Croats are a
South SlavicThe South Slavs are a southern branch of the Slavic peoples that live mainly in the Balkans. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the southern Pannonian Plain, the eastern Alps and the Balkan peninsula and they speak South Slavic languages...
ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...
mostly living in
CroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a country in southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Zagreb...
,
Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( or (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian Latin: Bosna i Hercegovina; Serbian Cyrillic: Босна и Херцеговина) is a country in Southeast Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula...
and nearby countries. There are around 5 million Croats living in the southern
Central EuropeCentral Europe is the region lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. The term and widespread interest in the region itself came back into fashion after the end of the Cold War, which, along with the Iron Curtain, had divided Europe politically into East and West,...
region, along the east bank of the
Adriatic SeaThe Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges. The Adriatic Sea is a part of the Mediterranean Sea...
and an estimated 9 million throughout the world. Due to political, social and economic reasons, many Croats have since migrated throughout the world, and established a notable
Croatian diasporaCroatian Diaspora refers to the Croatian communities that have formed outside Croatia.-Bosnia and Herzegovina:* See Croats of Bosnia and HerzegovinaCroats form one of the three constitutive nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina...
. Large Croat communities exists in a number of countries, including The United States,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
,
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
,
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
and
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
. Croats are noted for their culture, which throughout the ages, has been variously influenced by both
Western worldThe Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term that can have multiple meanings depending on its context...
and the
the Eastern worldThe term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various cultures, social structures and philosophical systems of "the East", namely Asia and Eastern Europe ....
. The Croats are predominantly Catholic and their language is
CroatianCroatian is a South Slavic language which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Croatian minorities in some neighbouring countries, in the Italian region of Molise, and parts of the Croatian diaspora....
.
Locations
CroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a country in southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Zagreb...
is the nation state of the Croats, while in the adjacent
Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( or (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian Latin: Bosna i Hercegovina; Serbian Cyrillic: Босна и Херцеговина) is a country in Southeast Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula...
they are one of the three
constituent peoples.
Autochthonous Croat minorities exist in or among:
- Vojvodina
The Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province in Serbia, containing about 27% of its total population according to the 2002 Census. It is located in the northern part of the country, in the Pannonian plain of Central Europe...
, the northern autonomous province of SerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country located in both Central and Southeastern Europe. Its territory covers the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and central part of the Balkans...
, where the Croatian languageCroatian is a South Slavic language which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Croatian minorities in some neighbouring countries, in the Italian region of Molise, and parts of the Croatian diaspora....
is official (along with five other languages); the vast majority of the ŠokciŠokci are a Slavic population, living in various settlements along the Danube and Sava rivers in the historic regions of Slavonia, Baranja, Syrmia and western Bačka...
consider themselves Croats, as well as many BunjevciBunjevci are a Slavic people originating from the Dinaric Alps region , and today living mostly in the Bačka region Vojvodina situated in northern Serbia and...
(the latter had settled the vast and abandoned area after the Ottoman retreat, as well as other nationalities there; the origins of this Croat subgroup are from the south; mostly in the region of BačkaBačka is an area of the Pannonian plain lying between the rivers Danube and Tisa...
).
- The Šokci
Šokci are a Slavic population, living in various settlements along the Danube and Sava rivers in the historic regions of Slavonia, Baranja, Syrmia and western Bačka...
and BunjevciBunjevci are a Slavic people originating from the Dinaric Alps region , and today living mostly in the Bačka region Vojvodina situated in northern Serbia and...
communities in Bács-KiskunBács-Kiskun is a county located in southern Hungary. It was created as a result of World War II, merging the pre war Bács-Bodrog and Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun counties. With an area of 8,445 km
2, Bács-Kiskun is the largest county in the country. The terrain is mostly flat with slight...
county in HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
.
- Croats are a recognized people in the Montenegro
Montenegro , is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast, Kosovo to the east and Albania to the south...
as well as Croatian language in use; they mostly live in the Bay of KotorThe Bay of Kotor in south-western Montenegro and south-eastern Croatia, is a winding bay on the Adriatic Sea. The bay, sometimes called Europe's southernmost fjord, is in fact a submerged river canyon of the disintegrated Bokelj River which used to run from the high mountain plateaus of Mount Orjen...
.
- a very small community in Carso and Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in north eastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south, east and north of the city...
area, in ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
. This is the northwesternmost area populated by of Croats - they are mostly assimilated, but there traces in surnames and some placenames.
- Primorska
The Slovenian Littoral is a historical region of Slovenia. Its name recalls the historical Habsburg crown land of the Austrian Littoral, of which the Slovenian Littoral was a part....
, PrekmurjePrekmurje is the easternmost region of Slovenia. It borders Hungary to the north-east, Austria to the north-west, Croatia to the south and the Slovenian region of Styria to the south-west. For about a thousand years, it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, unlike other Slovene Lands...
and in the Metlika Metlika is a town and a municipality in Slovenia, about 80 kilometers southeast of the capital, Ljubljana, on the border with Croatia. It belongs to the traditional region of White Carniola. The town has the Jurovski Brod-Metlika border crossing with Croatia.-External links:*...
area in DolenjskaLower Carniola was a kreis of the historical Habsburg crown land of Carniola from 1849 till 1919 and is nowadays a traditional region of Slovenia. Its center is Novo Mesto, while other urban centers include Kočevje, Grosuplje, Krško, Trebnje, Črnomelj, Semič, and Metlika....
regions in SloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north...
.
- Zala
Zala is the name of an administrative county in Hungary. Itlies in south-western Hungary. It is named after the Zala River. It shares borders with Croatia and Slovenia and the Hungarian counties Vas, Veszprém and Somogy. The capital of Zala county is Zalaegerszeg. Its area is 3784 km²...
, BaranyaBaranya is the name of an administrative county in present Hungary, in the Baranya region, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary ....
and SomogySomogy is the name of an administrative county in present Hungary, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary.-Somogy county:...
counties in Hungary, which are border areas with Croatia).
- Krashovans in the Romania
Romania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
n mostly consider themselves Croatian - see Croats of RomaniaThe Croats are an ethnic minority in Romania, numbering 6,786 people according to the 2002 census. Croats mainly live in the southwest of the country, particularly in Caraş-Severin County. Declared Croatians form a majority in two Romanian localities: the communes of Caraşova and Lupac...
.
- Burgenland
Burgenland is the easternmost and least populous state or Land of Austria. It consists of two Statutarstädte and seven districts with in total 171 municipalities...
in the eastern part of AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
, and the bordering areas of western HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
(counties VasVas is the name of an administrative county in present Hungary, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary.-Vas county:...
and Győr-Moson-SopronGyőr-Moson-Sopron is the name of an administrative county in north-western Hungary, on the border with Slovakia and Austria. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Komárom-Esztergom, Veszprém and Vas. The capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron county is Győr.-History:Győr-Moson-Sopron county was...
) and SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
- the Croats of GradišćeBurgenland is the easternmost and least populous state or Land of Austria. It consists of two Statutarstädte and seven districts with in total 171 municipalities...
