Croatia officially the
Republic of Croatia, is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in
Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the
Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city in Zagreb. The country is divided
into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres
(21,851 square miles) and has diverse, mostly continental and Mediterranean
climates. Croatia's Adriatic Sea coast is long and traced by more than a
thousand islands. The country's population is 4.29 million, most of whom are
Croats, and the main religion is Roman Catholicism.
In the early 7th century the Croats arrived in area of
present-day Croatia. The Croats were a Slavic tribe, coming into the Balkans
from an area in and around today’s Poland or western Ukraine. Many modern
scholars believe that the early Croat people, as well as other early Slavic
groups, were agricultural populations that were ruled by the nomadic
Iranian-speaking Alans. It is unclear whether the Alans contributed much more
than a ruling caste or a class of warriors; the evidence on their contribution
is mainly philological and etymological.
The Christianization of the Croats began after their arrival,
probably in the 7th century, influenced by the proximity of the old Roman cities
in Dalmatia. The process was completed in the north by the beginning of the 9th
century. The beginnings of the Christianization are also disputed in the
historical texts: the Byzantine texts talk of duke Porin who started this at the
incentive of emperor Heraclius, then of Prince Porga who mainly Christianized
his people after the influence of missionaries from Rome, while the national
tradition recalls Christianization during the rule of Dalmatian Prince Borna. It
is possible that these are all renditions of the same ruler's name.
The last Prince of the Pannonian Croats under the Franks was
Braslav (died in 897?), mentioned in 896, who died in a war with the Magyars,
who then migrated to the Pannonian plain. In Dalmatia, Duke Tomislav (910–928)
succeeded Muncimir. Tomislav successfully repelled Magyar attacks, expelled them
up to the Drava River on north, and united Pannonian and Dalmatian Croats into
one state.
KINGDOM OF CROATIA (925-1102)
Tomislav became the first king by 925 AD, elevating Croatia
to the status of a kingdom. The state was ruled mostly by native Croats of
Trpimirovic dynasty until 1102. Tomislav, a descendant of Trpimir I, is
considered the founder of the Trpimirović dynasty. Sometime between 923 and 928,
Tomislav succeeded in uniting the Croats of Pannonian and Dalamtia, each of
which had been ruled separately by dukes, and was crowned as king in the Duvno
field (the central town in the Duvno field is still named Tomislavgrad ("Tomislav's
city") in his honour). The chief piece of evidence that Tomislav was crowned
king comes in the form of a letter dated 925, surviving only in 16th-century
copies, from Pope John X calling Tomislav rex Chroatorum. Tomislav's
state covered most of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Bosnia and Slavonia. He administered
his Kingdom as a group of eleven counties and one banate (Banovina). Each of
these regions had a fortified royal town.
Tomislav soon came into conflict with the Bulgars under
Emperor Simeon I (called Simeon the Great in Bulgaria). Tomislav made a pact
with the Byzantine Empire, which allowed him to control the Byzantine cities in
Dalmatia as long as he curbed Bulgarian expansion. In 926, Simeon tried to break
the Croatian-Byzantine pact, sending duke Alogobotur with a formidable army
against Tomislav, but Simeon's army was defeated in the Battle of the Bosnian
Highlands. According to the contemporary De Administrando Imperio,
Tomislav's army and navy could have consisted approximately 100,000 infantry
units, 60,000 cavaliers, and 80 larger (sagina) and 100 smaller warships,
but generally isn't taken as credible.
Demetrius Zvonimir (died 1089) was the King of Croatia of the
Svetoslavić branch of the House of Trpimirovic. He began as the Ban of Slavonia
in the service of King Stephen I and then as Duke of Croatia for his successor
King Peter Kresimir IV. Peter declared him his heir and, in late 1074 or early
1075, Demetrius Zvonimir succeeded to the Croatian throne. Demetrius Zvonimir
married in 1063 to his distant relative Jelena Lijepa ("Jelena the Beautiful").
