Croatia
Croatia (in Croatian, Hrvatska, AFI: [xř...a wanted..ka devoted]), officially Republic of Croatia (Republika Hrvatska 
listen (?·i)), it is one of the twenty-seven sovereign states that make up the European Union, located between Central Europe, southern Europe and the Adriatic Sea; it borders northeast with Hungary, east with Serbia, southeast with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro, northwest with Slovenia and southwest with the Adriatic Sea; where it shares a maritime border with Italy.
Its capital and most populous city is Zagreb. It has a territorial extension of 56,594 km² —this figure includes the more than a thousand islands (1,185) that are located off the coast of the Adriatic Sea— and has a varied climate, mostly continental and Mediterranean. Regarding the political administration, the country is divided into twenty counties and the city of Zagreb. Its population, according to the 2021 census, is 3,888,529 inhabitants. Most of them are Catholic Croats.
At the beginning of the VII century, Croats arrived in the area and two centuries later they were organized into two duchies. In the year 925 Tomislav became the first king, raising the status of the state to a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia maintained its sovereignty for almost two centuries, reaching its height during the reign of Peter Krešimir IV and Demetrius Zvonimir. Croatia formed a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, threatened by Ottoman expansion, the Croatian parliament chose Ferdinand I of Habsburg as successor to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, it was part of the short-lived Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which had separated from Austria-Hungary, and which later became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During World War II a puppet state of Nazi Germany was founded. After the war, Croatia was a founding member and federal element of the Second Yugoslavia, a socialist state. In June 1991 Croatia declared its independence, which was recognized on October 8 of that year. The Croatian War of Independence took place in the four years following the declaration.
In 2012 Croatia had a very high Human Development Index. The International Monetary Fund classified it as an emerging and developing economy, while the World Bank identified it as a high-income economy. Croatia is a member of the UN, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization and is a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean. In addition, in July 2013 Croatia acceded to the European Union. As an active member of the United Nations Peacekeepers, he has contributed troops to the NATO security mission in Afghanistan and from 2008 to 2009 he held a seat on the UN Security Council.
The Croatian economy is dominated by the service sector, followed by industry and agriculture. Tourism is an important source of income during the summer, since the country is among the twenty most visited tourist destinations in the world. The State controls a part of the economy, with significant government spending and its main trading partner is the European Union. Since 2000, the country has invested in infrastructure, especially in roads and means of transport, as well as in the Pan-European Corridors. The Croatian state provides a universal healthcare system and free primary and secondary education, while supporting culture through various public institutions and investments in the media and literature.
Etymology
The name Croatia derives from the medieval Latin Croatia, from Dux Croatorum ('duke of the Croats') written in the Branimir inscription. It is believed that this term comes from North-West Slavic *Xrovat-, which is a metathesis of Common Slavic *Xorvat-, which in turn derives from Proto-Slavic * Xarwāt- (**Xъrvatъ) or *Xŭrvatŭ (*xъrvatъ). The origin of the name is uncertain, but it is thought to be a Gothic or Indo-Aryan term for Slavic peoples. The oldest surviving record of the Croatian ethnonym *xъrvatъ is a carving called the Baška tablet which reads: zvъnъmirъ kralъ xrъvatъskъ ('Zvonimir, Croatian king').
The first mention of the term in Latin is attributed to a letter from Duke Trpimir I from the year 852. The original has been lost, and only a copy from 1568 survives, raising questions about its authenticity. The inscription The oldest stone still preserved dates from the IX century, the Branimir inscription (found near Benkovac), where they refer to the Duke Branimir as Dux Cruatorvm. Although the inscription has not been exactly dated, Branimir is known to have ruled Croatia between 879 and 892.
History
Prehistory and Antiquity
The territory of present-day Croatia was inhabited during the prehistoric period. In the northern part, remains of Neanderthals dating from the Paleolithic period were found, those of Krapina are the best known and best preserved. Remnants of various Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures can be found in various regions of the country. Most of these archaeological sites are located in the valleys of the northern rivers. Among the most important cultures are those of Starcevo, Vucedol and Baden. For its part, the Iron Age left traces of the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures.
Much later, Liburnians and Illyrians settled in the region, while the Greeks established their first colonies on the islands of Korcula, Hvar, and Vis. C. the current Croatian territory passed to the domain of the Roman Empire as part of the province of Dalmatia. In 305 the Emperor Diocletian built a palace in Split, where he moved when he retired. During the V century, Julius Nepos, one of the last emperors of the Western Roman Empire, ruled his small empire from this palace. This period culminated in the Avar and Croat invasions in the first half of the century VII, followed by the destruction of almost all Roman cities. The surviving Romans withdrew to the safest places on the coast, islands, and mountains. The city of Dubrovnik was founded by the survivors of Epidaurum.
The ethnogenesis of the Croats is uncertain and there are several theories about it, those that propose a Slavic and Iranian origin are the most popular. The first theory is the most accepted and affirms the existence of a migration of White Croats from the territory of White Croatia during the migration period in Europe. Contrary, the other theory proposes an Iranian origin, based on the Tanais Tablets which contain inscriptions in Greek of the names Χορούαθ[ος], Χοροάθος and Χορόαθος (Khoroúathos, Khoroáthos and Khoróathos) and their interpretation as anthroponyms of the Croatian people.
Middle Ages
According to De Administrando Imperio, the X century work of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII, the Croats arrived in modern Croatia in the early VII century, although other theories refute this claim and suggest that settlement occurred between the centuries VI and IX . Eginhardo's chronicles indicate that by 818 the migrants were organized into two principalities: Pannonia and Dalmatia, ruled from Ljudevit Posavski and Borna, respectively. This document represents the first record of the Croatian kingdoms, vassal states of the Carolingian Empire at the time. Frankish rule ended during the reign of Mislav two decades later. According to Constantine VII, Christianization of the Croats began in the VII, although other sources claim that this occurred up to two centuries later. The first Croatian ruler recognized by the pope was Duke Branimir, referred to as Dux Croatorum ('duke of the Croats') by Pope John VIII in 879.
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Tomislav was the first ruler of Croatia to use the title of king in a letter to Pope John X, dated 925. Tomislav defeated the Hungarians and the Bulgars, allowing him to extend the influence of his kingdom The Kingdom of Croatia reached its height in the XI century during the reigns of Peter Krešimir IV (1058-1074) and Demetrius Zvonimir (1075-1089). When Stephen II died in 1091, the Trpimirović dynasty came to an end, and Ladislaus I of Hungary claimed the Croatian throne. Opposition to Ladislaus triggered a war that ended with the personal union between Croatia and Hungary in 1102, already in the time of King Coloman.
For the next four centuries, the Kingdom of Croatia was ruled by the Sabor (parliament) and a ban (viceroy) appointed by the Hungarian monarch. During this period, the Ottoman Empire became a growing threat and the Republic of Venice began to dispute control of the Adriatic coast. In 1428 the Venetians seized most of Dalmatia, with the exception of the Republic of Ragusa, which remained independent and sovereign. The Ottoman advance in the region originated the battles of Campo de Krbava (1493) and Mohács (1526); both concluded with important victories for the Turkish armies. King Ludwig II died in Mohács and, in 1527, the parliament of Cetin chose Ferdinand I of Habsburg as the new lord of Croatia, on the condition that he protect it from the Ottoman Empire and respect its political rights. the importance of some Croatian lineages such as the Frankopans and the Zrinskis, to which several of the bans belonged. In practice, Croatia was an independent kingdom only from 910 to 1102.