- Burgenland CroatsBurgenland Croats are ethnic Croats in the Austrian state of Burgenland. Although an enclave hundreds of kilometres away from their original homeland, they have managed to preserve culture and language for centuries...
.
- Kosovo
Kosovo is a disputed territory in the Balkans. Its majority is governed by the partially-recognised Republic of Kosovo , a self-declared independent state which has de facto control over the territory; the exceptions are some Serb enclaves...
- JanjevciJanjevci are Croatian inhabitants of the Kosovo town of Janjevo and surrounding villages, located near Pristina as well as villages centered on Letnica near Vitina .-Origin and history:...
(Letničani).
- Molise
Molise is a region of Southern Italy, the second smallest of the regions. It was formerly part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise and now a separate entity...
area in ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
- Molise CroatsMolise Croats live in the Molise region of Italy in the villages Acquaviva Collecroce , San Felice del Molise , Montemitro and elsewhere. In these three villages they are a majority. There are about 5,000 speakers of the Molise Croatian dialect...
.
- Szentendre
Szentendre is a riverside town in Pest county, Hungary, near the capital city of Budapest. Szentendre is known for its museums , galleries, and artists...
town in HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
, magyarized, but with a memory of their Croat origins (from DalmatiaDalmatia , is a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is situated in modern Croatia. It spreads between the island of Rab in the northwest and the Bay of Kotor, in Montenegro, in the southeast...
).
- Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
area around BratislavaBratislava is the capital of the Slovak Republic and, with a population of about 429,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River...
in villages Chorvátsky GrobChorvátsky Grob is a village and municipality in western Slovakia in Senec District in the Bratislava region.The village's name Chorvátsky means Croatian. This refers to the Croatian people that have lived in the area since the early 16th century...
, ČunovoČunovo is a small part of Bratislava, Slovakia, in the southern area near the Hungarian border. It is located close to the Gabčíkovo - Nagymaros Dams.- History :...
, Devínska Nová VesDevínska Nová Ves is a borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Its western borders are formed by the Morava River, which also represents the national border between Slovakia and Austria.- History :...
, RusovceRusovce is a borough in southern Bratislava on the right bank of the Danube river, close to the Hungarian border.- History :...
and JarovceJarovce is a small borough of Bratislava, Slovakia.- History :The village was first mentioned in 1208 under the name Ban. During the Ottoman wars, many Croats settled here in the 16th century . They are still a strong minority...
. Most of them have assimilated but a small minority still preserves its Croatian identity.
- Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, one of the former Czech lands. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region.-Geography:...
region in Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...
.
The population estimates are reasonably accurate domestically: around four million in Croatia and nearly 600,000 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, or 15% of the total population.
Diaspora
A large number of Croats were forced over the course of the time for economic or political reasons to leave their traditional homeland, thus today there exists quite a large
Croat diasporaCroatian Diaspora refers to the Croatian communities that have formed outside Croatia.-Bosnia and Herzegovina:* See Croats of Bosnia and HerzegovinaCroats form one of the three constitutive nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina...
outside of their traditional homeland of the southern Central Europe.
The first large emigration of Croats took place in the 15th and 16th centuries, at the beginning of the
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
conquests in today's Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. People fled into safer areas within today's Croatia, and other areas of the Habsburg Empire (today's Austria and Hungary). This migration resulted in Croat communities in Austria and Hungary.
At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, larger numbers of Croats emigrated, particularly for economic reasons, to overseas destinations. Some destinations included North America, South America (above all
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
(
Croatian ChileanChileno-croatas are an important ethnic group in Chile; they are citizens of Chile who where either born in Europe or are Chileans of Croatian descent deriving their Croatian ethnicity from one or both parents...
) and
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
), Australia and New Zealand.
A further larger emigration wave, this time for political reasons, took place immediately after the end of the Second World War. Here fled both collaborators of the Ustaša regime, and refugees who did not want to live under a communist regime. It is estimated that during and immediately after the Second World War (from 1939 to 1948) about 250,000 Croats had to leave the country..
In the second half the 20th century numerous Croats, to a large extent due to difficult economic living conditions, left the country as immigrant workers particularly to Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In addition some emigrants left for political reasons. This migration made a lowering of unemployment for communist Yugoslavia possible at that time and created at the same time by the transfers of the emigrants to its families an enormous foreign exchange source of income.
The last large wave of Croat emigration occurred during and after the
Yugoslav WarsThe Yugoslav Wars were a series of violent conflicts fought in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the 1990s and 2001...
, when many people from the region (not only Croats but Serbs, Bosniaks and others as well) had to leave as refugees. Migrant communities that were already established in countries such as Australia, the USA, and Germany grew as a result.
Abroad, the count is only approximate because of incomplete statistical records and
naturalizationNaturalization is the acquisition of citizenship or nationality by somebody who was not a citizen or national of that country when he or she was born....
, but (highest) estimates suggest that the Croatian diaspora numbers between a third and a half of the total number of Croats. The largest emigrant groups are in Western Europe, mainly in Germany, where it is estimated that there are around 450,000 people with direct Croatian ancestry.
Overseas, the United States contains the largest Croatian emigrant group (544,270 in the 1990 census; 374,271 in the 2000 census), mostly in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California, with a sizable community in
AlaskaAlaska is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. Then followed by
AustraliaCroatia has been a source of migrants to Australia, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2006 118,051 persons resident in Australia identified themselves as having Croatian ancestry.- History :...
(105,747 according to 2001 census, with concentrations in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth) and Canada (Southern Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Newfoundland). Croats have also emigrated in several waves into Latin America mostly to South America: chiefly Chile, Argentina, and Brazil; estimates of their number wildly vary. There are also smaller groups in Mexico, Peru, New Zealand and South Africa. The most important organization of the Croatian
diasporaA diaspora is any movement of a population sharing common ethnic identity. While refugees may or may not ultimately settle in a new geographic location, the term diaspora refers to a permanently displaced and relocated collective.Diasporic cultural development often assumes a different course from...
are the
Croatian Fraternal UnionThe Croatian Fraternal Union , the oldest and largest Croatian organization in North America, is a fraternal benefit society of the Croatian diaspora based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA....
,
Croatian Heritage FoundationThe Croatian Heritage Foundation is an organization which works with Croatian emigrants. It helps connect diaspora groups back to the country. The foundation organizes several programs within Croatia and around the world ranging from language to folklore...
and the Croatian World Congress.
Origins
The origin of the Croatian tribe before the great migration of the Slavs is uncertain. According to the most widely accepted
Slavic theory of the 7th century, the Croatian tribe moved from the area north of the
CarpathiansThe Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the largest mountain range in Europe...
and east of the river
VistulaThe Vistula , is the longest and one of the most important rivers in Poland at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is 194,424 km² , of which 168,699 km² The Vistula , is the longest and one of the most important rivers in Poland at 1,047 km (651 miles) in...
(referred to as
White Croatia) and migrated into the western
Dinaric AlpsThe Dinaric Alps or Dinarides form a mountain chain in southern Europe, spanning areas of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro...
.
