Lika
Encyclopedia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, roughly bound by the Velebit
Velebit
Velebit is the largest though not the highest mountain range in Croatia. Its highest peak is the Vaganski vrh at 1757 m.The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior...
mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica
Plješevica
Plješivica or Plješevica is a mountain in Croatia and on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, part of the Dinaric Alps. It stretches in the direction north–south, and it extends from the mountain pass that separates it from Mala Kapela, along the Krbava field to the west and the Una River...
mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by the Malovan pass. Today most of the territory of Lika (Gospić
Gospic
Gospić is a town in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika, Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Lika-Senj county. Gospić is located near the Lika River in the middle of a karst field....
, Otočac
Otocac
Otočac is a town in Lika, Croatia. It lies in the northwestern part of Lika, in the Gacka river valley. The population of the town is 4,354 as of 2001, with a total of 10,411 people within the municipality at large, the majority of whom are Croats ....
, Brinje
Brinje
Brinje is a municipality in Lika-Senj County, Croatia, located about 35 miles from Gospić. According to 2001 census, Brinje had 4,108 inhabitants, out of which 92% were Croats. The municipality is part of Lika....
, Donji Lapac
Donji Lapac
Donji Lapac is a small town and municipality in Lika, Croatia. The majority of the population are Serbs.-Geography:Donji Lapac is located a region of eastern Lika called Ličko Pounje, by the river Una that flows near the town in the valley between mountain Plješevica and Una on the altitude of 582m...
, Lovinac
Lovinac
Lovinac is a municipality in Lika-Senj County, Croatia.-Geography:The village is located on the fields of Lika , and is visited by more people, largely due to the new highway that has been built along the village...
, Perušić
Perušic
Perušić is a town and a municipality in Lika-Senj County, Croatia. It has 3,494 inhabitants of which 88.81% are Croats. The municipality is part of Lika.- Villages:...
, Plitvička Jezera
Plitvicka Jezera
Plitvička Jezera is a municipality in central Croatia, in the eastern part of the Lika-Senj county, that lies in and near the eponymous Plitvice Lakes National Park, bisected by the D1 main road . Its total area is 539.08 km². The main town and seat of the municipality is Korenica...
, Udbina
Udbina
Udbina is a village and a municipality in the Lika region of Croatia. It is an administratively part of in the Lika-Senj county.-Geography:The village is located in the large karst field called Krbava...
and Vrhovine
Vrhovine
Vrhovine is a town and a municipality in Lika-Senj County, Croatia. The municipality is part of Lika.-Population/Demographics:According to 2001 census, Vrhovine had 905 inhabitants of which 55.03% were Serbs and 38.45% were Croats. The majority of the population of the municipality is elderly...
) is part of Lika-Senj County
Lika-Senj County
Lika-Senj county is a county in Croatia that includes most of the Lika region and some northern coastline of the Adriatic near the town of Senj, including the northern part of the Pag island...
. Josipdol
Josipdol
Josipdol is a village and municipality in Karlovac County, Croatia. The municipality is part of Lika.-Geography:Josipdol is situated in the Ogulin-Plaški valley which together with Lika and Gorski Kotar forms Mountainous Croatia. The town is located at the crossroads of state roads D-23, which...
, Plaški
Plaški
Plaški is a village and a municipality in Karlovac County, Croatia. It is part of Lika.- Geography :Plaški is situated in the lower part of the Ogulin-Plaški valley. Together with Gorski kotar and Lika, the Ogulin-Plaški valley forms Mountainous Croatia...
and Saborsko
Saborsko
Saborsko is a village and municipality in Karlovac county, Croatia. The municipality is part of Lika.- Geography :It is country-side mountain resort, situated in a curved, long and narrow valley. The altitude of the place is 630-900 m...
are part of Karlovac County
Karlovac County
Karlovac County is a county in central Croatia, with the administrative center in Karlovac.The city of Karlovac is another fort from the times of the Military Frontier...
and Gračac
Gracac
Gračac is a village and a municipality in the southern part of Lika, Croatia. It is located south of Udbina, northeast of Obrovac, northwest of Knin and southeast of Gospić...
is part of Zadar County
Zadar County
Zadar County is a county in Croatia, it encompasses northern Dalmatia and southeastern Lika. Its center is the city of Zadar.- Population :According to the 2001 census, Zadar County has population of 162,045...
