After the Battle of Sisak in 1593, when the Ottoman army was successfully repelled for the first time on the territory of Croatia, the lost territory was mostly restored, except for large parts of today's Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the 1700s, the Ottoman Empire was driven out of Hungary and Croatia, and Austria brought the empire under central control.
The death of President Tudman in December 1999, and the defeat of his ruling Coatian Democratic Union or HDZ party in parliamentary and presidential elections in January 2000 ushered in a new government committed to economic reform and halting the economic decline.
Croatia is divided into 20 counties (Croatian: županija) and the city district of the capital, Zagreb
Croatia has applied for membership in the European Union. During the accession, it is expected that agricultural policy will be the biggest stumbling block, as with other recent applicant countries.
Ambroz Matija Gubec and other leaders of the mutiny raised peasants to arms in over sixty fiefs throughout the country in January 1573, but their uprising was crushed by early February. Matija Gubec and thousands of others were publicly executed shortly thereafter, in a rather brutal manner in order to set an example for others.
The Croatian Parliament (Sabor) is a unicameral legislative body of up to 160 representatives, all elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. The plenary sessions of the Sabor take place from January 15 to July 15, and from September 15 to December 15.
The government ministers (the cabinet) are appointed by the prime minister with the consent of the Parliament. The prime minister is the head of government, appointed by the President with the consent of the Parliament who takes his duty when Parliament gives its consent by absolute majority of all representatives.
Pope Leo X called Croatia the forefront of Christianity in 1519, given that several Croatian soldiers made significant contributions to the struggle against the Turks. Among them there were ban Petar Berislavic who won a victory at Dubica on the Una river in 1513, the captain of Senj Petar Kružic who defended the Klis fortress for 15 years, captain Nikola Jurišic who deterred by a magnitude larger Turkish force on their way to Vienna in 1532, or ban Nikola Šubic Zrinski who helped save Pest from occupation in 1542 and fought in the Battle of Szigetvar in 1566.
In an economy traditionally based on agriculture and livestock, peasants comprised more than half of the Croatian population until after World War II. Pre-1945 industrialization was slow and centered on textile mills, sawmills, brickyards, and food-processing plants.
Croatian lands became subject to the Carolingian Empire around 800, and regained independence after the death of Charlemagne in 814. The first written mention of Croats dates from 852, a statute by Duke Trpimir, the founder of the Trpimirovic ruling dynasty. The country was recognized by Pope John VIII as an independent dukedom under Branimir in 879 (dux Chroatorum).
The National Judicial Council (Državno Sudbeno Vijece) of the Republic appoints all judges. It is a body consisting of a president and 14 members proposed and elected by the Parliament for 4-year terms, maximum 2 terms.
The book De Administrando Imperio, written in the 10th century, is the most referenced source on the migration of Slavic peoples into southeastern Europe. It states that they migrated first around or before year 600 from the region that is now Galicia and areas of the Pannonian plain, led by the Turkic Avars, to the province of Dalmatia ruled by the Roman Empire.
In the Revolutions of 1848 in Habsburg areas, the Croatian ban Jelacic cooperated with the Austrians in quenching the rebellion in Hungary by leading a military campaign into Hungary, successful until the Battle of Pakozd. Despite this contribution, Croatia was later subject to Bach's absolutism as well as the Hungarian hegemony under ban Levin Rauch when the Empire was transformed into a dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867.
Croatia has an economy based mostly on various services and some, mostly light industry. Tourism is a notable source of income. The Gross Domestic Product per capita in purchasing power parity terms for 2002 was USD 9,800 or 42.7% of the EU average.
The country was ruled by a ban in the name of the king, elevating that previously existing rank to a position of highest importance in Croatia. A single ban governed all Croatian provinces until 1225, when the authority was split between one ban of The Whole of Slavonia and one ban of Dalmatia and Croatia. The positions were intermittently held by the same person after 1345, and officially merged back into one by 1476.