About Croatia

Croatia is a Central European and Mediterranean country, bordering Slovenia in the west, Hungary in the north, and Serbia in the east and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the south. Croatia also has a long maritime border with Italy in the Adriatic Sea. These borders total 2,028 km altogether.

Croatia covers a land area of 56,691 square kilometers and has a population of about 4.4 million people (2001 census). Over 90% of the population is Croat (the majority of whom are Roman Catholics), but there are also Serbian, Bosnian, Hungarian and Italian minorities. The main population centers are Zagreb, the capital (with a population of just under 800,000), Osijek in the northwest, and the ports of Rijeka, and Split in the south. The official language is Croatian, which is written in the Latin script.

Croatia has 5,835km of coastline, 4,057km of which belongs to islands, cliffs and reefs. There are 1,185 islands in the Adriatic, but only about 50 are populated. The largest island is Krk (near Rijeka, in the Gulf of Kvarner) which has a land area of 462 square km.

The climate is Mediterranean along the Adriatic coast, meaning warm dry summers and mild winters. With 2,600 hours of sunlight on average yearly - it is one of the sunniest coastlines in Europe! In the interior of the country, the climate is continental with hot summers and cold, snowy winters.

History

Slavic Croatian tribes settled in the area in the early 7th century (arriving from present day Poland), accepting Christianity in around 800 A.D., and soon establishing their own state ruled by princes or dukes. In 925, Croatia became a kingdom under the rule of King Tomislav. In 1102 the country formed a union with Hungary which lasted until 1918. After the end of the First World War, Croatia joined Serbia, and Yugoslavia (the land of South Slavs) was formed, until its demise in 1991. The first Yugoslavia (1918-1941) was ruled by the Serbian royal family, Karadjordjevic. The country was invaded by Nazi Germany in April 1941 until the end of the War in May 1945. Croatia became one of the Yugoslav republics ruled by the communist government until 1991 when Croatia declared its independence and fought for the next five years to gain its sovereignty as an independent parliamentary democracy.

Croatia Today

The last general elections were held in November 2003. In January 2005, presidential elections were held. The incumbent, President Stipe Mesic, was re-elected to another five year term. Presidential powers in Croatia are limited, but he is still influential in making domestic and foreign policy issues.