Štefanec is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in Međimurje County, Croatia

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 ...

.

The village is part of the Mala Subotica

Mala Subotica

Mala Subotica is a village and municipality in Međimurje County, Croatia.The village of Mala Subotica is located around 7 kilometres south-east of Čakovec, the county seat and largest city of Međimurje County, and had a population of 2,156 in the 2001 census...

 municipality. It is located just outside Čakovec

Cakovec

Čakovec is a city in northern Croatia, located around 90 kilometres north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital. Čakovec is both the county seat and largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmost, smallest and most densely populated Croatian county.-Population:...

, the county seat of Međimurje County, around 5 kilometres from the centre of the city. Situated between Čakovec and Štefanec is Ivanovec

Ivanovec

Ivanovec is a village in Međimurje County, Croatia. It had a population of 2,195 in the 2001 census.The village is administratively part of the wider area of Čakovec, the county seat and largest city of Međimurje County. It is located next to the city's south-eastern end, approximately three...

. The population of Štefanec in the 2011 census was 717.

The D3 state road goes through the village. The western terminus of the D20 state road is also located nearby, and the D20 can be accessed by leaving the D3 just before entering Štefanec from the direction of Čakovec.

History

The village was first mentioned in 1366 as Stephanouch. In 1478, Steffanecz was mentioned as one of the villages belonging to the Čakovec area.

In the 1857 census, the villages of Štefanec Mali and Štefanec Veliki (Hungarian

Hungarian language

Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

: Kis Stefanecz and Nagy Stefanecz) were mentioned. Together, they had a population of 280. The two villages became a single village until the next census, which took place in 1869. The population grew to over 400 by the end of the 19th century.

In the 1910 census, the village had a population of 532. At the time, it was already predominantly populated by 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...

. It belonged to the Prelog district of Zala County in the Kingdom of Hungary

Kingdom of Hungary

The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...

, before becoming part of the 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...

 in 1920, after the Treaty of Trianon

Treaty of Trianon

The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement signed in 1920, at the end of World War I, between the Allies of World War I and Hungary . The treaty greatly redefined and reduced Hungary's borders. From its borders before World War I, it lost 72% of its territory, which was reduced from to...

 was signed. In the 1921 census, the population of the village was 602.

Between 1941 and 1945, it belonged to Hungary

Hungary during World War II

Hungary during World War II was a member of the Axis powers. In the 1930s, the Kingdom of Hungary relied on increased trade with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany to pull itself out of the Great Depression. By 1938, Hungarian politics and foreign policy had become increasingly pro-Fascist Italian and...

 again, as the entire Međimurje region was annexed by the Hungarians at the time. After 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...

, it became part of Croatia

Socialist Republic of Croatia

Socialist Republic of Croatia was a sovereign constituent country of the second Yugoslavia. It came to existence during World War II, becoming a socialist state after the war, and was also renamed four times in its existence . It was the second largest republic in Yugoslavia by territory and...

 within the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...

. In the censuses between 1948 and 2001, the lowest population was recorded in 2001 (753), and the highest in 1991 (807).