White CroatsWhite Croats is the designation for one group of Slavic tribes which migrated to Dalmatia as part of the migration of the Croats in AD 610–641...
formed the
Principality of DalmatiaDalmatia , is a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is situated in modern Croatia. It spreads between the island of Rab in the northwest and the Bay of Kotor, in Montenegro, in the southeast...
in the upper Adriatic. Another wave of Slavic migrants from
White CroatiaWhite Croats is the designation for one group of Slavic tribes which migrated to Dalmatia as part of the migration of the Croats in AD 610–641...
subsequently founded the Principality of
PannoniaPannonia is an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
. However, some scholars doubt the above theory, which is based primarily on
De Administrando ImperioDe Administrando Imperio is the commonly used Latin title of a scholarly work written in Greek, by the 10th-century Byzantine emperor Constantine VII...
, a tenth century work by Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. The doubt is primarily on archaeological and historiographical grounds.
D.A.I. states that the Croats arrived during Heraclius' regnal years (610-640 AD). However, there is little archaeological supporting such a migration. Moreover, it is unlikely that any political entity such as White Croatia ever existed. Instead, Curta points to some burial assemblages in the northern Dalmatia region, which he dates to 800 AD. Here, there are some exceptionally rich burials showing Byzantine, Avar, Frankish and Slavic material elements, perhaps representing a "community of Croats". That is, Curta suggests that the Croats emerged as some kind of an elite caste of Slavic-speaking warriors, consequently spreading their influence, thus their name, over much of Dalmatia and parts of Pannonia. Subsequent papal recognition ensured the evolution from a prominent tribe to a medieval kingdom.
According to the Gothic theory,Croats would be descendants of Ostrogoths/eastern
GothsThe Goths were a heterogeneous East Germanic tribe. The historian Jordanes claimed that the Goths arrived from semi-legendary Scandza, believed to be somewhere in modern Götaland , and that a Gothic population had crossed the Baltic Sea before the 2nd century, lending their name to the region of...
. This theory is based on a historic
chronicleGenerally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the chronicler...
from
Thomas the ArchdeaconThomas the Archdeacon was a historian and Archdeacon of Split most remembered for Historia Salonitana, a chronicle of the Bishops and Archbishops of Split until 1266....
called '
Historia SalonitanaHistoria Salonitana by Thomas the Archdeacon is a historic chronicle from the 13th century which contains significant information about the early history of the Croats.It was first published by Ivan Lučić Lucius...
' where he mentions Croats as Goths. Also, Slavs in area of today Croatia are equated to Goths in
Chronicle of the Priest of DukljaThe Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja , , also known as "Slavonic Kingdom" , is a medieval chronicle originally written by a Catholic Archbishop by the name of Gregory Grisobulj from Bar , Doclea, Byzantine Empire around 1172-1196.This chronicle, built round a core...
.
According to the
autochthonous model, mostly promoted by the
Illyrian MovementThe Illyrian movement , also Croatian national revival , was a cultural and political campaign initiated by a group of young Croatian intellectuals during the first half of 19th century, around the years of 1835–1849...
in the 19th century and abandoned by the mid-19th century, the homeland of Slavs is actually in the area of southern Croatia, and they spread northwards and westwards rather than the other way round. A revision of the theory, developed by Ivan Muzić argues that Slav migration from the north did happen, but the actual number of Slavic settlers was small and that the Illyrian ethnic substratum was prevalent for formation of Croatian ethnicity.
The Iranian theory suggests that the Croats are descendants of ancient
MitanniMitanni or Hanigalbat was a loosely organized Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria from ca. 1500 BC-1300 BC...
HurriansThe Hurrians were a people of the Ancient Near East who lived in Northern Mesopotamia and areas to the immediate east and west, beginning approximately 2500 BC. They probably originated in the Caucasus and entered Mesopotamia from the north, but this is not certain...
, this theory is based solely on
linguistic evidenceThe name of Croatia derives from Medieval Latin Croātia, itself a derivation of North-West Slavic xrovat-, by liquid metathesis from Common Slavic *xorvat-, from Proto-Slavic *xarwāt-...
and spread of the Old Croatian ethnonym *
xъrvatъ, which is almost certainly a borrowing into Slavic. The earliest claimed mention of the Croatian name,
Horouathos, can be traced on two stone inscriptions in the
Greek languageGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
and script, dating from around the year 200 AD, found in the seaport
TanaisTanais is the ancient name for the River Don in Russia. Strabo regarded it as the boundary between Europe and Asia....
on the Azov sea, located on the
CrimeaCrimea or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the only autonomous republic of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name.The territory of Crimea was conquered and controlled many times throughout its history...
n peninsula (near the
Black Seaur a loser!The Black Sea is an inland sea bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and various straits. The Bosporus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects it to...
). Both tablets are kept in an archaeological museum in
Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd and Leningrad...
, Russia. Whilst not impossible, such a theory is solely based on the disputable premise that the term
Hourathos is actually related to the Croat ethnonym. The two words may have separate origins. This theory became popular amongst some Croatian scholars during the Homeland War of Independence from
SFR YugoslaviaThe Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the second half of World War II until it was formally dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro,...
.
GeneticallyGenetics, , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding...
, on the Y chromosome line, according to research for Croatian
mainlandMainland is usually the continental part of a region, as opposed to the islands nearby, or, if the region is entirely insular, the largest of the several islands comprising the region. Sometimes the residents are called "the Mainlanders"...
(northern Croatia, with exception of
Dubrovnik||-||-||-||-||-||-||}Dubrovnik , is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Dalmatia, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county...
) a majority (>87%) of Croats belong to one of the three major
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an Y-DNA
haplogroupIn the study of molecular evolution, a haplogroup is a group of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor with a single nucleotide polymorphism mutation. Because a haplogroup consists of similar haplotypes, this is what makes it possible to predict a haplogroup from haplotypes. An SNP...
s --
Haplogroup IIn human genetics, Haplogroup I is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup, a subgroup of haplogroup IJ, itself a derivative of Haplogroup IJK.Y-DNA Haplogroup I represents nearly one-fifth of the population of Europe...
(38%),
Haplogroup R1aHaplogroup R1a is a major Y-chromosome haplogroup currently found at high frequencies in most of Eastern Europe and parts of Central and Northern Europe, as well as in certain populations in Central and South Asia.-Subclades:...
35% and
Haplogroup R1bIn human genetics, Haplogroup R1b is the most frequently occurring Y-chromosome haplogroup in Western Europe.More specifically, R1b's frequency is highest in the populations of Atlantic Europe and, due to European emigration, in North America, South America, and Australia. In Ireland and the...
16%. All three groups migrated to Europe during the upper paleolithic around 30,000-20,000 BC.
Later, neolithic lineages, originating in the Middle East and that brought agriculture to Europe, are present in surprisingly low numbers. The
haplogroupIn the study of molecular evolution, a haplogroup is a group of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor with a single nucleotide polymorphism mutation. Because a haplogroup consists of similar haplotypes, this is what makes it possible to predict a haplogroup from haplotypes. An SNP...
s
JIn human genetics, Haplogroup J is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. It is defined by the 12f2.1 genetic marker, or the equivalent M304 marker.-Origins:...
