The Banovina of Croatia or Banate of Croatia (Croatian, Bosnian, and Serbian: Banovina Hrvatska) was a province (banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1939 and 1941. Its capital was at Zagreb and it included most of present-day Croatia along with portions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It included area of 65 456 km2 and had population of 4 024 601.

History

The banovinas of Yugoslavia, established in 1929, deliberately avoided following ethnic or religious boundaries which resulted in the country's ethnic Croats, like other ethnic groups, being divided among several banovinas. Following a struggle within the unitary Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Croat leaders won autonomy for a new ethnic-based banovina with the Cvetković-Maček Agreement. In 1939, the entire area of the Sava and Littoral Banovinas was combined and parts of the Vrbas, Zeta, Drina and Danube banovinas were added to form the Banovina of Croatia.

In 1941, the World War II Axis Powers occupied the Banovina of Croatia and the province was abolished. Some of the coastal areas from Split to Zadar and near the Gulf of Kotor were annexed by Fascist Italy but the remainder became a part of the Independent State of Croatia. Following World War II, the region was divided between new states of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia (autonomous Vojvodina province) within a federal Socialist Yugoslavia.

Population

Banovina of Croatia was populated mostly by Croats (74%), but it also had large Serb minority(19%). It was divided on 99 kotars of which 81 had Croat majority, 17 Serbian (12 absolute, 5 relative) and 1 which muslim majority which were not considered separate nation at the time.

See also

• Kingdom of Yugoslavia
• Croatia

External links

• Map of Yugoslav banovinas with the Banovina of Croatia