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 AREA
As a local administration and self-government unit, Osijek-Baranja County
is a part of the administrative-territorial organization of the Republic of
Croatia established in 1993. It is located in the northeastern part of the
Republic of Croatia in the Pannonian region, extending over the area of
4,152 km2. It encompasses the localities surrounding the lower
flow of the Drava River prior to its confluence into the Danube. The
periodically inundated Danube River area has created the Kopački rit
(Kopačevo Wetlands), a world-known refuge for numerous bird species,
proclaimed a Nature Park and protected as a special zoological reservation.
Osijek-Baranja County is predominantly a plains region suitable for
agricultural development. The fact that 260,778 ha are comprised of arable
lands and 82,868 ha are forested speaks of the agricultural character of
the region.
The territory of the County is crisscrossed by more than 1,700 km of roads
and 180 km of railroad tracks. The Danube and the Drava (the latter being
navigable up to Donji Miholjac and having the status of an international
waterway up to Osijek) connect the area also with the European riverine
network. Two airports in the vicinity of Osijek (Osijek and Klisa) connect
the County with the Croatian airport network. The European V/c traffic
corridor, connecting the north of Europe (the Baltic) with its south (the
Adriatic Sea), also takes its route via Osijek. Within the Transeuropean
Motorway (TEM) project, the construction of the Transeuropean Budapest -
Osijek - Sarajevo - Ploče Highway is being prepared.
 
HISTORY
The territory wherein Osijek-Baranja County stretches today was populated
as early as in the Neolithic (4 - 5000 years B.C.). The oldest known nation
was the Illyrian one, whereof the Andizetes were the most renowned tribe.
The Celts penetrated in the 4th c. B.C., erecting the colony of
Mursa and some other settlements in the territory of today's Osijek.
Subsequent to the conquest of Pannonia in the 1st c. A.D., the
Romans erected fortifications, roads, and bridges. At the site of the
Celtic settlement, they erected a strong Roman fortification and the city
of Mursa (at the site of today's Osijek), elevated to the status of a Roman
colony (Colonia Aelia Mursa) by the Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 133. In
one of the bloodiest battles of the century, the Roman Emperor Constantine
II beat the anti-imperator Magnus Magnentius at the foot of the walls of
Mursa in A.D. 351.
At the time of the great Wanderings of the Peoples, the barbaric tribes
destroyed the Roman colonies. That what the Goths left of Mursa in the 4th
c. A.D. was annihilated by the Huns in A.D. 441. After the Gepidae,
Langobards, Avars, Franks and Bulgars, the Croats established a colony here
at the beginning of the 7th c. A.D. This region was also a part
of the independent Croatian state in the 9th c. A.D. up to 1102,
when the Croats accepted the Magyar King Coloman as the sovereign of the
common Croato-Ugric state subsequent to the death of the last Croatian
king. The Crusades and many pilgrims heading for Jerusalem followed the
routes of this region. In the Middle Ages, this region was possessed by the
mighty noble families of Gorjanskis, Korogs, Morovićs and others. At that
time, the city of Đakovo became the seat of the Bosnian bishop, who took shelter
at his Đakovo estate because of the heretics and the assault of the Turks.
Lead by the Sultan Suleiman II Kanuni, the Turkish army conquered Osijek in
1526, having subsequently established its rule over the whole region. At
that time, they constructed a world-famous great bridge, burnt by the
Croatian knight Nikola Zrinski upon the breakthrough of his army to Osijek
in 1664. Thanks to the important routes that connected the north and the
south of the continent, the trade flourished at that time. In 1687, the
Austrian army expelled the Turks from Osijek and then from the whole
region.
From the 18th c., the region was economically and socially
intensively developed within Austria and then within the Austro-Hungarian
state. This is manifested by the large-size landed estates, crafts
enforcement, factory openings, urban residential areas development,
establishment of the first cultural and educational institutions and local
self-government enforcement (cities and counties). The cities of a
presently recognizable urban and architectonic outlook were founded at that
time. Subsequent to WW I and the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian
Monarchy in 1918, this region, as a part of the Croatian state, was also
united into the State of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (named the Kingdom
of Yugoslavia since 1929). Following WW II, Croatia, and consequently this
region, was incorporated into the so-called New Yugoslavia from 1945 to
1991.
Due to the collapse of Yugoslavia and declaration of independence of
the Republic of Croatia in 1991, the eastern part of the Republic
of Croatia was the first to endure a strike of the aggression
of the Serb paramilitary forces and the Yugoslav Army. At that
time up to 1998, almost one half of the territory of Osijek-Baranja
County was not under the jurisdiction of the Croatian state. In
1992, the United Nations placed the area occupied by the Serb
forces under the patronage of their own (UN Protected Area, UNPA)
up to 1996, when their transitional administration was introduced
(United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia,
Baranja, and Western Sirmium, UNTAES), having the aim to implement
the process of peaceful reintegration of the region into the constitutional
and legal system of the Republic of Croatia. This process was
completed on January 15, 1998, when the UNTAES's mandate was terminated.
From that time on, the territory of Osijek-Baranja County is entirely
incorporated in the Republic of Croatia.
POPULATION
The Croats, still today the majority and autochthonous nation,
colonized this region in the 7th c. A.D. They were
joined by the Hungarians in the Baranja territory in the 10th
c. The Serbs began to immigrate during the penetration of the
Turks in the 16th c. first as fugitives and then as
Turkish soldiers. The Serb population moved in later as well,
especially as the Salonika volunteers subsequent to WW I in 1918.
