Official name: REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
Official language: CROATIAN
Alphabet: LATIN
Currency: KUNA (100 LIPA)
Population (1991): 4,784,000
Capital: ZAGREB (800,000 inhabitants)

Croatia is an Adriatic and a central European country. It stretches in the form of an arc from the Danube in the northeast to Istria in the west and Boka Kotorska in the southeast. Its area is 56,538 sq.km. and the area of the coastal sea about 31,900 sq.km.
Geographically, it is situated on the crossroads between Central European and the Mediterranean.

Croatia is situated close to densely populated and industrially developed European countries. Many internationally important transport routs cross Croatia. The importance of the geographical position of the Republic of Croatia is also enhanced by the Adriatic Sea, the northernmost gulf of the Mediterranean, which is the closest to the central part of the European continent.

The most important routes are centred along the Sava river, The Adriatic and the Drava river; there are also several important transversal routes from the Austrian and Hungarian border to the Adriatic coast (to Rijeka and Split).

Parliamentary multiparty Republic

The Republic of Croatia’s national anthem is “ Lijepa naša domovino” (“Our beautiful Homeland”). Antun Mihanović is the author of the lyrics.

The Croatian National flag is red-white-blue tricolour, with the coat of arms (13 red squares and 12 silver squares arranged intermittently an a 5 times 5 pattern. This coat of arms was affirmed by 15th century documents. It is a very old symbol of Croatia resembling a red-white chess table. Now it also has a crown composed of five regional symbols representing.

Territorial -Administrative Structure
20 counties and the Town of Zagreb with 121 towns and 416 communities.

 Natural and Geographical Features
The area of Croatia can be divided into three major natural and geographical parts:
The Pannonian and Peri-Panonian area comprises the lowland and hilly parts of eastern and northwestern Croatia, mountains higher than 500 m and rare and of an insular character. Most of this area is being used fro farming and livestock breading. Slavonija and Baranja in the east are the most suitable for growing cereals; the humid valleys and the hills are richly afforested while the north-western part, which gravitates to Zagreb, is industrially the most developed.
The hilly and mountainous area, which separates Pannonian Croatia from its coastal part, is less developed. Its future development will be based on its transit importance, the growth of the already existing wood and timber industry, and the still underexploited potential for the production of healthy food and winter and rural tourism.
The Adriatic Area includes the narrow coastal belt separates from the hinterland by high mountains. This is predominantly a karst area with very dry summers. The few streams mainly follow narrow gorges in breaking their way through to the sea. The Croatian coastal area may further be divided into the northern (Istria and Kvarner) and southern part (Dalmatia). It also lends itself to a longitudinal division into the islands, the costal proper and the immediate hinterland.
The Croatian Adriatic cost is one of the most indented in the world. It has 1185 islands and islets with a total coast of 4,058 km, the total length of the mainland coast being 1777 km. The largest island is Krk; other islands include Cres, Brač, Hvar, Pag and Korčula. The largest peninsulas are Istria, and Pelješac, and the largest bay is Kvarner Bay.

Area
Total sate area                          98,810 km²
Territory area (land)                  56,610 km²
Coastal length                             5,835 km²

Climate
Northern Croatia has a continental climate. Central and mountainous regions, as well as the entire Adriatic coast, have a Mediterranean climate. Spring and autumn are mild along the coast, while winter can be cold and snowy in central and northern part.