,
EIn human genetics, Haplogroup E is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. Haplogroup E, along with haplogroup D, make up the two main components of the older Haplogroup DE. The E clade is divided into two subclades: E1 and E2 .-Origins:...
and
GIn human genetics, Haplogroup G is a Y-chromosome haplogroup. It is a branch of Haplogroup F . Haplogroup G has an overall low frequency in most populations but is widely distributed within many ethnic groups of the Old World in Europe, Western Asia, northern Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East,...
constitute together less than 10% - significantly lower than other populations in the region.
Furthermore the dominant presence of
haplogroup IIn human genetics, Haplogroup I is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup, a subgroup of haplogroup IJ, itself a derivative of Haplogroup IJK.Y-DNA Haplogroup I represents nearly one-fifth of the population of Europe...
is rather interesting. This group exists in Europe only and is fairly widespread, but in relatively small percentages. Its frequency in the Balkans is high, but the only populations that have similar levels of the I group are the
ScandinaviaScandinavia is a geographical region in northern Europe that includes, and is named after, the Scanian Province. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark...
ns. Haplogroup I is believed to have weathered the last glacial maximum in the western Balkans, migrating north as the ice sheets retreated.
There are a number of relevant conclusions that can be drawn from the genetic data.
First of all it gives strong support to the theory that the region of modern day Croatia served as a refuge for northern populations during the
last glacial maximumThe Last Glacial Maximum refers to the time of maximum extent of the ice sheets during the last glacial period, approximately 20,000 years ago. This extreme persisted for several thousand years. It is followed by the Late Glacial Maximum....
(LGM). Eastern Adriatic coast was much more to the south, northern and western parts of that sea were steppes and plains, while modern Croatian islands (rich with the archeological sites from Paleolithic) were hills and mountains. After the LGM, the offspring of these survivors repopulated much of central-eastern and southeastern Europe. Those who remained in the Balkans are the ancestors of about 38% of modern day Croats men in the Croatian mainland and more than 50% of modern day Croats in Dalmatia (Croatia).
The second conclusion that can be drawn is that the theory of an Iranian origin has little genetic support. Modern-day Iranians have a significantly different haplogroup distribution, although millennia ago Iranic speaking communities lived in eastern Europe. The low frequency of
Anatolian haplogroups suggests that agriculture spread into the region of Croatia primarily by way of cultural contact.
And the third conclusion from the genetic evidence points to the fact Croats are genetically heterogeneous, pointing to a high degree of mixing of the newly arrived medieval migrant tribes (such as Slavs) with the indigenous populations that were already present in the region of the modern day Croatia. Hence, most modern day Croats are descended from the original European population of the region and have lived in the territory by other names, such as
IllyriansThe Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited the Western Balkans during classical antiquity. The territory the tribes covered came to be known as Illyria to Greek and Roman authors, corresponding roughly to the area between Adriatic sea in west, Drava river in North, Morava river in east...
and their forebears. These original inhabitants also served an important role in re-populating Europe after the last ice age.
History
The earliest Croatian state was the Principality of
DalmatiaDalmatia , is a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is situated in modern Croatia. It spreads between the island of Rab in the northwest and the Bay of Kotor, in Montenegro, in the southeast...
. Prince Trpimir of Dalmatia was called
DukeA duke is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy. The title comes from the Latin Dux Bellorum, which had the sense of "military commander" and was employed by both the Germanic peoples themselves and by the Roman authors...
of Croats in 852. In 925 Croatian Duke of
DalmatiaDalmatia , is a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is situated in modern Croatia. It spreads between the island of Rab in the northwest and the Bay of Kotor, in Montenegro, in the southeast...
Tomislav of TrpimirKing Tomislav , was a ruler of Croatia in the Middle Ages. He reigned from 910 until 928, first as Duke of Dalmatian Croatia in 910–925, and then became first King of the Croatian Kingdom in 925–928.He was probably the son of Muncimir, Duke of Dalmatian Croatia...
united all Croats. He organized a state by annexing the Principality of
PannoniaPannonia is an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
as well as maintaining close ties with
PaganiaPagania was a land settled by the South Slavic tribe known as the Narentines in an area of southern Dalmatia , west of the river Neretva...
and
ZahumljeZachlumia , also known as the Land of the Hum and Chelm, was a medieval principality located in today's Herzegovina , and southern Dalmatia ....
.
Since the creation of the
personal unionPacta conventa was an alleged agreement concluded in 1102 between King Coloman of Hungary and the Croatian nobility. While some claim it was a voluntary union of the two crowns, leaving Croatia as a sovereign state, others argue that Hungary simply annexed Croatia outright and forced an agreement...
with
HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
in 1102, the Croats were at times subjected to forceful Germanization and
MagyarizationMagyarization is a designator applied to a number of ethnic assimilation policies implemented by various Hungarian authorities in the 19th century and at the beginning of 20th century...
, especially from the 17th century onward. The ensuing
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
conquests and
HabsburgThe House of Habsburg or Hapsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empire and several other countries...
domination broke the Croatian lands into disunity again, with the majority of Croats living in
Croatia properCroatia first appeared as a duchy in the 7th century and then as a kingdom in the 10th century. For the next ten centuries, it remained a distinct state with its ruler and parliament, but it obeyed the kings and emperors of various neighboring powers, primarily Hungary and Austria. The period from...
and
DalmatiaThe History of Dalmatia concerns the history of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and its inland regions, stretching from the 2nd century BC up to the present.- Antiquity :...
. Large numbers of Croats also lived in
SlavoniaSlavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
,
IstriaCroatian Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
,
RijekaRijeka is the city and the principal seaport of Croatia, located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea. It has 144,043 inhabitants . The majority of its citizens, 80.39% , are Croats...
,
HerzegovinaHerzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia-Herzegovina, comprising 11,419 sq km or around 22% of the total area of the present-day country. In other sources it comprises 12,276 sq km, this constitutes 24% of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
and Bosnia. Over the centuries ensued a wave of Croatian emigrants, notably to
MoliseMolise is a region of Southern Italy, the second smallest of the regions. It was formerly part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise and now a separate entity...
in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
,
BurgenlandBurgenland is the easternmost and least populous state or Land of Austria. It consists of two Statutarstädte and seven districts with in total 171 municipalities...
in
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
and eventually the United States of America and
Western EuropeWestern Europe is the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of Central Europe...
.
After the First World War, most Croats were united within the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, created by joining South Slavic lands under the former Austro-Hungarian rule with the
Kingdom of SerbiaThe origins of the history of today's Serbia lie in the Slavic settlement on the Balkans, on the territories ruled by the Byzantine Empire, between 6th and 8th centuries...
, Croats became one of the constituent nations of the new kingdom. The state was transformed into the
Kingdom of YugoslaviaThe Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a kingdom stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
in 1929 and the Croats were melted into the new nation with their neighbour fellow – South Slavs-
YugoslavsYugoslavs Yugoslavs Yugoslavs (Serbo-Croatian, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, Macedonian: Jugoslaveni/Jugosloveni/Jugoslovani,
[Latin script was used in Serbo-Croat, and Slovene languages. Identical spelling is used in the Serbian and Macedonian Cyrillic script (Serbian variant)...]