The other nations, predominantly the Austrians and Germans and
slightly less the Czechs, Slovaks, Jews and others, immigrated
in the 18th and the 19th c. Instead of the
forcedly expatriated Austrians and Germans, the population from
other parts of the then Yugoslavia took up residence at their
estates trough an agrarian colonization following WW II.
According to the 2001 Census data, 330,506 inhabitants reside
in the territory of the County. Pursuant to the 2001 Census, 83,89%
of population in the territory of the present County were comprised
by the Croats, 8,73% by the Serbs, 2,96% by the Hungarians, 2,64%
by other nationalities and 1,78% by the undecided. This population
resides in 113,583 households in 264 residential areas.
ADMINISTRATION
AND LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT
The Osijek-seated Osijek-Baranja County was established in 1993
by the act that has formed a new territorial organization in the
Republic of Croatia. According to its legal status, it is a regional
self-government unit. The self-government affairs are administered
by the County Assembly, County Corporation Council, Prefect and administrative
bodies of the County, whereas the state administration affairs
are conducted by County offices.
As the symbols of its status, Osijek-Baranja County has a
coat of arms and a flag of its own and confers public
honors. In the execution of its authority, the County enacts
regulations. Within its publishing activity, the
County issues, as circumstances require, the Županijski
glasnik (Osijek-Baranja County Herald) as its official
gazette, the Županijska kronika
(County Chronicle) monthly bulletin, the Statistički
ljetopis (Statistical Records) annals and other ephemera.
The County encompasses 264 residential areas in 42 local self-government units, whereof seven have
the status of a city (Beli Manstir, Belišće, Donji Miholjac, Đakovo,
Našice, Osijek and Valpovo) and 35 have the status of a municipality
(Antunovac, Bilje, Bizovac, Čeminac, Čepin, Darda, Donja Motičina,
Draž, Drenje, Đurđenovac, Erdut, Ernestinovo, Feričanci, Gorjani,
Jagodnjak, Kneževi Vinogradi, Koška, Levanjska Varoš, Magadenovac,
Marijanci, Petlovac, Petrijevci, Podgorač, Podravska Moslavina,
Popovac, Punitovci, Satnica Đakovačka, Semeljci, Strizivojna,
Šljivoševci, Trnava, Viljevo, Viškovci, Vladislavci and Vuka).
In order to promote the local self-government, the County has
established and is a member of the Croatian
Institute for Local Government (CILG).
The informatics affairs for both the needs of the County and of
the local self-government units are conducted by the Osijek-based
Informatics Institute, founded by Osijek-Baranja County.
RELIGIOUS
COMMUNITIES
The following religious communities are active in the territory
of the County: the Catholic Church (with the seat of the Đakovo-Sirmium
Diocese in Đakovo), having the largest number of parochial churches,
the Orthodox Church (with the seat of the Osijek Area and Baranja
Eparchy in Osijek), the Evangelic Glad Tidings Church (with Croatia's
Church seat in Osijek), the Evangelical Church, the Calvinist
Church, the Christian Adventist Church, the Christian Baptist
Church, the Reformed Christian Church, the Jewish Community, etc.
Fourteen Catholic monasteries are also located in the territory
of the County.
Two degree-granting religious educational institutions also develop
their activities, the Catholic Church Divinity College in Đakovo
and the Evangelic Theological College with its postgraduate studies
in Osijek.
PUBLIC
SERVICES
In the territory of the County, developed is an institutional
network in the fields of education and science, culture, health
services and social welfare and in the field of information.
The incumbent of scientific activities in the territory of the County is the Josip
Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, encompassing nine
degree-granting Osijek-based educational institutions (Schools
of Economics, Law, Medicine, Agriculture, Food Processing Technology, Electrical and Civil Engineering and Teachers' Training and Normal College) in addition to other university
institutions whose activities provide for the integrality and
necessary higher education standard (Students' Center and Library).
Within the educational system and children's welfare, 62 grade, 108 district, and 30 high schools
are located in the County in addition to 49 preschool institutions.
According to the law, the County is a joint owner (with the City
of Osijek) of the Croatian
National Theater, having the status of a national theater,
and the owner of the Art
Gallery in Osijek. The County is a joint owner of the Osijek
Tvrđa (Citadel) Restoration Agency (with the Republic of Croatia
and the City of Osijek). Including these two institutions, six
theaters (two professional, the rest being the little-theater
groups and private theaters), 122 libraries (nine public, 100
school and university libraries, etc.), 13 museum and gallery
institutions, i.e., region-bound collections (the most important
ones being those in Osijek, Đakovo, Našice and Valpovo) and other
cultural institutions are operational in the cultural sector of
the County.
Within the health services, operational is the Osijek Clinical Hospital.
According to the law, the County is the owner of 12 primary health
protection institutions (medical centers in Osijek, Beli Manastir,
Donji Miholjac, Đakovo, Našice and Valpovo) and the possessor
of the Našice County Hospital, Public Health Institute in Osijek,
Osijek Emergency Ward, the Osijek-based Hearing and Speech Rehabilitation
Polyclinic and pharmacies in Osijek, Đakovo, and Beli Manstir.
A total of 12 institutions is operational in the field of social welfare: six social
welfare centers (in Osijek, Beli Manastir, Donji Miholjac, Đakovo,
Našice and Valpovo), two children's and youth welfare centers
(in Osijek), Professional Rehabilitation Center with its Osijek-based
Homeland War Veterans' Center and numerous humanitarian organizations.
In the information sector, the following media are printed or broadcast in the territory of
the County:
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