lltsTottv. Croatia and Slavonia were included in the Roman Province of Pannonia. The Croats are a southern Slavic people, speaking a langpage which differs but slightly from that of their neighbors the Serbs. They came down in the seventh century from the Carpathians and occu pied Croatia and Slavonia. In the ninth cen tury the Croats adopted Christianity of the Latin rite, separating them from the Serbs, who received Christianity from Constantinople. About the year 900, Croatia asserted its political inde pendence of the Byzantine emperors, and, under its own king, extended its power over Bosnia and Dalmatia. A great part of Croatia was annexed to Hungary toward the close of the eleventh cen tury, and in 1102 Koloman of Hungary had him self crowned King of Croatia and Dalmatia. The country was involved in the dynastic struggles and wars for self-preservation which were the lot of Hungary for centuries, and always main tained whatever position seemed favorable to its own nationality. In the llungarian national ris ing of 18I8. Jellachich. Ban of Croatia, was an active agent of the Austrian Imperial Govern ment, which stirred him up to a campaign against the Hungarians. This action on the part of
Croatia was a national movement as much as that of Hungary. The general principle of decen tralization, as embodied in the Ausgleich of 1867 (q.v.). was partially applied to the relations of Croatia-Slavonia and Hungary by the compro mise of 1868. A strong national party has con tinued to exist, cherishing the project of a greater and independent Croatia, to include all of the ancient kingdom, and joined to the Austrian Em pire only by a personal union. Consult: Matko vit•h, Kroaticn and Nit' vonien lurch seinen physi urhen and geistigen lerhiiitnissen ( Agra m, 1873 ) • Krauss, Die vcreinigten. KanigreicheKroatica uud :la rem len (Vienna. 1889) ; Stara, "Die Kroaten im Iii;nigreiche Kroatien mit Slavonien," in Die Oestcrrcich - Ungarns, IO, ii. (Vienna, 18s2 ; Csaplovicz, Slaronien and Kroatien (Pest, 1819) De Worms, The Austro-Hungarian Em pire (2d ed., London, 1877) ; De Laveleye, The Balkan. Peninsula (London, 1887). See A USTRIA HUNGARY.