The Republic of Croatia is a Central European country at the crossroads between the Pannonian Plain, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. Croatia borders with Slovenia and Hungary to the north, Serbia to the northeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the east, and Montenegro to the far southeast. Its southern and western flanks border the Adriatic Sea, and it also shares a sea border with Italy in the Gulf of Trieste.

Republic of Croatia is a member of the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, CEFTA, the World Trade Organization, the Council of Europe and is a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2008-2009 term. The country is also a candidate for membership of the European Union and a NATO acceding member. Croatia is expected to formally join NATO in April 2009, making it the second former Yugoslav nation to join the military alliance following Slovenia. Additionally, Croatia is also a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean upon its establishment in 2008.

Map of Croatia

Early History, Croatia
The area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period, ever since the Stone Age. In the area of Krapina, fossils of the Neanderthals have been unearthed dating to the middle Paleolithic. Read more about Croatia Early History...

Kingdom of Croatia
The Croats arrived in what is today Croatia in the seventh century. They organized into two dukedoms; the duchy of Pannonian Croatia in the north and the duchy of Littoral Croatia in the south. Read more about Kingdom of Croatia...

Croatia in Personal Union with Hungary
Following the disappearance of the Croatian ruling dynasty in 1091 Ladislaus I of Hungary brother of Jelena Lijepa, the last Croatian queen, will become king of Croatia. Croatian nobility of Littoral opposed this crowning which has led to 10 years of war and the recognition of the Hungarian ruler Coloman as the common king for Croatia and Hungary in a treaty of 1102. Read more about Croatia in Personal Union with Hungary...

Republic of Dubrovnik, Croatia
City of Dubrovnik was established in 7th century after Avar and Slavic raiders destroyed the Roman city of Epidaurum. Surviving Roman population has escaped to a small island near the coast where they founded a new settlement. read more about Republic of Dubrovnik...

Ottoman Wars, Croatia
Shortly after the Battle of Mohács, Habsburg unsuccessfully sought to stabilise borders between the Ottomans and the Kingdom of Croatia by creating a captaincy in Bihać. However, in 1529, the Turks swept through the area and captured Buda and besieged Vienna; a movement which brought violence and turmoil to the Croatian border areas. Read more about Croatia Ottoman Wars...

Croatia National Revival
National revival in Croatia has started in 1813 when the bishop of Zagreb Maksimilijan Vrhovac issued a plea for the collection of "national treasures". In the beginning of the 1830s, a group of young Croatian writers gathered in Zagreb and established a Illyrian movement for national renewal and unity of all South Slavs within the Habsburg Monarchy. Read more about National Revival of Croatia...

Kingdom of Yugoslavia and World War II
On 29 October 1918, the Croatian Sabor declared independence and vested its sovereignty in the new State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Pressured by Italian army which is entering territory of new state from south and west State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs has started fast negotiations with Kingdom of Serbia and on 23.11. Read more about Kingdom of Yugoslavia and World War II...

Socialist Yugoslavia
Modern Croatia was founded on AVNOJ anti-fascist partisans principles during the second world war, and it became a constitutional federal republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Read more about Socialist Yugoslavia...

Independent Croatia
In 1990, the electoral victory of the Croatian Democratic Union was opposed by the municipalities with Serbian majority proclaiming autonomy and secession, starting in 1991 a rebellion which turned out to become a long and bloody war. Read more about Croatia Independent...