Croats

Croats
Hrvati

Tomislav File:KraljTomislav.jpg Zvonimir Marko Marulić Nikola Š. Zrinski Ivan Gundulić Ruđer Bošković Josip Jelačić Strossmayer Brlić-Mažuranić A. Mohorovičić Stjepan Radić Josip Broz Tito Ivo Andrić Vladimir Prelog Ivanišević Blanka Vlašić
Regions with significant populations
Croatia 3,874,321 (2011) census Bosnia and Herzegovina 454,921 - 500,000 (2008)est.
Germany	227,510
Austria	150,719
Serbia	57,900 (2011)
Switzerland	40,484 (2006)
Slovenia	35,642 (2002)
France	30,000 (est.)
Sweden	28,000 (est)
Hungary	23,561
Italy	21,360
United Kingdom	6,992
Montenegro	6,021 (2011)census
Romania	6,786
Denmark	5,400
Norway	3,909
Czech Republic	850–2000
Slovakia	2,600
Belgium	810
United States	411,427 (2012)
Canada	110,880
Chile	380,000
Argentina	250,000
Brazil	45,000 (est.)
Peru	6,000
Australia	126,264 (2011)
New Zealand	100,000 (est.)
South Africa	8,000
Languages
Croatian
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholic
Related ethnic groups
Other Slavs, especially other South Slavs Serbs, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, Slovenes and Macedonians are the most related

Croats (/kroʊæt, kroʊɑːt/; [Hrvati] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help), pronounced [xřʋaːti]) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group at the crossroads of Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Croats mainly live in homeland Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries Serbia and Slovenia. Likewise, Croats are an officially recognized minority in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have migrated throughout the world, and established a notable Croatian diaspora. In Western Europe exist larger communities in Germany, Austria, Swizerland, France, and Italy. Outside Europe, there are even more significant Croatian communities in the United States, Canada, Chile, Argentina, and Australia.

Croats are noted for their cultural diversity, which has been influenced by a number of other neighboring cultures through the ages. The strongest influences came from Central Europe and the Mediterranean where, at the same time, Croats have made their own contribution. The Croats are predominantly Roman Catholic by religion. The Croatian language is considered standardized register of Serbo-Croatian, and is official language in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is a recognised minority language within Croatian autochthonous communities and minorities in Montenegro, Austria (Burgenland), Italy (Molise), Romania (Caraşova, Lupac) and Serbia (Vojvodina).

Anthropology

Ethnonym

Photo of the Tanais Tablet B containing the word Χοροάθος (Horoáthos).

The exact origin and meaning of the ethnonym Hrvat (Proto-Slavic *Xъrvatъ, Old Church Slavonic: Xъrvatinъ) is not known and varied over history.

It is considered that in origin it is not Slavic: the most widely-held theory is that of a connection with an Iranian name based on the Old Persian toponym Harahvat-, the native name of Arachosia, it passed from an Iranian to a Slavic linguistic and cultural sphere. "Arachosia" is the Latinized form of Greek Ἀραχωσία - Arachosíā. In Old Persian inscriptions, the region is referred to as Harahuvatiš (, from h-r-u-v-t-i-, corresponding to Vedic Sarasvatī). The derivation of Proto-Slavic *xъrvatъ /xŭrva:tŭ/ from the Old Persian /xaraxwat-/ seems to be substantiated by a 3rd-century Scythian form /Χοροάθ-/ attested in the Tanais Tablets, an inscription from Tanais.

The first etymological thesis was that of Constantine Porphyrogennetos (10th century), who connected the name of the Croats, Βελοχρωβάτοι and Χρωβάτοι, with the Greek word χωρα (khora, land) (Croats in slavic language means those who have many lands). Thomas the Archdeacon (13th century) considered that it was connected with the name of inhabitants of the Krk isle, Curetes, Curibantes. In the 19th century, there were given many different propositions to intrepret the Croatian ethnonym. J. Dobrovský saw in it the root hrev (tree), K. Zeuss haru (sword), S. Mikucki connected it with Old-Indian šarv- (strike), P. J. Šafárik with words xrъbъtъ, xribъtъ, xribъ, F. Miklošič from hruv/hrъv (dance), Đ. Daničić considered the root sar- (guard, protect), L. Geitler considered that to the ethnonym are related the Lithuanian words šárvas (armor) and šarvúotas (cuirassier), F. A. Braun in the name Harvata saw German Harfada (Harvaða fjöllum from Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks), what would be German name form of the Carpathian Mountains, R. Much connected it with a German word hruvat- (horned).

The 20th century gave rise to many new, more or less convincing interpretations of the origin of the name of the Croats. A. I. Sobolevski derived it from the Iranian words hu- (good), ravah- (space, freedom) and sufiks -at-. G. A. Ilyinsky derived it from kher- (cut), as seen in the Greek word kárkharos (sharp), kharah (tough, sharp), and xorbrъ (brave). H. Hirt saw a connection with the name of a Germanic tribe Harudes (Χαροῦδες). A. Bruckner linked it with Slovak charbati se (to oppose), while skъrv-/xъrv- linked with Lithuanian šárvas (armor). K. Oštir considered valid the connection with an unspecified Thraco-Illyrian word xъrvata- (hill). M. Vasmer first considered it as a loanword from Old-Iranian haurvatā (shepherd) (Avestan haurvaiti means pasturage), then later from Old-Iranian hu-urvatha- (friend) (accepted also by N. Zupanič). M. Budimir saw in the name Indo-European *skwos (gray, grayish), which in Lithuanian gave širvas. S. Sakač linked it with the Avestan name Harahvaiti, which once signified the southwestern part of modern Afganistan. V. Miller saw in the Croatian name the Iranian hvar- (Sun) and va- (bed), while P. Tedesco had a similar intrepretation from Iranian huravant (Sunny).

The Medieval Latin name "Croātia" is derived from North-West Slavic xrovat-, by liquid metathesis from Common Slavic *xorvat-, from Proto-Slavic *xarwāt-.

Genetics

Anthropologically, the craniometrical measurements made on the Croat population show Croats from Croatia are predominantly dolichocephalic, suggesting that they are more prone to dolichocephalic sub-racial types such as Nordic and Mediterranean than brachycephalic ones like Alpine and Dinaric.

Croats from the northern regions generally have blonde-brown hair and lighter eye colours, similar to the pigmentation of surrounding peoples such as Slovenians and Austrians. Croats from Dalmatia and Herzegovina generally have slightly darker hair and higher incidence of brown eyes, although lighter hair and eyes are also common.

Genetically, on the Y chromosome line, a majority (>85%) of Croats from Croatia belong to one of the three major European Y-DNA haplogroups - I (38%-45%), R1a (27%-34%) and R1b (13%-15%), while a minority (>15%) mostly belongs to haplogroup E (9%), and others to haplgroups J (4.4%), N (2%), and G (1%).

