什麼是克羅埃西亞

正式名稱克羅埃西亞共和國（Republic of Croatia）

巴爾幹半島中西部國家。面積56,538平方公里。人口約4,393,000（2001）。首都：札格拉布。主要是克羅埃西亞人，還有人數衆多的塞爾維亞少數民族。語言︰克羅埃西亞語（官方語）。宗教：天主教（克羅埃西亞人）、東正教（爾維亞人）。貨幣︰古納（kuna）。克羅埃西亞包括傳統上的達爾馬提亞、伊斯特拉半島和克羅埃西亞-斯拉沃尼亞地區。伊斯特拉半島和達爾馬提亞位於西南部，爲崎嶇的亞得里亞海沿岸地區。西北部是中部山嶽帶，包括第拿裏阿爾卑斯山脈的一部分。東北部爲富饒的農業區，養牛業亦重要。中部山嶽帶以種植水果聞名，伊斯特拉半島和達爾馬提亞的農地生產葡萄和橄欖。最重要的工業有食品加工、釀酒、紡織、石化製品，有豐富的石油和天然氣。政府形式爲共和國，兩院制。國家元首爲總統，政府首腦是總理。

西元7世紀一支南部斯拉夫人來到巴爾幹半島西部，西元8世紀查理曼把它納入附庸國。他們很快就接受天主教，10世紀時建立王國。11世紀開始受匈牙利統治，但仍保持其獨立王國的地位，在以後八個世紀裏，與匈牙利有不同自治程度的聯合。1526年大部分領土被鄂圖曼土耳其人佔據，其餘受哈布斯堡統治。1867年成爲奧匈帝國的一部分，達爾馬提亞和伊斯特拉半島受維也納統治，而克羅埃西亞-斯拉沃尼亞爲匈牙利皇家領地。1918年奧匈帝國在第一次世界大戰中戰敗，克羅埃西亞與其他南部斯拉夫領地一起組成塞爾維亞-克羅埃西亞-斯洛維尼亞王國，1929年改名爲南斯拉夫。第二次世界大戰中，德國和義大利建立了一個克羅埃西亞獨立國，包括克羅埃西亞-斯拉沃尼亞、達爾馬提亞部分地區和波士尼亞赫塞哥維納。戰後，克羅埃西亞重新加入南斯拉夫，成爲一個人民共和國。1991年宣佈獨立，導致克羅埃西亞的塞爾維亞人反抗，他們得到由塞爾維亞人領導的南斯拉夫軍隊的幫助，分離出幾個自治區，至1995年克羅埃西亞已收復大部分的自治區。由於政局漸趨穩定，克羅埃西亞的經濟在1990年代末開始復甦。

Croatia

Serbo-CroatianHrvatskaCountry, western central Balkans. Area: 21,829 sq mi (56,538 sq km). Population (2000): 4,282,000. Capital: Zagreb. The people are mainly Croats, with a large Serb minority. Language: Croatian (official). Religions: Roman Catholicism (Croats), Serbian Orthodoxy (Serbs). Currency: kuna. Croatia includes the traditional regions of Dalmatia, Istria, and Croatia-Slavonia. Istria and Dalmatia, in the southwest, cover the rugged Adriatic coast. The northwest, known as the central mountain belt, contains part of the Dinaric Alps. The northeast is a fertile agricultural area; cattle breeding is also important. The central mountain belt is known for fruit, and the farms of Istria and Dalmatia produce grapes and olives. The most important industries are food processing, wine making, textiles, chemicals, and petroleum and natural gas. It is a republic with a two-chambered legislature, its head of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. The Croats, a southern Slavic people, arrived in the 7th century AD, and in the 8th century came under Charlemagne. They converted to Christianity soon afterward and formed a kingdom in the 10th century. Coming under Hungarian control in the 11th century, it remained an independent kingdom, while the union lasted some eight centuries. Most of Croatia was taken by the Turks in 1526; the rest voted to accept Austrian rule. In 1867 it became part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, with Dalmatia and Istria ruled by Vienna and Croatia-Slavonia a Hungarian crown land. In 1918, after the defeat of Austria-Hungary in World War I, it joined other south Slav territories to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. In World War II, an independent state of Croatia was established by Germany and Italy, embracing Croatia-Slavonia, part of Dalmatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina; after the war Croatia was rejoined to Yugoslavia as a people's republic. It declared its independence in 1991, sparking insurrections by Croatian Serbs, who carved out autonomous regions with Serbian-led Yugoslav army help; Croatia had taken back most of these regions by 1995. With some stability returning, Croatia's economy began to revive in the late 1990s.