Habsburg Monarchy and Austria-Hungary
In 1538, after multiple Ottoman victories, Croatia was divided into a military zone and a civil zone. The military territories became known as the Croatian Military Frontier and was under the direct command of the Austrian Emperor. The advance of the Turks within their territory continued until the Battle of Sisak (1593), the first decisive Ottoman defeat, which meant the stabilization of the borders. During the Great Turkish War (1667–1698), Croatian forces recaptured Slavonia, but western Bosnia, which was part of Croatia until before the Ottoman conquests, remained outside Croatian control. In fact, the current border between the two countries derives from of these events. Dalmatia, the region south of the border, was similarly defined by the Fifth and Seventh Ottoman-Venetian Wars. All of these armed conflicts produced vast demographic changes. Croats migrated to Austria, so the Burgenland Croats are direct descendants of this group. To make up for the departure of the Croats, the Habsburgs called up Orthodox Christians from Bosnia and Serbia to serve in the army on the Military Frontier. Serb migration to this region peaked during the Great Serb Migrations of 1690 and 1737–39.
Between 1797 and 1809 the First French Empire gradually occupied the eastern Adriatic coast and a significant part of the adjacent regions, did away with the republics of Venice and Ragusa and established the Illyrian Provinces. In response, the British Royal Navy began a blockade of the Adriatic Sea that led to the Battle of Lissa in 1811. In 1813 the Austrians conquered the Illyrian Provinces and two years later, after the Congress of Vienna, annexed them to the Austrian Empire. With this the Kingdom of Dalmatia was formed and the Croatian Littoral was reincorporated into the Kingdom of Croatia, now together under the same crown.
In the 1830s and 1840s, a romantic nationalism arose that inspired the Illyrian Movement, a political and cultural campaign that sought the unity of all South Slavs in the Empire. Its main goal was to establish a standard language as a counterbalance to Hungarian, along with the promotion of Croatian culture and literature. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Croatia supported the Austrians, Ban Josip Jelačić helped defeat Hungarian forces in 1849 and gave way to a process of Germanization. By the 1860s, the failure of this policy became apparent and in 1867 the Austro-Hungarian Compromise was celebrated; in this a personal union took place between the governments of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. The treaty left the resolution of the status of Croatia in the hands of Hungary, which was eventually resolved in the Croatian-Hungarian Agreement of 1868, where the kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia were unified. The Kingdom of Dalmatia remained under Austrian control de facto, while Rijeka maintained its Corpus separatum status that it had achieved in 1779. After Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia-Herzegovina thanks to the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, the Croatian Military Border disappeared and the territory reverted to Croatian sovereignty in 1881, as established in the Croatian-Hungarian Agreement. World War I halted efforts to reform Austria-Hungary into a federation with Croatia as a unit federal.
Kingdom of Yugoslavia and World War II
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On October 29, 1918 the Sabor (Croatian Parliament) declared independence and decided to join the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which entered into a union with the Kingdom of Serbia on December 4, 1918 to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In the years following World War I, from 1918 to 1921, Croatia was on the brink of social revolution: workers' strikes, deserters' committees occupied entire regions of Dalmatia and Slavonia, and the Communist Party triumphed in the 1920 municipal elections, for which it was immediately banned. The 1921 constitution defined the country as a unitary state and abolished divisions. historical administrative procedures and ended Croatian autonomy. The most popular political party in the country—the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) led by Stjepan Radić—opposed the new constitution. In 1928 the political situation deteriorated further after Radić was assassinated in the National Assembly, giving to the dictatorship of King Alexander I in January 1929. The dictatorship formally ended in 1931 when the king imposed a more unitary constitution and changed the name of the country to Yugoslavia. The HSS, then chaired by Vladko Maček, continued to persecute the federalization of Yugoslavia; this persistence culminated in August 1939 with the Cvetković-Maček Agreement and the creation of the autonomous Banovina of Croatia. The Yugoslav government retained control of defense, internal security, foreign relations, trade, and transportation, while other matters remained under the control of the Sabor and the Ban.
In April 1941 Nazi Germany and Italy occupied Yugoslavia. After the invasion, parts of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Syrmia region were incorporated into the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a puppet state of the Nazis. Italy annexed other parts of Dalmatia, while Hungary seized the northern regions of Baranya and Medimurje. Ante Pavelić and Ustasha ultranationalists led the NDH regime. They introduced anti-Semitic laws and conducted a campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide against Jews, Serbs and Gypsies, exemplified by the Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška concentration camps. It is estimated that of the 39,000 Jews living in the country, only 9,000 survived; the remainder were killed or deported to Germany, both by local authorities and the German army itself. Various Croatian and Serb sources disagree on the exact figures. Additionally, between 320,000 and 334,000 Serbs were executed on NDH territory from various causes, whether persecuted by the government, as members of the armed resistance, or fighting with the Axis Powers. The total number of Serbs killed in all of Yugoslavia during the war is around 537,000. At the same time, about More than 200,000 Croats were killed during the conflict, in similar situations.
On June 22, 1941, the First Sisak Separatist Party was founded near the city of Sisak, the first organized military resistance against the German occupation in all of Europe. Yugoslav Partisans, a multi-ethnic communist anti-fascist resistance led by Josip Broz Tito. The group grew rapidly and at the Tehran Conference of December 1943 they gained Allied recognition. With Allied support in logistics, equipment, training and air forces, as well as the assistance of Soviet troops in the Belgrade Offensive, by May 1945 the Partisans gained control of Yugoslavia and the adjoining regions of Trieste and Carinthia. The political aspirations of the movement were reflected in the Anti-Fascist Council for the Liberation of the Croatian People or ZAVNOH—created in 1943 as the main figure of the Croatian state and in 1945 became the Croatian Parliament—and the AVNOJ, its counterpart. at the federal level.
Federal Yugoslavia and independence
After World War II Croatia became a one-party socialist federal unit of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, ruled by the communists, but with a degree of autonomy within the federation. In 1967 several Croatian authors and linguists published the Declaration on the Status and Name of the Standard Croatian Language, in which they demanded a greater degree of autonomy for the Croatian language. The declaration helped create a movement quest for more civil rights and decentralization of the economy, which culminated in the Croatian Spring of 1971, a series of protests suppressed by the Yugoslav government. However, the 1974 Yugoslav constitution increased the autonomy of federal units, one of the goals of the Croatian Spring, in addition to establishing a legal basis for the independence of its federative constituents.
In the 1980s the political situation in Yugoslavia deteriorated due to tension caused by the 1986 Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences and the 1989 riots in Vojvodina, Kosovo and Montenegro. In January 1990 the League of Communists of Yugoslavia broke up along with its national affiliates. The same year saw the country's first multi-party elections, and Franjo Tuđman's victory further increased nationalist tensions. Croatian Serbs they left Sabor and declared autonomy for various regions to form the Serb Republic of Krajina, an attempt to gain independence from Croatia. Due to increased tensions, Croatia declared its independence in June 1991, but this declaration did not take effect until October 8, 1991.
