ic and scientific contributions to the world, as well as in its cuisine, wines and sporting achievements. Contents 1 History 1.1 Prehistory and antiquity 1.2 Middle Ages 1.3 Habsburg Monarchy and Austria-Hungary 1.4 Kingdom of Yugoslavia and World War II 1.5 Federal Yugoslavia and independence 2 Geography 2.1 Climate 2.2 Biodiversity 3 Politics 3.1 Administrative division 3.2 Foreign relations 3.3 Military 4 Economy 4.1 Tourism 4.2 Infrastructure 5 Demographics 5.1 Languages 5.2 Education 5.3 Health 6 Culture 6.1 Arts and literature 6.2 Media 6.3 Cuisine 6.4 Sports 7 See also 8 References 9 Bibliography 10 External links History Main article: History of Croatia Branimir Inscription The name of Croatia derives from Medieval Latin Croatia, from Dux Croatorum ("Duke of Croatians") attested in the Branimir Inscription, itself a derivation of North-West Slavic *Xrovat-, by liquid metathesis from proposed Common Slavic *Xorvat-, from proposed Proto-Slavic *Xarwat- (*X?rvat?) or *Xurvatu (*x?rvat?).[6] The origin of the name is uncertain, but is thought to be a Gothic or Indo-Aryan term assigned to a Slavic tribe.[7] The oldest preserved record of the Croatian ethnonym *x?rvat? is of variable stem, attested in the Baška tablet in style zv?n?mir? kral? xr?vat?sk? ("Zvonimir, Croatian king").[8] The first attestation of the Latin term is attributed to a charter of duke Trpimir from the year 852. The original is lost, and just a 1568 copy is preserved—leading to doubts on the authenticity of the claim.[9] The oldest preserved stone inscription is the 9th century Branimir Inscription (found near Benkovac), where Duke Branimir is styled as Dux Cruatorvm. The inscription is not dated accurately, however, Branimir ruled Croatia in 879–892.[10] Prehistory and antiquity Main articles: Prehistoric Croatia, Illyria, and Dalmatia (Roman province) Tanais Tablet B, name Khoroáthos highlighted. The area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period. Fossils of Neanderthals dating to the middle Palaeolithic period have been unearthed in northern Croatia, with the most famous and the best presented site in Krapina.[11] Remnants of several Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures were found in all regions of the country.[12] The largest proportion of the sites is in the northern Croatia river valleys, and the most significant cultures whose presence was discovered include Starcevo, Vucedol and Baden cultures.[13][14] The Iron Age left traces of the early Illyrian Hallstatt culture and the Celtic La Tčne culture.[15] Much later, the region was settled by Liburnians and Illyrians, while the first Greek colonies were established on the Vis and Hvar.[16] In 9 AD the territory of today's Croatia became part of the Roman Empire. Emperor Diocletian built a large palace in Split when he retired in AD 305.[17] During the 5th century, one of the last Emperors of the Western Roman Empire, Julius Nepos, ruled his small empire from the palace.[18] The period ends with Avar and Croat invasions in the first half of the 7th century and destruction of almost all Roman towns. Roman survivors retreated to more favourable sites on the coast, islands and mountains. The city of Dubrovnik was founded by such survivors from Epidaurum.[19] The ethnogenesis of Croats is uncertain and there are several competing theories, Slavic and Iranian being the most frequently put forward. The most widely accepted of these, the Slavic theory, proposes migration of White Croats from the territory of White Croatia during the Migration Period. Conversely, the Iranian theory proposes Iranian origin, based on Tanais Tablets containing Greek inscription of given names ?????a?[??], ???????? and ????a??? (Khoroúathos, Khoroáthos, and Khoróathos) and their interpretation as anthroponyms of Croatian people.[20] Middle Ages Main articles: Kingdom of Croatia (medieval) and Republic of Ragusa Baška tablet, the oldest evidence of the glagolitic script. According to the work De Administrando Imperio written by the 10th-century Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII, the Croats had arrived in what is today Croatia in the early 7th century, however that claim is disputed and competing hypotheses date the event between the 6th and the 9th centuries.[21] Eventually two dukedoms were formed—Duchy of Pannonia and Duchy of Dalmatia, ruled by Ljudevit Posavski and Borna, as attested by chronicles of Einhard starting in the year 818. The record represents the first document of Croatian realms, vassal states of Francia at the time.[22] The Frankish overlordship ended during the reign of Mislav two decades later.[23] According to the Constantine VII christianization of Croats began in the 7th century, but the claim is disputed and generally christianization is associated with the 9th century.[24] The first native Croatian ruler recognised by the Pope was duke Branimir, whom Pope John VIII referred to as Dux Croatorum ("Duke of Croats") in 879.