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| Croatia |
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Much
has been said about the beauty of Croatia. "Heaven on Earth"
has been described in many books by artists, in paintings and
countless photographs. "God wanted to crown his creation,
so on the last day he created the Croatian Adriatic from his tears,
the stars and sea breeze",wrote an author long ago about
the splendour of this most beautiful and preserved ecological
corner of the modern world. Long beaches, rocky mountains within
reach of the sea, fervent summers, untouched nature and unique
city monuments have turned the vacations of many travellers into
an exceptionally beautiful dream. It is often said that most travellers
by chance stumble across the Adriatic. Every other visit discovers
more of the diversity, blessedness and hospitality of this land.
It would seem that we are not objective to those who have not
visited this jewel of the Mediterranean. The only way to prove
our objectivity is through ones own experience of the sea with
its thousands islands.
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| Map
of Croatia - Road map (75.4Kb
11.2sec @ 56.6Kbps) |
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| Geographical
Position and Location |
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Croatia
is situated close to densely populated and industrially
developed European countries. Many internationally important
transport routes 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 centered 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).
Croatia is an Adriatic and a Central European country. It
streches 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
cross-roads between Central Europe and the Mediterranean.
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| Natural
and Geographical Features |
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The
area of Croatia can be divided into three major natural and
geographic parts:
The Pannonian and Peri-Pannonian area comprises the lowland
and hilly parts of eastern and northwestern Croatia; mountains
higher than 500 m are rare and of an insular character. Most
of this area is being used for farming and livestock breading.
Slavonija and Baranja in the east are the most suiotable for
growing cereals; the humid valleys and the hills are richly
afforested while the northwestern 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 separated
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 nad Kvarner) and southern part (Dalmatia).
It also lends itself to a longitudinal division into the islands,
the coast proper and the immediate hinterland.
The Croatian Adriatic coast is one of the most indented in
the world: it has 1185 islands and islets with a total coastline
of 4,058 km, the total length of the mainland coast being
1777 km. The largest island is Krk; other large islands include
Cres, Brac, Hvar, Pag and Korcula. The largest peninsulas
are Istria and Peljesac, and the largest bay is Kvarner Bay.
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| Area |
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Total
state area....................................
Teritory area (land)................................
Aquatorium area
(internal sea line)..................................
Marine economy region
(teritorial sea line) ................................
Total economy area...............................
Coastline length....................................
Coastline length of mainland...................
Coastline length of islands......................
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89,810
km2
56,610 km2
33,200
km2
23,870
km2
113,680 km2
5,835 km
1,777 km
4,058 km
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| Relief |
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A
considerable part of Croatia lies at an altitude of over 500 m,
but there are no mountains higher than 2000 m. Lowlands prevail
in eastern and northwestern Croatia, while the highest mountains
in the mountainous part are found in the area which separates the
continental mainland from the Coast (Risnjak 1528m, Velika Kapela
1533m, Pljesivica 1657m) or close to the sea (Ucka 1396m, Velebit
1758m). The highest mountains in Dalmatia are Biokovo (1762m) close
to the sea and Dinara (1831m) in the hinterland.
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| Rivers |
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Croatia's
rivers belong to the Adriatic and the Black Sea basin. The rivers
in the interior are large and calmer (Sava, Drava, Danube). The
coastal rivers are shorter and have a higher gradient. The longest
coastal rivers are the Mirna and the Rasa in Istria and the Zrmanja,
the Krka and the Cetina in Dalmatia. Karst streams running partly
underground prevail in Lika.
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| Lakes |
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Croatia
has no large lakes (the largest, Vrana, near Biograd has an area
of 30 sq.km. The most atractive are the Plitvice Lakes (a chain
of 16 lakes with the river Korana as the effluent), the Red and
Blue Lakes near Imotski (unique karst phenomena), freshwater lake
Vrana, a cryptodepression on the island of Cres and lake Prokljan
(along the Krka river near Sibenik). The best know man-made lakes
are Lokve and Bajer in Gorski Kotar, Trakoscan in Hrvatsko Zagorje
and Peruca along the river Cetina in Dalmatia. Lake Kopacevo and
the surrounding swamp forests in Baranja are a major hatching
ground and bird habitat.
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| Adriatic
Sea |
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It
stretches from the northwest to the southeast between the Balkan
and Apenine peninsulas for 783 km, its average width being 170 km.
Its average depth is 252 m; its northwestern part is shallow (maximum
23 m in the Bay of Trieste), while it is much deaper in the south
(1200 m in the South Adriatic basin). The prevailing winds are the
cold bura, the humid jugo and the refreshing maestrale.
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| Climate |
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Northern
Croatia has a continental climate. Central, semimountainous 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 regions.
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| Culture |
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Belonging
to the Middle-European and Mediterranean cultural and civilisation
circle and tradition. Extremely rich and valuable cultural
and historical heritage is pointing to a millenium old presence
of Croatia in the area.
The specific urban culture of coastal and island areas is
easily seen in towns such as: Porec, Rovinj, Pula, Zadar,
Sibenik, Hvar, Korcula and Ston, with Split (Diocletian's
Palace) and Dubrovnik representing a part of the world cultural
heritage under UNESCO protection.
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| Religion |
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Croats
are overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, while virtually all Serbs are
Eastern Orthodox. In addition to various doctrinal differences,
Orthodox Christians venerate icons, let priests marry, and couldn't
care less about the Pope. Thoroughly suppressed during Yugoslavia's
communist period, Roman Catholicism is now making a comeback, with
most churches strongly attended every Sunday. Muslims make up 1.2%
of the population and Protestants 0.4%. There's a tiny Jewish population
in Zagreb.
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* * *
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For more information
and details, please, do not hesitate to contact
us.
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