. In 1939, the Croats received a high degree of autonomy when the
Banovina of CroatiaThe Banovina of Croatia or Banate of Croatia was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1939 and 1943 . Its capital was at Zagreb and it included most of present-day Croatia along with portions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia...
was created, which united almost all ethnic Croatian territories within the Kingdom. In the Second World War, the Axis forces created the
Independent State of CroatiaThe Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany. The NDH was established on April 10, 1941 after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers...
, led by the fascist
UstašeThe Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement , members known collectively as Ustaše, but sometimes anglicised as Ustashe, Ustashas or Ustashi) was a Croatian anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was blend of fascism, nazism, Croatian ultranationalism, and Roman Catholic...
movement, which sought to create an ethnically clean Croatian state. In response, many Croats joined the anti-fascist supra-ethnic
partisan movementThe Yugoslav Partisans, or simply the Partisans were a Communist-led World War II resistance movement engaged in the fight against Axis forces and their collaborators in Yugoslavia during the Yugoslav People's Liberation War from 1941 to 1945...
, led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. After the war, between 40,000 and 200,000 Croats lost their lives.
Post-war
Socialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaThe Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the second half of World War II until it was formally dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro,...
became a
federationA federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
consisting of 6 republics, and Croats became one of two
constituent peoples of two –
CroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a country in southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Zagreb...
and
Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( or (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian Latin: Bosna i Hercegovina; Serbian Cyrillic: Босна и Херцеговина) is a country in Southeast Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula...
(in the latter one of the three since 1968). Croats in
SerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country located in both Central and Southeastern Europe. Its territory covers the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and central part of the Balkans...
, in autonomous province of
VojvodinaThe Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province in Serbia, containing about 27% of its total population according to the 2002 Census. It is located in the northern part of the country, in the Pannonian plain of Central Europe...
never reached that status. Following the democratization of society, accompanied with ethnic tensions that emerged in the post-
TitoJosip Broz Tito Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz Tito (Cyrillic script: Јосип Броз Тито, (7 or 25 May 1892 – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. He was Secretary-General (later President) of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (1939–80), and went on to lead the World War II...
era, in 1991 the Republic of Croatia declared independence, which was followed by
warThe Croatian War of Independence was a war fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995. It was fought between the Croatian government, having declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and both the Yugoslav People's Army and Serb forces, who established the self-proclaimed...
with its Serb minority, backed up by Serbia-controlled
Yugoslav People's ArmyThe Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA, YPA) The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA, YPA) (Serbo-Croatian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, or Jugoslovenska Narodna Armija – JNA,
[Two alternative name variants in Latin script. Latin script was used in...]
. In the first years of the war, over 200,000 Croats were displaced from their homes as a result of the military actions. In the peak of the fighting, around 550,000 ethnic Croats were displaced altogether during the Yugoslav wars.
During the
Bosnian WarThe Bosnian War, also known as the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was an international armed conflict that took place between March 1992 and November 1995. The war involved several sides...
, which followed the one in Croatia, the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Croats proclaimed their own autonomous region inside Bosnia and Herzegovina – the Croatian Community/Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, but subsequently joined into the
Federation of Bosnia and HerzegovinaThe Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two political entities that compose the sovereign country of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
.
Post-war government's policy of easing the immigration of ethnic Croats from abroad encouraged a number of Croatian descendants to return to Croatia. The influx was increased by the arrival of Croatian refugees from
Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( or (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian Latin: Bosna i Hercegovina; Serbian Cyrillic: Босна и Херцеговина) is a country in Southeast Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula...
. After the war's end in 1995, most Croatian refugees returned to their previous homes, while some (mostly Croat refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Janjevci from Kosovo) moved into the formerly-held Serbian housing.
Culture and traditions
The area settled by Croats has a large diversity of historical and cultural influences, as well as diversity of terrain and geography. The coastland areas of
DalmatiaDalmatia , is a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is situated in modern Croatia. It spreads between the island of Rab in the northwest and the Bay of Kotor, in Montenegro, in the southeast...
and
IstriaCroatian Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
were subject to
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
, Venetian and
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
rule; central regions like
LikaLika is a mountainous region in central Croatia, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by the Malovan pass...
and western
HerzegovinaHerzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia-Herzegovina, comprising 11,419 sq km or around 22% of the total area of the present-day country. In other sources it comprises 12,276 sq km, this constitutes 24% of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
were a scene of battlefield against the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
, and have strong epic traditions. In the northern plains, Austro-Hungarian rule has left its marks.
In spite of foreign rule, Croats developed a strong, distinctive culture and sense of national identity, a tribute to the centuries in which they remained distinct, avoiding assimilation of the overlords' population. The most distinctive features of Croatian
folkloreFolklore is the body of expressive culture, including stories, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions of that culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which...
include
klapaThe klapa music is a form of traditional Croatian a cappella singing. The word klapa translates as "a group of people" and traces its roots to littoral church singing. The motifs in general celebrate love, wine , country and sea...
ensembles of Dalmatia,
tamburitzaAre you looking for the North Indian Tambura, the Turkish Tambur or the Iranian Tanbur?Tamburica or Tamboura refers to any member of a family of long-necked lutes popular in Eastern and Southern Europe, particularly Croatia , northern Serbia and Hungary...
orchestras of
SlavoniaSlavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
. Folk arts are performed at special events and festivals, perhaps the most distinctive being
AlkaThe Alka is a knight tournament which has been held every first Sunday in the month of August in town of Sinj, Croatia since 1715, commemorating the victory over Ottoman Turkish administration....
of
SinjSinj is a town in the continental part of Split-Dalmatia county, Croatia, at . The town itself has a population of 11,468 , while the population of the administrative municipality which includes surrounding villages is 25,373 ....
, a traditional knights' competition celebrating the victory against Ottoman Turks. The epic tradition is also preserved in epic songs sung with
gusleThe gusle or gusla is a single-stringed musical instrument used in the Balkans and in the Dinarides region....
. Various types of
koloKolo is a collective folk dance, danced by Bosniaks, Croats, Serbs and Slovenes, where a group of people holding each other by the hands or around the waist dance, ideally in a circle, hence the name. There is almost no movement above the waist...
circular dance are also encountered throughout Croatia.
The
Croatian languageCroatian is a South Slavic language which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Croatian minorities in some neighbouring countries, in the Italian region of Molise, and parts of the Croatian diaspora....
has the longest written tradition of all
South Slavic languagesSouth Slavic languages comprise one of the three geographical groups of Slavic languages . There are around 30 million speakers of these languages, mainly in the Balkans...
, with documents like
Baška TabletBaška tablet is one of the first monuments containing an inscription in the Croatian language, dating from the year 1100.The tablet was found in the paving of the Romanesque church of St. Lucy in Jurandvor near Baška on the island of Krk in 1851...
dating as early as 1100. The modern standard language is based on ijekavian shtokavian dialect. There are two other dialects, chakavian (spoken in Istria and Dalmatia) and kajkavian, (spoken in
ZagorjeZagorje can refer to:*Hrvatsko Zagorje, a region in northern Croatia*Zagorje ob Savi, a town and a municipality in Slovenia*Krapina–Zagorje County, in Croatia*Zagora in Dalmatia, Croatia....
and wider
ZagrebZagreb is the capital and the largest city of Croatia. Zagreb is the cultural, scientific, economic and governmental center of Croatia, and a global city. According to the city government, the population of Zagreb in 2008 was 804,200...
area), which to an extent have been influenced and superseded by the standard, yet they still color the respective vernacular speeches. Despite that diversity, Croats take their language as a strong issue of national consciousness and are fairly negative towards foreign influences.
