Welcome to Croatia

FACTS
Establishment
-Principality 785
-Independent Principality 879
-Kingdom 925
-Union with Hungary 1102
-Joined Habsburg Empire 1 January 1527
-Independence from Austria–Hungary 29 October 1918
-Joined Yugoslavia 29 November 1943
-Decision on independence 25 June 1991
-Declaration of independence 8 October 1991

Area
-Total 56,594 km2 (21,851 sq mi)
-Water (%) 1.09

Population
-2009 estimate 4,489,409
-2001 census 4,437,460

GDP (PPP) 2009 estimate
-Total $78.539 billion
-Per capita $17,703

Currency
-Kuna (HRK) - 1€ = 7,3 HRK


Zagreb - The city collage

Croatia is a country in central and southeastern Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Adriatic Sea. Its capital (and largest city) is Zagreb. Croatia borders Slovenia and Hungary to the north, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the southeast, and Serbia and Montenegro to the east. Croatia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization and CEFTA. The country is a candidate for European Union membership and is a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean. Croatia is classified as an emerging and developing economy by the International Monetary Fund and a high income economy by the World Bank.


Zadar - The Roman forum remains

CULTURE - Croatian culture is the result of a fourteen century-long history which has seen the development of many cities and monuments. The country includes seven World Heritage sites and eight national parks. Croatia is also the birthplace of a number of historical figures. Included among the notable people are three Nobel prize winners and numerous inventors.


The Old city of Dubrovnik

Some of the world's first fountain pens came from Croatia. Croatia also has a place in the history of clothing as the origin of the necktie (kravata). The country has a long artistic, literary and musical tradition. Also of interest is the diverse nature of Croatian cuisine and the famous Croatian Traditional gift Licitar.

Croatians are protective of the their Croatian language from foreign influences, the language was under constant change and threats imposed by previous rulers (i.e. Austrian German, Hungarian, Italian and Turkish words were changed and altered to "Slavic" looking/sounding ones).


Plitvice Lakes National park

From year 1961 to year 1991, it was known as a dialect of the Serbo-Croatian language, while Croats use the Latin alphabet instead of Cyrillic of the Serbians. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Serbian and Yugoslav nationalist scholars began to impose policies to change or alter Croatian words into "Serbian" or "South Slavic" ones, which have infuriarated Croats over the purity and preservation of their native language. Assumably thousands of pre-modern Croatian words had Iranian/Persian, Illyrian, Greek/Hellenic and Teutonic/Frankish origins in Croatia's ancient history of ethnolinguistic influences



Horvátország, Adria - Ahogy mi mindig is szerettük
Viete, kde je slovenské more? Predsa v Chorvátsku!
Stará láska s mladým srdcem
Mały kraj na wielkie wakacje