.
Major towns include Gospić
Gospic
Gospić is a town in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika, Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Lika-Senj county. Gospić is located near the Lika River in the middle of a karst field....
, Otočac
Otocac
Otočac is a town in Lika, Croatia. It lies in the northwestern part of Lika, in the Gacka river valley. The population of the town is 4,354 as of 2001, with a total of 10,411 people within the municipality at large, the majority of whom are Croats ....
, and Gračac
Gracac
Gračac is a village and a municipality in the southern part of Lika, Croatia. It is located south of Udbina, northeast of Obrovac, northwest of Knin and southeast of Gospić...
, most of which are located in the karst
KARST
Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...
fields of the rivers of Lika
Lika (river)
Lika River or Rijeka Lika is a stream in Croatia which gives its name to the Lika region. It is known as a sinking river because at the end of its course, it flows into a series of ponors or swallow-holes and disappears from the surface...
, Gacka
Gacka
Gacka is a river located in the Lika region in central Croatia. Because for a large part of its course it is a subterranean river, estimates on its length vary. The overground part has undergone substantial human intervention - before it was 32 kilometers long, now it is only 11 km...
and others. The Plitvice Lakes
Plitvice Lakes
Plitvice Lakes National Park is the oldest national park in Southeast Europe and the largest national park in Croatia. The national park was founded in 1949 and is situated in the mountainous karst area of central Croatia, at the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina...
National Park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
is also in Lika.
Medieval
Byelohravati (or White CroatsWhite Croats
White Croats is the designation for the group of Slavic tribes, of which seven tribes led by 5 brothers and 2 sisters migrated to Dalmatia as part of the migration of the Croats in the 7th century, being invited to settle on this vastly depopulated area by Roman...
) originally migrated from White Croatia to Lika in the first half of the 7th century. After the settlement of Croats (according to migrations theories), Lika became part of the Duchy
Duchy
A duchy is a territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereign in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era . In contrast, others were subordinate districts of those kingdoms that unified either partially or completely during the Medieval era...
of Littoral Croatia.
Lika then became a part of the Kingdom of Croatia
History of Croatia
Croatia first appeared as a duchy in the 7th century and then as a kingdom in the 10th century. From the 12th century it remained a distinct state with its ruler and parliament, but it obeyed the kings and emperors of various neighboring powers, primarily Hungary and Austria. The period from the...
in 925, when Duke Tomislav
Tomislav
King Tomislav was a ruler of Croatia in the Middle Ages. He reigned from 910 until 928, first as Duke of Dalmatian Croatia in 910–925, and then became first King of the Croatian Kingdom in 925–928....
of the Croats received the crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
and became King
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
of Croatia.
Among 12 noble Croat tribes that had a right to choose the Croat king, the tribe Gusići was from Lika.
From the 15th century
Vlachs
Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs...
and Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, particularly from Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
and Bosnia
Bosnia (region)
Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
which fell to the Ottomans.
Lika, together with whole of Croatia became a part of the Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
when the Croatian Parliament recognized Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558 and king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.The key events during his reign were the contest...
of the House of Habsburg as their King
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
in 1527. The Ottomans conquered parts of the region in 1528 and it became Sandžak Lika, a part of Viyalet Bosnia; causing migrations of the region's Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
and Vlachs
Vlachs
Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs...
into the Croatian Frontier
Croatian Krajina
The Croatian Military Frontier was a territory in the Habsburg Monarchy, including the Austrian Empire and Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.-History:...
, Carinthia
Duchy of Carinthia
The Duchy of Carinthia was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, then the first newly created Imperial State beside the original German stem duchies....
and Styria; the Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
from there inhabited Žumberak
Žumberak
Žumberak or Gorjanci is a range of mountains or hills between Croatia and Slovenia. The highest peak is Sveta Gera on the border between Croatia and Slovenia, being tall....
in the 1630s. After the Second Great Migration of Serbs in 1690, the migrations of Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
to Lika increased. Shortly after Treaty of Karlowitz
Treaty of Karlowitz
The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed on 26 January 1699 in Sremski Karlovci , concluding the Austro-Ottoman War of 1683–1697 in which the Ottoman side had been defeated at the Battle of Zenta...
was signed in 1699 which ended the War of the Holy League
Great Turkish War
The Great Turkish War refers to a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and contemporary European powers, then joined into a Holy League, during the second half of the 17th century.-1667–1683:...