File:HaplogroupI2.png

Haplogroup I2 Distribution

Haplogroup I among Croatians from Croatia is divided in two major subdivisions - subclade I2 (35%), typical for the populations of eastern Adriatic and the Balkans, and I1 (9%), in contrast to other South Slavs, typical for north-western Europeans. From the I2 subclade, former I2a2a in the Y2010 tree, I2a1b1 is the most prevailing, and it's typical of the South Slavic populations of south-eastern Europe, being highest in Bosnia-Herzegovina (>50%). In investigation leaded by Lovorka Barac in 2003, in Croatia highest frequency is observed in Dalmatia, peaking in southern isles of Brač, Korčula (~55%) and Hvar (65%). In the north-eastern town of Osijek, on the banks of the river Drava, and in northern isle of Krk frequency is lower (27%). Highest frequency of the haplogroup is found in Bosnian-Croats from Herzegovina (73%). According to genetic genealogist Kenneth Nordtvedt, I2a1b1 is not older than 2,800 years, and is too young not to have been a result of a sudden expansion. He connects it with Slavic invasion of the Balkan, from the area north-east of the Carpathians since 500 CE, locating the start of the I2a1b1 lineage around the middle course of the Vistula river.

R1a1-M17 and R1b1b2-M269 are the second (34%) and the third (15.6%) most prevailing haplogroups. In investigation done in 2003, this two haplogroups showed an opposite frequency distribution to I2a1b1, and highest frequency is observed in northwest and eastern Croatia. Highest frequency of R1a1 was found in Croats from Osijek (39%) and in northern isle of Krk (37%), being similar to the values of other Slavs, like Slovenes, Czechs and Slovaks. On southern isles of Hvar, Korčula and Brac frequency tend to be lower (8-20-25%), but is still higher than among Bosniaks and Serbs. In Bosnian Croats frequency is similar to those of other South Slavs (12%). Highest frequnecy of R1b1b2 was in Croats from isle of Krk (16.2%), while in southern isles and Bosnian Croats is almost absent (1-6%), and in Osijek wasn't found.

From the haplogroup E among Croats the most frequent is E1b1b1a2 (6.7%), while E1b1b1a3 and E1b1b1c were also found in small numbers (1.1%). E1b1b1a2 it's typical of the populations of south-eastern Europe, peaking among Kosovo Albanians (44%), and is also high among Macedonian Slavs, Greeks, Romanians, Bulgarians and Serbs. The highest frequency in Croatia has been found in Osijek (10.3%), while in northern isle of Krk is a bit higher (6.8%) than in southern ones (3.7-4.3%). In Bosnian Croats frequency is the same like among Croats from Croatia (8.9%).

Haplogroups J, G, N and P, if found, are in lower numbers. Subclades J2b-M102 and J2a-410 are higher in Croats from Croatia, peaking in Croats from Osijek (6.8% and 3.4%) and northern isle of Krk (10.8%), than in Bosnian Croats (both 1.1%). Subclade G2a-P15 both in Croatian and Bosnian Croats is found in low numbers (1.1%), but peaks in the north-eastern town of Osijek (13.8%) and the southern isles of Korčula (10.4%) and Brac (6%). The haplogroup N-M214 was found only in Croatia (2.2%). It is very frequent in Far East, like Siberia and China, while in Europe within Finns (60%) and Baltic States (45%). Unusually for European populations, another central Asian-siberian haplogroup P was found in high frequency in isles of Hvar (14%) and Korčula (6%). The occurrence could happen with the ancient trade route Silk Road, Avars migration, or the Ottoman invasion.

History

Further information: History of Croatia

Arrival of the Croats

Main articles: Theories on the origin of Croats, White Croatia, and White Croats

The Coming of the Croats to the Adriatic by Oton Iveković.

No contemporary written records about the migration have been preserved, especially not about the events as a whole and from the area itself. Instead, historians rely on records written several centuries after the facts, and even those records may be based on oral tradition.

The Croats came as a Slavic tribe, coming into the Balkans from an area in and around today's Poland or western Ukraine. Many modern scholars believe that the early Croat people were nomadic Iranian-speaking Alans which ruled over Slavic agricultural populations. It is unclear whether the Alans contributed much more than a ruling caste or a class of warriors; the evidence on their contribution is mainly philological and etymological.

The book De Administrando Imperio, written in the 10th century, is the most referenced source on the migration of Slavic peoples into southeastern Europe. It states three different variations of the events. First that Croats migrated around or before year 600 from White Croatia, the region that is now (roughly) Galicia to the province of Dalmatia ruled by the Roman Empire, led by a group of five brothers, Kloukas, Lobelos, Kosentzis, Mouchlo and Chrobatos, and their two sisters, Touga and Bouga. The second, possibly around year 620, when the Croats were invited by the Emperor Heraclius to counter the Avar threat on the Byzantine Empire. Third, where the Croats weren't actually invited by Heraclius, but instead defeated the Avars and settled on their own accord after migrating from an area near today's Silesia. This record is supported by the writings of one Thomas the Archdeacon, Historia Salonitana from the 13th century. Archdeacon Thomas, as well as the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja from the 12th century, state that the Croats remained after the Goths (under a leader referred to as "Totila") had occupied and pillaged the Roman province of Dalmatia. The Chronicle speaks of a Gothic invasion (under a leader referred to as "Svevlad", followed by his descendants "Selimir" and "Ostroilo").

European territory inhabited by East Slavic tribes in 8th and 9th century.

White Croats

A group of Croats did not migrate and remained to live in a territory around city of Kraków, in Southern Poland and Galicia. They are mentioned as Horithi by Alfred the Great (890 AD), and live east of Dalamensians who live north-east of the Moravians. According the book De Administrando Imperio, then in the 10th century they were still unbaptized, could mobilize fewer infantry and cavalry than Adriatic Croats due to raids by Franks, Turks (Magyars) and Pechenegs, had their own Archon, and payed hommage to Otto the Great of the Holy Roman Empire. In the Primary Chronicle from 1113, by Nestor the Chronicler, are mentioned in 907 AD, when they allied with Oleg of Novgorod and took part in his military expedition against Byzantium, and again in 992 Ad when Vladimir I of Kiev went to fight them. Then are mentioned chrowati et altera chrowati in the Prague document from 1086 AD as the frontier of the Prague diocese. In late 12th and early 13th century in Polish Chronicle by Wincenty Kadłubek, when describing the deeds of the Duke and first King of Poland Bolesław I Chrobry (992-1025) is mentioed that he ruled over "many tribes of Huns, Hungarians, Croatians and Mards". Tribes of this Croats were the progenitors of Lendians, Vistulans, Masovians, Pomeranians, Carpatho-Rusyns, and assimilated in Polans, Czechs, Slovaks and Ukrainians. The memory of the name remained in those parts until the 19th and 20th century, seen in the collection of poems by Kazimierz Władysław Wóycicki Pieśni ludu Białochrobatów, Mazurów i Rusi z nad Bugu (Warszawa, 1836), and U.S. Senate Immigration Commission report from 1911, where is mentioned a subdivison of Poles who declare themselves as "Bielochrovats (the same as the Krakuses or Cracovinians)" by nationality.

