Croatia ( /kroʊˈeɪʃə/ Croatian: Hrvatska pronounced [xř̩ʋaːtskaː]), officially the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Republika Hrvatska is a country in Southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital (and largest city) is Zagreb. Croatia borders Slovenia and Hungary to the north, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the southeast, Serbia and Montenegro to the east, and it has a sea border with Italy to the northwest.
The Croats arrived in the early seventh century in what is Croatia today. They organized the state into two dukedoms. The first king, Tomislav I was crowned in AD 925 and Croatia was elevated into a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for almost two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Petar Krešimir IV and Zvonimir. Via "Pacta conventa", Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1526, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand from the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, Croatia declared independence from Austria–Hungary and co-founded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During World War II, Nazis invaded Yugoslavia and with the aid of the Ustaše, created the Independent State of Croatia. After the war, Croatia became a founding member of Second Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991, Croatia declared independence and became a sovereign state.
Croatia is a high-income country as well as member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, CEFTA, and is an elected member of the UN Security Council for the 2008–09 term. The country is also a candidate for membership of the European Union, and a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean upon its establishment in 2008.