(1683-1699), the region was incorporated into the Karlovac
Karlovac
Karlovac is a city and municipality in central Croatia. The city proper has a population of 49,082, while the municipality has a population of 59,395 inhabitants .Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County...
generalat of the Austrian
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
Military Frontier
Military Frontier
The Military Frontier was a borderland of Habsburg Austria and later the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which acted as the cordon sanitaire against incursions from the Ottoman Empire...
.
Lika housed many Croatian uskok
USKOK
USKOK is a Croatian government institution. It is a State Attorney office specialized in corruption and organized crime.USKOK started work in December 2001...
s, who would invade the Ottoman border territories and then return to Austria. They were citizens who wanted to help liberate their fellow men from Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
domination. Some of the more important were in Ravni Kotari
Ravni Kotari
Ravni Kotari is a geographical region in Croatia. It is situated in northern Dalmatia, around Zadar. It is bordered by Bukovica to the northwest, lower Krka on the southeast and the Adriatic Sea. The biggest settlement of the region is the town of Benkovac...
; and the most famous were from Senj
Senj
Senj , German Zengg, Hungarian Zeng and Italian Segna) is the oldest town on the upper Adriatic, and it was founded in the time before the Romans some 3000 years ago on the hill Kuk. It was the center of the Illyrian tribe Iapydes. The current settlement is situated at the foot of the slopes Mala...
. The uskok
USKOK
USKOK is a Croatian government institution. It is a State Attorney office specialized in corruption and organized crime.USKOK started work in December 2001...
s had an important role in the War of the Holy League
Great Turkish War
The Great Turkish War refers to a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and contemporary European powers, then joined into a Holy League, during the second half of the 17th century.-1667–1683:...
in which most of the Ottoman-held Habsburg lands were re-conquered.
The Croatian Ban
Ban (title)
Ban was a title used in several states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century.-Etymology:The word ban has entered the English language probably as a borrowing from South Slavic ban, meaning "lord, master; ruler". The Slavic word is probably borrowed from...
s and nobility wanted that the control over the regions of the Military Frontier be restored to the Croatian Parliament and the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
worked hard to turn the local Serbian Orthodox populace into Uniates but without success. The region went through a process of de-militarization from 1869 after numerous pleas by the Croatian Parliament, and it was officially demilitarized on August 8, 1873. On July 15, 1881 the Military Frontier was abolished, and Lika restored to Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia or Croatia Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was part of the Hungarian Kingdom within the dual Austro-Hungarian state, being within the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen or Transleithania...
, an autonomous part of Transleithania (the Hungarian part of the Dual Monarchy of Austro-Hungary).
In 18th century and in the middle of the 19th century the Orthodox Christians, mostly adherents of Serbian Orthodox Licko-Krbavska and Zrinopoljska Eparchy comprised the majority in Lika. This Eparchy, established in 1695 by metropolitan Atanasije Ljubojevic and certified by Emperor Joseph I in 1707, is known (from the 19th century) as the Eparchy of Upper Karlovac
Eparchy of upper Karlovac
The Eparchy of upper Karlovac is an eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church seated in the city of Karlovac, Croatia. It covers the area of Banovina, Kordun, Lika, Krbava, Gorski Kotar, as well as northern Croatia and Istria....
. According to the 1910 Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
census, the Lika-Krbava
Lika-Krbava
The Lika-Krbava County was a historic administrative subdivision of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Croatia-Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen , the Hungarian part of the dual Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its territory is presently in southwestern Croatia...
county had some 204,710 inhabitants, of those, 104,041 Orthodox (51%), 100,620 Roman Catholics (49%), 14 Greek Catholics
Eparchy of Križevci
The Eparchy of Križevci, sometimes referred to as the Croatian Greek Catholic Church or the Croatian Byzantine Catholic Church, is a recognized sui iuris Catholic Church listed in the Annuario Pontificio among the Eastern Catholic Churches of Constantinopolitan or Byzantine tradition as the Church...
