Jesenice (Slovene: [jɛsɛˈniːtsɛ] ⓘ, German: Aßling[3]) is the tenth-largest town in Slovenia, located in the traditional province of Upper Carniola.

It is the seat of the Municipality of Jesenice spanning the southern side of the Karawanks, along Slovenia's border with Austria to the north.

Jesenice was attested in written sources in 1337 as villa de Jesenicza (and as Assnigkh and Asnigkh in 1381, and Jasnickh and Aisnstnick in 1493–1501).

According to the document, the first settlements in the area (like Planina pod Golico) were founded on the southern slopes of the Karawanks due to need for wood, flowing water for mills, and iron ore.[6] With the development of new techniques of extraction of iron from ore, the need for water energy grew, and the small streams on the slopes of the Karawanks were no longer sufficient.

The ore-extracting industry was thus relocated to the valley in 1538, when Bernardo Bucellini from Bergamo gained permission from the Habsburg King Ferdinand I to move the ironworks to a larger water source, the Sava Dolinka River,[7] creating a settlement that was to become Jesenice.

Compared to other foundries around the world at the time, the Jesenice ironworks were out of date because modernization required substantial investment funds, beyond what the Zoises, the Ruards and the Bucellenis could raise.

Help was offered by the Luckmann family of bankers from Ljubljana, who agreed to modernize the iron foundries in return for the foundation of a new shareholder company.

The greatest achievement was the scientific discovery of a process for obtaining ferromanganese in a smelting furnace, which brought KID a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Vienna in 1873, and worldwide fame.

The political, cultural, and social life in Jesenice at the beginning of the 20th century was affected by the founding of the competing gymnastics associations, the progressive-nationalist Sokol (lit.

Construction of the Karawanks-Bohinj Railway was started in 1905, which was a very complicated project because it required drilling two tunnels: one to Austria through the Karawanks, and the other through Mount Kobla in Bohinj to allow faster access to the seaport of Trieste, then in Austria-Hungary.

When the tunnels were completed, the railway line was opened to traffic in a special ceremony attended by Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.

With the front lines being some distance to the south, the war did not reach Jesenice, which only suffered one bombing attack by Italian aircraft, with no casualties.

With the end of World War I came major political changes; on December 1, 1918, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was formed, opening up new markets.

Sabotage of the German-led steel industry was problematic, because people were more sympathetic to the resistance, which by the end of the second world war proved to be ineffective.

Before the end of World War II, Jesenice had undergone a severe sabotage-bombing by Allied forces, which came in two waves on March 1, 1945.

The Jesenice ironworks became one of the main steel manufacturers, charged with the rebuilding of the newly founded Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and started employing more people than ever before.

After the collapse of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, economic policies changed, and the Jesenice ironworks could not compete with the better developed Western metallurgy.

In the years since the declaration of Slovenian independence in 1991, Jesenice has become much less dependent on its metallurgic industry, and has started to develop other aspects of its economy.

The hamlet of Planina pod Golico is 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) north of Jesenice, and is popular with tourists, especially in springtime when the wild pheasant's eye daffodils are in bloom.

[11][12] With Slovenia joining the European Union and its funding resources in 2004, Jesenice began a massive urban reconstruction.

[13] Current projects include rebuilding some old parts of Jesenice, building a second high school and improvements to existing sporting facilities.

The largest religious community in Jesenice are Catholics, though due to the need of labor force for the steel industry in the past, there is a large portion of other ex-Yugoslav immigrants, including many Muslims who migrated from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[22] Anze Kopitar, captain of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL), was born and raised in Jesenice.