Ethnic and political problems led to the Croatian War of Independence, where the Yugoslav People's Army and several Serb paramilitary groups attacked the nation. By the end of 1991, intense warfare reduced Croatian control to less than a third of Croatian control. its territory. On January 15, 1992 Croatia obtained diplomatic recognition from the European Economic Community, and shortly after from the UN. The war ended definitively in August 1995 with a decisive victory for Croatia and causing the expulsion of some 250,000 Serbs living in Croatia. The rest of the occupied regions returned to their domain in accordance with the provisions of the Erdut Agreement of November 1995, although the process was not finalized until January 1998.
After the war ended, Franjo Tuđman's government began to lose popularity, as people began to describe his rule as "autocratic" and denounced violations of the human rights of Serb minorities. in 1999, the first fully democratic elections were held in 2000, where Stjepan Mesić was elected president. In 2003, Croatia applied for membership of the European Union and became an official candidate a year later. During his candidacy, had to resolve the border disputes it had with Slovenia and improve some political, economic and environmental aspects to adjust to the European model. Finally, in January 2012 Croatian citizens voted in favor of its accession and on July 1, 2013, Croatia became the 28th member of the European Union.
Since the late 1990s, 350,000 people have emigrated from Croatia. Inequality, corruption and lack of opportunities are the main reasons for this migration.
Government and politics
Croatia is a unitary, democratic and parliamentary republic. In 1990, after the collapse of the communist party leading the SFR Yugoslavia, Croatia adopted its current constitution and organized its first multi-party elections. It declared its independence on 8 October 1991, disintegrating Yugoslavia and gaining international recognition for part of the UN in 1992. Under its 1990 constitution, Croatia operated with a semi-presidential system until 2000, when it adopted the current parliamentary system. The constitution also provides for the division of power into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Croatia's legal system is continental law, strongly influenced, like its institutional framework, by the legacy of its union with Austria-Hungary. On June 30, 2010, when negotiations on its accession to the EU ended, the Croatian Croatian legislation was completely adapted to the acquis communautaire.
The president is the head of state, elected by direct suffrage for a five-year term, limited by the constitution to a maximum of two terms. In addition to being the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, he is required to choose the prime minister with the approval of parliament, and plays an important role in foreign policy. The most recent presidential election was held on December 22, 2019., where Zoran Milanović and Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović obtained a majority, since none of them obtained more than 50% of the votes cast, a second round was held on January 5, 2020, where Zoran Milanović was elected with 52.7% of the votes. votes and was sworn into office on February 19, 2020.
The government is headed by the prime minister, who is responsible for four deputy prime ministers and 17 ministers in charge of different levels of government. The executive branch is responsible for proposing laws and a federal budget, executing laws, and guiding domestic policies and outside the republic. The official residence of the government is located in Banski dvori. Since October 19, 2016, the Croatian Prime Minister is Andrej Plenković.
The parliament (Sabor) is a unicameral legislative body. The number of seats can vary between 100 to 160; all are elected by popular vote for a period of four years. Parliamentary sessions take place from January 15 to July 15 and resume from September 15 to December 15. Originally the constitution provided for a bicameral system, but in 2001 the "Chamber of Counties" was abolished to establish the current system. The two largest political parties are the Croatian Democratic Union and the Croatian Social Democratic Party.
Croatia has a three-tier judicial system consisting of the Supreme Court, County Courts and Municipal Courts. The Constitutional Court deals with matters directly related to the constitution. In addition to the above, there are also courts for minor, commercial and administrative offenses. Law enforcement is the responsibility of the Croatian police force, which is under the control of the Ministry of the Interior. In recent years, the police have been under a series of reforms made with the assistance of international agencies, such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Armed Forces
The Croatian Armed Forces (FAC) consists of the Army, Navy and Air Force, in addition to the Education and Training Command and the Support Command. The FAC are led by the General Staff, under the command of the Minister of Defense, and in turn the President. According to the constitution, the president is the commander in chief of the armed forces, and in case of a direct threat, during times of war he issues orders to the General Staff.
After the Croatian War, public spending and the size of the FAC were progressively reduced. In 2005 military spending was 2.39% of GDP, which placed Croatia as the 64th country that invested the most resources in the military. Since 2005 the budget has remained below 2% of GDP, compared to the record from 11% in 1994. Although traditionally relying on large numbers of conscripts, the FAC also underwent a period of reforms aimed at downsizing, restructuring and professionalisation, mainly during the years prior to the country's accession to NATO. According to a presidential decree published in 2006, in times of peace the FAC has an active military personnel of 18,100 army personnel, 3,000 civilians, and 2,000 conscripted volunteers between the ages of 18 and 30.
Conscription was abolished in January 2008. Previously, 18-year-old men served in the military for nine months, after 2001 this was reduced to six months. Conscientious objectors could opt for an eight-month community service.
In 2011 the Croatian army had 120 soldiers active abroad as part of UN peacekeeping forces, including 95 serving as part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in the Heights of the Golan. In addition, 350 military personnel served for NATO in the ISAF forces in Afghanistan and another 20 in KFOR in Kosovo.
Croatia also has a significant military industry, exporting about US$120 million worth of military equipment and weapons in 2010. Croatian-made weapons and vehicles used by the FAC include the HS2000 manufactured by HS Produkt and the VHS assault rifle, and previously the M-84 was assembled at the Duro Dákovic plants, a design that would be updated locally in two variants: the M-84D and the M-95 Degman, including a prototype of this, the M- 91 was designed by the previous company. FAC uniforms, ammunition, badges, and helmets are also manufactured in the country and sold abroad.
Foreign Relations
Croatia maintains diplomatic relations with 174 countries. In 2009 Croatia had a network of 51 embassies, 24 consulates and eight permanent diplomatic missions abroad. Similarly, there are 52 embassies and 69 consulates in the republic, as well as offices of international organizations such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Organization for Migration, the OSCE, the World Bank, the World Organization for Health (WHO), the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Unicef. In 2009 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration employed 1,381 people and invested 648.2 million HRK (US$86.4 million). The main goals of Croatian foreign policy include improving relations with neighboring countries, developing international cooperation, and promoting the economy. and culture of Croatia.
Since 2003, this foreign policy has focused on achieving the strategic goal of becoming a member of the European Union. On December 9, 2011, the nation completed negotiations for its accession and signed the Treaty of Access to the EU. Croatia became a full member of the EU on 1 July 2013, the end of a process that began in 2001 when it signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement. A recurring obstacle in the negotiations was the history of the country's cooperation with the ICTY and Slovenian protests over border disputes between the two states. The latter was resolved by means of an Arbitration Agreement on November 4, 2009, approved by the Slovenian parliament and a referendum. In the future it will adopt the euro, and in 2015 it will join the Schengen Area.
During the 2000s, another strategic goal of Croatian foreign policy was membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In 2000, NATO included Croatia in the Partnership for Peace, but it was not until 2008 when he received the invitation to join the organization and formally joined on April 1, 2009. Croatia was a member of the United Nations Security Council for the period 2008–2009.