Queen Jelena (Ilona) was a Hungarian princess, the daughter of King Bela I of
the Hungarian Arpad dynasty, and was the sister of the future King Ladislaus I
of Hungary. Demetrius Zvonimir and Jelena had a son, Radovan, who died in his
late teens or early twenties. King Demetrius Zvonimir died in 1089. The exact
circumstances of his death are unknown, but according to a later, likely
unsubstantiated legend, King Zvonimir was killed during the revolt of the Sabor
in 1089.With no direct heir
to succeed him, Stephen II (reigned 1089–1091) of the main Trpimirović line came
to the throne at an old age and reigned for two years. This succession was
contested by a faction of nobles from northern Croatia (Pannonia). The nobles
offered the Croatian throne to King Ladislaus I of Hungary, who claimed the
Croatian crown through his sister Queen Jelena, King Demetrius Zvonimir's widow.
The Queen enjoyed significant influence in northern Croatia and apparently used
it to bolster her brother's claim.
Stephen II was to be the last King of the House of
Trpimirovic. His rule was relatively ineffectual and lasted less than two years.
He spent most of this time in the tranquility of the monastery of Sv. Stjepan
pod Borovima (St. Stephen beneath the Pines) near Split. He died at the
beginning of 1091, without leaving an heir. Since there was no living male
member of the House of Trpimirovic, civil war and unrest broke out shortly
afterward. At the same time (1091), with the death of Stephen II setting the
stage, King Ladislaus I of Hungary at last accepted the nomination of northern
nobles and claimed the Croatian crown. He entered the Croatian Kingdom with an
army in 1094, and established his rule in northern Croatia (Pannonia) with
little resistance. During the same year (1094) he founded the Zagreb bishopric,
which later became the ecclesiastical center of Croatia. However, Ladislaus'
claim was rejected by the nobles of southern Croatia, who resisted his forces
successfully in the mountainous southern terrain and maintained their
independence. At this time, the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus sent the
Cumans to attack Hungary and forced the Hungarian army to retreat from Croatia.
Alexius did, however, allow the Hungarian Prince Almos to rule over northern
Croatia (Pannonia).
In 1093, the southern Croatian feudal lords, struggling to
remain independent of Hungary, elected a new ruler, King Peter Svacic (reigned
1093–1097). He managed to unify the Kingdom around his capital of Knin and force
the Hungarian Prince Álmos from northern Croatia in 1095. With this he restored
Croatian rule up to the river Drava, reclaiming nearly all territory lost to
Ladislaus I, who soon died in 1095.
Ladislaus' successor and nephew was King
Coloman, and he resolved to press the Hungarian claim on the Croatian crown and
continue the campaign. He made peace with Pope Urban II and led a large army
into the Croatian Kingdom in 1097. Under his leadership, a Hungarian army
quickly defeated King Peter's defenses along the river Drava and regained
control over the Pannonian Croatian plains (northern Croatia). His forces were
stopped however, as they approached the mountainous southern regions which
resisted the Hungarian claim. He therefore reassembled his forces in Croatia and
advanced on Gvozd Mountain where he met the main Croatian army assembled under
King Peter. In the ensuing Battle of Gvozd Mountain, King Peter was killed and
the Croats were decisively defeated. As a consequence of the battle, King
Coloman gained control of most of Croatia without resistance. However, when in
1099 Coloman and his forces were called back to the northeast to fight the
Ruthenians and Cumans in Galicia, the Croatian nobles took the opportunity to
liberate themselves from Hungarian rule once again.
In 1102, Coloman returned to the Kingdom of
Croatia in force, and negotiated with the Croatian feudal lords from a position
of power. As a consequence, King Coloman was crowned and the Hungarian and
Croatian crowns were joined (with the crown of Dalmatia held separate from that
of Croatia). The title now claimed by Coloman was "King of Hungary, Dalmatia,
and Croatia".
THE CROATIA IN THE KINGDOM OF HUNGARY (1102-1527)
The consequences of the change to the Hungarian king included the
introduction of feudalism and the rise of the native noble families
such as Frankopan and Subic. The later kings sought to restore
some of their previously lost influence by giving certain privileges
to the towns. For the next four centuries, the Kingdom of Croatia
was ruled by the Sabor (parliament) and a Ban (viceroy) appointed by
the king.
The princes of Bribir from the Šubić family became
particularly influential, asserting control over large parts of
Dalmatia, Slavonia and Bosnia. Later, however, the Angevins
intervened and restored royal power. In the 1301 the Arpad dynasty
terminated and the Angiò family becomed the new royal family.