Early medieval age

Main articles: Principality of Dalmatian Croatia and Principality of Pannonian Croatia

Croatian lands in the Dark Ages were located between three major entities: the Eastern Roman Empire which aimed to control the Dalmatian city-states and islands, the Franks which aimed to control the northern and northwestern lands, and the Avars, later Magyars, and other fledgling states in the northeast. The fourth relevant group, but not so powerful with regard to the Croatian state, were the nearby Slavs in the southeast, the Serbs and the Bulgarians. Two dukedoms were formed—Duchy of Pannonia and Duchy of Dalmatia, as attested by chronicles of Einhard starting in the year 818. The record represents the first document of Croatian realms, vassal states of Francia at the time.

Pannonian Croats

The north became subject to the Carolingian Empire around 800, when in 796 a Croatian Pannonian prince Vojnomir switched sides between the Avars and the Franks. Charlemagne invaded the Dalmatian portion of Croatia in 799, contesting its Byzantine suzerainty, and after a lengthy war, conquered it in 803. The prince who headed the Croats in the south at the time was called Višeslav. After the death of Charlemagne in 814, the Frankish influence decreased, and the Croatian prince Ljudevit Posavski raised in Pannonia a rebellion (819). The Frankish Margraves sent armies in 820, 821 and 822, but each time they failed to crush the rebels until finally Ljudevit's forces withdrew to Bosnia. Most of the Pannonian Croatia would remain in Frankish suzerainty until the end of the 9th century. What is today eastern Slavonia and Srijem fell to the Bulgarians in 827 after a border dispute with the Franks. By a peace treaty in 845, the Franks were confirmed as rulers over Slavonia, whilst Srijem remained under Bulgarian clientage. The last Prince of the Pannonian Croats under the Franks was Braslav, mentioned in 896, who died in a war with the Magyars, who then migrated to the Pannonian plain.

Dalmatian Croats

In the meantime, the Dalmatian Croats were recorded to have been subject to the Kingdom of Italy under Lothair I, since 828. The Croatian Prince Mislav (835–845) built up a formidable navy, and in 839 signed a peace treaty with Pietro Tradonico, doge of Venice. The Venetians soon proceeded to battle with the independent Slavic pirates of the Pagania region, but failed to defeat them. The Bulgarian king Boris I (called by the Byzantine Empire Archont of Bulgaria after he made Christianity the official religion of Bulgaria) also waged a lengthy war against the Dalmatian Croats, trying to expand his state to the Adriatic.

The Croatian Prince Trpimir I (845–864) succeeded Mislav, and in 854 great battle with Bulgars neither side emerged victorious from the battle, resulting in gifts exchanged and the establishment of peace. Trpimir I managed to consolidate power over Dalmatia and much of the inland regions towards Pannonia, while instituting counties as a way of controlling his subordinates (an idea he picked up from the Franks). The first known written mention of the Croats, dates form 4 March 852, in statute by Trpimir. Trpimir is remembered as the initiator of the Trpimirović dynasty, that ruled in Croatia, with interruptions, from 845 until 1091. After his death, an uprising was raised by a powerful nobleman from Knin - Domagoj, and his son Zdeslav was exiled with his brothers, Petar and Muncimir to Constantinople.

Facing a number of naval threats by Saracens and Byzantine Empire, the Croatian Prince Domagoj (864–876) built up the Croatian navy again and helped the Franks conquer Bari in 871. During Domagoj's reign piracy was a common practice, and he forced the Venetians to start paying tribute for sailing near the eastern Adriatic coast. After Domagoj's death, Venetian's chronicles named him The worst duke of Slavs, while Pope John VIII referred to Domagoj in letters as Famous duke. Domagoj's son, of unknown name, ruled shortly between 876 and 878 with his brothers. They continued the rebellion, attacked the western Istrian towns in 876, but were subsequently defeated by the Venetian navy. Their ground forces defeated the Pannonian duke Kocelj (861–874) who was suzerain to the Franks, and thereby shed the Frankish vassal status. Wars of Domagoj and his son liberated Dalmatian Croats from supreme Franks rule. Zdeslav deposed him in 878 with the help of the Byzantines. He acknowledge the supreme rule of Byzantine Emperor Basil I. In 879, the Pope ask for help from prince Zdeslav for an armed escort for his delegates across southern Dalmatia and Zahumlje, but on early May 879, Zdeslav was killed near Knin in an uprising led by Branimir, a relative of Domagoj, instigated by the Roman Pope fearing Byzantine power.

Branimir's (879-892) own actions were approved from the Holy See to bring the Croats further away from the influence of Byzantium and closer to Rome. Duke Branimir wrote to Pope John VIII affirming this split from Byzantine and commitment to the Roman Papacy. During the solemn divine service in St. Peter's church in Rome in 879, Pope gave his blessing to the duke and the whole Croatian people, about which he informed Branimir in his letters, in which Branimir was recognized as the Duke of the Croats (Dux Chroatorum). During his reign, Croatia retained its sovereignty from both Frankish and Byzantine rule, and became a fully recognized state. After Branimir's death, Prince Muncimir (892–910), Zdeslav's brother, took control of Dalmatia and ruled it independently of both Rome and Byzantium as divino munere Croatorum dux (with God's help, duke of Croats). In Dalmatia, duke Tomislav (910–928) succeeded Muncimir. Tomislav successfully repelled Magyar mounted invasions of the Arpads, expelled them over the Sava River, and united (western) Pannonian and Dalmatian Croats into one state.

Kingdom of Croatia 925-1102

Main article: Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)

Coronation of king Tomislav by Oton Iveković.

Tomislav (910-928) was crowned as king in the Duvno field (the central town in the Duvno field is still named Tomislavgrad ("Tomislav's town") in his honour). The chief piece of evidence that Tomislav was crowned king comes in the form of a letter dated 925, surviving only in 16th-century copies, from Pope John X calling Tomislav rex Chroatorum. According to De Administrando Imperio, Tomislav's army and navy could have consisted approximately 100,000 infantry units, 60,000 cavaliers, and 80 larger (sagina) and 100 smaller warships (condura), but generally isn't taken as credible. Croatian Kingdom as an ally of Byzantine Empire was in conflict with the rising Bulgarian Empire ruled by Tsar Simeon I. In 923, due to a deal of Pope John X and a Patriarch of Constantinopole, the sovereignty of Byzantine coastal cities in Dalmatia came under Tomislav's Governency. The war escalated on 27 May 927, in the battle of the Bosnian Highlands, after Serbs were conquered and some fled to the Croatian Kingdom. There Croats under leadership of their king Tomislav completely defeated Bulgarian army led by military commander Alogobotur, and stopped Simeon's extension westwards.