[10] The walls of Dubrovnik, which helped the defence of Dubrovnik in the Middle Ages and the 1991–1992 siege Tomislav was the first ruler of Croatia who was styled a king in a letter from the Pope John X, dating kingdom of Croatia to year 925. Tomislav defeated Hungarian and Bulgarian invasions, spreading the influence of Croatian kings.[25] The medieval Croatian kingdom reached its peak in the 11th century during the reigns of Petar Krešimir IV (1058–1074) and Dmitar Zvonimir (1075–1089).[26] When Stjepan II died in 1091 ending the Trpimirovic dynasty, Ladislaus I of Hungary claimed Croatian crown. Opposition to the claim led to a war and personal union of Croatia and Hungary in 1102, ruled by Coloman.[27] For the next four centuries, the Kingdom of Croatia was ruled by the Sabor (parliament) and a Ban (viceroy) appointed by the king.[28] The period saw increasing threat of Ottoman conquest and struggle against the Republic of Venice for control of coastal areas. The Venetians gained control over most of Dalmatia by 1428, with exception of the city-state of Dubrovnik which became independent. Ottoman conquests led to the 1493 Battle of Krbava field and 1526 Battle of Mohács, both ending in decisive Ottoman victories. King Louis II died at Mohács, and in 1527, the Parliament on Cetin chose Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg as new ruler of Croatia, under the condition that he provide protection to Croatia against the Ottoman Empire while respecting its political rights.[28][29] The period saw rise of native nobility such as the Frankopans and the Šubics to prominence and ultimately numerous Bans from the two families.[30] Habsburg Monarchy and Austria-Hungary Main articles: Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg), Croatian–Ottoman Wars, and Austria-Hungary Ban Josip Jelacic fought Hungarians in 1848 and 1849 Following the decisive Ottoman victories, Croatia was split into civilian and military territories, with the partition formed in 1538. The military territories would become known as the Croatian Military Frontier and were directly controlled by the Austrian emperor. Ottoman advances in the Croatian territory continued until the 1593 Battle of Sisak, the first decisive Ottoman defeat, and stabilisation of borders. During the Great Turkish War (1667–1698), Slavonia was regained but western Bosnia, which had been part of Croatia before the Ottoman conquest, remained outside Croatian control.[29] The present-day border between the two countries is a remnant of this outcome. Dalmatia, the southern part of the border, was similarly defined by the Fifth and the Seventh Ottoman–Venetian Wars.[31] The Ottoman wars instigated great demographic changes. Croats migrated towards Austria and the present-day Burgenland Croats are direct descendants of these settlers.[32] To replace the fleeing Croats the Habsburgs called on the Orthodox populations of Bosnia and Serbia to provide military service in the Croatian Military Frontier. Serb migration into this region peaked during the Great Serb Migrations of 1690 and 1737–39.[33] Between 1797 and 1809 the First French Empire gradually occupied the entire eastern Adriatic coastline and a substantial part of its hinterland, ending the Venetian and the Ragusan republics, establishing the Illyrian Provinces.[29] In response the Royal Navy started the blockade of the Adriatic Sea leading to the Battle of Vis in 1811.[34] The Illyrian Provinces were captured by the Austrians in 1813, and absorbed by the Austrian Empire following the Congress of Vienna in 1815. This led to formation of the Kingdom of Dalmatia and restoration of the Croatian Littoral to the Kingdom of Croatia, now both under the same crown.[35] The 1830s and 1840s saw romantic nationalism inspired the Croatian National Revival, a political and cultural campaign advocating unity of all South Slavs in the empire. Its primary focus was establishment of a standard language as a counterweight to Hungarian, along with promotion of Croatian literature and culture.[36] During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 Croatia sided with the Austrians, Ban Josip Jelacic helping defeat the Hungarian forces in 1849, and ushering a period of Germanization policy.[37] By the 1860s, failure of the policy became apparent, leading to the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and creation of a personal union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. The treaty left the issue of Croatia's status to Hungary, and the status was resolved by the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement of 1868, when kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia were united.[38] The Kingdom of Dalmatia remained under de facto Austrian control, while Rijeka retained the status of Corpus separatum introduced in 1779.[27] After Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina following the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, the Croatian Military Frontier was abolished and the territory returned to Croatia in 1881.