Human Rights
In terms of human rights, regarding membership of the seven bodies of the International Bill of Human Rights, which include the Human Rights Committee (HRC), Croatia has signed or ratified:
 Croatia | International treaties | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CESCR | CCPR | CERD | CED | CEDAW | CAT | CRC | MWC | CRPD | |||||||||
| CESCR | CESCR-OP | CCPR | CCPR-OP1 | CCPR-OP2-DP | CEDAW | CEDAW-OP | CAT | CAT-OP | CRC | CRC-OP-AC | CRC-OP-SC | CRPD | CRPD-OP | ||||
| Pertenence |   |  | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | |
 Signed and ratified,  signed, but not ratified,  neither signed nor ratified,  without information,  it has agreed to sign and ratify the body concerned, but also recognizes the competence to receive and process individual communications from the competent bodies. | |||||||||||||||||
Status of major international human rights instruments
Religions and beliefs
As of 2021, religious beliefs were distributed as follows, according to the Croatian Statistical Office census, published on September 22, 2022:
- 87.39 % Christianity
- 78.97 % Catholicism
- 0.26 % Protestantism
- 3.32 % orthodoxy
- 4.84 % other Christian denominations
- 1.32 % Islam
- 0.01 % Judaism
- 6.4% without religious affiliation
- 2.3%
- 1.79 % without response
- 2.14 % without information
Territorial organization
Croatia was first divided into counties during the Middle Ages. The divisions changed over time, reflecting the loss of territory to Ottoman invasion and subsequent liberation, as well as changes in the political status of Dalmatia, Dubrovnik and Istria. The traditional division into counties was abolished in the 1920s, when the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia introduced oblasts and banovinas, respectively. The communist mandate abolished the earlier divisions and introduced municipalities, organizing Croatian territory into about 100 municipalities. The 1992 legislation reintroduced the counties, significantly altered from how they were distributed in the early 1920s. For example, in 1918 the Croatian region of Transleithania was divided into eight counties with seats at Bjelovar, Gospić, Ogulin, Požega, Vukovar, Varaždin, Osijek and Zagreb, but the 1992 legislation established fourteen counties in the same territory.
Since the reestablishment of the counties in 1992, Croatia is divided into twenty counties (županija) and the capital city of Zagreb, the latter having the authority and legal status of a county and a city (grad). Since then, the borders of the counties have changed a couple of times, the last modification being made in 2006. In turn, the counties are divided into 127 cities and 429 municipalities. The division of the country in NUTE is done at different levels. NUTE 1 defines the country as a single entity, while NUTE 2 divides it into three regions. These are North-West Croatia, Central and Eastern Croatia (Pannonia) and Adriatic Croatia. The latter comprises all the counties located on the coast. Northwestern Croatia includes the city of Zagreb and the counties of Zagreb, Krapina-Zagorje, Varaždin, Koprivnica-Križevci and Međimurje. Finally, Central and Eastern Croatia includes the remaining counties of Bjelovar-Bilogora, Virovitica-Podravina, Požega-Slavonia, Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja, Vukovar-Syrmia, Karlovac and Sisak-Moslavina. The individual counties and the city of Zagreb also represent NUTE level 3. NUTEs are divided into two levels of Local Administrative Units (LAU). UAL 1 corresponds to the division into counties and the city of Zagreb, while UAL 2 corresponds to the cities and municipalities of Croatia.
- County of Croatia
Geography
Croatia is located between Central and Southern Europe, bordering Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro to the southeast, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, and Slovenia to the northwest. Much of the country lies between latitudes 42° and 47° N and longitudes 13° and 20° E. Part of its territory in the far south surrounding Dubrovnik is virtually an exclave connected to the rest of the country only by its waters. territorial, but separated from the mainland by a small strip of coastline belonging to Neum, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Its area is 56,594 km², 55,974 km² of land and 620 km² of water, making it the 127th largest country in the world. The main relief feature is the mountains of the Dinaric Alps, whose highest point is Dinara, with 1831 meters above sea level, located to the south near the border with Bosnia-Herzegovina. The coast of the Adriatic Sea forms the southeastern limit of the country, and in front of it there are more than a thousand islands and islets of various sizes, 48 are permanently inhabited. The largest islands are Cres and Krk, each with an area of around 405 km².
Several rivers flow through the hills of northern Hrvatsko Zagorje and the Slavonian plains in the east (part of the Pannonian Plain), the most important being the Sava, Drava, Kupa, and Danube. The latter is the second longest river in Europe, running through the city of Vukovar in the far east and forming part of its border with Serbia. The central and southern regions near the Adriatic coast and the islands have small mountains covered by forests. Natural resources found in significant quantities for exploitation include oil, coal, bauxite, iron, calcium, gypsum, asphalt, silica, mica, clay, and salt.
Karst relief makes up about half of the surface of Croatia and is especially prominent in the Dinaric Alps. There are several deep caverns throughout the country, 49 of them are deeper than 250 m, 14 are deeper than 500 m and there are three systems that exceed 1000 m. The most famous body of water in the nation is the Plitvice Lakes, a system of 16 lakes with connecting cascades between dolomite and limestone soils. The lakes are recognized by their distinctive colors, which range from turquoise, to green, gray and blue.
Climate
Most of the Croatian territory has a moderately hot and rainy climate, that is, a continental climate, according to the Köppen climate classification. The average monthly temperature ranges from -3 °C in January to 18 °C in July. The coldest parts of the country are Lika and Gorski Kotar, where snowfall and cold weather are recorded in places whose altitude exceeds 1200 meters above sea level. The warmest areas are the coast and its surroundings, since the high temperatures are moderated by the sea, where there is a Mediterranean climate. In this way, the temperature change is more pronounced in the continental zone: on February 3, 1919 Čakovec registered the lowest temperature with -35.5 °C, while on July 5, 1950 Karlovac registered the highest temperature of 42.4 °C.
Based on the above, the country can be divided into three climatic regions. In the north, the Pannonian plains experience a continental climate characterized by heavy rainfall with hot summers and cold winters. The central region, dominated by the Dinaric Alps, has a mountain climate with short, cool summers and long, intense winters. Finally, the Adriatic coast enjoys a Mediterranean climate with cold, rainy winters and dry, hot summers.
The average annual precipitation ranges from 600 mm to 3500 mm, depending on the region and the prevailing climate. The driest places are the islands (Vis, Lastovo, Biševo, Svetac) and the eastern part of Slavonia, however, in the latter the rains are concentrated in only one season. The maximum levels of precipitation are often observed in the Dinara mountain range and in Gorski Kotar. The winds that prevail in the interior of the country are light or moderate in the northeast and southwest, while on the coast the winds are determined by the local geography. The strongest gusts of wind are almost always recorded on the coast during the coldest months, usually as bora and rarely as sirocco. The sunniest parts of Croatia are the islands like Hvar and Korčula, where they receive more than 2,700 hours of sunshine throughout the year, followed by the southern part of the Adriatic Sea, the northern coast, and Slavonia; all of them receive more than 2000 hours of sunshine per year.