Tomislav was succeeded by Trpimir II (928–935), and Krešimir I (935–945), this period, on the whole, however, is obscure. Miroslav (945–949) was killed by his ban Pribina during an internal power struggle, losing part of islands and coastal cities. Krešimir II (949–969) kept particularly good relations with the Dalmatian cities, while his son Stjepan Držislav (969–997) established better relations with the Byzantine Empire and received a formal authority over Dalmatian cities. His three sons, Svetoslav (997–1000), Krešimir III (1000–1030) and Gojslav (1000–1020), opened a violent contest for the throne, weakening the state and further losing control. Krešimir III and his brother Gojslav co-ruled from 1000 until 1020, and attemppted to restore control over lost Dalmatian cities now under Venetian control. Krešimir was succeeded by his son Stjepan I (1030–1058), who tried to reinforce the alliance with Byzantine when 1032 sent a segment of naval fleet in war against Arabs, in favour for tolerance about conquering Zadar from Venice, another Byzantine ally. He did conquer it, but the circumstances changed later and lost it.

Krešimir IV (1058–1074) managed to get the Byzantine Empire to confirm him as the supreme ruler of the Dalmatian cities. Croatia under Krešimir IV was composed of twelve counties and was slightly larger than in Tomislav's time, and included the closest southern Dalmatian duchy of Pagania. From the outset, he continued the policies of his father, but was immediately commanded by Pope Nicholas II first in 1059 and then in 1060 to reform the Croatian church in accordance with the Roman rite. This was especially significant to the papacy in the aftermath of the Great Schism of 1054, when a papal ally in the Balkans was a necessity.

Baška tablet, which is the oldest evidence of the glagolitic script, mentions king Zvonimir.

He was succeeded by Dmitar Zvonimir, who was of the Svetoslavić branch of the House of Trpimirović, and a Ban of Slavonia (1064–1075). He was crowned on 8 October 1076 at Solin in the Basilica of Saint Peter and Moses (known today as Hollow Church) by a representative of Pope Gregory VII. He was in conflict with dukes of Istria, while historical records Annales Carinthiæ and Chronica Hungarorum note he invaded Carinthia to aid Hungary in war during 1079/83, but this is disputed. Unlike Petar Krešimir IV, he was also an ally of the Normans, with whom he joined in wars against Byzantium. He married in 1063 Helen of Hungary, the daughter of King Bela I of the Hungarian Árpád dynasty, and the sister of the future King Ladislaus I. As King Zvonimir died in 1089 in unknown circumstances, with no direct heir to succeed him, Stjepan II (reigned 1089–1091) last of the main Trpimirović line came to the throne at an old age and reigned for two years.

After his death civil war and unrest broke out shortly afterward as northern nobles decided Ladislaus I for the Croatian King. In 1093, souther nobles elected a new ruler, King Petar Svačić (reigned 1093–1097), who managed to unify the Kingdom around his capital of Knin. His army resisted repelling Hungarian assaults, and restored Croatian rule up to the river Sava. He reassembled his forces in Croatia and advanced on Gvozd Mountain, where he met the main Hungarian army led by King Coloman I of Hungary. In 1097, in the Battle of Gvozd Mountain, the last native king Peter was killed and the Croats were decisively defeated (because of this, the mountain was with time renamed to Petrova Gora, "Peter's Mountain"). In 1102, Coloman returned to the Kingdom of Croatia in force, and negotiated with the Croatian feudal lords resulting in joining of Hungarian and Croatian crowns (with the crown of Dalmatia held separate from that of Croatia).

Personal union with Hungary (1102-1918)

Main articles: Croatia in personal union with Hungary and Croatian-Ottoman Wars

Pacta Conventa, is a historical document by which Croatia agreed to enter a personal union with Hungary. Although the validity of the document itself is disputed, Croatia did keep considerable autonomy.

In the union with Hungary, institutions of separate Croatian statehood were maintained through the Sabor (an assembly of Croatian nobles) and the ban (viceroy). In addition, the Croatian nobles retained their lands and titles. Coloman retained the institution of the Sabor and relieved the Croatians of taxes on their land. Coloman's successors continued to crown themselves as Kings of Croatia separately in Biograd na Moru. The Hungarian king also introduced a variant of the feudal system. Large fiefs were granted to individuals who would defend them against outside incursions thereby creating a system for the defence of the entire state. However, by enabling the nobility to seize more economic and military power, the kingdom itself lost influence to the powerful noble families. In Croatia the Šubić were one of the oldest Croatian noble families and would become particularly influential and important, ruling area between Zrmanja and Krka rivers. The local noble family from Krk island (latter took surname Frankopan) is often considered the second most important medieval family, as ruled over northern Adriatic and are responsible for adoption of one of oldest European statutes, Law codex of Vinodol (1288.). Both families gave many native bans of Croatia. Other powerful families were Nelipić from Dalmatian Zagora (14th-15th century); Kačić who ruled over Pagania and were famous for piracy and wars against Venice (12th-13th century); Kurjaković family, a branch of old Croatian nobile family Gusić from Krbava (14th-16th century); Babonić family who ruled from western Kupa to eastern Vrbas and Bosna rivers, and were bans of Slavonia (13th-14th century); Iločki family who ruled over Slavonian stronghold-cities, and in 15th century rose to power. During this period, the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller also acquired considerable property and assets in Croatia.

In the second-half of 13th century, during the Árpád and Anjou dynasty struggle, Šubić family became hugely powerful under Paul I Šubić of Bribir who was the longest Croatian Ban (1274-1312), conquered Bosnia and declared himself "Lord of all of Bosnia" (1299-1312), appointed his brother Mladen I Šubić as Ban of Bosnia (1299-1304), and helped Charles I from House of Anjou to be the King of Hungary. After his death in 1312., his son Mladen II Šubić was the Ban of Bosnia (1304-1322) and Ban of Croatia (1312-1322). The kings from House of Anjou intended to strengthen the kingdom by uniting the power and control in their hands, but to do so had to diminish the power of the higher nobility. Already Charles I tried to crash the aristocratic particularism, intention finished by his son Louis the Great (1342-1382), relying on lower nobility and towns. Both ruled without the parliament, and inner nobility struggles only helped them in their intentions. This led to Mladen's defeat at the battle of Bliska in 1322 by a coalition of several Croatian noblemen and Dalmatian coastal towns with support of King himself, exchange of Šubić's castle of Ostrovica for Zrin Castle in Central Croatia (thus this branch was named Zrinski) in 1347. Eventually, Babonić and Nelipić families also succumbed to king's offensive against nobility, but with the centralization of power, Louis managed to force Venice by the Treaty of Zadar in 1358 to give up their possessions in Dalmatia. When king Louis died, without successor the question of succession remained open. The kingdom once again entered the time of internal unrest. Besides king Louis daughter Mary, Charles III of Naples as the closest king male relative pretended to the throne. In February of 1386, two months after his coronation, was assisinated by order of queen Elizabeth of Bosnia. His supporters, bans John of Palisna, John Horvat and Stjepan Lacković planned a rebellion against them, and managed to capture and imprison Elizabeth and Mary. By orders of John of Palisna, Elizabeth was strangled. As the answer for that, Magyars coronated Mary's husband Sigismund of Luxembourg. With the Ottoman invasion getting closer to Hungarian-Croatian kingdom, king Sigismund's army at the Battle of Nicopolis (1396) was catastrofically defeated, and without news about the king, then ruling Croatian ban Stjepan Lacković and nobles invited Charles III's son Ladislaus of Naples to be the new king. This resulted with Bloody Sabor of Križevci in 1397, lose of interest for the crown by Ladislaus and selling of Dalmatia to Venice in 1403, and spreading of Croatian name to the north, while of Slavonia to the east. The dynastic struggle didn't finish, and with the Ottoman invasion on Bosnia started the first short raids in Croatian territory, defended only by local nobles.

