Zabok
Encyclopedia
Zabok is a town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 and municipality situated in northwest 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 ...

 in the Krapina-Zagorje County
Krapina-Zagorje County
Krapina-Zagorje county is a county in northern Croatia. It encompasses most of the historic region called Hrvatsko Zagorje.The Krapina-Zagorje county is a candidate for being the most idyllic county in Croatia: the many villages and small towns spread out across the hillsides are perfect for...

. It has a total population of 9,365 (census 2001). Zabok is situated on the main crossroads in the heart of Hrvatsko zagorje region. Zabok is the economical centre of the Krapina-Zagorje county.

Geography

Zabok is located at 46°1′46"N 15°54′54"E, at an altitude of 186 m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...

.

The following settlements comprise the city:
  • Bračak
    Braćak
    Braćak is a village in the municipality of Tutin, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 230 people.-References:...

    , population 21
  • Bregi Zabočki, population 256
  • Dubrava Zabočka
    Dubrava Zabočka
    Dubrava Zabočka is a village in Croatia. It is connected by the D24 highway....

    , population 594
  • Grabrovec
    Grabrovec
    Grabrovec is a settlement in the Metlika municipality in the Bela Krajina area of southeastern Slovenia. The entire area is part of the traditional region of Lower Carniola and is now included in the Jugovzhodna Slovenija statistical region....

    , population 637
  • Grdenci
    Grdenci
    Grdenci is a village in Croatia. It is connected by the D1 highway....

    , population 460
  • Gubaševo
    Gubaševo
    Gubaševo is a village in Croatia. It is connected by the D1 highway....

    , population 262
  • Hum Zabočki
    Hum Zabočki
    Hum Zabočki is a village in Croatia. It is connected by the D1 highway.-External Links:*...

    , population 456
  • Jakuševec Zabočki, population 364
  • Lug Zabočki, population 586
  • Martinišće, population 338
  • Pavlovec Zabočki
    Pavlovec Zabočki
    Pavlovec Zabočki is a village in Croatia....

    , population 603
  • Prosenik Gubaševski, population 156
  • Prosenik Začretski, population 158
  • Repovec, population 316
  • Špičkovina
    Špičkovina
    Špičkovina is a village in Croatia. It is connected by the D24 highway....

    , population 766
  • Tisanić Jarek, population 341
  • Zabok, population 2,701

In the 2001 census, 98% of the population were Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

.

The biggest park area in Zabok is Milan Prpić's park. There are also other smaller parks in the centre of Zabok, along with a number of playgrounds which were built as part of the town's housing projects. Town's cemetery with a finely kept garden is located in the northeastern part of the town centre.

Politics

Town's major Ivan Hanžek (Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia
Social Democratic Party of Croatia , commonly referred to in Croatia as simply Social Democratic Party , is the largest centre-left political party in Croatia...

) was elected a member of the Croatian Parliament in the 2007 state elections.

Etymology and earliest references

"Zabok" means "behind the river curve" (the river in question is the Krapinica). The name Zabok first appeared in 1335 in a text in which ownership of Zabok was given to Petar, son of Nuzlin, by the King of Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, Karlo I. The Nuzlin family added the prefix de Zabok to their name and, by the 15th century, had started naming themselves "Zaboky de Zabok".

History

In 1782, Sigismund Vojković-Vojkffy started the construction of a church in Zabok, completing it in 1805. With the abolition of the feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...

, former serfs were offered a possibility of choosing their own place of settlement, and the majority settled along the roads connecting Gredice and Bračak with the new centre developing around the church, to form the new city centre. The town reached its final shape in the period after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, when it spread longitudinally along the northern side of the railway track.

Culture

Zabok is home to monuments to the Croatian poet Antun Gustav Matoš
Antun Gustav Matoš
Antun Gustav Matoš was a Croatian poet, short story writer, journalist, essayist and travelogue writer. He is considered the champion of Croatian modernist literature, opening Croatia to the currents of European modernism, and one of the greatest Croatian literary figures of all time.-Life:Matoš...

 and Katarina Zrinska
Katarina Zrinska
Countess Ana Katarina Zrinska was a Croatian noblewoman, born into the House of Frankopan noble family. She married Count Petar Zrinski of the House of Zrinski in 1641 and later became known as Katarina Zrinska. She is remembered in Croatia as a patron of the arts, a writer and patriot...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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