Croats are vastly Roman Catholic, and the church has had a significant role in fostering of the national identity. The confession played a significant role in the Croatian
ethnogenesisEthnogenesis is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges. By self-invention, ethnic groups are "present at their own creation", in the phrase of E. P...
.
Dubrovnik Republic and Dalmatia are the homeland of
Croatian literatureCroatian literature is a definition given to the compilation of novels, short stories, poems and other various work of written kind entirely attributed to the medieval and modern culture of the Croats and the Croatian language.-Medieval period:...
. It was developed largely in the
renaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
period, with works of
DalmatiaDalmatia , is a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is situated in modern Croatia. It spreads between the island of Rab in the northwest and the Bay of Kotor, in Montenegro, in the southeast...
n and
Ragusa||-||-||-||-||-||-||}Dubrovnik , is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Dalmatia, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county...
n authors like
Marko MarulićMarko Marulić was a Croatian poet and Christian humanist, known as the Crown of the Croatian Medieval Age and the father of the Croatian Renaissance...
and
Marin DržićMarin Držić is considered the finest Croatian Renaissance playwright and prose writer.- Life :...
, and continued through
baroqueBaroque is an artistic style prevalent from the late 16th century to the early 18th century. The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, which had decided at the time of the Council of Trent that the arts should communicate religious themes in...
with
Ivan GundulićIvan Franov Gundulić is the most celebrated Croatian Baroque poet from the Republic of Ragusa...
,
romanticismRomanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution...
with
Ivan MažuranićIvan Mažuranić was a Croatian poet, linguist and politician—probably the most important figure in Croatia's cultural life in the mid-19th century....
and
August ŠenoaAugust Šenoa was a Croatian novelist, critic, editor, poet, and dramatist....
up to the modern days.
Art
In the 7th century the Croats, with other Slavs and
AvarsThe Eurasian Avars, sometimes referred to as the European Avars, or Ancient Avars, were a highly organized and powerful confederation of a mixed ethnic background, thought to be closely related to the Mongols, Bulgars, Khazars and other Oghur Turkic peoples of the time...
, came from Northern Europe to the region where they live today. The Croats were open to
roman artRoman art includes the visual arts produced in Ancient Rome, and in the territories of the Roman empire. Major forms of Roman art are architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work. Metal-work, coin-die and gem engraving, ivory carvings, figurine glass, pottery, and book illustrations are...
and culture, and first of all to
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
. First churches
http://www.culturenet.hr/v1/english/panorama.asp?id=56 were build as royal sanctuaries, and influences of Roman art was strongest in Dalmatia where urbanization was thickest, and there was largest number of monuments. Gradually that influence was neglected and certain simplification, alteration of inherited forms and even creation of original buildings appeared.
The largest and most complicated central based church from 9th century is St Donatus in
ZadarZadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Zadar faces the islands of Ugljan and Pašman, from which it is separated by the narrow Zadar Strait. The promontory on which the old city stands used to be separated from the...
. From those times, with its size and beauty we can only compare the chapel of
CharlemagneCharlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 to his death. He expanded the Frankish kingdoms into a Frankish Empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe...
in
AachenAachen is a historic spa city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the medieval Kings of Germany...
.
AltarAn altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices and votive offerings are made for religious purposes, or some other sacred place where ceremonies take place. Altars are usually found at a shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
enclosure and windows of those churches were highly decorated with transparent shallow string-like
ornamentOrnament may refer to:*Decoration**Christmas ornament**Ornament or "ornamentation"**Ornamental stone*Ornament *Ornamental plant*Human ornamentation, see:**Human physical appearance**Fashion**Jewelry**Tattoo...
that is called Croatian pleter (meaning to weed) because the strings were threaded and rethreaded through itself. Sometimes the engravings in early Croatian script – Glagolitic appeared. Soon, the glagolic writings were replaced with
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
on altar boundaries and
architraveThe architrave is a moulded or ornamental band framing a rectangular opening. It is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. As such, it is the lowest part of the entablature consisting of architrave, frieze and cornice...
s of old-Croatian churches.
By joining the
HungarianHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
state in the twelfth century, Croatia lost its independence, but it didn't lose its ties with the south and the west, and instead this ensured the beginning of a new era of
Central EuropeCentral Europe is the region lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. The term and widespread interest in the region itself came back into fashion after the end of the Cold War, which, along with the Iron Curtain, had divided Europe politically into East and West,...
an cultural influence.
Early
Romanesque artRomanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
appeared in Croatia at the beginning of 11th century with strong development of monasteries and reform of the church. In that period many valuable monuments and artefacts alongside Croatian coast were made, like
Cathedral of St. Anastasia, ZadarThe Cathedral of St. Anastasia is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Zadar, Croatia. It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Zadar.Today's cathedral was built in the Romanesque style. It is the largest church in all of Dalmatia...
(natively - St. Stošija) in Zadar (13th century).
In Croatian Romanesque sculpture we have a transformation of decorative interlace relief (Croatian pleter) to figurative. The best examples of Romanesque sculpture are:
wooden doors of Split cathedral done by
Andrija BuvinaAndrija Buvina was a 13th century medieval Croatian sculptor and painter. His work is often associated with the Romanesque period.Actually, the best example of Romanesque sculpture in Croatia are the wooden doors on Cathedral of St. Duje in Split, done by Andrija Buvina c. 1220...
(c.1220) and
Stone portal of Trogir cathedral done by artisan
RadovanRadovan was a sculptor and architect who lived in Dalmatia, in the 13th century. He is also referred as Majstor Radovan Radovan was a sculptor and architect who lived in Dalmatia, (nowdays part of Croatia) in the 13th century. He is also referred as Majstor Radovan Radovan was a sculptor and...
(c. 1240).
Early
frescoFresco is any of several related painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco , which has Latin origins...
es are numerous and best preserved in
IstriaCroatian Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
. On them we can evidence the mixing of influences of Eastern and Western Europe. The oldest
miniatureThe word miniature, derived from the Latin minium, red lead, is a picture in an ancient or medieval illuminated manuscript; the simple decoration of the early codices having been miniated or delineated with that pigment...
s are from 13th century – Evangelical book from Split and Trogir.
The
Gothic artGothic art was a Medieval art movement that developed in France out of Romanesque art in the mid-12th century, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, but took over art more completely north of the Alps, never quite effacing more classical...
in 14th century was supported by culture of cities councils, preaching orders (like Franciscans), and
knightA knight was a "gentleman soldier" or member of the warrior class of the Middle Ages in Europe. In other Indo-European languages, cognates of cavalier or rider are more prevalent suggesting a connection to the knight's mode of transport...
ly culture. It was the golden age of free Dalmatian cities that were trading with Croatian feudal nobility in the continent. Largest urban project of those times was complete building of two new towns –
Small and Large StonSton is a village and municipality in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia, located at the south of isthmus of the Pelješac peninsula. The town of Ston is the center of the Ston municipality.- Population :...