Flora, fauna and environment
As one of the most biodiverse countries in Europe, Croatia can be divided into several ecoregions based on climate and geomorphology. The four biogeographical regions into which it is divided are: Mediterranean on the coast and adjacent lands, Alpine in much of Lika and Gorski Kotar, Pannonian along the Drava and Danube, and Continental in the rest of the country. One of its main features is karst habitats, which include submerged karsts, such as in the Zrmanja and Krka canyons, as well as subterranean habitats. Karst geology is home to more than 7,000 caves and shafts, some of which are home to the only aquatic cave-dwelling vertebrate, the proteus. Forests are another important ecosystem in the country, as they cover more than 2,490,000 ha, around 44% of the Croatian territory. Other ecosystems include wetlands, grasslands, bogs, swamps, scrublands, coastal and marine habitats. In terms of phytogeography, Croatia is part of the Holarctic Kingdom: Illyria and the Central European provinces are in the Circumboreal region and the coast is part of the Mediterranean region. For its part, the World Wide Fund for Nature divides its territory into three ecoregions: mixed forest of the Dinaric Alps, mixed forest of Pannonia and the deciduous forest of Illyria.
There are more than 37,000 known species of plants and animals living in Croatia, but the real number is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000. The discovery of almost 400 new species of invertebrates during the first half of the 2000s supports said estimate. Of these, more than a thousand are considered endemic, especially those that live in the Velebit and Biokovo mountains, as well as the Adriatic islands and karsts. Although 1,131 species are protected by law, many of them are seriously threatened by the loss and degradation of their habitats. Added to this is the appearance of other foreign species, especially the algae Caulerpa taxifolia. This invasive algae is constantly monitored and removed to protect the benthic zone. The plants cultivated by the natives, as well as the breeds of domesticated animals, are also numerous. These include five horse breeds, five cows, eight sheep, two pigs and one poultry. Nine of these native breeds are threatened or endangered.
There are 444 protected areas covering 9% of the country. These include eight national parks, two strict nature reserves, and ten nature parks. The oldest and most famous national park is the Plitvice Lakes National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On the other hand, the Sjeverni Velebit national park is part of the Unesco Biosphere Reserve program. The central government manages and protects the strict and special reserves, as well as the national and natural parks, while the counties are in charge of other smaller protected areas. In 2005 the National Ecological Network was established as a first attempt to access the European Union and the Natura 2000 network.
Economy
According to the World Bank, Croatia has a high-income market economy. In 2012 the International Monetary Fund estimated nominal GDP at US$63,842 million, or US$14,457 per capita; GDP by purchasing power parity (PPP) was US$80,334 million or US$18,191 per capita. According to Eurostat, in 2010 GDP (PPP) per capita was only 61% of the Union average European Union, while real GDP growth during 2007 was 6%. That same year the International Labor Organization revealed that the unemployment rate stabilized at 9.1%, after falling rapidly from 14.7% in 2002. However, the figure increased again in the following months, reaching a peak of 13.7% in December 2008. As of June 2012, the average Croatian worker's take-home pay was 5,492 HRK (US$912) per month.
In 2010 the economy was dominated by the services sector, which made up 66% of GDP, followed by industry with 27.2% and agriculture with 6.8%. The same is true of the distribution of the workforce: 64.5% of the economically active population works for the service sector, 32.8% for industry and 2.7% in the countryside. For its part, the industrial sector is dominated by shipbuilding, food processing, pharmaceuticals, technology information, biochemical and wood industry. In 2010 Croatian exports were worth HRK 64.9 billion (US$11.255 million) and imports reached HRK 110.3 billion (US$19.127 million). Its most important trading partner is the European Union.
The new Croatian government of 1991 did little to start privatization and the transition to a market economy before the war broke out. Due to these conflicts, the economic infrastructure suffered serious damage, particularly the tourism industry; between 1989 and 1993, GDP fell by 40.5%. The government still controls a significant part of the economy, as government spending accounts for 40% of GDP. The main obstacles facing the Croatian economy are the backward judicial system, the inefficiency of the public administration, especially in the problems of land ownership and corruption. In 2012, Transparency International placed the country in 62nd place in the Corruption Perception Index, with a score of 46. Another important problem is the large public debt that continues to grow, which has already reached a value of more than US$ 44,240 million. or 89.1% of GDP.
Tourism
In 2011, Croatia was the 24th most visited country in the world, with more than nine million foreign visitors. Tourism dominates the service sector and provides more than 20% of Croatian GDP. In 2011 the revenue of the tourism industry was US$ 8.6 billion. Its positive effects are noticeable throughout the Croatian economy, thanks to the increase in the volume of transactions in retail businesses, the number of orders processed by the industry and the employment of holiday seasons. Some consider it an export good because it significantly reduces the imbalance in the external trade balance. Since the end of the War of Independence, the tourism industry has grown rapidly, the number of visitors has multiplied four times to more than 10 million tourists every year. Most of them come from nearby countries such as Germany, Slovenia, Austria and the Czech Republic, who spend an average of 4.9 days in Croatia.
Most of the tourist industry is concentrated along the Adriatic coast. In the middle of the 19th century Opatija became the first major tourist center in the region. In the 1890s it became one of the main destinations for European medical tourism. Later, a large number of tourist centers were established along the coast and on several islands, offering numerous services ranging from nautical tourism, thanks to the numerous marinas with more than 16,000 berths, to cultural tourism, which bases its appeal on the medieval coastal towns and the many cultural events that take place every summer. The interior offers mountain destinations, agrotourism and spas. Zagreb is also one of the most important tourist destinations, on a par with coastal cities. Croatia enjoys a relatively uncontaminated marine ecosystem, the result of numerous nature reserves and 116 Blue Flag beaches. About 15% of visitors engage in activities related to naturism, a very popular industry in Croatia, the first European country to develop resorts for this purpose.
Infrastructure
Transportation
The main advance in infrastructure development is the rapid construction of a road network, mostly developed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By 2011 Croatia had more than 1,100 km of roads serving they connected Zagreb with almost all regions and continued to several European highways and four Pan-European corridors. The busiest highways are the A1, which connects Zagreb with Split, and the A3, which runs east-west in the northern Croatia and Slavonia. An extensive network of state roads serve as peripheral roads connecting the largest towns in the country. The high quality and safety of the Croatian road network was verified with multiple programs such as EuroTAP and EuroTest.
Croatia has a railway network that covers 2,722 km, of which 985 km are electrified and 254 km have two rails. The most important routes are those that continue the Pan-European corridors Vb and X, which connect Rijeka with Budapest and Ljubljana with Belgrade, both via Zagreb. Hrvatske Željeznice operates all rail services. There are six international airports, located in Zagreb, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Rijeka, Osijek and Pula. As of early 2011, Croatia it met all the aviation safety requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Federal Aviation Administration, classified as a Category 1 country.
The most important cargo port in the nation is the port of Rijeka, while the busiest are those of Split and Zadar. In addition to these, there are several smaller ports that serve a large system of ferries connecting the numerous islands with the coastal cities, as well as those routes that connect with Italy. The largest port on a river is that of Vukovar, on the banks of the Danube, which represents one of the points that make up the Pan-European corridor VII.
Energy
The sources of energy production within the territory cover 85% of the national demand for natural gas and 19% of the demand for oil. In 2008, the energy produced came from the use of natural gas (47.7%), oil (18%), wood (8.4%), hydroelectric plants (25.4%) and other sources of renewable energy (0.5%). In 2009 the total net electricity production was 12,725 GWh and Croatia imported 28.5% of the electricity it used. Most of the electricity comes from the Krško nuclear power plant, Slovenia—although 50% belongs to Hrvatska elektroprivreda —, which provides 15% of the electricity used in Croatia.
