Arrival of the Slavs Early Slavs, especially
Sclaveni and
Antae, including the
White Croats, invaded and settled
Southeastern Europe in the 6th and 7th century.
Early medieval archaeology Archaeological evidence shows population continuity in coastal
Dalmatia and
Istria. In contrast, much of the
Dinaric hinterland and appears to have been depopulated, as virtually all hilltop settlements, from
Noricum to
Dardania, were abandoned and few appear destroyed in the early 7th century. Although the dating of the earliest Slavic settlements was disputed, recent archaeological data established that the migration and settlement of the Slavs/Croats have been in late 6th and early 7th century.
Croat ethnogenesis marked in black, all known ethnonyms of Croats are within this area. Presumable migration routes of Croats are indicated by arrows, per V.V. Sedov (1979). Much uncertainty revolves around the exact circumstances of their appearance given the scarcity of literary sources during the 7th and 8th century
Middle Ages. Traditionally, scholarship has placed the arrival of the
White Croats from
Great/White Croatia in Eastern Europe in the early 7th century, primarily on the basis of the later
Byzantine document
De Administrando Imperio. As such, the arrival of the Croats was seen as part of main wave or a second wave of Slavic migrations, which took over Dalmatia from
Avar hegemony. However, as early as the 1970s, scholars questioned the reliability of
Porphyrogenitus' work, written as it was in the 10th century. Rather than being an accurate historical account,
De Administrando Imperio more accurately reflects the political situation during the 10th century. It mainly served as Byzantine propaganda praising Emperor
Heraclius for repopulating the
Balkans (previously devastated by the
Avars,
Sclaveni and
Antes) with Croats, who were seen by the Byzantines as tributary peoples living on what had always been 'Roman land'. Scholars have hypothesized the name Croat (
Hrvat) may be
Iranian, thus suggesting that the (Proto-)Croatian ethnogenesis is related to the
Sarmatians, the major basis for this connection being
inscriptions from the
Tanais dated to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, mentioning the name . Similar arguments have been made for an alleged
Gothic-Croat link. Whilst there is possible evidence of population continuity between Gothic and Croatian times in parts of Dalmatia, the idea of a Gothic origin of Croats was more rooted in the 20th century
Ustaše political aspirations than historical reality.
Other polities in Dalmatia and Pannonia by
Oton Iveković Other, distinct polities and ethno-political groups existed around the Croat duchy. These included the
Guduscans (based in Liburnia),
Pagania (between the Cetina and
Neretva River),
Zachlumia (between Neretva and
Dubrovnik),
Bosnia, and
Serbia in other eastern parts of ex-Roman province of "Dalmatia". Also prominent in the territory of future Croatia was the polity of Prince
Ljudevit who ruled the territories between the
Drava and
Sava rivers ("
Pannonia Inferior"), centred from his fort at
Sisak. Although Duke Liutevid and his people are commonly seen as a "Pannonian Croats", he is, due to the lack of "evidence that they had a sense of Croat identity" referred to as
dux Pannoniae Inferioris, or simply a Slav, by contemporary sources. A closer reading of the
DAI suggests that Constantine VII's consideration about the ethnic origin and identity of the population of Lower Pannonia,
Pagania,
Zachlumia and other principalities is based on tenth century political rule and does not indicate ethnicity, and although both Croats and Serbs could have been a small military elite which managed to organize other already settled and more numerous Slavs, it is possible that Narentines, Zachlumians and others also arrived as Croats or with Croatian tribal alliance. The Croats became the dominant local power in northern Dalmatia, absorbing Liburnia and expanding their name by conquest and prestige. In the south, while having periods of independence, the Naretines merged with Croats later under control of Croatian Kings. With such expansion, Croatia became the dominant power and absorbed other polities between Frankish,
Bulgarian and Byzantine empire. Although the
Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja has been dismissed as an unreliable record, the mentioned "Red Croatia" suggests that Croatian clans and families might have settled as far south as
Duklja/
Zeta. According to Martin Dimnik writing for
The New Cambridge Medieval History, "at the beginning of the eleventh century the Croats lived in two more or less clearly defined regions" of the "Croatian lands" which "were now divided into three districts" including Slavonia/Pannonian Croatia (between rivers Sava and Drava) on one side and Croatia/Dalmatian littoral (between
Gulf of Kvarner and rivers Vrbas and Neretva) and Bosnia (around
river Bosna) on other side, and that "Croats, along with Serbs, also lived in Bosnia which at times came under the control of Croatian kings". The
Frankish margraves sent armies in 820, 821 and 822, but each time they failed to crush the rebels. After Branimir's death, Prince
Muncimir (892–910), Zdeslav's brother, took control of Dalmatia and ruled it independently of both Rome and Byzantium as
divino munere Croatorum dux (with God's help, duke of Croats). In Dalmatia, duke
Tomislav (910–928) succeeded Muncimir. Tomislav successfully repelled Magyar mounted invasions of the
Arpads, expelled them over the
Sava River, and united (western) Pannonian and Dalmatian Croats into one state.
