Slovenian identity took shape under cultural, political and economic circumstances that in uenced Western European civilization at its furthest eastern border. Since the 6th century, ancestors of present day Slovenes inhabited the territory of the Eastern Alps, bordering on the Pannonian plains and, in the south, on the Adriatic sea. The decisive elements of Slovenian identity were global historical processes: Christianization, the emergence of historical countries, the Reformation, the Counter-Reformation and the Catholic renewal, the forming of the Austrian monarchy, the enlightenment, romanticism, the rise of nationalism and liberalism, the development of modern democracy. Historical turning points such as Napoleon's Illyrian Provinces, the 1848 'spring of nations', World Wars I and II, and the collapse of Yugoslavia also made an impact on identity formation. These processes affected national consciousness as well as the concept of nation.