Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/497

 CROATIA 493 stiff, has often singular power. For many years he pursued his calling in Ascoli, Fermo, and other cities near the Adriatic, and produced many works, specimens of which are to be found in the galleries of Milan, Florence, and Rome. Excellent examples are also contained in private collections in London. His latest work, a "Coronation of the Virgin," in the Oggioni collection in Milan, is considered his best. He invariably painted in tempera, cling- ing to this method long after other painters had adopted oils, and eventually bringing it to a high degree of perfection. His medium was liquid and pure, and there is no artist of the 15th century whose panels have more success- fully resisted the ravages of time. CROATIA (Croat. Hervatslca Krajina ; Hun. Horvdtorszdg), a province of the Austro-Hun- garian empire, forming with Slavonia a king- dom united with that of Hungary. The king- dom is an irregular triangle cut off from the southwest of Hungary, bounded "W. by the Adriatic, N. W. by Carniola and Styria, N". E. by the Drave and the Danube, which separate it from Hungary, and E. and S. by the Military Frontier; area, 8,866 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 1,160,085. Capital, both of the kingdom and the province, Agram. Croatia is the western part of the kingdom, bounded by the Adriatic, Carniola, Styria, the Drave, Slavonia, and the Military Frontier ; area, 5,220 sq. m. ; pop. 757,477. The southern portion of the province is mountainous, being intersected by the Julian Alps ; north of the Save, which intersects the country, it is hilly rather than mountainous, being traversed by a portion of the Carnic Alps, which divide the waters flowing into the Drave from those which fall into the Save and its tributary the Kulpa. The climate varies in different parts. Along the Adriatic it is similar to that of the opposite coast of Italy, and pro- duces the olive and vine. In the elevated moun- tain region snow frequently falls in August or September, and lies till April or May. Little grain is raised ; the most abundant fruit is the damson plum, from which the favorite bev- erage of the country is distilled. The grape and the chestnut are also cultivated. The forests are extensive, and hogs, which feed in them, are in some parts the principal domestic animals, the rearing of cattle receiving less attention. The mineral products are of little account. Some gold is found by washing the sands of the Drave ; there are iron, copper, lead, coal, and salt. The mountains contain marble, alabaster, and gypsum. Manufactories are few, being almost wholly confined to the portion of country lying upon the Adriatic. There is little commerce. Agram, Karlstadt, and Old Sziszek are the principal marts for trade within the interior. Fiume, on the Adriatic, next to Trieste the most important seaport of the Austrian empire, which lately belonged to Croatia, is now again an integral part of Hungary. (See FIUME.) Croatia is divided into the five counties of Agram, Belo- var, Fiume (exclusive of the town), Kreutz, and "Warasdin ; Slavonia into the counties of Pozsega, Szer6m, and Verocze. The kingdom is represented in the Hungarian diet by 31 delegates (29 to the lower house) elected by the diet of Agram, and by a number of mem- bers of the house of magnates, partly heredi- tary. The governor, who is appointed by the emperor as king of Hungary, bears the title of ban. The Croats, who form the bulk of the population of the province (the remainder being chiefly Germans, Magyars, and Jews), are of the Illyrico-Servian branch of the Slavic race, and their dialect differs little from that of Servia. Nearly nine tenths are Catholics, who have a bishop residing at Agram ; most of the others belong to the Greek church, and have a bishop residing at Kreutz. Education is almost wholly neglected. In 1851 there was Croats. only one school to every 29 sq. m. and every 3,473 inhabitants. Since then the Austrian government has introduced a system of com- mon school education, but the results are as yet little apparent. Croatia, which in antiquity formed a part of Pannonia, was subject to the Roman empire from the time of Augustus. It was conquered by the Goths, recovered under Justinian, invaded by the Avars, and in the 7th century settled by Croats, who after long struggles with the Franks finally formed a vas- sal state of the Byzantine empire. Toward the end of the 10th century the princes of Croatia assumed the royal title. It was con- quered by the Hungarians in 1091, by Venice in 1117, and again by the Byzantines in 1168. Having again for a time been under Hungarian sway, and subsequently semi-independent for about a century, it was ultimately annexed to Hungary in 1342, and as its dependency sub- jected to the Hapsburg dynasty in 1527. Like