Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe and Southeastern Europe at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Adriatic Sea. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. Croatia borders Slovenia to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the southeast, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast.
The Croats arrived in the early 7th century in what today is Croatia. They organized the state into two dukedoms. The first king, King Tomislav was crowned in AD 925 and Croatia was elevated into the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for almost two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Peter Krešimir IV and Demetrius Zvonimir. Croatia entered a union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand from the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, Croatia was included in the short-lived State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs that declared independence from Austria–Hungary and co-founded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. An independent Croatian state briefly existed during World War II. After World War II, Croatia became a founding member of the Second Yugoslavia.
On 25 June 1991, Croatia declared independence and became a sovereign state.
Croatia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization and CEFTA. The country is a candidate for membership in the European Union, which it is expected to join in 2013 and is a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean. Croatia is classified as an emerging and developing economy by the International Monetary Fund and a high income economy by the World Bank.
Tourism in Croatia is a well-developed industry. Many tourists visit to experience the country's extensive coastline and well-preserved coastal Renaissance towns. In 2005, Croatia had 10 million tourist visitors, and in 2008 11.26 million tourists.
The interior of the country, with the exception of the capital Zagreb, the erstwhile Baroque capital Varaždin and a plethora of medieval castles, has fewer tourist attractions. Eight areas in the country have been designated national parks, and the landscape in these areas is afforded extra protection from development. Several companies run flotillas of yachts along different stretches of the coastline, which is also popular with divers.
The country is currently being advertised under the motto The Mediterranean As It Once Was.
Its terrain is diverse, including plains, lakes and rolling hills in the continental north and north-east (Central Croatia and Slavonia, part of the Pannonian Basin), densely wooded mountains in Lika and Gorski Kotar, part of the Dinaric Alps, and rocky coastlines on the Adriatic Sea (Istria, Primorje and Dalmatia).
Lonely Planet named Croatia as the top pick destination for 2005, while National Geographic Adventure Magazine named Croatia as Destination of the Year in 2006.