Croatia History

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Early Croat History Linguistic evidence suggests that the Croats originate from northwestern Iran and spoke a language related to Iranian. By the time the Croats appear in historical documents, they are a Slavic nation. During the Avar expansion into the Balkans peninsula, the Croats moved into what is Croatia today.

614-802 The Croats migrated into what is Croatia today in 610-641. The vast majority of the Croats, during this period, remained pagan.

802-1102 In 803, the Croats seem to have accepted the sovereignty of Charlemagne after his defeat of the Avars. The 10th century Croat Kingdom stretched from the Dalmatian coast to the Sava River.

1102-1301 The relation between Croatia and Hungary had been aggred on in the PACTA CONVENTA of 1091. Hungarian sovereignty was undisputed in Slavonia and central Croatia (around Zagreb), while mountainous Dalmatia was difficult to control, and was contested with Venice. The city of Ragusa was effectively an independent kingdom.

1301-1526 The introduction of feudal law in Hungary and the integration of the Kingdom into European political culture. The Venetians established their rule over all of Dalmatia in 1408-1420. It was to last until 1797. Dalmatia suffered the first Ottoman raid in 1420; Bosnia submitted to the Ottoman Empire in 1463; in 1493 a Croatian army was annihilated by their Ottoman foes in the Battle of Krbava. In 1521, the Ottomans captured Hungarian border fortress of Belgrade, and in 1526 crush the Hungarian army.