Separate coronation as King of Croatia was gradually allowed to
fall into abeyance and last crowned king is Charles Robert in 1301
after which Croatia contented herself with a separate diploma
inaugurale. The reign of Louis I (1342–1382) is considered the
golden age of Croatian medieval history. Sigismund of Luxemburg also
sold the whole of Dalmatia to Venice in 1409. 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.
In 1490 the Jagellone family becomed the new royal family of
kingdom of Hungary. In this year the estates of Croatia declined to
recognize Vladislaus II until he had taken oath to respect their
liberties, and insisted upon his erasing from the diploma certain
phrases which seemed to reduce Croatia to the rank of a mere
province. The dispute was solved in 1492
Ottoman conquest led to the 1493 Battle of Krbava field and 1526 Battle
of Mohacs, both ending in decisive Ottoman victories. King Louis II died at
Mohács, and in 1526. In the 1527 the Parliament on Cetin elected Ferdinand I of
the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne.
THE CROATIA IN THE ARCIDUCATE OF AUSTRIA (1527-1804)
In this period the Croatia was the south part of state of the Habsburg. The
Habsburg organized the Croatia as Military Frontier rispect to the Ottoman
Empire.
The area became rather deserted and was subsequently settled by
Serbs, Vlachs, Croats and Germans and others. As a result of
their compulsory military service to the Habsburg Empire during
conflict with the Ottoman Empire, the population in the Military
Frontier was free of serfdom and enjoyed much political autonomy,
unlike the population living in the parts ruled by Hungary.
After
the Bihac fort finally fell in 1592, only small parts of Croatia
remained unconquered. The Ottoman army was successfully repelled for
the first time on the territory of Croatia following the battle of
Sisak in 1593. The lost territory was mostly restored, except
for large parts of today's Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Between the 1690 and 1739 a strong part of the population of the
Serbs migrated in Croatia.
By the 18th century, the Ottoman Empire was driven out of
Hungary, and Austria brought the empire under central control.
Empress Maria Theresa of Austria was supported by the
Croatians in the War of Austrian Succession of 1741–1748 and
subsequently made significant contributions to Croatian matters. At
the end of this conflict Maria Theresa started the new dynasty of
the Habsburg-Lorena.
THE CROATIA UNDER NAPOLEON (1797-1813)
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. In response the Royal Navy started the blockade of Adriatic Sea
leading to the Battle of Vis in 1811.
THE CROATIA IN THE EMPIRE OF AUSTRIA (1813-67)
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 restoratian of the Croatian Littoral to the Kingdom of
Croatia, now both under the same crown.
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. 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. 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. According to the new situation in the empire, the
Croatia became part of the Hungarian area.
THE CROATIA IN THE EMPIRE OF AUSTRIA-HUNAGARY (1867-1918)
In the 1868 Croats and Hungarians stipulated a compromise.
It recognized that Croatia had its own territory (the Kingdom of Croatia and
Slavonia) and guaranteed self-government under a Croatian Parliament (Sabor)
meeting in Zagreb. In the field of home affairs, the Croats occupied justice and
education, besides Serb-Croat was recognized as a national language.
In the 1881 a part of Serbia was annexed to the Croatia.
In this way the percentage of Serbs increased in the country and this became a
problem. In fact the Craotian extremist led by Ante Starcevic refused to
recognize the Serbian claims. In the next years the tension between Serbs and
Croats increased and in 1902 there were the first clashes between between them
in Zagreb.
In 1914 it began the War World I and the Croats were
mobilized in war by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In the 1918 the war terminated and the Austro-Hungarian
Empire dissolved. From its ashes formed new states including the new kingdom of
Yugoslavia (which the Croatia was a part).
THE CROATIA IN THE KINGDOM OF YUGOSLAVIA (1918-41)
In 1918 it created the new Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which
included several peoples including the Croats. the leadership of new state was
immediately taken by the Serbs, who extended their influence over all the
territories of the new state. This caused big friction between the people of
Yugoslavia which was formed. The Croats were always opposition against the
government of Serbia. In fact they felt deprived of their cultural and political
rights in favor of the Serbs.
