land and people
With about 4.3 million inhabitants, Croatia is 21st among the members of the European Union. For the past twenty years, the population has been decreasing. Croatia has this in common with Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania, Estonia, Hungary, Poland...
As early as the 18th century, there were workshops in Croatia for the manufacture of utilitarian and ornamental items (stoves, stoneware, glassware, ceramics, furniture). In 1882, thanks to the efforts of architect Herman Bollé, the School of Crafts...
There are several large companies under private ownership in Croatia, which play a significant role in foreign trade. Some of them are significant technological innovators. There are also publicly owned companies of exceptional interest for the country, mainly...
In Croatia, photography appeared around 1840. Among the first to make daguerreotypes was Demetrije Novaković, who was followed by many other amateurs, such as Juraj Drašković and Dragutin Antun Parčić. After 1850, photography ateliers were established...
A large number of protected natural areas and features show that Croatia is a country of exceptional, diverse, and comparatively well-preserved natural beauty, of which some examples, such as the Plitvice Lakes, are famous throughout the world.
In the Great (Viennese) War (1683–99), large parts of Croatia and Slavonia were liberated from Ottoman rule and the border of the Dubrovnik Republic finally determined. The Venetian Republic, which had established itself in Dalmatia, also participated...
Traditional Croatian culture is characterised by exceptional diversity. Ecological conditions and the influences of the cultures with which the Croats have come into contact through history (Mediterranean, Central European, Ancient Balkan, Oriental, etc.)...
The names Croat and Croatia in the country as it is today have gradually superseded the ethnically wider concept of the Slavs and their first territorial groupings, Sklavonija, Slovinje (Sclaviniae), and the individual names of the ancient Illyrian tribes...
Croatian medieval literature, unique in being produced in three languages (Latin, Old Slavonic and the vernacular) and three scripts (Roman, Glagolitic and Cyrillic) developed from the 8th to 16th century in the form of poetry, verse dialogue...
Croatia has been present on the contemporary international political stage since its independence from the Yugoslav Federation, i.e. for a little less than three decades, but is one of the oldest European countries in terms of history and culture.