Kingdom of Croatia (925–1102) . during Zvonimir's reign, at the beginning of 1089.
Tomislav (910–928) became king of Croatia by 925. The chief piece of evidence that Tomislav was crowned king comes in the form of a letter dated 925, surviving only in 16th-century copies, from
Pope John X calling Tomislav
rex Chroatorum. According to
De Administrando Imperio, Tomislav's army and navy could have consisted approximately 100,000
infantry units, 60,000 cavaliers, and 80 larger (
sagina) and 100 smaller
warships (
condura), but generally isn't taken as credible. According to the
palaeographic analysis of the original manuscript of
De Administrando Imperio, an estimation of the number of inhabitants in medieval Croatia between 440 and 880 thousand people, and military numbers of Franks and Byzantines – the Croatian military force was most probably composed of 20,000–100,000 infantrymen, and 3,000–24,000 horsemen organized in 60
allagions. The Croatian Kingdom as an ally of Byzantine Empire was in conflict with the rising
Bulgarian Empire ruled by Tsar
Simeon I. In 923, due to a deal of Pope John X and a Patriarch of Constantinopole, the sovereignty of Byzantine
coastal cities in Dalmatia came under Tomislav's Governancy. The war escalated on 27 May 927, in the
battle of the Bosnian Highlands. There Croats under leadership of their king Tomislav completely defeated the Bulgarian army led by military commander
Alogobotur, and stopped Simeon's extension westwards. The central town in the Duvno field was named
Tomislavgrad ("Tomislav's town") in his honour in the 20th century. Tomislav was succeeded by
Trpimir II (928–935), and
Krešimir I (935–945), this period, on the whole, however, is obscure.
Miroslav (945–949) was killed by his ban
Pribina during an internal power struggle, losing part of islands and coastal cities.
Krešimir II (949–969) kept particularly good relations with the Dalmatian cities, while his son
Stjepan Držislav (969–997) established better relations with the Byzantine Empire and received a formal authority over Dalmatian cities. His three sons,
Svetoslav (997–1000),
Krešimir III (1000–1030) and
Gojslav (1000–1020), opened a violent contest for the throne, weakening the state and further losing control. Krešimir III and his brother Gojslav co-ruled from 1000 until 1020, and attempted to restore control over lost Dalmatian cities now under Venetian control. Krešimir was succeeded by his son
Stjepan I (1030–1058), who continued his ambitions of spreading rule over the coastal cities, and during whose rule was established the diocese of Knin between 1040 and 1050 which bishop had the nominal title of "Croatian bishop" (Latin:
episcopus Chroatensis).