There are 610 km of pipelines in Croatia, connecting the oil terminal in the port of Rijeka with the Rijeka and Sisak refineries, as well as other terminals. The system has the capacity to transport 20 million tons per year. The natural gas transportation system comprises 2,516 km of pipelines and more than 300 associated structures, which link the production fields with the Okoli natural gas storage facility, 27 terminals and 37 distribution systems.
Media
Croatia's constitution guarantees freedom of the press and freedom of expression. In the 2013 Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, Croatia ranked 64th. HINA is the state information agency that provides news in Croatian and English about politics, economy, society and culture.
However, despite the provisions of the law, since 2000 Freedom House classified Croatia as a partially free country, in terms of freedom of the press and of expression. In the 2013 Global Press Freedom report, it was ranked 81st out of 197 countries. Freedom House also reported an improvement in applicable law reflecting Croatia's accession to the EU, although he highlighted some examples of politicians who tried to hide journalistic investigations and influence news reporting, difficulties in public access to information, and that much of the print media is controlled by the German news agency Europapress Holding and the Austrian Styria Media Group. In 2009 Amnesty International reported that there was an increase in the number of physical attacks and murders against journalists. The incidents were mostly perpetrated against those investigating war crimes and organized crime.
There are nine free-to-air television channels: Hrvatska Radiotelevizija (HRT), Nova Television and RTL Televizija operate two channels each, while the remaining three are managed by the Croatian Olympic Committee, Kapital Net d.o.o. and Author d.o.o. In addition there are 21 regional and local DVB-T television channels. HRT also broadcasts via satellite. In 2009 there were 146 radio stations. Voice of Croatia radio broadcasts in Croatian, German, English and Spanish abroad via satellite and Internet. Cable TV and IPTV networks are gaining ground, serving about 450,000 people, 10% of the total population.
There are 314 newspapers and 2,678 publications in Croatia. The print media is dominated by Europapress Holding and Styria Media Group, which publish the country's largest daily newspapers: Jutarnji list, Vecernji list and 24sata. Other influential newspapers are Novi list, Slobodna Dalmacija and Vjesnik, the latter owned by the state. According to 2006 data, Jutarnji list is the best-selling daily in Croatia, followed by Vecernji list and 24sata.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census, Croatia has a population of 4.29 million, the 125th most populous country in the world. Its population density is 75.9 inhabitants/km² and its life expectancy at birth is 75.7 years. The fertility rate is 1.5 children per woman, one of the lowest in the world. Since 1991 the death rate consistently exceeds the birth rate. However, since the late 1990s, there has been an increase in migration to Croatia, peaking at just over 7,000 immigrants in 2006. The Office of Statistics Croatia predicts that the population could drop to 3.1 million by 2051, depending on the behavior of birth and migration rates. Croatia's population increased steadily from 2.1 million in 1857 to its peak of 4.7 million in 1991, with the exception from the 1921 and 1948 censuses, conducted after the World Wars. Currently the natural growth of the population is negative, and the demographic transition was completed in the 1970s. According to its migration policy, Croatia intends to lure migrants back to their territory. However, in recent years the Croatian government has been pressured to raise the cost of work licenses for foreigners by 40%.
The demographic decline is also a result of the Croatian War of Independence. During the conflict, a large part of the population was displaced and emigration increased. In 1991 in the predominantly Serb areas, more than 400,000 Croats and other ethnicities were driven from their homes by Croat Serb forces. During the last days of the war in 1995, between 120,000 and 200,000 Serbs fled the country before the arrival of the Croatian army during Operation Storm. Within ten years of the war, only 117,000 of the displaced Serbs returned to the country. Most of the Serbs still living in Croatia never settled in the territories occupied during the War of Independence. Serbs have only partially resettled the regions where they previously lived, while other areas previously occupied by Serbs were resettled by Croat refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina, mostly from Republika Srpska. Most of the population of Croatia is Croatian (89.6%), the most ethnically homogeneous country of the six former Yugoslav republics. Minority groups include Serbs (4.5%), Bosniacs, Magyars, Italians, Slovenes, Germans, Czechs, Roma, and others (5.9%).
Religion
Croatia is a secular state, where the constitution provides for freedom of worship and the freedom to publicly profess religious conviction for all its citizens. In the 2005 Eurobarometer survey, the 67% of the population responded that "they did believe that there is a God." In a questionnaire made by Gallup in 2009, 70% of Croatians answered affirmatively to the question "Is religion an important part of your daily life?". According to data from 2011, the main Religions in Croatia are Catholicism (86.2%), Orthodox Christianity (4.4%), Protestantism (0.6%), Islam (1.5%), other religions (0.9%) and atheism (3.8%). In addition, the The Croatian Ministry of Public Administration has registered 54 active religious communities throughout the national territory.
Religious affiliation is closely correlated with ethnicity. For example, most Orthodox Christians are of Serbian origin and live in cities near the border with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro. Historically, religion was used as a way to identify the ethnic origin of the population., something that favored the development of discrimination and violence, especially during the ethnic conflicts of the 1990s.
Languages
Croatian is the official language of Croatia and the 24th official language of the European Union. Minority languages are in official use in local government units where they are used by more than one third of the population or where the local legislation so marks it. These languages are: Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Ruthenian, Serbian and Slovak. According to the 2011 census, 95.6% of citizens declared Croatian as their mother tongue, while Serbian was the second language. it was 1.23%. Croatian is a South Slavic language and much of its vocabulary is derived from the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. Croatian is written using the Latin alphabet. There are three major dialects in the country, Stokavian (Štokavski) is used as standard Croatian, while Chakavian (Cakavski) and Kaikavian (Kajkavski) are distinguished by their lexicon, phonology, and syntax.
From 1961 to 1991 the official language was Serbo-Croatian. Even during the socialist rule, Croatians often referred to this language as Croatian-Serbian or simply Croatian. The Serbian and Croatian variants of this language were not recognized as distinct at the time, but were referred to as the Eastern and Western versions, in addition to the fact that they used two different alphabets: Latin and Serbian Cyrillic. Regarding the language, Croats adopt a protectionist position against foreign influences, thanks to the fact that it has been under constant changes imposed by the various rulers; for example, words of Austrian, Hungarian, Italian, and Turkish origin were changed and altered to have a "Slavic sound". Croats opposed efforts to impose policies to include Croatian within Serbo-Croatian or South Slavic, an example of his linguistic purism. Croatian replaced Latin as the official language of the Croatian government until the 19th century.
A 2009 study revealed that 78% of Croatians claim to know at least one other language. According to another study carried out by the European Commission in 2005, 49% of Croatians use English as their second language, 34 % speak German and 14% Italian. French and Russian are spoken by 4% each, and 2% of Croatians speak Spanish. Similarly, a large part of Slovenes (59%) have some degree of knowledge of Croatian.
