Croatia
Set alongside a large stretch of the Adriatic Sea of which is referred to as the Dalmatian cost along the Western border of the Balkan States, Croatia has for centuries been recognized for it's scenic surroundings. The ethnic hegemony of the country's people who share a national language and are by majority Roman Catholic has traversed a lengthy history of early Greek and Byzantine rule, independent kingdoms most notably under Tomislav in the twelfth century and the occupation by the repressive Ottoman Turks from around the 13th to the late 19th century. Despite the Muslim influence that accompanied the Ottomans precense throughout eastern Europe for their five hundred years of conquest until their withdrawal to the eastern side of the Bosporus, the western European Catholic tradition remained central to the Croatia. Medieval castles, catholic cathedrals and western architecture from German, Austrian and French influence all represent a part of what has comprised much of the country's culture particularly as one ventures farther inland from the country's coastline.
The capital city Zagreb located in the north with proximity to Hungary and Slovenia, which was once the most prosperous of the Balkan nations during the twentieth century is a modern, industrial city. For the fifty years that Croatia was of the six republics that comprised the country of Yugoslavia, Zagreb accounted for the second most economic output of goods only behind the regional capital of Belgrade in Serbia prior to it's destruction from the ethnic wars that erupted in the early nineties.
The Croats have long been identified by an essence of their life consisting o their industrial capacity as a product of the economy and the coastal tourist and leisurely splendor. A segment of the population has for decades embodied the economic dichotomy within this small nation by occupying two jobs of which one is often a professional daytime responsibility and another that is geared toward the tourist industry in the evening. A national slowdown during mid afternoon which is not too dissimilar from the Spanish siesta is a result of the time during the day when many people will shuffle between their duplicitous work agenda.
Today, the coastal area has become an ever more popular destination for European travelers including the youthful British and other spendthrift party goers. A culture of clubs not too different from a smaller scale version of the Mediterranean town of Ibiza has become standard in such resort towns as ...
A separatists mentality of Croatia during it's inclusion in Tito's Yugoslavian borders was likely the most prominent of the other republics to express resentment towards the central government. During 1970-1971, the national separatists movement unfolded largely in response to dis-grievance that Croatia wasn't receiving a fair share of the collective Yugoslavia economic reserves that the people felt justified in receiving due to the bustling tourist trade. Tensions were subsequently quelled as they often were under the rule of Tito's socialist diplomacy. After Tito's death in 1982 and the following decade of the uncertainty for the Yugoslavian republics, which ultimately led to the ethnic Wars instigated largely by Slobodan Milosevic's Serbian murderous campaign against all people who were not of the Orthodox Christian ethnicities which included Catholic Croats, Albanians and many of the Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo. The Croats took sides with the Serbian opposition forces who included the large groups of aforementioned Bosnian, Albanian and Kosovo armies.
