JFDP presentation: Croatia

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JFDP presentation Croatia

• Lara Jelenc and Nives Mikelic

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Croatia overview
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Croatia Overview of the country facts and
economy

• Location
• Southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea,
  between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia

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Croatia Overview of the country facts and
economy

• Geographical position
• Croatia extends from the furthest eastern edges
  of the Alps in the north-west to the Pannonian
  lowlands and the banks of the Danube in the east
• Its central region is covered by the Dinara
  mountain range, and its southern parts extend to
  the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
• Surface
• the mainland covers 56,542 km², and the surface
  of the territorial sea is 31,067 km².

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Croatia Overview of the country facts and
economy

• Population
• 4,437,460 inhabitants
• Composition of population
• the majority of the population are Croats
  national minorities are Serbs, Slovenes,
  Hungarians, Bosnians, Italians, Czechs and
  others.
• System of government
• multi-party parliamentary republic.

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Croatia Overview of the country facts and
economy

• Capital
• Zagreb (779,145 inhabitants), the economic,
  traffic, cultural and academic centre of the
  country.
• Coastline
• 5,835 km of which 4,058 km comprise a coastline
  of islands, solitary rocks and reefs. Number of
  islands, solitary rocks and reefs 1,185 the
  largest islands are Krk and Cres there are 50
  inhabited islands.
• Highest peak
• Dinara 1,831 m above sea level.

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Croatia Overview of the country facts and
economy

• Climate
• There are two climate zones a temperate
  continental climate, locally also a mountainous
  climate, prevails in the interior, whereas a
  pleasant Mediterranean climate prevails along the
  Adriatic coast, with an overwhelming number of
  sunny days, dry and hot summers, mild and humid
  winters
• Currency
• kuna (1 kuna 100 lipa).
• Government type
• Presidential/parliamentary democracy

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Croatia Overview of the country facts and economy

• Background
• It was part of the Austro-Hungarian 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 war
  before occupying Serb armies left Croatia

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Croatia Overview of the country facts and
economy

• Economy - overview
• Before the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the
  Republic of Croatia, after Slovenia, was the most
  prosperous and industrialized area, with a per
  capita output perhaps one-third above the
  Yugoslav average.
• The economy emerged from a mild recession in 2000
  with tourism, banking, and public investments
  leading the way.

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Croatia Overview of the country facts and
economy

• Economy - overview
• Unemployment remains high, at about 14 percent.
• While macroeconomic stabilization has largely
  been achieved, structural reforms lag because of
  deep resistance on the part of the public and
  lack of strong support from politicians.
• Growth, while impressively about 4 for the last
  several years, has been achieved through high
  fiscal and current account deficits.
• The government is gradually reducing a heavy back
  log of civil cases, many involving land tenure.
  The EU accession process should accelerate fiscal
  and structural reform.

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Croatia Overview of the country facts and economy

• Economy - overview
• GDP (purchasing power parity) 50.33 billion
  (2004 est.)
• GDP - real growth rate 3.7 (2004 est.)
• GDP - per capita purchasing power parity -
  11,200 (2004 est.)
• GDP - composition by sector
• agriculture 8.2
• industry 30.1
• Population below poverty line 11 (2003)

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Development perspective and policies of Croatia

• Croatia applied for EU membership in 2003
• European Commission recommended making it an
  official candidate in early 2004.
• Beginning of entry negotiations October 20,
  2005.
• In late 2005, the EU officials projected that the
  accession would likely happen between 2008 and
  2010.