[29] Renewed efforts to reform Austria-Hungary, entailing federalisation with Croatia as a federal unit, were stopped by advent of World War I.[39] Kingdom of Yugoslavia and World War II Main articles: Creation of Yugoslavia, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Banovina of Croatia, Independent State of Croatia, and Yugoslav Front HSS leader Stjepan Radic On 29 October 1918 the Croatian Sabor declared independence and decided to join the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs,[28] which in turn entered into union with the Kingdom of Serbia on 4 December 1918 to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.[40] The 1921 constitution defining the country as a unitary state and abolition of historical administrative divisions effectively ended Croatian autonomy. The new constitution was opposed by the most widely supported national political party—the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) led by Stjepan Radic.[41] The political situation deteriorated further as Radic was assassinated in National Assembly in 1928, leading to the dictatorship of King Alexander in January 1929.[42] The dictatorship formally ended in 1931 when the king imposed a more unitarian constitution, and changed the name of the country to Yugoslavia.[43] The HSS, now led by Vladko Macek, continued to advocate federalization of Yugoslavia, resulting in the Cvetkovic–Macek Agreement of August 1939 and the autonomous Banovina of Croatia. The Yugoslav government retained control of defence, internal security, foreign affairs, trade, and transport while other matters were left to the Croatian Sabor and a crown-appointed Ban.[44] Resistance leader and Yugoslav president Marshal Josip Broz Tito In April 1941, Yugoslavia was occupied by Germany and Italy. Following the invasion the territory, parts of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the region of Syrmia were incorporated into the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a Nazi-backed puppet state. Parts of Dalmatia were annexed by Italy and the northern Croatian regions of Baranja and Medimurje were annexed by Hungary.[45] The NDH regime was led by Ante Pavelic and ultranationalist Ustaše. The regime introduced anti-semitic laws and conducted a campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide against Serb and Roma inhabitants of the NDH, exemplified by the Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška concentration camps.[46] It is estimated that out of 39,000 Jews in the country only 9,000 survived; the rest were either killed or deported to Germany, both by the local authorities and the German Army itself.[47] Croatian and Serbian sources disagree on the exact figures.[48] Furthermore 320,000 Serbs were killed in the territory of present-day Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina—roughly corresponding to NDH territory. This was either by the regime, as members of armed resistance, or as Axis collaborators. In total there were 537,000 Serb casualties throughout Yugoslavia in the war.[49] At the same time, more than 200,000 Croats were killed in the NDH, likewise in various roles.[48][49] A resistance movement soon emerged. In June 1941 the 1st Sisak Partisan Detachment was formed near Sisak, as the first military unit formed by a resistance movement in occupied Europe.[50] This sparked the beginning of the Yugoslav Partisan movement, a communist multi-ethnic anti-fascist resistance group led by Josip Broz Tito.[51] The movement grew rapidly and at the Tehran Conference in December 1943 the Partisans gained recognition from the Allies.[52] With Allied support in logistics, equipment, training and air power, and with the assistance of Soviet troops taking part in the 1944 Belgrade Offensive, Partisans gained control of Yugoslavia and border regions of Italy and Austria by May 1945. Political aspirations of the movement were reflected in the ZAVNOH (National Anti-Fascist Council of the People's Liberation of Croatia), which developed in 1943 as the bearer of Croatian statehood and later transformed into the Parliament of Croatia in 1945, and AVNOJ—its counterpart at Yugoslav level.[53][54] Federal Yugoslavia and independence Main articles: Socialist Republic of Croatia and Croatian War of Independence A Yugoslav tank destroyed during the Battle of Vukovar After the World War II, Croatia became a single-party Socialist federal unit of the SFR Yugoslavia, ruled by the Communists, but enjoying a degree of autonomy within the federation. In 1967, Croatian authors and linguists published a Declaration on the Status and Name of the Croatian Standard Language demanding greater autonomy for Croatian language.[55] The declaration contributed to a national movement seeking greater civil rights and decentralization of the Yugoslav economy, culminating in the Croatian Spring of 1971, suppressed by Yugoslav leadership.[56] Still, the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution gave increased autonomy to federal units, basically fulfilling a goal of the Croatian Spring, and providing a legal basis for independence of the federative constituents.