Croatia

Republic of Croatia (Croatian Hrvatska republika) is located in the southeastern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Croatia was formerly a constituent republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia declared its independence on June 25th 1999. Croatia lays on the area of 56,538 sq km. This area is divided into 20 counties called županije and The City of Zagreb, which is separate territorial and administrative unit. Croatia’s neighbors are Slovenia and Hungary on the north, on the east and south Bosnia and Herzegovina and on the east by Serbia, constituent republic of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In the south a 20 km wide section of Bosnia extends to the sea and separates narrow coastal strip of Croatia from the rest of the country. Neighbor of this part of the country is Montenegro, other constituent republic of FRY. The west boundary is formed by the Adriatic Sea. Croatian’s coastline is long 5,790 km (mainland 1,778 km, islands 4,012 km). The Croatian biggest mountain range are Dinaric Alps. The highest peak is called Dinara (1830 m above sea level). The coastal range is partially submerged, creating numerous bays, gulfs, inlets and more than 1,000 offshore islands. The historic area of Istria, a peninsula that stretches out into the Adriatic lies to the north and west of Dalmatia, narrow, barren strip of land within Dinaric Alps that slopes down to the Adriatic sea. Largest Croatians islands are Krk (409 sq km), Cres (405,8 sq km), Brač (394,6 sq km) and Hvar (299,7 sq km). Major rivers in Croatia includes European main river Danube (188 km in Croatia), then Sava (562 km), Drava (505 km) – which empty into the Danube, and Kupa (22 km). Major lakes include Lake Vransko (30,7 sq km) and Peruča (13,0 sq km). Maybe the most famous lakes in Croatia are Plitvice lakes (National Park). The Plitvice lakes incorporate a sequence of 16 lakes and the adjacent area. The lakes are connected with numerous waterfalls, the first lake is situated at an altitude of 636 m above sea level. Another very beautiful national parks are Kornati (most indented archipelago in Mediterranean), Brijumi Islands (the most interesting Istrian archipelago because of its cultural, historical and natural features), Krka river (the most beautiful river in Croatian karst with 7 waterfall areas) and others. On this area there lives 4,671,584 inhabitants of Croatia. That’s 83 persons per sq km.

Among 78.1% of Croats there lives Serbs (12.2%), Muslims (0.9%), Hungarians (0.5%), Slovenian (0.5%), Czech (0.4%), Albanian (0.3%), Montenegrin (0.3%), Roma (0.2%), others, including Slovaks (6.6%). Official language of Croatia is Croatian, 96% percent speak Croatian, other 4% speak Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and German. Major confession in Croatia is Roman-Catholic (76.5%), other religions include Orthodox (11.1%), Muslim (1.2%), Protestant (0.4%), others and unknown (10.8%).

The capital and the largest city in the city of Croatia is Zagreb with 706,770 inhabitants. The diocese was found in 1094 at the locality of Kaptol. In 1242 King Bela IV granted “The Golden Seal” to the city of Zagreb , giving it the status of a free royal town. Zagreb is political, economical and cultural center of Croatia. It is also important rail, road and air traffic intersection. University of Zagreb was found in 1669. Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences is also seated in Zagreb. Other important cities include Split (189,338) a seaport, Rijeka (167,964) also a seaport, Osijek (104,761) an agricultural and industrial center. We can also count Dubrovnik as important city, because of its historical importance. After breaking from Yugoslavia, Croatia was second-most prosperous and industrialized country after Slovenia. But after outbreak of war Croatia’s economy went into steep decline. After recovering from war Croatia became prosperous country. Croatian exports include foodstuff, chemicals and ships. Consumer goods, equipment, fuel and food dominate country’s imports.
The Croatian currency is the kuna (6,10 Kn equal $1 US; 1997 average). One kuna can be divided to 100 lipas. From its introduction kuna remain relatively stable against American dollar. Croatia’s central bank and bank of issue is National bank of Croatia. The most important sectors in Croatian economy are industry (32,8% of 1991 GDP), trade (22,5%), transportation and communications, and agriculture and fishing (11,4% each), constructions industry (6,8%), crafts (3,7%), financial and other services (3,5%), catering and tourism (3,4%) and forestry (1,4%). Biggest companies in industry includes petrochemical company INA Industrija Nafte, transportation company Croatia Line, then Hrvatska Elektropriveda, pharmaceutical company Pliva or foodstuff company Podravka. Croatia is a parliamentary democracy. In Republic of Croatia the government is organized of the separation of powers into the legislative, executive and judicial branches. The Croatian Parliament called Sabor is a body of elected representatives of the people and it is vested with the legislative power in the Republic of Croatia.

The Croatian Parliament is bicameral: it consists of the House of Representatives (Zastupnički dom) and the House of Counties (Županijsky dom). Head of the state is president who is elected on basis of universal and equal suffrage at direct elections for a term of five years. First president of Croatia was Franjo Tuđman, elected by Parliament of the Socialist Republic of Croatia on May 30, 1990. On the direct presidential elections in August 1992, he was re-elected president of the independent Croatia. After his death new president was elected Stjepan Mesiċ, chairmen of House of Representatives and the Croatian Parliament. The government of the Republic of Croatia is the highest executive and administrative body in Croatia.
Judicial power is exercised by the system of courts, which are independent and autonomous and administrate justice on the basis of Constitution and law.