Zrínyi's charge on the Turks from the Fortress of Szigetvár, by Simon Hollósy

As the Turkish incursion into Europe started, Croatia once again became a border area between two major forces in the Balkans. Croatian military troops fought in many battles under command of Italian Franciscan priest fra John Capistrano, the Hungarian Generalissimo John Hunyadi, and Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus, like in the Hunyadi's long campaign (1443-1444), battle of Varna (1444), second battle of Kosovo (1448), and contributed to the Christian victories over the Ottomans in the siege of Belgrade (1456) and Siege of Jajce (1463). At the time they suffered a major defeat in the battle of Krbava field (Lika, Croatia) in 1493 and gradually lost increasing amounts of territory to the Ottoman Empire. Pope Leo X called Croatia the forefront of Christianity (Antemurale Christianitatis) in 1519, given that several Croatian soldiers made significant contributions to the struggle against the Ottoman Turks. Among them there were ban Petar Berislavić who won a victory at Dubica on the Una river in 1513, the captain of Senj and prince of Klis Petar Kružić, who defended the Klis Fortress for almost 25 years, captain Nikola Jurišić who deterred by a magnitude larger Turkish force on their way to Vienna in 1532, or ban Nikola Šubić Zrinski who helped save Pest from occupation in 1542 and fought in the Battle of Szigetvar in 1566.

The Cetingrad Charter from 1 January 1527, when Croatian Sabor elected the Habsburg Monarchy.

The Battle of Mohács (1526) and the death of King Louis II ended Hungarian rule over Croatia. In 1526 the Hungarian parliament elected two separate kings János Szapolyai and Ferdinand I Habsburg, but the choice of the Croatian sabor at Cetin prevailed on the side of Ferdiand I, as they elected him as the new king of Croatia on 1 January 1527, uniting both lands under Hapsburg rule. In the return they were promised the historic rights, freedoms, laws and defence of Croatian Kingdom.

However, the Hungarian-Croatian Kingdom was not enough well prepared and organized and the Ottoman Empire expanded further in the 16th century to include most of Slavonia, western Bosnia and Lika. For the sake of stopping the Ottoman conquering and possible assault on the capital of Vienna, the large areas of Croatia and Slavonia (even Hungary and Romania) bordering the Ottoman Empire were organized as a Military Frontier which was ruled directly from Vienna military headquarters. The invasion caused migration of Croats, and the area which became deserted was subsequently settled by Serbs, Vlachs, Germans and others. The negative effects of feudalism escalated in 1573 when the peasants in northern Croatia and Slovenia rebelled against their feudal lords due to various injustices. After the fall of Bihać fort in 1592, only small areas of Croatia remained unrecovered. The remaining 16,800 km² were referred to as the reliquiae reliquiarum of the once great Croatian kingdom. Croats stopped the Ottoman advance in Croatia at the battle of Sisak in 1593, hundred years after the defeat at Krbava field, and the short Thirteen Years' War ended with the Peace of Zsitvatorok in 1606. After this peace, the Croatian classes required to be given back the territory of the Military Frontier under the rule of the Croatian Ban, but without success. They only managed to restore a small areas of lost territory and stabilisied a border, yet failed to regain large parts of Croatian Kingdom (today's western Bosnia and Herzegovina), as the present-day border between the two countries is a remnant of this outcome.

Croatian national revival (1593–1918)

Main articles: Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg) and Austria-Hungary

In the first-half of 17th century Croats fought in the Thirty Years' War on the side of Holy Roman Empire, mostly as light cavalry under command of imperial generalissimo Albrecht von Wallenstein. Croatian Ban, Juraj V Zrinski, also fought in the war, but died in a military camp near Bratislava, Slovakia, as got poisoned by von Wallenstein after a verbal duel. His son, future ban and captain-general of Croatia, Nikola Zrinski, participated during the closing stages of the war.

Peter Zrinyi and Ferenc Frangepán in the Wiener-Neustadt Prison by Viktor Madarász.

In 1664, the Austrian imperial army was victorious against the Turks, but Emperor Leopold failed to capitalize on the success when he signed the Peace of Vasvár in which Croatia and Hungary were prevented from regaining territory lost to the Ottoman Empire. This caused unrest among the Croatian and Hungarian nobility which plotted against the emperor. Nikola Zrinski participated in launching the conspiracy which later became to be known as the Magnate conspiracy, but he soon died, and the rebellion was continued by his brother, Croatian ban Petar Zrinski, Fran Krsto Frankopan and Ferenc Wesselényi. Petar Zrinski, along the conspirators, went on a wide secret diplomatic negotiations with a number of nations, including Louis XIV of France, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sweden, the Republic of Venice and even Ottoman Empire, to free Croatia from the Habsburg sovereignty. Imperial spies uncovered the conspiracy and on 30 April 1671 executed four esteemed Croatian and Hungarian noblemen involved in it, including Zrinski and Frankopan in Wiener Neustadt. The large estates of two most powerful Croatian noble houses were confiscated and their families relocated, soon after extinguished. Between 1670 and the revolution of 1848, there would be only 2 bans of Croatian nationality. The period from 1670 to the Croatian cultural revival in 19th century was Croatia's political dark age. Meanwhile with the victories over Turks, Habsburgs all the more insistent they spent centralization and germanization, new regained lands in liberated Slavonia started giving to foreign families as feudal goods, at the expense of domestic element. Because of this the Croatian Sabor was losing its significance, and the nobility less attended it, yet went only to the one in Hungary.

The Croatian Sabor (Parliament) in 1848.

