Croatia (kro-AI-shah), Croatian Hrvatska, republic, (21,829 sq mi/56,538 sq km; 1994 estimated population 4,784,265; 2004 estimated population 4,496,869); (cap.) Zagreb.
Geography
Bounded NW by Slovenia, N by Hungary, E by Serbia, and S and E by Bosnia and Herzegovina; extends to the Adriatic Sea in the S and W. The second-largest of the former constituent republics of Yugoslavia, Croatia seceded on June 25, 1991; its independence was accorded international recognition on January 15, 1992. The country includes Croatia proper, Slavonia, Dalmatia, and most of Istria. There are important seaports at Rijeka (Fiume), Split, Pula, Zadar, Šibenik, and Dubrovnik; there is a good network of roads and railroads. W Croatia’s border straddles the Dinaric Alps; the E part, drained by the Sava and Drava rivers, is mostly low lying and agricultural.
Population
Croats, the majority population, are Roman Catholic, speak Croatian, and use the Latin alphabet; Serbs, the largest minority, are Eastern Orthodox and use the Cyrillic alphabet.
Economy
The Pannonian plain is the chief farming region, producing corn, wheat, oats, barley, sugar beets, and fruits. Subtropical fruit and grapes are grown chiefly on the coast and its islands. Stock (especially dairy cattle and poultry), beekeeping, and fishing are well developed. More than one-third of Croatia is forested, and lumber products are one of the major exports. The country has oil fields and natural gas, and deposits of bauxite; coal mines have been closed expcept at Raša. Croatia is, after Slovenia, the most industrialized and prosperous republic of former Yugoslavia. Manufacturing includes metal goods, chemicals, foods, textiles, lumber, elctrical goods, footwear, and tobacco; shipbuilding. Tourism, especially along the Adriatic coast, has been important to the economy. International airports at Zagreb, Split, Rijeka (on Krk island), Dubrovnik, Pula, Osijek, and Zadar.
History to 1527
A part of the Roman province of Pannonia, Croatia was settled in the 7th century by Croats, who accepted Christianity in the 9th century. A kingdom from the 10th century, Croatia conquered surrounding districts, including Dalmatia, which was chronically contested with Venice. Croatia’s power reached its peak in the 11th century, but internecine strife facilitated its conquest in 1091 by King Ladislaus I of Hungary. In 1102 a pact between his successor and the Croatian tribal chiefs established a personal union of Croatia and Hungary under the Hungarian monarch. Although Croatia remained linked with Hungary for eight centuries, the Croats were sometimes able to choose their rulers independently of Budapest. Croatia retained its own diet and was governed by a ban, or viceroy. After the battle of Mohács in 1526 most of Croatia came under Turkish rule.
History - 1527 to 20th Century
In 1527 the Croatian feudal lords agreed to accept the Hapsburgs as their kings in return for common defense and retention of their privileges. During the following century Croatia served as a Hapsburg outpost in the defense of central Europe against the Ottoman Empire. The centralizing and Germanizing tendencies of the Hapsburgs, however, severely weakened the power of the Croatian nobility and awakened a national consciousness. During the 19th century Hungary imposed Magyarization on Croatia and promulgated (1848) laws that seriously jeopardized Croatian autonomy within the Hapsburg empire. Josip Jelacic, ban of Croatia, had the diet pass its own National Demands of 1848, including the abolition of serfdom, state independence, territorial integrity, parliamentary democracy, and civil liberties. Jelacic’s forces also marched against the Hungarian revolutionaries in the 1848–1849 uprisings in the Hapsburg empire. When the dual Austro-Hungarian monarchy was established in 1867, Croatia proper and Slavonia were included in the kingdom of Hungary, and Dalmatia and Istria in the Austrian empire. The following year Croatia, united with Slavonia, became an autonomous Hungarian crown land governed by a ban responsible to the Croatian diet. Despite the achievement of autonomy in local affairs, Croatia remained restless because of continuing Magyarization.
History - 1900 to 1970
Cultural and political Croat and South Slav organizations arose, notably the Croatian Peasant party, founded in the early 20th century. With the collapse of Austria-Hungary (1918), the kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was formed into Yugoslavia. Serbs dominated the new state, however, and promoted centralization, ignoring Croat desires for a federal structure. Agitation resulted in the assassination (1928) of Stjepan Radic, head of the Croatian Peasant party, and the introduction of King Aleksandar’s dictatorship (1929). Radic’s successor, Vladimir Macek, negotiated a compromise with the government of Dragiša Cvetkovic, whereby Yugoslavia allowed the formation (1939) of an autonomous banovina comprising Croatia, Dalmatia, and parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Nevertheless, many Croats, especially members of the Ustasha fascist terrorist organization, insisted on complete independence. When the Germans invaded Yugoslavia in 1941, the Ustasha seized power and declared Croatian independence under Ante Pavelic. Croatia was divided between Italian and German military control, while the Ustasha dictatorship perpetuated brutal excesses, including the establishment of concentration camps and the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies. A large part of Croatia’s population joined the anti-fascist Yugoslav partisan forces under Tito, himself a native of Croatia. Pavelic fled in the wake of Germany’s defeat in 1945, and Croatia became one of the six republics of reconstituted Yugoslavia. Croatian nationalism persisted in Communist Yugoslavia, however, fueled in reaction to centralization efforts by Belgrade and ethnic conflict. The Ustasha and other émigré nationalist groups remained active abroad.
History - 1970 to Present
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Yugoslavia suffered a declining economy and growing ethnic and nationalistic tensions. In 1990, the Croats elected a non-Communist government and the multi-party Croatian parliament proclaimed a new constitution. The Serb population in the eleven Croatian municipalities with Serb majorities (along the Bosnia-Herzegovina border) revolted against Croatian authority, and was soon joined by Serbs in Croatian areas bordering Serbia (Baranja, E Slavonia, W Srijen) and in Bosnia-Herzegovina. On June 25, 1991, Croatia declared its independence and immediately became embroiled in a six-month conflict against both the Yugoslav army and Serbs from the predominantly Serb-populated areas of Croatia. In January 1992, after over a dozen EU-brokered cease-fires had failed, a stable truce was mediated by the UN, which in February sent in a peacekeeping force of 14,000 troops. This force froze the territorial status quo, which left 30% of Croatia in Serb hands and also left many Croatian refugees who had been forced to flee from Serb-held lands. By 1995, three of the four Serb-occupied areas (N Dalmatia–E Lika, also known as Serb Krajina; the Banija-Kordun region; and W Slovonia) had been regained by Croatia. After elections in 1997, E Croatia was reunited with Croatia, while Baranja remained under Serb control.
Government
The chief of state is President Stjepan (Stipe) Mesic. The head of government is Prime Minister Ivo Sanader. The last elections were held in 2000 with the next elections scheduled for 2005.
