Croatia
Travels in Croatia:
Croatia Mountain Biking (8 days)
Experience the region of South Dalmatia by mountain bike and yacht
Quick Facts:
Official Name: |
Republic of Croatia (Republika Hrvatska) |
Capital: |
Zagreb |
Area: |
56,542 sq. km |
Languages: |
Croatian |
Currency: |
Croatian Kuna (kn) |
Population figure: |
4,551,000 (July 2005 estimate) |
Ethnology: |
Croatia is inhabited mostly by Croats (89.9%). There are around twenty minorities, Serbs being the largest one (4.5%) and others having less than 0.5% each |
Religions: |
The predominant religion is Catholicism (87.8%), with some Orthodox (4.4%) and Sunni Muslim (1.3%) minorities |
National holiday: |
October 8 (Independence Day) |
Government type: |
Parliamentary democracy |
History
Croatia became an independent monarchy in 925, and retained its independence until 1102, when, after decades of inner struggles, the country entered a dynastic union with the Kingdom of Hungary. By the mid-1400s, the Hungarian kingdom was shaken by Ottoman expansion as much of the mountainous country now known as Bosnia and Herzegovina fell to the Turks. At the same time, Dalmatia became mostly under Venetian rule. Habsburg rule eventually thwarted Ottoman expansion, and by the eighteenth century, many of the Croatian territories that had previously been Ottoman passed to the Austrians.
Following World War I, Croatia joined the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Shortly thereafter, this joint state entered into a union with Serbia to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which eventually became Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. After Germany and its Axis allies invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941, the Nazis permitted the extreme right-wing organization Ustaše, backed and sponsored by Italian fascists, to create the "Independent State of Croatia". The new regime was highly dependent upon German support for survival.
Along with Slovenia, Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991, triggering Serbian military agression on Croatia and starting the Croatian War of Independence. The war ended in 1995, after the Croatian Army successfully launched two major military operations to retake the occupied areas. The war left hundreds of thousands refugees on both sides, and thousands were killed either in battle or by ethnic cleansing.
By early 2003 it had made sufficient progress to apply for European Union membership, becoming the second EU candidate country from former Yugoslavia, after Slovenia (who joined the EU on May 1, 2004). Accession negotiations were opened on October 3, 2005, and the country is expected to become an EU member state in 2009 or 2010.
Climate
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. Offshore Croatia consists of over one thousand islands varying in size.
This article is partly based on a free article of the encyclopaedia Wikipedia and is subject to GNU-licence for free documentation. A list of authors is available on Wikipedia