Where Is Croatia and What
Is It Known For?

Dubrovnik, Croatia

The southern European state of Croatia has a long coastline on the Adriatic Sea, with many offshore islands. Croatia borders Slovenia to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the southeast, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb.

Croatia was founded on the ruins of the Roman Empire. When they arrived in the territory of present-day Croatia, the Croats were politically organized in principalities. In 925, Croatian King Tomislav united the principalities, establishing the first Croatian state. Later, Croatia retained its legal status and autonomy within the framework of the Hungarian empire, and the Habsburg Monarchy.

The Adriatic, with one of the most indented coastlines in Europe with its 1,185 islands and islets, of which only 66 are inhabited, is undoubtedly the most popular tourist destination. Continental Croatia, however, also abounds in beauty: it is a land of forests, rivers rich in fish, swift mountain streams and deep gorges of Gorski Kotar, and the magnificent Plitvice Lakes in Lika. It is a land of golden wheat fields, oak woods and wide rivers of Slavonia and Baranja, a land of quaint little villages, romantic castles and manors, and picturesque rolling hills and vineyards of the Croatian Zagorje.

Coastal areas have a Mediterranean climate; inland is cooler and wetter. Croatia was once strong agriculturally and industrially, but conflict in the early 1990s, and associated loss of tourist revenue, caused economic problems from which recovery has been slow.