Education
Since gaining independence, the Croatian school system has been reformed to provide education for the entire population, so that in 2011 the literacy rate in Croatia was 98.1%. In August 2010, a study Report on the quality of life in different countries published by Newsweek ranked the Croatian education system in 22nd place, sharing place with Austria. Primary education in Croatia begins at the age of six or seven and consists of eight degrees. A law was passed in 2007 to extend free and compulsory education up to 18 years of age. Since then, compulsory education has comprised eight years of primary school and another three years of secondary school, which is taught in gymnasiums and workshop schools. In 2010 there were 2,131 primary schools and 713 schools providing secondary education. Compulsory education is also available in the various minority languages.
There are 84 art and music schools at the primary level and 47 at the secondary level, as well as 92 schools for children with disabilities and 74 schools for adults. The national graduation exams (državna matura) they were introduced to high school students during the 2009–2010 school year. They consist of an assessment of three compulsory subjects (Croatian language, mathematics and a foreign language) and several elective subjects, and are a requirement to enter the university.
Croatia has eight universities. The University of Zadar, the first in the country, was founded in 1396 and remained active until 1807, when other higher education institutions replaced it until the renovation of the University of Zadar in 2002. The University of Zagreb, founded in 1669, it is the oldest continuously operating university in Southeast Europe. There are also 11 polytechnics and 23 institutes of higher education, 19 of them private. In total, there are 132 higher education institutions in Croatia, with an enrollment of 145,000 students.
Health
Croatia has a universal healthcare system, the origins of which can be traced back to the Hungarian-Croatian Parliament Act of 1891, which required business owners to provide health insurance to all workers and artisans. citizens have a health plan that covers the most basic and is optional. In 2009 health spending reached 20.6 billion Croatian kunas (US$3.578 billion). The health budget comprises only 0.6% of public spending and private health insurance. In 2010 the government spent 6.9% of the GDP in the health sector. Croatia ranks 50th among the countries with the highest life expectancy —73 years for men and 79 for women—, in addition to a low infant mortality rate of 5 per 1,000 live newborns.
There are hundreds of medical institutions in Croatia, including 79 hospitals and clinics with 23,967 beds. Hospitals and clinics care for more than 700,000 patients each year and employ 5,205 doctors, 3,929 of whom are specialists. There are 6,379 private clinics and a total of 41,271 health workers. There are also 63 emergency medical units that respond to more than a million calls each year. The main cause of death in 2008 was cardiovascular diseases, in 43.5% of men and 57.2% of women; followed by cancer, 29.4% in men and 21.4% in women. By 2009, only thirteen Croats had been infected with the AIDS virus, and only six had died from the disease. In 2008, the WHO estimated that 27.4% of Croatians over the age of 15 smoke, and 21% of the population suffers from it. obesity.
The right to abortion has been recognized since communist times. In practice, however, this right has been challenged for several years by pressure from the Catholic Church, which is close to the government of the conservative HDZ party. In 2019, 59% of professionals accepted the conscientious objection clause, the majority for religious reasons, to refuse to perform an abortion.
Main towns
Culture
Due to its geographical location, Croatia represents a mix of four distinct cultural spheres. It is the crossroads of the influences of Western and Eastern culture—since the division of the Western Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire—as well as Mitteleuropa and Mediterranean cultures. The Illyrian movement was the most important period in the history of national culture, since the XIX century was the period during which the emancipation of the Croatian language and unprecedented development emerged in all fields of arts and culture, accompanied by an increase in the number of historical figures. The Ministry of Culture is in charge of preserving the cultural and natural heritage of the nation and watch over its development. Local governments also carry out other activities aimed at supporting cultural development. UNESCO declared seven sites in Croatia as World Heritage Sites. The country also has ten masterpieces on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity., along with Spain, the European country with the most works on the list. One of his contributions to global culture is the tie, derived from the cravat originally worn by Croatian mercenaries in century France. span style="font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase">XVII.
In 2009 Croatia had 23 professional theatres, 14 professional children's theaters and 27 amateur theatres, all of which are visited by more than two million spectators per year. Professional theaters employed 1,100 performers. There were 24 professional orchestras, ensembles and choirs, which annually attract more than 323,000 people to their performances. Some 3.5 million people attended one of the 117 cinemas each year, while the 175 museums received about 2.2 million visitors. Finally, there were 1,685 libraries, with more than 23.5 million books and 15 general archives.
In 2009, more than 7,200 literary works were published, along with 2,678 magazines and 314 newspapers. Between 2004 and 2009, the production of films and cinematographic works increased: from one to five feature films, from 10 to 51 short films, and from 76 to 112 films for television. In the same year, 784 amateur cultural and artistic associations were registered and more than 10,000 cultural, educational and artistic events were held. Major transnational publishers dominate the Croatian publishing market and the main event of industry —Interliber— is celebrated annually at the Zagreb Fair.
According to the Human Development Index, Croatia has established a high standard of human development and gender equality. The government promotes the rights of people with disabilities, and is legally tolerant towards homosexuals. Civil unions between people same-sex have been legal since 2003, however, LGBT rights activists consider that legal regulation within this area is inadequate. The population sees immigration as necessary and beneficial for their economic development, and it is expected to increase later of the country's accession to the EU.
Art and Literature
Croatia's architecture reflects the influence of its neighbors. The Austrian and Hungarian presence is visible in the public spaces and buildings of the central and northern regions, while buildings along the Dalmatian and Istrian coasts exhibit a Venetian influence. Large squares named after cultural heroes, the clean parks and walkways are characteristic of these cities, especially those that were planned during the baroque, such as Varaždin and Karlovac. The later influence of modernism is evident in contemporary architecture. Along the coast, the architecture is typical of the Mediterranean with a strong Venetian and Renaissance influence in the larger urban areas, exemplified in the works of Giorgio da Sebenico and Niccolò Fiorentino such as the Cathedral of St. James in Šibenik. The oldest examples of Croatian architecture are the churches of the IX century; the Church of San Donato in Zadar is the largest and most representative of them.
In addition to architecture that encompasses the oldest artistic works in Croatia, there is a long list of Croatian artists dating back to the Middle Ages. It was in this period that Radovan carved the stone gate of the Trogir Cathedral, the most important Romanesque monument in the Balkans. The Renaissance had a great impact on the Adriatic Sea coast, as the rest of Croatia was in the midst of the Turkish-Croatian War. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, art flourished during the Baroque and Rococo. The XIX and XX brought with them the establishment of numerous artisan workshops, led by various patrons of the arts such as Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer. Two of the Croatian artists who achieved international recognition for their works were the painter Vlaho Bukovac and the sculptor Ivan Meštrović.
The Baška Stela is a stone inscribed with the Glagolitic alphabet found on the island of Krk, dating from 1100 AD. c.; it is considered the oldest writing in Croatian. The beginning of the flowering of Croatian literature occurred in the Renaissance, thanks to Marko Marulić. In addition to Marulić, other prominent Croatian writers include Renaissance Marin Držić, Baroque Ivan Gundulić, Romantic Ivan Mažuranić, novelist and screenwriter August Šenoa, Expressionist and realist Miroslav Krleža, novelist and short story writer Ivo Andrić, and poets Antun Gustav Matoš, Antun Branko Šimić and Tin Ujević.
