prèkmürsko or Prèkmüre; ) is a geographically, linguistically, culturally and ethnically defined region of Slovenia, settled by Slovenes and a Hungarian minority, lying between the Mur River in Slovenia and the Rába Valley (the watershed of the Rába; ) in the westernmost part of Hungary. It maintains certain specific linguistic, cultural and religious features that differentiate it from other Slovenian traditional regions. It covers an area of and has a population of 78,000 people. Name It is named after the Mur River, which separates it from the rest of Slovenia (a literal translation from Slovene would be Over-Mur or Transmurania). In Hungarian, the region is known as Muravidék, and in German as Übermurgebiet. The name Prekmurje was introduced in the twentieth century, although it is derived from an older term. Before 1919, the Slovenian-inhabited lands of Vas County in the Kingdom of Hungary and Austria-Hungary were known as the Slovene March or "Vendic March" (in Slovenian: Slovenska krajina, in Hungarian: Vendvidék). The part of modern Prekmurje that belonged to Zala County (the area between Lendava, Kobilje and Beltinci) was not considered to be a part of the Slovenian March. Until the early 19th century, this region of the Zala County belonged ecclesiastically to the Archdiocese of Zagreb and in the legal documents of the Archdiocese it was called as "Transmurania" or "Prekmurje", that is the "territory on the other side of the Mur River". After 1919, this name was reintroduced, now for administrative purposes, by the new Yugoslav administration. It, however, did not gain much popularity among the locals. The name "Slovenian March" was still used by the local inhabitants until the mid-1920s, but was gradually replaced by the term "March of the Mur" (Slovenian: Murska krajina). The current Hungarian name for Prekmurje, Muravidék, dates from the interwar period and is a translation of the Slovenian Murska krajina. From the mid-1930s onward, the name Prekmurje became widely used in the press and eventually became the most common name for the region. After World War II, this name replaced all previous designations. Nowadays, the older term Vendvidék still exists in Hungarian, but it is used only for the small settlement area of Hungarian Slovenes between Szentgotthárd and the Slovenian border that remained part of Hungary after 1919. Geography The region is divided into three geographical subregions: the hilly area to the north of Murska Sobota, known as Goričko