engleski

The Geography of Croatia

The Geography of Croatia is a systematic, detailed presentation of modern geographical issues in the Croatian area, such as has not seen the light of day since the 1970s. Since that time, despite the huge political shifts which have had an undeniable effect on the geography of Croatia, nothing similar has been published. The manuscript is based on a classic geographical analysis, observing geographic terminology and adhering to the teaching units of the Geography of Croatia course, part of Geography studies in Croatia. There is no doubt it will be welcomed not only by geographers, but by the general and public in Croatia and elsewhere. The scope of the book is very impressive, while its structure reveals a classic geographic scheme. The author has selected the following main chapters: 1) Geographical Position, Extent and Borders, 2) Natural and Geographic Basis, 3) Conditionally Homogeneous (Physiognomic) Regionalisation of Croatia, 4) Historical-Geographical Development, 5) Croatia – Population and Settlements, 6) Geographic Features of The Croatian Economy, 7) Nodal/Functional (Gravitational) Regionalisation of Croatia, 8) Croatia and the International Community, and 9) Overview of the Development of Croatian Geography. There is also an extensive bibliography. The author defines Croatia as an Adriatic-Central European country. He emphasises its contact position between the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Islamic worlds. Croatia’s traffic importance arises from its geographic location, with the emphasis on the Zagreb traffic hub. The author also analyses the genesis and features of Croatia’s borders. A great deal of the book is dedicated to a detailed presentation of the physical- geographic basis. The analysis of the relief includes its genesis and a survey of basic relief forms. The author links climate features with pedogeographic and phytogeographic characteristics. In the chapters on Croatian waters, the Adriatic Sea is dealt with separately, which is understandable, given its economic and international, political importance. Continental bodies of water are also analysed in detail. The chapter entitled Conditional Homogeneous (Physiognomic) Regionalisation, which also has the most sub- sections, is extremely exhaustive. The author defines three main units: the Croatian Pannonian- Peripannonian area, the central Dinaric mountainous area, and the Croatian littoral. Each of these units is worked through in detail, first dealing with general characteristics, then detailed regionalisation. In the chapter on the emergence of and alterations in the Croatian territory, the author traces spatial changes from the Holocene natural landscape to the emergence of modern Croatia. This is an excellent overview of a period of 10, 000 years. The chapter Population and Settlements is one of the most important in terms of socio- geographic analysis. The author deals with all aspects of demographic analysis, referring to data from the 2011 population census, despite the problems which accompany the processing of such data. Settlements in Croatia are analysed in two basic categories: rural and urban. For rural settlements, the emphasis is on their typology and distribution, while the economic, cultural, political and gravitational roles of urban settlements are discussed. In the period of recession which has affected a great deal of the (developed) world, and which has been exacerbated in Croatia due to economic and political circumstances with their roots in the war and post-war years, writing about the Croatian economy is an extremely unthankful task. Here too, the author keeps to a classic economic analysis scheme according to groups of activities. The distribution of urban centres has dictated the nodal- functional regionalisation of Croatia. In elucidating the basic principles of this type of regionalisation, the author identifies three, or rather two regional units and deals with them individually. These are Continental Croatia (Northwest and Pannonian) and Adriatic Croatia. Towards the end of the book, the author dedicates a separate chapter to Croatia’s entry into the international community and its role within it. It is rather unusual to analyse the development of Croatian geography in a textbook, but it is to be commended. Previous surveys have been restricted to much shorter time periods and contained much less information. In this survey, the author presents systematically the development of geographical thinking in this region from classical times to the present day.

Geography of Croatia ; Physical-geographic features of Croatia ; Social-geographic features of Croatia ; Regionalization of Croatia ; Croatian Geography

In Monography there have been few hundred different graphics (photos, tables, diagrams, maps) presented. It contents also a huge list of literature (some thousand titles) as well as index of geographical names and terms. Second ISBN: 978-953-239-191-6 The Book is also printed in Croatian language in 2013.