, 12 Jews, 6 Lutherans and 2 Calvinists. The Orthodox Christian population lived predominantly in the eastern and central parts of the region.
Kingdom of Yugoslavia to SFRY
After the collapse of Austria-Hungary, Croatia and Slavonia, of which Lika was part, became part of the self-proclaimed State of Slovenes, Croats and SerbsState of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs
The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs was a short-lived state formed from the southernmost parts of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy after its dissolution at the end of the World War I by the resident population of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs...
on October 29, 1918. The newly-created state then joined the Kingdom of Serbia
History of Serbia
The history of Serbia, as a country, begins with the Slavic settlements in the Balkans, established in the 6th century in territories governed by the Byzantine Empire. Through centuries, the Serbian realm evolved into a Kingdom , then an Empire , before the Ottomans annexed it in 1540...
on December 1, 1918 to form Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes which was in 1929 re-named into Yugoslavia. Lika remained inside Croatia, which became one of the constituent provinces of the Kingdom. The majority of Lika belonged to the Županija Lika-Krbava
Krbava
Krbava is a region of mountainous Croatia. It can be considered either located east of Lika, or indeed as the eastern part of Lika. The town of Udbina is the central settlement of the Krbava karst field....
with the capital in Senj
Senj
Senj , German Zengg, Hungarian Zeng and Italian Segna) is the oldest town on the upper Adriatic, and it was founded in the time before the Romans some 3000 years ago on the hill Kuk. It was the center of the Illyrian tribe Iapydes. The current settlement is situated at the foot of the slopes Mala...
(instead of in Gospić
Gospic
Gospić is a town in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika, Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Lika-Senj county. Gospić is located near the Lika River in the middle of a karst field....
previously). The new constitution abolished any previous borders and Lika became a part of the Primorsko-krajiška Oblast with the capital in Karlovac
Karlovac
Karlovac is a city and municipality in central Croatia. The city proper has a population of 49,082, while the municipality has a population of 59,395 inhabitants .Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County...
. In 1929, the region became a part of the Sava Banate (Savska banovina) of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
, and the in 1939 of the Croatian Banate (Hrvatska banovina).
Yugoslavia was invaded and split by the Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
forces in 1941 and Lika became a part of the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the region's Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
were expelled by the Ustasha regime.
Croatian War of Independence
Due to recent civil unrest and with Croatia declaring independence from Yugoslavia, the Serb majority settlements of eastern Lika joined with fellow Serbian populous in nowadays Bosnia and CroatiaCroatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
in the creation and declaration of independence of the Republic of Serbian Krajina
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
(RSK). Subsequently, the Serbian paramilitary units were created with the backing of the Yugoslav National Army and Serbian paramilitary forces from B&H. Clashes with the Croatian police that followed later in 1991 quickly erupted in a full-scale war
Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between forces loyal to the government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia —and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat...
that resulted in the capital of the province Gospić
Gospic
Gospić is a town in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika, Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Lika-Senj county. Gospić is located near the Lika River in the middle of a karst field....
being heavily damaged by the Serbian forces.
War continued until 1995, when the Croatian Army liberated the region in Operation Storm
Operation Storm
Operation Storm is the code name given to a large-scale military operation carried out by Croatian Armed Forces, in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to gain back control of parts of Croatia which had been claimed by separatist ethnic Serbs, since early...
, ending the existence of the RSK. Some 30,000 Serbs fled Lika, although some have since returned. Most of the Croats previously expelled have now returned.
Population
The 2001 census data for the Lika-Senj countyLika-Senj County
Lika-Senj county is a county in Croatia that includes most of the Lika region and some northern coastline of the Adriatic near the town of Senj, including the northern part of the Pag island...
shows 53,677 inhabitants (almost 37% less than ten years before), which are 86.15% Croat and 11.54% Serb.
Population 2001.:http://www.dzs.hr/Hrv/censuses/Census2001/Popis/H01_02_02/H01_02_02_zup09.html
