Maslenica is a port and village in Zadar County

Zadar County

Zadar County is a county in Croatia, it encompasses northern Dalmatia and southeastern Lika. Its center is the city of Zadar.- Population :According to the 2001 census, Zadar County has population of 162,045...

, Dalmatia

Dalmatia

Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....

, Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

.
Its geographical coordinates are 44°13'N, 15°32'E. It is situated in Novigrad Sea, the gulf of Novigrad. Waters are quite clear due to the Zrmanja

Zrmanja

Zrmanja is a river in southern Lika and northern Dalmatia, Croatia. It is long and its basin covers an area of .It was known to the ancient Romans as Tedanius. The spring of Zrmanja is located in southern part of Lika under Postak - the southern peak of Pljesevica mountain, and close to south end...

 river which flows into this gulf.

History

The town was built 1000 years ago.

Maslenica was damaged under the Croatian War of Independence

Croatian War of Independence

The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...

 in the 1990s. Most notably, a heavily traveled bridge, the Maslenica Bridge on the Adriatic Highway

Maslenica Bridge (D8)

The Maslenica Bridge is a deck arch bridge carrying the D8 state road approximately to the west of the settlement of Maslenica, Croatia and south of the D54 and D8 state roads junction.- Structure :...

 was destroyed.
In 2006, the bridge was rebuilt on the same spot and similar appearance. In the meantime, an additional bridge, also known as Maslenica Bridge

Maslenica Bridge (A1)

Maslenica Bridge is a long reinforced concrete arch bridge spanning Maslenica Strait of the Adriatic Sea, north of Zadar, Croatia, carrying the Croatian A1 motorway. It is located between the Maslenica and Posedarje interchanges of the A1 motorway....

 had been built slightly north.

Operation Maslenica

Operation Maslenica

In early September, 1991, during the opening stages of the Croatian War of Independence, Serb-dominated units of the Knin Corps of the Yugoslav People's Army , under the command of Colonel Ratko Mladić and supported by the ethnic Serb Krajina militia, conducted offensive operations against areas...

got its name from the village.