, and about a
kilometre of wall with guard towers between them (14th century). After
Hadrian's wallHadrian's Wall is a stone or turf and timber fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of what is now northern England. Begun in 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall in what is...
in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, the longest wall in Europe.
TatarsTatars , sometimes spelled Tartars, are a Turkic ethnic group mainly inhabiting Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. They numbered 10 million in the late 20th Century, which includes all subgroups of Tatar people, such as...
destroyed Romanesque cathedral in Zagreb during their scourge in 1240, but right after their departure Zagreb got the title of a free city from
HungarianThe Kingdom of Hungary , emerged in 1000, when the Principality of Hungary, founded in 896, was recognized as a Kingdom. The form of government was changed from Monarchy to Republic briefly in 1918 and again in 1946, ending the Kingdom and creating the Republic of Hungary...
king Bela IV. Soon after
bishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
Timotej began to rebuild the cathedral in new
Gothic styleGothic architecture is a style of architecture which flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
.
ZadarZadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Zadar faces the islands of Ugljan and Pašman, from which it is separated by the narrow Zadar Strait. The promontory on which the old city stands used to be separated from the...
was an independent
VenetianThe Most Serene Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century AD until the year 1797...
city. The most beautiful examples of gothic humanism in Zadar are reliefs in gilded metal as in
Arc of St Simon by artisan from
MilanMilan in Italy, is the capital of the region of Lombardia and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while the urban area is the fifth largest in the E.U. with an estimated population of 4.3 million...
in 1380.
Gothic
paintingPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete...
is less preserved, and finest works are in Istria as
frescoFresco is any of several related painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco , which has Latin origins...
-cycle of
Vincent from Kastv in
Church of Holy Mary in
Škriljinah near
Beram, from 1474.
From that times are the two of the best and most decorated
illuminatedIlluminated may refer to:* Illuminated dance floor, a floor with panels which light up with different colours* Illuminated Film Company, a British animation house...
liturgies done by monks from Split, –
Hvals’ Zbornik (today in Zagreb) and
Misal of Bosnian duke Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić (now in
IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
).
In 15th century, Croatia was divided between three states – northern Croatia was a part of
Austrian EmpireThe Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire founded on a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire centered on what is today's Austria that officially lasted from 1804 to 1867...
, Dalmatia was under the rule of Venetian Republic (with exception of
Dubrovnik||-||-||-||-||-||-||}Dubrovnik , is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Dalmatia, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county...
) and Slavonia was under
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
occupation. Dalmatia was on the periphery of several influences so religious and public architecture with clear influence of
Italian renaissanceThe Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
flourished. Three works out of that period are of European importance, and will contribute to further development of
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
:
Cathedral of St. JamesThe Cathedral of St. James inŠibenik, Croatia is a cathedral church of the Catholic Church in Croatia, the see of Šibenik bishopric. The Cathedral has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2000.The cathedral is dedicated to Saint James the Greater...
in
ŠibenikŠibenik is a historic town in Croatia, population 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...
, in 1441 by Juraj Dalmatinac;
chapel of Blessed John from Trogir in 1468 by
Nikola FirentinacNiccolò Fiorentino or Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino , was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and master architect. He was of Tuscan birth, but lived most of his life and conducted much of his work in Dalmatia, today Croatia....
; and
Sorkočević’s villa in
Lapad near Dubrovnik in 1521.
In northwestern Croatia, the beginning of the wars with the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
caused many problems but in the long term it both reinforced the northern influence (by having the
AustriansThe House of Habsburg or Hapsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empire and several other countries...
as the rulers).
With permanent danger by Ottomans from east, there was modest influence of renaissance, while
fortificationFortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defense in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
s thrived, like fortified city of
KarlovacKarlovac is a city and municipality in central Croatia. The city proper has a population of 49,082, while the whole municipality has a population of 59,395 inhabitants .Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County...
in 1579 and fort of Ratkay family in
Veliki Tabor from 16th century.
Some of the famous Croatian renaissance artists lived and worked in other countries, like brothers Laurana (natively - Vranjanin, Franjo and Luka), miniaturist Juraj Klović (also known as Giulio Clovio) and famous mannerist painter Andrija Medulić (teacher of
El GrecoEl Greco was a painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, a reference to his Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος .El Greco was born in Crete, which was at that...
).
In 17th and 18th century Croatia was reunited with the parts of country that were occupied by Venetian Republic and
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
. The unity attributed to sudden flourishing of Art in every segment.
Large fortifications with radial plan, ditches and numerous towers were built because of constant Ottoman threat. The two largest ones were
OsijekOsijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 114,616 in 2001. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
and
Slavonski BrodSlavonski Brod is a city in Croatia, with a population of 61,823 in 2001. The city was known as Marsonia in the Roman Empire, and as Brod na Savi 1244–1934. Located in the region of Slavonia, it is the centre of Brodsko-Posavska county, and a river port on the Sava river. It is 197 km...
. Later they become large cities. Urban planning of Baroque is felt in numerous new towns like
KarlovacKarlovac is a city and municipality in central Croatia. The city proper has a population of 49,082, while the whole municipality has a population of 59,395 inhabitants .Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County...
,
BjelovarBjelovar is a city in central Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Bjelovar-Bilogora County. During the 2001 census, there were 41,869 inhabitants, 90.51% which are Croats....
,
KoprivnicaKoprivnica is a city in northern Croatia. It is the capital of the Koprivnica-Križevci county, and in 2001, the city had a population of 30,994.-Short history:...
,
ViroviticaVirovitica is a Croatian city near the Croatian-Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 15,589, with 22,618 people in the municipality...
etc.
Cities of Dalmatia also got baroque towers and bastions incorporated in their old walls, like the ones in
PulaPula is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, situated at the southern tip of the Istria peninsula, with a population of 62,080 ....
,
ŠibenikŠibenik is a historic town in Croatia, population 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...
or
HvarHvar is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, located off the Dalmatian coast, lying between the islands of Brač, Vis and Korčula. Approximately 68 km long, with a high east-west ridge of Mesozoic limestone and dolomite, the island of Hvar is unusual in the area for having a large fertile coastal...
. But biggest baroque undertaking happened in
Dubrovnik||-||-||-||-||-||-||}Dubrovnik , is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Dalmatia, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county...
in 17th century after catastrophic earthquake in 1667 when almost entire city was destroyed.
Wall painting experienced flourishing in all parts of Croatia, from illusionist frescoes in
church of Holy Mary in
SamoborSamobor is a town in the Zagreb County, Croatia. It is part of the Zagreb metropolitan area.-Geography:Samobor is located west of Zagreb, between the eastern slopes of the Samoborsko gorje , in the Sava River valley.-Population:According the 2001 Croatian census, 36,207 people live in the...
, St Catherine in
ZagrebZagreb is the capital and the largest city of Croatia. Zagreb is the cultural, scientific, economic and governmental center of Croatia, and a global city. According to the city government, the population of Zagreb in 2008 was 804,200...
to Jesuit church in Dubrovnik.
