ungarian 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.

Geography Croatia

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
Pollu