Croatia

Geography: Croatia is a former Yugoslav republic on the Adriatic Sea...Part of Croatia is a barren, rocky region lying in the Dinaric Alps...The Zagorje region north of the capital, Zagreb, is a land of rolling hills, and the fertile agricultural region of the Pannonian Plain is bordered by the Drava, Danube, and Sava Rivers in the east...More than one-third of Croatia is forested.

Slobodan preaching in Rijeka - I used to be pastor in Rijeka in the early 1980s

Neighbors: Slovenia, Hungary on the N, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Serbia and Montenegro on the E.

Population: 4,676,865.

Capital: Zagreb, 930,753.

Major Languages: Croatian 96%; Other 4%

Main exports: Machinery and transport equipment, clothing, chemicals

Average annual income: US $4,530

Monetary unit: 1 kuna = 100 lipa

International dialling code: +385

Church service in the Balkans

Religion: Roman Catholic 72.5%, Orthodox 14.8%, Muslim 5% mainly Bosnian refugees, Jehovah's Witness 0.15%, non-religious-other about 7%.

Evangelicals comprise only 0.12% of the total population.

Brief History

From the 7th century the area was inhabited by Croats, a south Slavic people. It was formed into a kingdom under Tomislav in 924, and joined with Hungary in 1102. The Croats became westernized and separated from Slaves under Austro-Hungarian influence. The Croats retained autonomy under Hungarian crown. Slavonia was taken by Turks in the 16th century; the northern part was restored by the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.

Slobodan with Pastor Spoljaric in Rijeka

Croatia helped Austria put down the Hungarian revolution 1848-49 and as a result was set up with Slavonia as the separate Austrian crownland of Croatia and Slavonia, which was reunited to Hungary as part of Aus-ghleich in 1857. It united with other Yugoslav areas to proclaim the kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in 1918. At the reorganization of Yugoslavia in 1929, Croatia and Slavonia became Savska co., which in 1939 was united with Primorje co. to form the county of Croatia. A nominally independent state between 1941-45, it became a constituent republic in the 1946 constitution.

On June 25, 1991, Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia after which a war broke out with the Serbian population of Croatia. In August 1995 about 250,000 Serbs were expelled from their homes in Croatia as refugees.

Political Status

Slobodan in the pearl of the Adriatic, the city of Dubrovnik

Croatia is emerging from a decade in which it experienced a bitter war as the former Yugoslavia broke up. Unemployment rate is around 20%.
Presidential and parliamentary elections at the beginning of 2000 ushered in politicians far more committed to Croatia's integration into the European mainstream. The constitution has been changed to shift power away from the president to the parliament. Croatia has joined the World Trade Organization and has pledged to open up its economy.