CROATIA

 

HOME | BIOLOGY | FILMS | GEOGRAPHY | HISTORY | INDEX | MUSIC | SOLAR BOATS  | SPONSORS | SPORT

 

 

Croatia (Croatian: Hrvatska), officially the Republic of Croatia (Republika Hrvatska), is a country in Europe, at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Central Europe and the Balkans. Its capital is Zagreb. In recent history, it was a republic in the SFR Yugoslavia, but it achieved independence in 1991. It is a candidate for membership in the European Union.

 

 

 

Map of Croatia

 

 

Name

 

Croatia is the Latinized version of the native name of the country: Hrvatska. The letter "r" in the first syllable "hrv" is rolled or continuant.

 

However, instead of the Latinized version, many languages use a form more similar to the native one.

 

The country code for Croatia is HR (per ISO 3166) and the Croatian Internet root domain ends with .hr.

 

 

History

 

A tribe of Croats came to the Roman provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia in the 7th century and was ultimately assimilated into the larger native Illyro-Roman and recently arrived Slavic population which took the same name. Ruled by various Croatian rulers, these dukedoms were intermittently controlled by the Roman Empire at Constantinople and the Franks. Eventually Croatia became a kingdom in 925, and retained its independence until 1102 when—after decades of inner struggles—the country entered a dynastic union with Hungary. Croatian statehood was preserved through a number of institutions, notably the Sabor which served as an assembly of Croatian nobles, and the ban or viceroy. Furthermore, the Croatian nobles retained their lands and titles.

 

By the mid-1400s, the Hungarian kingdom was shaken by the Ottoman expansion as much of the mountainous country now known as Bosnia and Herzegovina and fell to the Turks. At the same time, Dalmatia became mostly Venetian. Dubrovnik was a city-state that was, at first, Byzantine (Roman) and Venetian, but later, unlike other Dalmatian city-states, became independent as Republic of Dubrovnik, even though it was often under the suzerainty of neighboring powers.

 

The Battle of Mohács in 1526 led the Croatian Parliament to elect the Habsburgs to the throne of Croatia. Habsburg rule eventually thwarted Ottoman expansion, and by the 18th century, much of the Croatian territories that had previously been Ottoman passed to the Austrians. The odd crescent shape of the Croatian lands remained as a mark, more or less, of the frontier to the Ottoman advance into Europe. Further south, Istria, Dalmatia and Dubrovnik all eventually passed to the Habsburg Monarchy between 1797 and 1815.

 

Following World War I, Croatia joined the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (comprising what is today Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia). Shortly thereafter, this joint state entered into a union with Serbia to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which eventually became Yugoslavia in 1929). Yugoslavia was invaded during World War II and Croatia was transformed by fascist forces into the Independent State of Croatia. When the Axis powers were defeated, the anti-fascists reintegrated the country into Yugoslavia, which became a federal socialist state.

 

Along with Slovenia, Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991, which triggered the Croatian War of Independence. The Serb population living in border areas of Croatia revolted, supported by the Yugoslav army, and the ensuing months saw combat between various Croatian and Serbian armed forces. During this stage of the war, the independence of Croatia was recognized by the international community, while the Serbs proclaimed their own state, the Republic of Serbian Krajina, and by early 1992, troops were entrenched. This stage of the war left hundreds of thousands as refugees on the Croatian side. The war ended in 1995, when the Croatian Army successfully launched two major offensives to retake the rebel areas by force, leading to a mass displacement of the hundreds of thousands local Serbs from those areas into Serbia and Republika Srpska. A peaceful reintegration of the remaining Serbian-controlled territory in the eastern part of the country was completed in 1998 under UN supervision.

Croatia is currently in the process of joining the European Union. Accession negotiations were opened on October 3, 2005.

 

 

Geography

 

Croatia is situated between central, southern, and eastern Europe. It has a rather peculiar shape that resembles a crescent or a horseshoe which helps account for its many neighbours: Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Italy across the Adriatic. Its mainland territory is split in two non-contiguous parts by the short coastline of Bosnia and Herzegovina around Neum.

 

Its terrain is diverse, containing:

  • plains, lakes and rolling hills in the continental north and northeast (Central Croatia and Slavonia, part of the Pannonian plain);

  • densely wooded mountains in Lika and Gorski Kotar, part of the Dinaric Alps;

  • rocky coastlines on the Adriatic Sea (Istria, Northern Seacoast and Dalmatia).

 

The country is famous for its many beautiful national parks.

 

Croatia has a mixture of climates. In the north and east it is continental, Mediterranean along the coast and a semi-highland and highland climate in the south-central region.

 

 

 

 

LINKS

 

 

 

WORLD GEOGRAPHY

 

 

 

Adelaide 

Aden - Yemen

Africa

Alaska

Argentina

Arundel Castle - Sussex

Australia

Austria

Aztecs - Mexico

Battle, Sussex

Berlin

Brazil

Brighton - West Pier

Canada

Canary Island

Cape York - Au

Cayman Islands

Chichester Harbour

China

Columbo - Sri Lanka

Cyprus

Czechoslovakia

Darwin - Australia

Denmark

Earthquakes

Egypt

Equator

Europe

Falmouth, Cornwall

Fiji

Finland

France

Galapagos Islands

Geography Links

Geography Records

Geography Resources

Geography Statistics

Germany

Gibraltar

 

 

Greece

Greenland

Hawaii

Holland the Nertherlands

Hong Kong

Hungary

Hurricanes

Iceland

India

Iraq

Isle of Man

Isle of Wight

Italy

Ireland

Jakarta - Java

Japan

Korea

Kuwait

Life on Earth

London - Overview

London - The City

London Eye

London - Tower Bridge

Luxembourg

Maya Empire - Central America

Melbourne, Australia

Mexico

Mountains

Naples- Italy

National Geographic

New York

New Zealand

Norway

Oceans and Seas

Palermo - Sicily

Palma - Mallorca

Panama Canal

Paris

 

 

 

Planet Earth

Poland

Port Moresby - PNG

Port Said - Egypt

Portugal

Rome

Russia

Saudi Arabia

Scott of Antarctic

Scotland

South America

Southampton

Spain - Espana

Stonehenge

Suez Canal

Sussex Index

Sweden

Switzerland

Taiwan

Tahiti - Polynesia

Tenerife - Canary Islands

The Old Bailey - London

Tokyo, Japan

Tonga - Polynesia

Trafalgar Square

Trinidad - Lesser Antilles

Tsunami

Turkey

UAE - United Arab Emirates

UK Statistics

Ukraine

United Kingdom

United Kingdom

USA

Vietnam

Wales

Washington D.C.

Wealden iron industry

 

 



 

A taste for adventure capitalists

 

 

Solar Cola - a healthier alternative

 

 

 

This website is Copyright © 1999 & 2006  NJK.   The bird logo and name Solar Navigator are trademarks. All rights reserved.  All other trademarks are hereby acknowledged.       Max Energy Limited is an environmental educational charity.

 AUTOMOTIVE  |  BLUEBIRD  |  ELECTRIC CARS  |  ELECTRIC CYCLES  |  SOLAR CARS