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NATIONAL FOOD AND DRINK

• What to eat?
• Cold dishes renowned Dalmatian or Istrian
  prosciutto, Pag or Lika cheese, sheep cheese,
  Slavonian paprika-flavoured salami ("kulen"),
  renowned Samobor or Zagorje garlic sausages
  ("cešnjovka")
• Main dishes depend on the area that you are
  visiting.
• In Dalmatia, Primorje, on the islands and in
  Istria, the dishes are mainly fish and other
  seafood dishes, or meat dishes the so-called
  "pašticada", or boiled lamb.
• In the continental part of Croatia there is a
  wide selection of meat dishes, including turkey
  with a special pasta known as "mlinci", roast
  lamb, roast suckling pig, and boiled or baked
  "štrukli" (pasta with cheese) being particularly
  famous.
• Among desserts, apart from the already mentioned
  "štrukli", there are walnut loaf, poppy seed loaf
  and cheese or fruit strudel.

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NATIONAL FOOD AND DRINK

• What to drink?
• Cultivation of grapes and the production of sweet
  and selected wines is a several centuries-old
  tradition with Croatian winegrowers both in the
  continental part of Croatia and in Primorje and
  Dalmatia.
• The better-known varieties of Croatian wines
  along the Adriatic coast and on the islands are
  red wines Teran, Merlot, Cabernet, Opolo,
  Plavac, Dingac, Postup, and white wines
  Malvazija, Pošip, Pinot, Kujundžuša, Žlahtina,
  Muškat
• In continental parts Riesling, Graševina,
  Burgundac, Traminac
• Among the strong drinks there are various kinds
  of brandy which are well-known plum brandy,
  herb-flavoured brandy, grape brandy, while among
  dessert drinks there are Prošek and Maraschino.

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HISTORY AND CULTURE

• In Croatia, fortified towns are no rarity.
• Long ago many summer residences and even churches
  were built as fortresses.
• Our culture has survived many wars and is offered
  today to our friends and guests for their
  pleasure and delight.
• Despite many a war fought against Tatars,
  Franconians, Venetians, Turks and Serbs, the
  Croats have succeeded in retaining their homeland
  whose abundant beauty reflects the richness of
  their tradition and culture.

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HISTORY AND CULTURE

• Besides the first 7th-century record, many other
  documents have been preserved and are precious
  testimony recording as they do the reigns of the
  oldest Croatian princes and kings since the 9th
  century
• Among the most valuable are Preromanesque stone
  monuments with glagolitic scriptures (AD 1100)
  and some rich collections of illuminated
  Glagolitic manuscripts originating mostly from
  the 13th to the 17th centuries
• Due to its extraordinary artistic expressiveness,
  the pre-Romanesque period bears the greatest
  importance, particularly in architecture.
• However, our progress was for many centuries
  interlaced with that of other European nations
  and the Croats took their part in the development
  and use of European artistic styles.

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HISTORY AND CULTURE

• The first Croatian printing-house began work in
  Kosinj less than thirty years after Gutenberg had
  invented the printing machine, and the first
  public theatre in Europe was opened in Hvar.
• Thanks to a strong and uninterrupted Catholic
  tradition there has also been an impressive
  amount of literature written in Latin and the
  Latin language was used as the official language
  in the Croatian Parliament till the end of the
  19th century.
• Croatian writers, musicians, painters, sculptors
  and architects have contributed greatly to the
  culture of our civilisation.
• From the Middle Ages down to today our
  philosophers, scientists and inventors have
  written many pages in the book of world heritage

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SINGULARITIES OF CROATIA

• What distinguishes us from the others?
• The city walls of Dubrovnik are the best
  preserved fortification system in Europe.
• The first quarantine hospital in Europe was
  established in Dubrovnik in the 14th century.
  Although somewhat changed, it still exists on the
  location known as Lazaret.
• In the Franciscan Monastery in Dubrovnik
  (Samostan Male brace), there is one of the three
  oldest European pharmacies (it was there as early
  as 1317).
• From the 9th century on, the Croats wrote in
  their own Glagolitic script. It was used, in
  parallel with Latin script, till the 18th
  century. A huge number of historical records was
  written in Glagolitic script, from parish books
  to the inscriptions on the walls of some
  churches. It is still taught in some schools in
  Istria and Hrvatsko primorje.

