Anton Hlinka

Anton Hlinka (Bratislava, 1839 - Hurbanova, 1909) was an adventurer and a famous inhabitant of Hurbanova. Anton became famous because of the discovery of the Isle of Bratislava.

He was born in Austria-Hungary but left his place of birth to realize his ideal, the one of the American dream. After a controversial conflict with is employer in Los Angeles, he flees to Lovia in 1881 and settles in Hurbanova, where he worked as a miner and later on as a bar keeper.

When he had had another conflict with an employer, he decided to take his boat and sail to the uninhabited City Archipelago. But surprisingly he discovered a third island which had been unknown until then, just west of the Isle of Frisco and Isle of London. He had the privilege to name it after his place of birth, the current Slovak capital.

When he arrived back in Hurbanova, he fastly went to the Hurbanovan Town Hall and told to Mayor Chelvas Malkoný his important news. Malkoný described in his diary that a "dirty and tired miner [Hlinka] announced the existence of a third, fertile and useful island". Hlinka said that the Hurbanovans should necessarily consider the construction of a harbour and the exploitation of the island to gain new natural resources and to strengthen the Hurbanovan economy. However, after a rejection of the Town Hall, this hamlet was build in 1890. Anton Hlinka had become an honored citizen of Hurbanova.