In the 18th century, Croatia was one of the crown lands that supported Emperor Charles's Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and supported Empress Maria Theresia in the War of Austrian Succession of 1741-1748. Subsequently, the empress made significant contributions to Croatian matters, by making several changes in the feudal and tax system, administrative control of the Military Frontier, in 1745 administratively united Slavonia with Croatia and in 1767 organized Croatian royal council with the ban on head, however, she ignored and eventually disbanded it in 1779, and Croatia was relegated to just one seat in the governing council of Hungary, held by the ban of Croatia. To fight the Austrian centralization and apsolutism, Croats passed their rights to the united government in Hungary, thus to together resist the intentions from Vienna. But the connection with Hungary soon adversely affected the position of Croats, because Magyars in the spring of their nationalism tried to Magyarized Croats, and make with Croatia a united Hungary under their supreme control. Because of this pretensions, it led to constant struggles between Croats and Magyars which lasted until 1918. Croats were fighting in unfavorable conditions, against both Vienna and Budapest, while divided on Banska Hrvatska, Dalmatia and Military Frontier. In such a time, with the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, its possessions in eastern Adriatic mostly came under the authority of France which passed its rights to Austria the same year. Eight years later they were restored to France as the Illyrian provinces, but won back to the Austrian crown by 1815. Though now part of the same empire, Dalmatia and Istria were part of Cisleithania while Croatia and Slavonia were under Hungary.

A Croat from central Bosnia (1901).

In the 19th century Croatian romantic nationalism emerged to counteract the non-violent but apparent Germanization and Magyarization. The Croatian national revival began in the 1830s with the Illyrian movement. The movement attracted a number of influential figures and produced some important advances in the Croatian language and culture. The champion of the Illyrian movement was Ljudevit Gaj who also reformed and standardized the Croatian literary language. Official language in Croatia has been Latin until 1847 when it has become Croatian. The movement relied on a South Slavic and Panslavistic conception, and its national, political and social ideas were advanced at the time. By the 1840s, the movement had moved from cultural goals to resisting Hungarian political demands. By the royal order of 11 January 1843, originating from the chancellor Metternich, the use of the Illyrian name and insignia in public was forbidden. This deterred the movement's progress but it couldn't stop the changes in the society that had already started. On 25 March 1848, was conducted a political petition "Zahtijevanja naroda", which program included thirty nacional, national, social and liberal principles, like Croatian nacional independence, annexation of Dalmatia and Military Frontier, independence from Hungary as far as finance, language, education, freedom of speech and writing, religion, nullification of serfdom etc. In the Revolutions of 1848 in Habsburg areas, the Croatian Ban Jelačić cooperated with the Austrians in quenching the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 by leading a military campaign into Hungary, successful until the Battle of Pakozd. Despite this contribution, Croatia was later subject to Baron Alexander von Bach's absolutism as well as the Hungarian hegemony under ban Levin Rauch when the Empire was transformed into a dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867. Nevertheless, Ban Jelačić had succeeded in the abolition of serfdom in Croatia, which eventually brought about massive changes in society: the power of the major landowners was reduced and arable land became increasingly subdivided, to the extent of risking famine. Many Croatians started emigrating to the New World countries in this period, a trend that would continue throughout the next hundred years and create a large Croatian diaspora

Modern history (1918-present)

Main articles: State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs; Kingdom of Yugoslavia; Independent State of Croatia; SFR Yugoslavia; and Republic of Croatia

File:Josip Broz Tito, 1948.jpg

The Croat Josip Broz Tito, leader of Yugoslavia (1944-1980), was the founder of the Non-Aligned Movement.

After the First World War and dissolution of Austria-Hungary, most Croats were united within the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, created by unification of the short-lived State of SHS with the Kingdom of Serbia. Croats became one of the constituent nations of the new kingdom. The state was transformed into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929 and the Croats were united in the new nation with their neighbors – the South Slavs-Yugoslavs. In 1939, the Croats received a high degree of autonomy when the Banovina of Croatia 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 Croatia led by the Ustaše movement which sought to create an ethnically pure Croatian state on the territory corresponding to present-day countries of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Post-war Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia became a federation consisting of 6 republics, and Croats became one of two constituent peoples of two – Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (in the latter one of the three since 1968). Croats in Serbian autonomous province of Vojvodina are one of six main ethnic groups composing this region. Following the democratization of society, accompanied with ethnic tensions that emerged in the post-Tito era, in 1991 the Republic of Croatia declared independence, which was followed by war with its Serb minority, backed up by Serbia-controlled Yugoslav People's Army. 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.

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 Herzegovina. After the war's end in 1995, most Croatian refugees returned to their previous homes, while some (mostly Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Janjevci from Kosovo) moved into the formerly-held Serbian housing.

Language

Further information: Croatian language

Location map of dialects in Croatia and areas in BiH.

The native language of Croats is Croatian, a South Slavic language related to and classified alongside Serbian as the Western standardized register of the Serbo-Croatian language, and sharing many similarities with the West Slavic languages. Besides the most widespread dialect Standard Croatian is based, Shtokavian, Croats from the Adriatic coastline speak in a Chakavian, while Croats from the continental nortwestern part of Croatia in Kajkavian dialect. Vernacular texts in the Chakavian dialect first appeared in the 13th century, and Shtokavian texts appeared a century later. Standardization began in the period sometimes called "Baroque Slavism" in the first half of the 17th century, while some authors date it back to the end of 15th century. The modern Neo-Shtokavian standard that appeared in the mid 18th century was the first unified Croatian literary language. Croatian is written in Gaj's Latin alphabet.

The beginning of the Croatian written language can be traced to the 9th century, when Old Church Slavonic was adopted as the language of the liturgy. This language was gradually adapted to non-liturgical purposes and became known as the Croatian version of Old Slavonic. The two variants of the language, liturgical and non-liturgical, continued to be a part of the Glagolitic service as late as the middle of the 19th century. The earliest known Croatian Church Slavonic Glagolitic manuscripts are the Glagolita Clozianus and the Vienna Folia from the 11th century. Until the end of the 11th century Croatian medieval texts were written in three scripts: Latin, Glagolitic, and Croatian Cyrillic (bosančica/bosanica), and also in three languages: Croatian, Latin and Old Slavonic. The latter developed into what is referred to as the Croatian variant of Church Slavonic between the 12th and 16th centuries.

The most important early monument of Croatian literacy is the Baška tablet from the late 11th century. It is a large stone tablet found in the small Church of St. Lucy, Jurandvor on the Croatian island of Krk which contains text written mostly in Chakavian, today a dialect of Croatian, and in Croatian angular Glagolitic script. It is also important in the history of the nation as it mentions Zvonimir, the king of Croatia at the time. However, the luxurious and ornate representative texts of Croatian Church Slavonic belong to the later era, when they coexisted with the Croatian vernacular literature. The most notable are the "Missal of Duke Novak" from the Lika region in northwestern Croatia (1368), "Evangel from Reims" (1395, named after the town of its final destination), Hrvoje's Missal from Bosnia and Split in Dalmatia (1404), and the first printed book in Croatian language, the Glagolitic Missale Romanum Glagolitice (1483). During the 13th century Croatian vernacular texts began to appear, the most important among them being the "Istrian land survey" of 1275 and the "Vinodol Codex" of 1288, both written in the Chakavian dialect.

