GENERAL
INFORMATIONS:
Surface: the mainland
56,542 km2, territorial sea 31,067 km2.
Population: 4,437,460
inhabitants, the majority of the population are Croats
and national minorities are Serbs, Slovenes, Hungarians,
Bosnians, Italians, Czechs and others
Capital: Zagreb (779,145
inhabitants), the economic centre of the country
Coastline: 5,835 km
of which 4,058 km comprise a coastline of islands,
solitary rocks and reefs, 1,185 islands (50 inhabited)
Climate: mediterranean
climate
Adriatic coast: hot summers, average temperature August 21 to 28 °C,
mild winters January average temperature 6-11 °C
Currency: kuna (1 kuna
= 100 lipa) HRK. Foreign currency can be exchanged
in banks, exchange offices, travel agencies, hotels
etc.
Official language: Croatian,
latin alphabet
Religion: majority of Roman Catholics
Telephone code: +385
Adriatic sea: The eastern coast
of the Adriatic sea including
all islands belongs
to the Republic of Croatia and it is a ideal part
in Europe for enjoying in cruising on all kinds of
boats.
Croatia is the cradle of ancient civilizations so it
had very vivid history.
The east coast of the Adriatic Sea was inhabited from the beginning of the
Stone Age. Surprisingly the most accessible islands were also inhabited.
In the 6th century BC the ancient Greeks traded with the Illyrians and they
founded their colonies on Hvar and Vis.
Slavs arrived in the beggining of the 7th century.
In the 18th century, some parts of today's Croatian Adriatic sea were ruled
by Napoleon followed
by the Austrian nad Hungarian monarchy.
Testimony of those times can be found not only on the mainland, but also
under the sea in the shape of shipwrecks and remains of the great ships.
During the two World Wars, the Adriatic sea was one of the more important
areas of battle what resulted with many shipwrecks from that period.
The Adriatic Sea has always been an important route
between East and West and that can be seen even today,
reminding us that the past should be used as a lesson
for the future.