An exchange of artists between Croatia and other parts of Europe happened. The most famous Croatian painter was
Federiko BenkovićFederiko Benković was a prominent late Baroque painter. He is best known as Federico Bencovich or Federico Bencovic, but also as Federigo or Federighetto or Dalmatino....
who worked almost his entire life in Italy, while an Italian –
Francesco Robba, did the best Baroque sculptures in Croatia.
In
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
n countries on the beginning of 19th century
RomanticRomanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution...
movement in Croatia was sentimental, gentle and subtle.
At the end of 19th century architect Herman Bolle undertook one of the largest projects of European historicism – half-kilometer long neo-renaissance arcade with twenty domes on Zagreb cemetery Mirogoj. At the same time the cities in Croatia got important urban makeover.
Pseudo building that emphasizes all three visual arts is former building of
Ministry of Prayer and Education (so called "Golden Hall") in Zagreb (H. Bolle, 1895).
Vlaho BukovacVlaho Bukovac was a Croatian painter. Bukovac was born with the name Biagio Faggioni in Cavtat, the small town south of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia. He died in Prague.-Study:...
brought the spirit of
impressionismImpressionism was a 19th-century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence in the 1870s and 1880s...
from
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and he strongly influenced the young artists (including the authors of “Golden Hall”). On the
Millennium Exhibition in
BudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe. In 2009, Budapest had 1,712,210 inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s...
they were able to set aside all other artistic options in Austro-Hungary.
The turbulent twentieth century re-oriented Croatia politically on many occasions and affected it in many other ways, but it couldn't significantly alter its already peculiar position at the crossroads of many different cultures.
Symbols
The
Flag of CroatiaThe Croatian flag consists of three equal size, horizontal stripes in the pan-Slavic colours red, white and blue. In the middle is the Coat of Arms of Croatia....
consists of a red-white-blue
tricolorTricolor may refer to:* Tricolor - supporters of the Brazilian football clubs São Paulo F.C., Grêmio F.B.P.A. and Fluminense F.C., among others. It derives from the three colors of the clubs - white, black and red for São Paulo, white, blue and black for Grêmio and white, red and green for...
, and in the middle is the
Coat of Arms of CroatiaThe Coat of arms of Croatia consists of one main shield and five smaller shields which form a crown over the main shield. The main coat of arms is a checkerboard that consists of 13 red and 12 silver fields. It's commonly known as šahovnica...
. The red-white-blue tricolor was chosen, as it was the colors of Pan-Slavism, popular in the 19th Century.
The
coat of armsThe Coat of arms of Croatia consists of one main shield and five smaller shields which form a crown over the main shield. The main coat of arms is a checkerboard that consists of 13 red and 12 silver fields. It's commonly known as šahovnica...
consists of the traditional red and white squares or "grb", which simply means 'coat of arms'. It has been used to symbolise Croats for centuries; some speculate that it was derived from
RedRed Croatia , was a name that a medieval document designated to the initial Croat states in southern parts of Dalmatia: the realms of Hum/Zahumlje, Travunia and Duklja...
and
White CroatiaWhite Croatia is a vaguely defined area, said to lie somewhere in Central Europe, near Bavaria, beyond Hungary on south of Poland and west of Ukraine, and adjacent to the Frankish Empire from which the White Croats crossed the Carpathians and migrated in the 7th century into Dalmatia .-History:The...
, historic lands of the Croatian tribe. The current design added the five crowning shields which represent the historical regions from which Croatia originated.
The red and white checkerboard has been a symbol of Croatian kings since at least the 10th century, ranging in size from 3×3 to 8×8, but most commonly 5×5, like the current coat. It was traditionally conjectured that the colours originally represented two ancient Croat tribes, Red Croats and
White CroatsWhite Croats is the designation for one group of Slavic tribes which migrated to Dalmatia as part of the migration of the Croats in AD 610–641...
, but there is no generally accepted proof for this theory. The oldest source confirming the coat as an official symbol is a genealogy of the
HabsburgThe House of Habsburg or Hapsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empire and several other countries...
s, dated from 1512 to 1518. In 1525 it was used on a votive medal. The oldest known example of the
šahovnica in Croatia is to be found on the wings of four falcons on a baptismal font donated by king
Petar Krešimir IV of CroatiaPeter Krešimir IV, called the Great , was a notably energetic King of Croatia from 1059 to his death in 1074. He was the last great ruler of the Krešimirović branch of the House of Trpimirović. Under his rule the Croatian realm reached its peak territorially, earning him the sobriquet "the Great,"...
(1058–1074) to the Archbishop of Split.
Unlike in many countries, Croatian design more commonly uses symbolism from the coat-of-arms, rather than from the
Croatian flagThe Croatian flag consists of three equal size, horizontal stripes in the pan-Slavic colours red, white and blue. In the middle is the Coat of Arms of Croatia....
. This is partly due to the geometric design of the shield which makes it appropriate for use in many graphic contexts (e.g. the insignia of
Croatia AirlinesCroatia Airlines d.d. is the national airline and flag carrier of the Republic of Croatia. Based in Zagreb, the airline is a member of Star Alliance and operates domestic and international services. Its main base is Zagreb Airport, with focus cities at Dubrovnik Airport and Split Airport...
or the design of the shirt for the
Croatia national football teamThe Croatia national football team represents the Republic of Croatia in international football. The team is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in the country, and has been managed since 2006 by Slaven Bilić...
), and partly due to the fact that neighbouring countries like
SloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north...
and
SerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country located in both Central and Southeastern Europe. Its territory covers the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and central part of the Balkans...
use the same
Pan-Slavic coloursThe Pan-Slavic colors, red, blue and white, are colors used on the flags of some Slavic peoples and states in which the majority of inhabitants possess a Slavic background. Their use symbolizes the common origin of the Slavic peoples. Originally, it was the flag of the Russian Empire turned upside...
on their flags as Croatia.
See also
- List of Croats
- Croatian diaspora
Croatian Diaspora refers to the Croatian communities that have formed outside Croatia.-Bosnia and Herzegovina:* See Croats of Bosnia and HerzegovinaCroats form one of the three constitutive nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina...
- Croatian literature
Croatian literature is a definition given to the compilation of novels, short stories, poems and other various work of written kind entirely attributed to the medieval and modern culture of the Croats and the Croatian language.-Medieval period:...
- Croatian Peruvian
- Croatian Chilean
Chileno-croatas are an important ethnic group in Chile; they are citizens of Chile who where either born in Europe or are Chileans of Croatian descent deriving their Croatian ethnicity from one or both parents...
- Croatian Australian
Croatia has been a source of migrants to Australia, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2006 118,051 persons resident in Australia identified themselves as having Croatian ancestry.- History :...
- Timeline of Croatian history
This is a timeline of Croatian history.This timeline is incomplete; some important events may be missing. Please help add to it.-BC:* 27000 BC-26000 BC In the middle Paleolithic period, Neanderthals lived in modern Zagorje, northern Croatia...
External links
Matica hrvatska