[57] In the 1980s the political situation in Yugoslavia deteriorated with national tension fanned by the 1986 Serbian SANU Memorandum and the 1989 coups in Vojvodina, Kosovo and Montenegro.[58][59] In January 1990, the Communist Party fragmented along national lines, with the Croatian faction demanding a looser federation.[60] In the same year, the first multi-party elections were held in Croatia, with Franjo Tudman's win raising nationalist tensions further.[61] Serbs in Croatia left Sabor and declared the autonomy of areas that would soon become the unrecognized Republic of Serbian Krajina, intent on achieving independence from Croatia.[62][63] As tensions rose, Croatia declared independence in June 1991, however the declaration came into effect on 8 October 1991.[64][65] The tensions escalated into the Croatian War of Independence when the Yugoslav National Army and various Serb paramilitaries attacked Croatia.[66] By the end of 1991, a high intensity war fought along a wide front reduced Croatia to control of about two-thirds of its territory.[67][68] On 15 January 1992, Croatia gained diplomatic recognition by the European Economic Community members, and subsequently the United Nations.[69][70] The war effectively ended in 1995 with a decisive victory by Croatia in August 1995.[71] The remaining occupied areas were restored to Croatia pursuant to the Erdut Agreement of November 1995, with the process concluded in January 1998.[72] Geography Main article: Geography of Croatia Topographic map of Croatia Croatia is located in Central and Southeast Europe, bordering Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the south-east, Montenegro to the south-east, the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and Slovenia to the northwest. It lies mostly between latitudes 42° and 47° N and longitudes 13° and 20° E. Part of the territory in the extreme south surrounding Dubrovnik is a practical exclave connected to the rest of the mainland by territorial waters, but separated on land by a short coastline strip belonging to Bosnia and Herzegovina around Neum.[73] The territory covers 56,594 square kilometres (21,851 square miles), consisting of 56,414 square kilometres (21,782 square miles) of land and 128 square kilometres (49 square miles) of water. It is the 127th largest country in the world.[1] Elevation ranges from the mountains of the Dinaric Alps with the highest point of the Dinara peak at 1,831 metres (6,007 feet) near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the south[1] to the shore of the Adriatic Sea which makes up its entire south-west border. Insular Croatia consists of over a thousand islands and islets varying in size, 48 of which are permanently inhabited. The largest islands are Cres and Krk,[1] each of them having an area of around 405 km2. Biokovo is the highest mountain range in Dalmatia The hilly northern parts of Hrvatsko Zagorje and the flat plains of Slavonia in the east (which is part of the Pannonian Basin) are traversed by major rivers such as Sava, Drava, Kupa and Danube. The Danube, Europe's second longest river, runs through the city of Vukovar in the extreme east and forms part of the border with Serbia. The central and southern regions near the Adriatic coastline and islands consist of low mountains and forested highlands. Natural resources found in the country in quantities significant enough for production include oil, coal, bauxite, low-grade iron ore, calcium, gypsum, natural asphalt, silica, mica, clays, salt and hydropower.[1] Karst topography makes up about half of Croatia and is especially prominent in the Dinaric Alps.[74] There are a number of deep caves in Croatia, 49 of which are deeper than 250 m (820.21 ft), 14 of them deeper than 500 m (1,640.42 ft) and three deeper than 1,000 m (3,280.84 ft). Croatia's most famous lakes are the Plitvice lakes, a system of 16 lakes with waterfalls connecting them over dolomite and limestone cascades. The lakes are renowned for their distinctive colours, ranging from turquoise to mint green, grey or blue.[75] Climate Plitvice Lakes National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site Most of Croatia has a moderately warm and rainy continental climate as defined by the Köppen climate classification. Mean monthly temperature ranges between -3 °C (27 °F) (in January) and 18 °C (64 °F) (in July). The coldest parts of the country are Lika and Gorski Kotar where snowy forested climate is found at elevations above 1,200 metres (3,900 feet). The warmest areas of Croatia are at the Adriatic coast and especially in its immediate hinterland characterized by the Mediterranean climate, as the temperature highs are moderated by the sea. Consequently, temperature peaks are more pronounced in the continental areas—the lowest temperature of -35.5 °C (-31.9 °F) was recorded on 3 February 1919 in Cakovec, and the highest temperature of 42.4 °C (108.3 °F) was recorded o