Croatia's film industry is small and mostly subsidized by the government, mainly through donations approved by the Ministry of Culture and co-production by HRT. The Pula Film Festival, an awards ceremony throughout Best of Croatian Cinema, is the most prestigious event of the film industry that presents national and international productions. One of the great achievements of Croatian cinema was the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film that Surogat won 1961, directed by Dušan Vukotić.
Music and dance
The first examples of Croatian compositions were religious songs and hymns, both Christian and Muslim. With the end of the Middle Ages, Croatian music ceased to be exclusively religious and received two main influences: from Central Europe to Slavonia and the northern area, while Istria and Dalmatia adopted Mediterranean customs. The most important musical instrument is the tambura or tamburitza, a stringed instrument used throughout Croatia, mainly in Slavonia. Mandolin, is another of the most used instruments in Croatian traditions. Modern Croatian music tries to combine traditional sounds with contemporary genres such as pop, rock, jazz, dance and electronica.
One of the most important musical traditions is the klapa, an ensemble of three or more people who perform a cappella various traditional songs that deal with themes such as love, wine, homeland and the sea.. There are several festivals organized to preserve and promote the klapa; in 2012, Unesco included it in the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. > from Slavonia and the Zagorje assemblages from the northern region of Zagreb.
In terms of dance, the kolo is the most important tradition of Croatian heritage, during which people hold hands and dance in circles. It is often danced during weddings, festivals and other celebrations. The Croatian National Folk Dance Ensemble LADO was founded in 1949 in Zagreb, as a national professional ensemble whose main mission is to preserve Croatian music and dance traditions. The ensemble consists of of 37 dancers and 15 musicians, who use traditional instruments and popular melodies in their presentations. It has even been named Croatia's most successful cultural export product.
Science and technology
The Ministry of Science, Education and Sports is in charge of directing and managing scientific institutions and projects, as well as the promotion and development of science and technology. Since 2004 it has also been in charge of the budget for the maintenance of scientific infrastructure. According to Unesco, in 2007 the Croatian government invested 0.81% of its GDP in research and development. For better management, the ministry divides the scientific investigations in six areas: natural sciences, technology, biomedicine, biotechnology, social sciences and humanities.
During the 19th and XX various scientists and researchers of Croatian origin have made various contributions to science and technology. Nikola Tesla, a scientist of Serbian origin born in Smiljan (present-day Croatia), was the creator of the alternating current system, as well as contributing to much research in electricity and electromagnetism. Another Croatian invention is azithromycin, which was synthesized for the first time by Dr. Slobodan Đokić in 1980. Two Croatian scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize for their contributions to science, specifically in chemistry. Leopold Ruzicka received it in 1939 for his work on polymers and heavy terpenes, while Vladimir Prelog did the same in 1975, thanks to his research on the chirality of organic molecules and his reactions.
There are 205 companies, government or educational institutions, and non-profit organizations that promote scientific research and technology development. Together, in 2008 they spent more than HKR 3 billion (US$520 million) and employed 10,191 full-time researchers. Among the scientific institutes operating in Croatia, the largest is the Ruder Boškovic Institute in Zagreb. The Academy Croatian of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb is a scientific society that promotes language, culture, arts and sciences since its creation in 1866.
National holidays
| Date | Holiday | Local name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January | New Year | Nova godina | Start of the Gregorian calendar. |
| 6 January | Epiphany | Bogojavljanje ili Sveta tri kralja | Catholic holidays in honor of the Magi. |
| March-April | Monday of Easter | Drugi dan Uskrsa | Celebrated on Monday after Easter Sunday. |
| 1 May | Work day | Praznik rada | International Workers' Day. |
| May-June | Corpus Christi | Tijelovo | Celebrated sixty days after Easter Sunday. |
| 22 June | Antifascist Day | Dan antifašističke borbe | In commemoration of the beginning of the Yugoslav Partisans movement. |
| 25 June | State Day | Dan državnosti | National party during the anniversary of the 1991 Declaration of Independence. |
| 5 August | Victoria Day and Thanksgiving | Dan pobjede i domovinske zahvalnosti | In honor of the end of the Croatian Independence War. |
| 15 August | Day of Assumption | Velika Gospa | Catholic holidays in honor of Mary. |
| 8 October | Independence Day | Dan neovisnosti | Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of 1991. |
| 1 November | Day of All Saints | Svi sveti | Feast in commemoration of the saints. |
| 25-26 December | Christmas holidays | Božićni blagdani | Feasts in honor of the birth of Jesus |
Gastronomy
Traditional Croatian cuisine varies from region to region. A culinary influence from Italy and other Mediterranean countries prevails in Dalmatia and Istria, characterized by the use of seafood, cooked vegetables and pasta, as well as seasonings such as olive oil and garlic. Continental cuisine is heavily influenced by the styles of Hungary, Austria and Turkey. In this area, the use of meat, freshwater fish and vegetables predominates.
There are three wine regions in Croatia. The continental region in the northeast of the country, especially Slavonia, produces fine wines, particularly whites. Along with the north coast, the wines of Istria and Krk are similar to those produced in Italy. Meanwhile, to the south in Dalmatia Mediterranean-style red wines are the norm. Annual wine production exceeds 140 million liters. Croatia was an almost exclusive wine-consuming country until the turn of the century XVIII, when mass production and consumption of beer began; annual beer consumption in 2008 was 83.3 L per capita, on 15.° country with the highest consumption per person.
Sports
There are more than 400,000 athletes in Croatia. Of these, 277,000 are members of sports associations and about 4,000 belong to chess and bridge associations. Football is the most popular sport. With more than 118,000 registered players, the Croatian Football Federation is the largest sports association in the country. The Prva HNL league attracts the largest number of spectators each year: in the 2010/2011 season it attracted 458,746 people.
Croatia's senior men's soccer team has been runner-up in the world in Russia 2018, with players like Luka Modrić, Ivan Rakitic, Ivan Perisic and Mario Mandzukic; It was also third in France 1998, being its first participation as Croatia in the adult soccer world cups, which had players who had already triumphed with Yugoslavia's youth and/or adult teams, such as Robert Prosinecki, Robert Jarni and Davor Suker, the latter was the top scorer of the tournament, with six goals. Within the country, there is the Croatian First League, where the most winning club is Dinamo Zagreb.
Another sport in which Croatians have excelled has been basketball, they were runners-up in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games and achieved third place in the 1994 world championship, held in Canada. Some Croatian players who have stood out in the NBA are Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja.
Croatian athletes who have competed in the Olympic Games since independence have won 33 medals, including ten gold: in 2012 in discus throw, sport shooting and water polo; in 1996 and 2004 in handball; in 2000 in weightlifting and four medals in alpine skiing in 2002 and 2006. In addition, several Croatian athletes have won various World Championships, such as those in athletics, handball, water polo, rowing, alpine skiing and taekwondo. Croatian athletes also won the 2005 Davis Cup.
Croatia hosted many important sporting competitions, such as the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship, the 2007 World Table Tennis Championships, the 2000 World Rowing Championships, the 1987 Universiade, the Mediterranean Games of 1979 and several European Championships. The country's highest sports authority is the Croatian Olympic Committee (Hrvatski olimpijski odbor), founded on September 10, 1991 and recognized by the International Olympic Committee since January 17, 1992, just in time for Croatian athletes to appear at the 1992 Albertville Olympics under the flag of the newly independent nation.