Austrians of Croatia are officially recognized as a minority in the Republic of Croatia, and therefore have their own permanent seat in the Croatian Parliament.
History
Austrians first began settling in Croatia as military personnel after the Croatian nobles met in Cetin to elect Ferdinand I, Archduke of Austria as their king,R. W. SETON -WATSON:The southern Slav question and the Habsburg Monarchy page 18 and in return the Habsburgs would defend Croatia from the Ottoman invasion.Milan Kruhek: Cetin, grad izbornog sabora Kraljevine Hrvatske 1527, Karlovačka Županija, 1997, Karlovac This led to the creation of the Military Frontier (Vojna Krajina, German Militaergrenze) within Croatian territory which would be ruled directly from Vienna's military headquarters.Charles W. Ingrao:The Habsburg monarchy, 1618–1815 page 15 This led to an increase of Austrian and other settlers and military elite within the Military Frontier. In 1815, the Habsburgs finally secured possession of Dalmatia and Istria after the fall of Venice. In time the Austrian elite began flocking to the Adriatic for holiday and sunbathing. Towns such as Opatija gained reputations as health resorts and became populated by mainly Austrian season-goers.
Geographic representation According to the 2011 census, there are 297 people who consider themselves Austrians, with the largest group (35% of Croatia's ethnic Austrians) residing in Zagreb.Croatia Census 2011
County Number ofAustriansPercent oftotalCity of Zagreb104 35.0%Primorje-Gorski Kotar36 12.1%Istria32 10.8%Osijek-Baranja23 7.7%Split-Dalmatia21 7.1%Zadar15 5.0%Varaždinska124.0%Zagreb113.7%Međimurje10 3.4%
Notable individuals
Gordon Schildenfeld, Croatian football player Diana Budisavljević, humanitarian
External links Republic of Croatia Ministry of Culture
See also
Austria–Croatia relations Austrian diaspora Ethnic groups in Croatia Croats in Austria
References