Meanwhile in Europe were formed right-wing dictatorships
and even the yugoslav-serb government became more hard against the other
political parts of the kingdom. In 1939 started World War II and in 1941 Italy
and Germany invaded Yugoslavia and put an end to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
THE CROATIA IN THE WORLD WAR II (1941-45)
In 1941 Italy and Germany invaded la Jugoslavia and
divided this in various parts. Italy and Germany annexed different parts while
others were declared indipendent as the Croatia, that became indipendent in the
form of the kingdom. This kingdom was de facto governed by Germany and Italy.
This situation lasted until 1943. In fact in 1943 in Italy the fascist
government fell and the Germany replaced the Italy in the government of
the Croatia. Meanwhile it started the resistence in Jugoslavia organized by
"Tito". In two years, the Tito's jugoslav forces liberated the Jugoslavia by
Nazi-Fascists.
In the 1945 Tito inaugurated the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
THE CROATIA IN THE REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA (1945-91)
Croatia was a Socialist Republic part of a six-part
Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. Under the new communist system,
privately owned factories and estates were nationalized, and the economy was
based on a type of planned market socialism. The country underwent a rebuilding
process, recovered from World War II, went through industrialization and started
developing tourism.
The country's socialist system also provided fre
apartments from big companies, which with the worker self-management investments
paid for the living spaces. From 1963, the citizens of Jugoslavia were allowed
to travel to almost any country because of neutral politics. No visas were
required to travel to eastern or western countries, capitalist or communist
nations. Such free travel was unheard of at the time in the Eastern Bloc
countries, and in some western countries as well (e.g. Spain or Portugal, both
dictatorships at the time). This proved to be very helpful for Croatia's
inhabitans who found working in foreign countries more financially
rewarding. Upon retirement, a popular plan was to return to live in Croatia
(then Yugoslavia) to buy a more expansive property.
In Yugoslavia, the people of Croatia were guaranteed free
healthcare, free dental care and secure pensions. The older generation found this very comforting as
pensions would sometimes exceed their former paychecks. Free trade and travel within the country also helped
Croatian
industries that imported and exported throughout all the former republics. Students and
military personnel were encouraged to visit other republics to learn
more about the country, and all levels of education, especially
secondary education and higher education were gratis. In reality the housing was
inferior with poor heat and plumbing, the medical care often lacking
even in availability of antibiotics, schools were propaganda
machines and travel was a necessity to provide the country with hard
currency. The propagandists who want people to believe "neutral
policies" equalized Serbs and Croats severely restricted free speech
and did not protect citizens from ethnic attacks. Membership in the
party was as much a prerequisite for admission to colleges and for
government jobs as in the Soviet Union under Stalin or Kruchev.
Private sector businesses did not grow as the taxes on private
enterprise were often prohibitive. Inexperienced management
sometimes ruled policy and controlled decisions by brute force.
Strikes were forbidden, Owner/Managers were not permitted to make
changes in decisions which would impact their productivity or
profit.
The economy developed into a type of socialism called
samoupravljanje (self-management), in which workers controlled
socially-owned enterprises. This kind of market socialism created
significantly better economic conditions than in the Eastern Bloc
countries. Croatia went through intensive industrialization in the
1960s and 1970s with industrial output increasing several-fold and
with Zagreb surpassing Belgrade for the amount of industry.
The constitution of 1963 balanced the power in the country
between the Croats and the Serbs, and alleviated the fact that the
Croats were again in a minority. Trends after 1965 (like the fall of
OZNA AND UDBA chief Alexandar Rankovic from power in 1966),
however, led to the
Croatian Spring of 1970–71, when students in Zagreb organized
demonstrations for greater civil liberties and greater Croatian
autonomy. The regime stifled the public protest and incarcerated the
leaders, but this led to the ratification of a new Constitution in
1974, giving more rights to the individual republics.
1980-91
In the 1980 Tito dead and 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. In January 1990, the Communist Party
fragmented along national lines, with the Croatian faction demanding a looser
federation. In the same year, the first multi-party elections were held in
Croatia, with Franjo Tudman 's win raising nationalist tensions further. 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. As tensions rose, Croatia declared independence in
June 1991, however the declaration came into effect on 8 October 1991.