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SINGULARITIES OF CROATIA

• PEOPLE
• Marin (a 4th-century stonemason) from the island
  of Rab, was the founder of San Marino, the first
  Republic in Europe.
• As legend has it, Marco Polo (1254-1324), the
  famous seafarer and discoverer of China, was born
  in the town of Korcula on the island of the same
  name.
• Julije Klovic (1498-1578) was the greatest
  Renaissance miniaturist (often called the
  Michelangelo of the miniature)
• Pope Siksto V (1520-1590), known as the reformer
  of church institutions and considered one of the
  most meritorious "architects" of Rome, came from
  Croatia, too.
• Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), the greatest inventor
  in the field of electricity worldwide, was born
  in Croatia. His best known invention is
  alternating current, without which we can hardly
  imagine our life today.

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SINGULARITIES OF CROATIA

• The Croatian baron Franjo Trenk (1711-1749)
  founded the first military band In Europe.
• The kind of pencil you use most often (the
  mechanical pencil) and the fountain pen were
  invented in 1906 by Slavoljub Penkala of Zagreb
  (1871-1922).
• The Zeppelin, the large dirigible airship
  constructed from metal, was originally invented
  by David Schwartz (1852-1897) from Zagreb.
  Ferdinand Zeppelin later purchased his invention,
  constructed the airship and named it after
  himself.
• Fingerprinting (dactiloscopy) as an
  identification method was discovered by Ivan
  Vucetic (1858-1924) from the island of Hvar.

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SINGULARITIES OF CROATIA

• PECULIARITIES
• The earliest 5000 years old European calendar
  known today is the calendar discovered on a
  ceramic vessel (terrine). The pot belongs to the
  Vucedol culture and is decorated with four
  parallel bands representing the four seasons. The
  symbols represent various zodiacs assigned to for
  individual parts of the year.
• Old-Croatian pre-Romanesque little churches were
  built as temples, but as clocks and calendars,
  too. There is no other place in the world with so
  many well preserved objects using sun-beams for
  telling the time of the day (clock) as well as
  that of the year (calendar).
• Istrian gamut - a specific sequence of notes and
  half-notes, characterizing Istrian native music,
  usually performed on a popular instrument the
  roženice.
• The Passion procession (through seven churches)
  on the island of Hvar has been a tradition since
  the Middle Ages and the songs sung by the people
  walking in procession are by European
  musicologists considered to be the oldest Passion
  songs in Europe.
• The first naval museum in the world was founded
  in Pula in 1870.

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SINGULARITIES OF CROATIA

• FASHION
• The only national costume in Europe, showing
  womens legs above the knees, is worn by women on
  the island of Susak.
• Wearing a kravata (the tie) was originally a
  fashion in Croatia.
• In the 18th century it was enthusiastically
  adopted by the French and, seemingly, by the rest
  of the world - at least over the past
  two-and-a-half centuries.

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SINGULARITIES OF CROATIA

• NATURE
• The longest karst cave in Europe is Lukina jama
  on the Velebit mountain.
• The last oasis of the European white-headed
  vulture is located on the island of Cres.
• The last specimen of the Mediterranean monk seal
  lives in the Croatian aquatorium.
• The oldest and the biggest (50 cm) variety of
  jelly-fish known today was discovered in the
  lakes on the island of Mljet (Mljet National
  Park).
• Numerous endemic species of flora and fauna, to
  mention only the endemic plant Degenia velebitica
  and the strange blue frog found in Zagreb.

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Conclusion

• It is a sad fact that this is about all we are
  able to give you now.
• The sounds of the sea murmur in the morning the
  birds twitter or the shriek of a sea gull the
  unceasing rhythms of restless crickets in the
  pine-woods these we cannot convey to you.
• Just like we cannot bring you the melodious sound
  of "klapa" singing in the narrow lanes of
  Dalmatian towns or the vivacious playing on the
  "tambura" on a bedecked Slavonian two-horse
  carriage.
• These you will have to experience for yourself.
  ...