克罗埃西亚(Croatia)
正式名称克罗埃西亚共和国（Republic of Croatia）
巴尔干半岛中西部国家。面积56,538平方公里。人口约4,393,000（2001）。首都：札格拉布。主要是克罗埃西亚人，还有人数众多的塞尔维亚少数民族。语言︰克罗埃西亚语（官方语）。宗教：天主教（克罗埃西亚人）、东正教（尔维亚人）。货币︰古纳（kuna）。克罗埃西亚包括传统上的达尔马提亚、伊斯特拉半岛和克罗埃西亚-斯拉沃尼亚地区。伊斯特拉半岛和达尔马提亚位於西南部，为崎岖的亚得里亚海沿岸地区。西北部是中部山岳带，包括第拿里阿尔卑斯山脉的一部分。东北部为富饶的农业区，养牛业亦重要。中部山岳带以种植水果闻名，伊斯特拉半岛和达尔马提亚的农地生产葡萄和橄榄。最重要的工业有食品加工、酿酒、纺织、石化制品，有丰富的石油和天然气。政府形式为共和国，两院制。国家元首为总统，政府首脑是总理。
西元7世纪一支南部斯拉夫人来到巴尔干半岛西部，西元8世纪查理曼把它纳入附庸国。他们很快就接受天主教，10世纪时建立王国。11世纪开始受匈牙利统治，但仍保持其独立王国的地位，在以後八个世纪里，与匈牙利有不同自治程度的联合。1526年大部分领土被鄂图曼土耳其人占据，其余受哈布斯堡统治。1867年成为奥匈帝国的一部分，达尔马提亚和伊斯特拉半岛受维也纳统治，而克罗埃西亚-斯拉沃尼亚为匈牙利皇家领地。1918年奥匈帝国在第一次世界大战中战败，克罗埃西亚与其他南部斯拉夫领地一起组成塞尔维亚-克罗埃西亚-斯洛维尼亚王国，1929年改名为南斯拉夫。第二次世界大战中，德国和义大利建立了一个克罗埃西亚独立国，包括克罗埃西亚-斯拉沃尼亚、达尔马提亚部分地区和波士尼亚赫塞哥维纳。战後，克罗埃西亚重新加入南斯拉夫，成为一个人民共和国。1991年宣布独立，导致克罗埃西亚的塞尔维亚人反抗，他们得到由塞尔维亚人领导的南斯拉夫军队的帮助，分离出几个自治区，至1995年克罗埃西亚已收复大部分的自治区。由於政局渐趋稳定，克罗埃西亚的经济在1990年代末开始复苏。
English version：
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.
