Croatians

Croatians are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are primarily adherents of Roman Catholicism and speak the Croatian language, a standardized dialect of the Serbo-Croatian dialect continuum. Historically, Croatians have inhabited the region of the Balkans, with their presence documented from the early Middle Ages. Their cultural identity is deeply intertwined with their history, which includes periods of independent statehood, foreign rule, and significant contributions to art, literature, and science.

The Croatian nation traces its origins to the arrival of Slavic tribes in the Balkans around the 7th century. By the 9th century, they had established principalities, which eventually coalesced into the medieval Kingdom of Croatia. This kingdom later entered into a personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary in 1102, a union that lasted for centuries. Throughout subsequent periods, Croatian lands were part of various empires, including the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg Monarchy (later Austria-Hungary), and briefly, Napoleonic France.

Following the dissolution of Austria-Hungary after World War I, Croatians became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later renamed Yugoslavia. During World War II, Croatia was established as a Nazi-aligned puppet state. After the war, Croatia was a constituent republic within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia until its declaration of independence in 1991, leading to the Croatian War of Independence. Today, Croatia is a sovereign republic and a member of the European Union and NATO. Croatian diaspora communities exist worldwide, with significant populations in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, and Argentina.