Croatia is a small arc-shaped country in southeastern Europe’s Balkan Peninsula It spans only 21,851 square miles 56,594 square kilometers In the north sits Zagreb Croatia’s capital and largest city The waters of the Adriatic Sea lie to the country’s west More than 1,100 small islands dot the sea near the long coast Croatia curves around Bosnia and Herzegovina It forms the country’s western and northern boundaries Croatia’s southernmost tip shares its border with Montenegro The two countries touch for about 12 miles 19 kilometers Serbia is Croatia’s northeastern neighbor Hungary and Slovenia line Croatia’s northern border 4 Where Is Croatia
W N S E Slovenia Did you know Croatia and its neighbors once formed a country called Yugoslavia In 1991 Croatia became an independent country Hungary Zagreb Croatia Serbia Bosnia and Herzegovina Adriatic Sea Montenegro fun fact Nikola Tesla was a famous inventor born in the mountains of today’s Croatia Tesla was the first to capture the power of North America’s Niagara Falls He turned it into electricity 5
Dinaric Alps Did you know Peaks in Croatia’s Dinaric Alps climb as high as 6,000 feet 1,830 meters This makes the range difficult to cross Only two main mountain passes connect western and eastern Croatia The rugged Dinaric Alps trail through central Croatia from northwest to southeast Thick forests blanket their lower slopes This mountain range divides Croatia into two parts To the northeast are the flat Pannonian Plains They stretch across eastern Croatia and into Hungary and Serbia 6 The Land
The Istrian peninsula and the Dalmatia region lie west of the mountains Their Adriatic coasts are famous for beautiful beaches bays and coves Along the sea winters are rainy Summers are warm and dry Farther from the coast winters are cold but summers have warm temperatures fun fact Dalmatian dogs were named for Croatia’s Dalmatia region Adriatic coast 7