THE CROATIA INDIPENDENT (1991- PRESENT)
Croatian War of Independence (1991-95)
The declaration of indipendence of Zagabria wasn't
accepted by Belgrado and this caused the biginning of war between Serbs and
Croats. The war lasted from 1991 to 1995. To the beginning the war involved only
the territory of Croatia. At this stage of the war there were several bloody
episodes as the border city of Vukuvar underwent a three month siege - the
Battle of Vukuvar- during which most of the city was destryed and a majority of
the popolutaion was forced to flee. The city fell to the Serbian forces on
November 18, 1991 and the Vukuvar massacre occured.
In a second time the war spread to the repubblica of
Bosnia-Herzegovina because in the meantime this had declared indipendence by
Belgrado. At this point the war became harder and this led to an increase in
violent episodes especially for the population in Bosnia, however at this point
Croatia became less exposed to the war in Bosnia and moved almost completely.
During 1992 and 1993, Croatia also handled an estimated 700,000
refugees from Bosnia, mainly Bosnian Muslims.
Armed conflict in Croatia remained intermittent and mostly on a
small scale until 1995. In early August, Croatia embarked on
Operation Storm , this action, though illegal under the UN, would
not have been initiated if not for the approval from the United
States. The Croatian attack quickly reconquered most of the
territories from the Republic of Serbian Krajina authorities,
leading to a mass exodus of the Serbian population. An estimated
90,000–350,000 Serbs fled shortly before, during and after the
operation. As a result of this operation, a few months later the
Bosnian war ended with the negotiation of the Dayton Agreement. A
peaceful integration of the remaining Serbian-controlled territories
in aestern Slavonia was completed in 1998 under UN supervision. The
majority of the Serbs who fled from the former Krajina have
not returned due to fears of ethnic violence, discrimination and
property repossession problems, and the Croatian government has yet
to achieve the conditions for full reintegration. According to
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, around 125,000 ethnic
Serbs who fled the 1991-1995 conflict are registered as having
returned to Croatia, of whom around 55,000 remain permanently.
The Peacetime (1996-present)
Croatia today has a comparatively very high among Central European
nations in terms of education, health, quality of life and economic
dynamism. The Internetional Monetary Fund classified Croatia as an
emerging and developing economy, and the World Bank identified it as
a high income economy. Croatia is a member of the United Nations,
the Council of Europe, NATO (2009), the World Trade Organization,
CEFTA and a founding member of the Union of the Mediterranean.
Croatia is an acceding state of the European Union with full
membership expected in July 2013. As an active participant in the UN
peacekeeping forces, Croatia has contributed troops to the NATO-led
mission in Afghanistan and took a non-permanent seat on the UN
Security Council for the 2008–2009 term.
Croatia is located in Central and Southeast Europe, bordering
Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the southeast,
Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Monetenegro and
the Adriatric Sea to the south. It lies mostly between
latitudes 42 and 47 N and longitudes 13 AND 20 E. Part of the
territory in the extreme south is separated from the rest of the
mainland by a short coastline strip belonging to Bosnia and
Herzegovina around Neum.
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 largest in the world. 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 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 each of
them having an area of around 405 km.
The hilly northern parts of Hrvatsko Zagorie 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 Vukuvar 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.
Karst topography makes up about half of Croatia and is especially
prominent in the Dinaric Alps. 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.
Croatia can be subdivided between a number of
ecoregions because of its climate and
geomorphology, and the country is consequently one of
the richest in Europe in terms of biodiversity. There
are four types of biogeographical regions in
Croatia—Mediterranean along the coast and in its
immediate hinterland, Alpine in most of Lika and Gorski
Kotar, Pannonian along Drava and Danube, and continental
in the remaining areas. One of the most significant are
Karst habitats which include submerged karst, such as
Zrmanja and Krka canyons and tufa barriers, as
well as underground habitats. The karst geology harbours
approximately 7.000 caves and pits, some of which
are habitat of the only known aquatic cave vertebrate.
Forests are also significantly present in the country,
as they cover 2,490,000 hectares (6,200,000 acres)
representing 44% of Croatian land surface. The other
habitat types include wetlands, grasslands, bogs, fens,
scrub habitats, coastal and marine habitats. In terms of
phytogeography, Croatia is a part of the Boreal Kingdom
and is a part of Illyrian and Central European provinces
of the Circumboreal Region and the Adriatic
province of the Mediterraneam Region. The World Wilde
Fund for Nature divides Croatia between three ecoregions—
Pannonian mixed forest, Dinaric Mountains mixed forests,
Dinaric Mountains mixed forests and Illyrian
deciduous forest.