The Shtokavian dialect literature, based almost exclusively on Chakavian original texts of religious provenance (missals, breviaries, prayer books) appeared almost a century later. The most important purely Shtokavian vernacular text is the Vatican Croatian Prayer Book (ca. 1400).

Both the language used in legal texts and that used in Glagolitic literature gradually came under the influence of the vernacular, which considerably affected its phonological, morphological and lexical systems. From the 14th and the 15th centuries, both secular and religious songs at church festivals were composed in the vernacular.

Religion

Main article: Roman Catholicism in Croatia

Alojzije Stepinac

Cathedral in Zagreb

Stepinac was a beatified Croatian Catholic cardinal and Archbishop of Zagreb.

Croats are predominantly Roman Catholic, and before Christianity they adhered to Slavic paganism. The earliest record of contact between the Pope and the Croats dates from a mid-7th century entry in the Liber Pontificalis. Pope John IV (John the Dalmatian, 640–642) sent an abbot named Martin to Dalmatia and Istria in order to pay ransom for some prisoners and for the remains of old Christian martyrs. This abbot is recorded to have travelled through Dalmatia with the help of the Croatian leaders, and he established the foundation for the future relations between the Pope and the Croats.

The beginnings of the Christianization are also disputed in the historical texts: the Byzantine texts talk of duke Porin who started this at the incentive of emperor Heraclius (610-641), then of duke Porga who mainly Christianized his people after the influence of missionaries from Rome, while the national tradition recalls Christianization during the rule of Dalmatian duke Borna (810-821). It is possible that these are all renditions of the same ruler's name.

The earliest known Croatian autographs from the 8th century are found in the Latin Gospel of Cividale.

Curiously enough, the Croats were never obliged to use Latin—rather, they held masses in their own language and used the Glagolitic alphabet. This was officially sanctioned in 1248 by Pope Innocent IV, and only later did the Latin alphabet prevail.

The Latin Rite prevailed over the Byzantine Rite rather early due to numerous interventions from the Holy See. There were numerous church synods held in Dalmatia in the 11th century, particularly after the East-West Schism, during the course of which the use of the Latin rite was continuously reinforced until it became dominant.

Culture

Tradition

Main article: Culture of Croatia

Alka is a traditional knights' competition.

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 Dalmatia and Istria were subject to Roman Empire, Venetian and Italian rule; central regions like Lika and western Herzegovina were a scene of battlefield against the Ottoman Empire, 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 folklore include klapa ensembles of Dalmatia, tamburitza orchestras of Slavonia. Folk arts are performed at special events and festivals, perhaps the most distinctive being Alka of Sinj, a traditional knights' competition celebrating the victory against Ottoman Turks. The epic tradition is also preserved in epic songs sung with gusle. Various types of kolo circular dance are also encountered throughout Croatia.

Arts

Main articles: Croatian art, Architecture of Croatia, and Croatian literature

Grgur Ninski statue by Ivan Meštrović, with a tower of the Diocletian's Palace in the background

Architecture in Croatia reflects influences of bordering nations. Austrian and Hungarian influence is visible in public spaces and buildings in the north and in the central regions, architecture found along coasts of Dalmatia and Istria exhibits Venetian influence. Large squares named after culture heroes, well-groomed parks, and pedestrian-only zones, are features of these orderly towns and cities, especially where large scale Baroque urban planning took place, for instance in Varaždin and Karlovac. Subsequent influence of the Art Nouveau was reflected in contemporary architecture. Along the coast, the architecture is Mediterranean with a strong Venetian and Renaissance influence in major urban areas exemplified in works of Giorgio da Sebenico and Niccolò Fiorentino such as the Cathedral of St. James in Šibenik. The oldest preserved examples of Croatian architecture are the 9th-century churches, with the largest and the most representative among them being the Church of St. Donatus.

Besides the architecture encompassing the oldest artworks in Croatia, there is a long history of artists in Croatia reaching to the Middle Ages. In that period the stone portal of the Trogir Cathedral was made by Radovan, representing the most important monument of Romanesque sculpture in the Balkans. The Renaissance had the greatest impact on the Adriatic Sea coast since the remainder of Croatia was embroiled in the Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War. With the waning of the Ottoman Empire, art flourished during the Baroque and Rococo. The 19th and the 20th centuries brought about affirmation of numerous Croatian artisans, helped by several patrons of the arts such as bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer. Croatian artists of the period achieving worldwide renown were Vlaho Bukovac and Ivan Meštrović.

The Baška tablet, a stone inscribed with the glagolitic alphabet found on the Krk island and dated to 1100, is considered to be the oldest surviving prose in Croatian. The beginning of more vigorous development of Croatian literature is marked by the Renaissance and Marko Marulić. Besides Marulić, Renaissance playwright Marin Držić, Baroque poet Ivan Gundulić, Croatian national revival poet Ivan Mažuranić, novelist, playwright and poet August Šenoa, poet and writer Antun Gustav Matoš, poet Antun Branko Šimić, expressionist and realist writer Miroslav Krleža, poet Tin Ujević and novelist and short story writer Ivo Andrić are often cited as the greatest figures in Croatian literature.

Symbols

The current flag of Croatia, including the current coat of arms.

Main articles: Flag of Croatia and Coat of arms of Croatia

The current coat of arms shows, in order, the symbols of Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Istria, and Slavonia.

Examples of the Croatian pleter.

The flag of Croatia consists of a red-white-blue tricolor with the Coat of Arms of Croatia in the middle. The red-white-blue tricolor was chosen as those were the colours of Pan-Slavism, popular in the 19th century.

The coat-of-arms consists of the traditional red and white squares or grb, which simply means 'coat-of-arms'. It has been used to symbolise the Croats for centuries; some speculate that it was derived from Red and White Croatia, historic lands of the Croatian tribe but there is no generally accepted proof for this theory. 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 number from 3×3 to 8×8, but most commonly 5×5, like the current coat. The oldest source confirming the coat-of-arms as an official symbol is a genealogy of the Habsburgs dating from 1512 to 1518. In 1525 it was used on a votive medal. The oldest known example of the šahovnica (chessboard in Croatian) in Croatia is to be found on the wings of four falcons on a baptismal font donated by king Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (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 flag. 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 Airlines or the design of the shirt for the Croatia national football team), and partly because neighbouring countries like Slovenia and Serbia use the same Pan-Slavic colours on their flags as Croatia.

