Бела Крайна: Традиционный регион Словении

Traditional region of Slovenia
White Carniola (; ; Weißkrain or Weiße Mark) is a traditional region in southeastern Slovenia on the border with Croatia. Due to its smallness, it is often considered a subunit of the broader Lower Carniola region, although with distinctive cultural, linguistic, and historical features. Due to its proximity with Croatia, White Carniola shares many cultural and linguistic features with the neighboring Kajkavian Croatian areas. It is generally considered the Slovenian region with the closest cultural affinity with other South Slavic territories. It was part of Slavonia until the 12th century, after which it shared the historical fate with the Windic March and Lower Carniola to the north. During the 19th century, it was one of the regions with the highest emigration rate in the Slovene Lands, and the Austrian Empire in general. During World War II, it was an important center of anti Fascist resistance in Slovenia.

The area is confined by the Gorjanci and Kočevski Rog mountain ranges in the north and west and the Kolpa River in the south and east, which also forms part of the border between Slovenia and Croatia. As the area could only be reached from northern Lower Carniola by mountain passes, the inhabitants cultivate a certain distinctness. The region corresponds to the present day municipalities of Metlika, Črnomelj and Semič. The terrain is characterised by low karst hills and extensive birch forests. The main river is the Kolpa with its Lahinja, Dobličica and Krupa tributaries. White Carniola is known for Grič and Kanižarica pottery from clay with a distinct calcite content, as well as for high quality wines, such as metliška črnina (a dark red wine), belokranjec (a white wine), and modra frankinja (i. e. Blaufränkisch).

A distinguishing part of White Carniola is its folk heritage. It still has many folklore events, which show traditional local costumes, music, played on a regionally known instrument called tamburica, and a circle dance, called belokranjsko kolo. A distinctive feature is also the pisanica, a coloured Easter egg decorated in a characteristic manner using beeswax that is found nowhere else in Slovenia. Belokranjska pogača (White Carniola flatbread) has recently been granted the European Union's Traditional Speciality Guaranteed designation.

The name Bela krajina literally means 'White March'. The noun krajina or 'march' refers to a border territory organized for military defense. The adjective bela 'white' may refer to the deciduous trees (especially birch trees) in the area in comparison to "black" (i. e. coniferous) The English name "White Carniola" derives from the German designation Weißkrain, which is the result of a hypercorrection based on the adjective belokrajnski (understood as a dialect metathesis of *belokranjski) (cf. also German Dürrenkrain, English: Dry Carniola, for Slovene Suha krajina, literally 'dry region'). Vlachs and Uskoks, including both ethnic Croats and Serbs, came to White Carniola and Žumberak from Croatia and Bosnia. The Habsburg commanders brought from Bosnia, later and from parts of Croatia and Dalmatia hundreds or thousands of families and settled them in area which covers White Carniola, across the Žumberak Mountains all the way to Vinica. In September 1597, with the fall of Slatina, some 1,700 Uskoks with their wives and children settled in Carniola, bringing some 4,000 sheep with them. The following year, with the conquest of Cernik, some 500 Uskok families settled in Carniola.

Several castles were built in the border region, especially during the Ottoman Wars from the 15th century onwards, as in Črnomelj, Gradac and Vinica. The remains of the large fortress in Pobrežje were destroyed in World War II.

Based on surnames found in White Carniola, it may be concluded that their ancestors were Serbs and Croats. In old folk poetry of White Carniola, Serbian hero Prince Marko is often mentioned, sung in "clean Shtokavian".