Introduction—The Territory

Abstract

The chapter discusses the basics of the territory of Croatia, which are of importance for its distinctive historical–geographical development. Its location and especially its position in geographical, geopolitical/geostrategic, and cultural terms is simultaneously the result and cause of its historical–geographical development. Foreign influences came from the west and southwest (Mediterranean), as well as from the north and northwest (Central Europe). Mediterranean influences have been present since Antiquity, while Central European influences began in the Early Middle Ages and were greatly strengthened after the suppression of Ottoman state organisations. Because both Mediterranean and Central European cultural influences spread by way of strong social organisations, their traces have remained visible in various forms (urbanism and architecture, art, dialects, mentality, gastronomy, music, and individual elements of folk culture) in individual parts of contemporary Croatia. Furthermore, the chapter reviews the process of bordering in Croatia. The contemporary territory of the Republic of Croatia was determined during the Second World War and was precisely geographically and cadastrally defined shortly before the war ended. The chapter also focuses on the natural environment, which is very diverse, despite the country’s relatively small size. Considering the basic elements of the natural environment—relief, climate, soil, and vegetation—there are three different, important environmental wholes: Pannonian, Dinaric, and Adriatic/Mediterranean. Throughout history, each type of natural environment determined not only the manner of valuation of land, but also how humans altered the environment, shaped cultural landscapes, and organised territories.