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Travel to Croatia — Unbiased reviews and great deals
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Republic of Croatia
National Name: Republika
Hrvatska
President: Stipe Mesic (2000)
Prime Minister: Ivo Sanader
(2003)
Current government officials
Land area: 21,781 sq mi (56,414 sq km);
total area: 21,831 sq mi (56,542 sq km)
Population (2008 est.): 4,491,543
(growth rate: 0.0%); birth rate: 9.6/1000; infant mortality rate:
6.4/1000; life expectancy: 75.1; density per sq km: 79
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Zagreb, 685,500
Other large cities: Split, 173,600;
Rijeka, 142,500; Osijek, 89,600
Monetary unit: Kuna
Languages:
Croatian 96% (official), other 4% (including
Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, German)
Ethnicity/race:
Croat 89.6%, Serb 4.5%, Bosniak 0.5%,
Hungarian 0.4%, Slovene 0.3%, Czech 0.2%, Roma 0.2%, Albanian 0.1%,
Montenegrin 0.1%, others 4.1% (2001)
National Holiday:
Independence Day, October 8
Religions:
Roman Catholic 88%, Orthodox 4%, Muslim 1%,
other Christian less than 1%, none 5% (2001)
Literacy rate: 99% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005
est.): $53.56 billion; per capita $11,600. Real growth rate:
3.5%. Inflation: 3.2%. Unemployment: 18.7% official
rate; labor force surveys indicate unemployment around 14% (Dec.
2004 est.). Arable land: 26%. Agriculture: wheat,
corn, sugar beets, sunflower seed, barley, alfalfa, clover, olives,
citrus, grapes, soybeans, potatoes; livestock, dairy products.
Labor force: 1.71 million; agriculture 2.7%, industry 32.8%,
services 64.5% (2004). Industries: chemicals and plastics,
machine tools, fabricated metal, electronics, pig iron and rolled
steel products, aluminum, paper, wood products, construction
materials, textiles, shipbuilding, petroleum and petroleum refining,
food and beverages, tourism. Natural resources: oil, some
coal, bauxite, low-grade iron ore, calcium, natural asphalt, silica,
mica, clays, salt, hydropower. Exports: $10.3 billion f.o.b.
(2005 est.): transport equipment, textiles, chemicals, foodstuffs,
fuels. Imports: $18.93 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery,
transport and electrical equipment; chemicals, fuels and lubricants;
foodstuffs. Major trading partners: Italy, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Russia, France (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 1.825 million (2002); mobile cellular: 2.553 million (2003).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 16, FM 98, shortwave 5 (1999).
Television broadcast stations: 36 (plus 321 repeaters)
(September 1995). Internet hosts: 29,644 (2004). Internet
users: 1.014 million (2003).
Transportation: Railways: total: 2,726
km (2004). Highways: total: 28,344 km; paved: 23,979 km
(including 455 km of expressways); unpaved: 4,365 km (2002).
Waterways: 785 km (2004). Ports and harbors: Omisalj,
Ploce, Rijeka, Sibenik, Vukovar (on Danube). Airports: 68
(2004 est.).
International disputes: discussions
continue with Bosnia and Herzegovina over several small disputed
sections of the boundary; the Croatia-Slovenia land and maritime
boundary agreement, which would have ceded most of Pirin Bay and
maritime access to Slovenia and several villages to Croatia, remains
un-ratified and in dispute; as a European Union peripheral state,
neighboring Slovenia must conform to the strict Schengen border
rules to curb illegal migration and commerce through southeastern
Europe while encouraging close cross-border ties with Croatia.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Croatia is a former Yugoslav republic on the
Adriatic Sea. It is about the size of West Virginia. Part of Croatia is a
barren, rocky region lying in the Dinaric Alps. The Zagorje region north
of the capital, Zagreb, is a land of rolling hills, and the fertile
agricultural region of the Pannonian Plain is bordered by the Drava,
Danube, and Sava Rivers in the east. Over one-third of Croatia is
forested.
Government
Presidential/parliamentary democracy.
History
Croatia, at one time the Roman province of
Pannonia, was settled in the 7th century by the Croats. They converted to
Christianity between the 7th and 9th centuries and adopted the Roman
alphabet under the suzerainty of Charlemagne. In 925, the Croats defeated
Byzantine and Frankish invaders and established their own independent
kingdom, which reached its peak during the 11th century. A civil war
ensued in 1089, which later led to the country being conquered by the
Hungarians in 1091. The signing of the Pacta Conventa by Croatian
tribal chiefs and the Hungarian king in 1102 united the two nations
politically under the Hungarian monarch, but Croatia retained its
autonomy.
Following the defeat of the Hungarians by the
Turks at the battle of Mohács in 1526, Croatia (along with Hungary)
elected Austrian archduke Ferdinand of Hapsburg as their king. After the
establishment of the Austro-Hungarian kingdom in 1867, Croatia became part
of Hungary until the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918 following its
defeat in World War I. On Oct. 29, 1918, Croatia proclaimed its
independence and joined in union with Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia to
form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The name was changed to
Yugoslavia in 1929.
When Germany invaded Yugoslavia in 1941, Croatia
became a Nazi puppet state. Croatian Fascists, the Ustachi, slaughtered
countless Serbs and Jews during the war. After Germany was defeated in
1945, Croatia was made into a republic of the newly reconstituted
Communist nation of Yugoslavia; however, Croatian nationalism persisted.
After Yugoslavian leader Tito's death in 1980, Croatia's demands for
independence began multiplying.
In 1990, free elections were held, and the
Communists were defeated by a nationalist party led by Franjo Tudjman. In
June 1991, the Croatian parliament passed a declaration of independence
from Yugoslavia. Six months of intensive fighting with the
Serbian-dominated Yugoslavian army followed, claiming thousands of lives
and wreaking mass destruction.
A UN cease-fire was arranged on Jan. 2, 1992.
The UN Security Council in February approved sending a 14,000-member
peacekeeping force to monitor the agreement and protect the minority Serbs
in Croatia. In a 1993 referendum, the Serb-occupied portion of Croatia
(Krajina) resoundingly voted for integration with Serbs in Bosnia and
Serbia proper. Although the Zagreb government and representatives of
Krajina signed a cease-fire in March 1994, further negotiations broke
down. In a lightning-quick operation, the Croatian army retook western
Slavonia in May 1995. Similarly, in August, the central Croatian region of
Krajina, held by Serbs, was returned to Zagreb's control.
Announcing on television in 1999 that
“national issues are more important than democracy,” President
Tudjman continued to alienate Croatians with his authoritarian rule,
out-of-touch nationalism, and disastrous handling of the war-shattered
economy. In Dec. 1999, Tudjman died. Less than a month later, his Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ) Party was defeated by a reformist center-left
coalition headed by Ivica Racan. But in Nov. 2003 elections, a right-wing
coalition led by the nationalist HDZ once again assumed power. The new
prime minister, Ivo Sanader, claims that his party is now far less
nationalist and far more moderate than its earlier incarnation under
Tudjman. In 2003, Croatia formally submitted its application to join the
EU. President Mesic was reelected in Jan. 2005.
In April 2008, NATO invited Croatia to join the
alliance at a summit in Bucharest. Final status is expected in January
2009.
See also Encyclopedia: Croatia.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Croatia
Central Bureau of Statistics www.dzs.hr/ .
Fact Monster/Information Please®
Database, © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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