The Croatian interlace (pleter or troplet) is also a commonly used symbol which originally comes from monasteries built between the 9th and 12th century. The interlace can be seen in various emblems and is also featured in modern Croatian military ranks and Croatian police ranks insignia.

Communities

In Croatia (the nation state), 3.9 million people identify themselves as Croats, and constitute about 89.6% of the population. Another 485,000 live in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they are one of the three constituent ethnic groups, predominantly living in Western Herzegovina. The minority in Serbia numbers some 70,000 people, mostly living in Vojvodina, where also vast majority of the Šokci consider themselves Croats, as well as many Bunjevci (the latter, as well as other nationalities, settled the vast, abandoned area after the Ottoman retreat; this Croat subgroup originates from the south, mostly from the region of Bačka). Smaller Croat autochthonous minorities exist in Slovenia (mainly in Primorska, Prekmurje and in the Metlika area in Dolenjska regions - 35,000 Croats), Montenegro (mostly in the Bay of Kotor - 6,800 Croats), and a regional community in Kosovo called Janjevci who nationally identify as Croats. In the 1991 census Croats consisted 19.8% of the overall population of former Yugoslavia; there were around 4.6 million Croats in the entire country.

The subgroups of Croats are commonly based on regional affiliation, like Dalmatians, Slavonians, Zagorci, Istrani etc., while outside Croatia there exist several ethnic groups : Šokci (Croatia, Serbia, Hungary), Bunjevci (Serbia, Hungary), Burgenland Croats (Austria), Molise Croats (Italy), Croats of Boka Kotorska or Bokelji (Montenegro), Raci (Hungary), Krashovans (Romania), Janjevci (Kosovo).

Autochthonous communities and minorities

Autochthonous communities

• Croatia is the nation-state of Croats.
• In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croats are one of three constitute ethnic groups, numbering more than 485,000 people or 14.3% of population. The entity of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, western Herzegovina, is home to majority of Bosnian Croats.
• In Montenegro, Bay of Kotor, Croats are a national minority, numbering 6,021 people or 0.97% of population.
• In Serbia, Croats are a national minority, numbering 70,602 people or 0.94% of population. They mostly live in the region of Vojvodina, where the Croatian language is official (along with five other languages), and the national capital city of Belgrade.
• In Slovenia, Croats are not recoqnized as a minority, numbering 35,642 people or 1.81% of population. They mostly live in Primorska, Prekmurje and in the Metlika area in Dolenjska regions.

Croatian communities with minority status

• In Austria, Croats are an ethnic minority, numbering around 30,000 people in Burgenland, (Burgenland Croats), the eastern part of Austria, and around 15,000 people in the capital city of Budapest.
• In the Czech Republic, Croats are a national minority, numbering 850 - 2,000 people, forming a portion of the 29% minority (as "Others"). They mostly live in the region of Moravia, in the villages of Jevišovka, Dobré Pole and Nový Přerov.
• In Hungary, Croats are an ethnic minority, numbering 25,730 people or 0.26% of population. They live along Croatian-Hungarian and Austrian-Hungarian border, as well Budapest with neighbourhood.
• In Italy, Croats are a linguistic, and ethnic minority, numbering 23,880 people, of which 2,801 people belong to ethnic minority of Molise Croats from the region of Molise.
• In Romania, Croats are a national minority, numbering 6,786 people. They mostly live in the Caraș-Severin County, in communes of Lupac (90.7%) and Carașova (78.28%).
• In Slovakia, Croats are an ethnic and national minority, numbering around 850 people. They mostly live in the area around Bratislava, in the villages of Chorvátsky Grob, Čunovo, Devínska Nová Ves, Rusovce and Jarovce.

Croatian minorities exist in the following regions

• In Bulgaria, exist a small Croatian community, a branch of Janjevci, Croats from Kosovo.
• In Kosovo, Croats or Janjevci (Letničani), as inhabited mostly the town of Janjevo, before 1991 numbered 8,062 people, but after the war many fled, and as of 2011 number only 270 people.
• In the Republic of Macedonia, Croats number 2.686 people or 0.1% of population, mostly living in the capital city Skopje, city Bitola and around Lake Ohrid.

Diaspora

Main article: Croatian diaspora

Croatian Embassy in Canberra, Australia

There are currently 4-4.5 million Croats in diaspora throughout the world. The Croat diaspora was the consequence of either mostly economic or political (coercion or expulsions) reasons:

• To the west (Slovenia, Slovakia, Germany), north (Austria, Hungary) and south (Italy), caused by the conquering of Ottoman Turks, when Croats as well by religion as Roman Catholic were more oppressed than Orthodox Christians and Muslims.
• To the North America (Croatian American and Canadians of Croatian ancestry); South America, above all Chile (Croatian Chilean) and Argentina (Croatian Argentine) with smaller communities in Brazil (Croatian Brazilian) and Peru (Croatian Peruvian); Australia (Croatian Australian) and New Zealand (Croats-New Zealander); and South Africa; in the end of 19th and early 20th century, larger numbers of Croats emigrated, particularly for economic reasons.
• A further, larger wave of emigration, this time for political reasons, took place after the end of the World War II. At this time, both collaborators of the Ustaša regime and refugees who did not want to live under a communist regime fled the country.
• Going abroad as immigrant workers, particularly to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in the 1960s and 1970s. In addition, some emigrants left for political reasons. This migration made it possible for communist Yugoslavia to achieve lower unemployment and at the same time the money sent home by emigrants to their families provided an enormous source of foreign exchange income.
• The last large wave of Croat emigration occurred during and after the Yugoslav Wars (1991-1995). Migrant communities already established in countries such as Australia, the United States, and Germany grew as a result.

The count for diaspora is approximate because of incomplete statistical records and naturalization. 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 Alaska, followed by Australia (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 to Latin America, mostly to South America: chiefly Chile, Argentina, and Brazil; estimates of their number vary wildly, from 150,000 up to 500,000. There are also smaller groups of Croatian descendants in the Brazil, Peru, South Africa, New Zealand, Mexico, and South Korea. The most important organizations of the Croatian diaspora are the Croatian Fraternal Union, Croatian Heritage Foundation and the Croatian World Congress.

Maps

• 
  Croats in Croatia
• 
  Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 
  Croats in Vojvodina (2002 census)
• 
  Croats in Romania

See also

• Croatia, nation-state of Croats
• Timeline of Croatian history
• List of rulers of Croatia
• List of bans of Croatia
• Slavs; Medieval Slav tribes; South Slavs
• Yugoslavs, national demonym and umbrella term of the peoples of the Yugoslav federation

External links

• Template:Hr icon Matica hrvatska
• Review of Croatian History at Central and Eastern European Online Library
• Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina: History
• The Croatian nation at the beginning of the 20th century
  • Famous Croats and Croatian cultural heritage
  • Croatian Heritage Foundation Hrvatska matica iseljenika
  • Croatians in Arizona