|
|
|
       
| |
|
|
Croatia:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other pages in this profile of Croatia:
People, Government, Economy, Communications & Transportation, Military & Transnational Issues.
People, Government, Economy, Communications & Transportation, Military & Transnational Issues.
| |
Background |
The lands that today comprise Croatia were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the close of World War I. In 1918, the Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes formed a kingdom known after 1929 as Yugoslavia. Following World War II, Yugoslavia became a federal independent Communist state under the strong hand of Marshal TITO. Although Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, it took four years of sporadic, but often bitter, fighting before occupying Serb armies were mostly cleared from Croatian lands. Under UN supervision, the last Serb-held enclave in eastern Slavonia was returned to Croatia in 1998. |
| |
Location |
Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia |
Geographic coordinates |
45 10 N, 15 30 E |
Map references |
Europe |
Area |
total: 56,542 sq km land: 56,414 sq km water: 128 sq km |
Area - comparative |
slightly smaller than West Virginia |
Land boundaries |
total: 2,197 km border countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina 932 km, Hungary 329 km, Serbia 241 km, Montenegro 25 km, Slovenia 670 km |
Coastline |
5,835 km (mainland 1,777 km, islands 4,058 km) |
Maritime claims |
territorial sea: 12 nm continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation |
Climate |
Mediterranean and continental; continental climate predominant with hot summers and cold winters; mild winters, dry summers along coast |
Terrain |
geographically diverse; flat plains along Hungarian border, low mountains and highlands near Adriatic coastline and islands |
Elevation extremes |
lowest point: Adriatic Sea 0 m highest point: Dinara 1,830 m |
Natural resources |
oil, some coal, bauxite, low-grade iron ore, calcium, gypsum, natural asphalt, silica, mica, clays, salt, hydropower |
Land use |
arable land: 25.82% permanent crops: 2.19% other: 71.99% (2005) |
Irrigated land |
110 sq km (2003) |
Natural hazards |
destructive earthquakes |
Environment - current issues |
air pollution (from metallurgical plants) and resulting acid rain is damaging the forests; coastal pollution from industrial and domestic waste; landmine removal and reconstruction of infrastructure consequent to 1992-95 civil strife |
Environment - international agreements |
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol |
Geography - note |
controls most land routes from Western Europe to Aegean Sea and Turkish Straits; the vast majority of Adriatic Sea islands lie off the coast of Croatia - some 1,200 islands, islets, ridges, and rocks |
|
Copyright 2008 World Sites Atlas (sitesatlas.com) |