engleski

The Croatian Islands: An Introduction

The chapter deals with main geographical features of Croatian islands. The Croatian archipelago contributes to the small islands of Europe with 1, 246 islands, islets, rocks and reefs. It is a place of multiple contacts between the sea, karst relief, Mediterranean climate and diverse flora and fauna, where there are few freshwater sources or surface watercourses. In spite of its mea¬gre resources, the archipelago has been inhabited more or less continuously since prehistoric times. Situated in front of the Croatian coastline with which they form a geologi¬cal–geomorphological unit, the Croatian islands were created geologically in the same way as the neighbouring mainland and were an integral part of it un¬til the last Würm glacial age. Afterward, due to global warming and the result¬ing rise in the sea level, they were separated from the mainland. In the global and European context, the Croatian islands are really near islands. This label is due to not only their geographic proximity to the mainland, but also their socioeconomic fusion with the mainland regions and their coastal centres.

Croatian islands, Geography

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