There are 37,000 known species in
Croatia, but their actual number is estimated to be
between 50,000 and 100,000. The claim is supported by
nearly 400 new taxa of invertebrates discovered in
Croatia in the first half of the 2000s (decade) alone.
There are more than a thousand endemic species,
especially in Velebit and Biokovo mountains, Adriatic
islands and karst rivers. Legislation protects 1,131
species. The most serious threat to them is loss and
degradation of habitats. A further problem is presented
by appearance of invasive alien species, especially
Caulerpa taxifolia algae. The invasive algae are
regularly monitored and removed to protect the benthic
habitat. Indigenous sorts of cultivated plants and
breeds of domesticated animals are also numerous. Those
include five breeds of horses, five breeds of cattle,
eight breeds of sheep, two breeds of pigs and a poultry
breed. Even the indigenous breeds include nine
endangered or critically endangered ones.
There are 444 protected areas of Croatia,
encompassing 9% of the country. Those include 8 national
parks in Croatia, 2 strict reserves and 10 nature parks.
The most famous protected area and the oldest national
park in Croatia is the Plitvice Lakes National Park, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site. Velebit Nature Park is a
part of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme. The
strict and special reserves, as well as the national and
nature parks, are managed and protected by the central
government, while other protected areas are managed by
counties. In 2005, the National Ecological Network was
set up, as the first step in preparation of the EU
accession and joining of the Natura2000 network.
Croatia is a
unitary democratic parliamentary republic.
With the collapse of the ruling communist
party in SFR Yugoslavia, Croatia adopted its
present constitution in 1990 and organised
its first multi-party elections. It declared
indipence on 8 October 1991 leading to the
breakup of Yugoslavia and the country
was internationally recognised by the United
Nations in 1992. Under its 1990
constitution, Croatia operated a
semi-presidential system until 2000 when it
switched to a parliamentary system.
Government powers in Croatia are divided
into legislative, executive and judiciary
powers. The legal system of Croatia is
civil law, strongly influenced, as is the
institutional framework, by the legal
heritage of Austria-Hungary. By the time EU
accession negotiations were completed on 30
June 2010, Croatian legislation was fully
harmonised with the Community acquis.
The Presisdent of
the Republic is the head of state , directly
elected to a five-year term and is limited
by the Constitution to a maximum of two
terms. In addition to being the commander in
chiefof the armed forces, the president has
the procedural duty of appointing the prime
minister with the consent of the parliament,
and has some influence on foreign policy.
The most recent presidential elections were
held on 10 January 2010, when Ivo Josipovic
won. He took the oath of office on 18
February 2010.
The government
is headed by the prime minister, who has
four deputy prime ministers and 17 ministers
in charge of particular sectors of activity.
The executive branch is responsible for
proposing legislation and a budget,
executing the laws, and guiding the foreign
and internal policies of the republic.
Government's official residence is at Banski
dvori. Since 23 December 2011, the prime
minister of the government has been
Zoran Milanovic.
The parliament
is a unicameral legislative body. A second
chamber, the House of Counties, set
up in 1993 pursuant to the 1990
Constitution, was abolished in 2001. The
number of Sabor members can vary from 100 to
160; they are all elected by popular vote to
serve four-year terms. The sessions of the
Sabor take place from January 15 to July 15,
and from September 15 to December 15. The
two largest political parties in Croatia are
the Croatian Democratic Union and the Social
Democratic Party of Croatia.
Croatia has a
three-tiered judicial system, made up of the
Supreme Court, County courts, and Municipal
courts. The Costitutional Court
rules on matters regarding the Constitution.
In addition there are misdemeanour courts,
commercial courts and administrative courts.
Law enforcement in Croatia is the
responsibility of the Croatian police force,
which is under the control of the Ministry
of the Interior. In recent years, the force
has been undergoing a reform with assistance
from international agencies, including the
Organization for Security for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) since its
mission to Croatia began on 18 April 1996.