Krešimir IV (1058–1074) managed to get the Byzantine Empire to confirm him as the supreme ruler of the Dalmatian cities. Croatia under Krešimir IV was composed of twelve counties and was slightly larger than in Tomislav's time, and included the closest southern Dalmatian duchy of Pagania. From the outset, he continued the policies of his father, but was immediately commanded by
Pope Nicholas II first in 1059 and then in 1060 to further reform the Croatian church in accordance with the
Roman rite. This was especially significant to the papacy in the aftermath of the
Great Schism of 1054. , which is the oldest evidence of the
glagolitic script, mentions king
Zvonimir. He was succeeded by
Dmitar Zvonimir, who was of the Svetoslavić branch of the
House of Trpimirović, and a
Ban of Slavonia (1064–1075). He was
crowned on 8 October 1076 at
Solin in the
Basilica of Saint Peter and Moses (known today as
Hollow Church) by a representative of
Pope Gregory VII. He was in conflict with dukes of
Istria, while historical records
Annales Carinthiæ and
Chronica Hungarorum note he invaded
Carinthia to aid Hungary in war during 1079/83, but this is disputed. Unlike Petar Krešimir IV, he was also an ally of the
Normans, with whom he joined in wars against Byzantium. He married in 1063
Helen of Hungary, the daughter of King
Bela I of the Hungarian
Árpád dynasty, and the sister of the future King
Ladislaus I. As King Zvonimir died in 1089 in unknown circumstances, with no direct heir to succeed him,
Stjepan II ( 1089–1091) last of the main Trpimirović line came to the throne but reigned for two years. After his death civil war and unrest broke out shortly afterward as northern nobles decided Ladislaus I for the Croatian King. In 1093, southern nobles elected a new ruler, King
Petar Snačić ( 1093–1097), who managed to unify the Kingdom around his capital of
Knin. His army resisted repelling Hungarian assaults, and restored Croatian rule up to the river
Sava. He reassembled his forces in Croatia and advanced on
Gvozd Mountain, where he met the main Hungarian army led by King
Coloman I of Hungary. In 1097, in the
Battle of Gvozd Mountain, the last native king Peter was killed and the Croats were decisively defeated (because of this, the mountain was this time renamed to
Petrova Gora, "Peter's Mountain", but identified with the wrong mountain). In 1102, Coloman returned to the Kingdom of Croatia in force, and negotiated with the Croatian feudal lords resulting in joining of Hungarian and Croatian crowns (with the crown of Dalmatia held separate from that of Croatia). According to
The New Cambridge Medieval History, "at the beginning of the eleventh century the Croats lived in two more or less clearly defined regions" of the "Croatian lands" which "were now divided into three districts" including Slavonia/Pannonian Croatia (between rivers Sava and Drava) on one side and Croatia/Dalmatian littoral (between
Gulf of Kvarner and rivers Vrbas and Neretva) and Bosnia (around
river Bosna) on other side.
Personal union with Hungary (1102–1918) , is a historical document by which Croatia agreed to enter a personal union with Hungary. Although the validity of the document itself is disputed, Croatia did keep considerable autonomy. In the 11th and 12th centuries "the Croats were never unified under a strong central government. They lived in different areas - Pannonian Croatia, Dalmatian Croatia, Bosnia - which were at times ruled by indigenous kings but more frequently controlled by agents of Byzantium, Venice and Hungary. Even during periods of relatively strong centralized government, local lords frequently enjoyed an almost autonomous status". Coloman retained the institution of the Sabor and relieved the Croatians of taxes on their land. Coloman's successors continued to crown themselves as Kings of Croatia separately in
Biograd na Moru. The Hungarian king also introduced a variant of the
feudal system. Large
fiefs were granted to individuals who would defend them against outside incursions thereby creating a system for the defence of the entire state. However, by enabling the nobility to seize more economic and military power, the kingdom itself lost influence to the powerful noble families. In Croatia the
Šubić were one of the oldest Croatian noble families and would become particularly influential and important, ruling the area between
Zrmanja and the
Krka rivers. The local noble family from
Krk island (who later took the surname
Frankopan) is often considered the second most important medieval family, as ruled over northern Adriatic and is responsible for the adoption of one of oldest European
statutes,
Law codex of Vinodol (1288). Both families gave many native bans of Croatia. Other powerful families were
Nelipić from
Dalmatian Zagora (14th–15th centuries);
Kačić who ruled over
Pagania and were famous for piracy and wars against Venice (12th–13th centuries);
Kurjaković family, a branch of the old Croatian noble
Gusić family from
Krbava (14th–16th centuries);
Babonić who ruled from western
Kupa to eastern
Vrbas and
Bosna rivers, and were bans of Slavonia (13th–14th centuries);
Iločki family who ruled over Slavonian stronghold-cities, and in the 15th century rose to power. During this period, the
Knights Templar and the
Knights Hospitaller also acquired considerable property and assets in Croatia. In the second half of the 13th century, during the
Árpád and
Anjou dynasty struggle, the Šubić family became hugely powerful under
Paul I Šubić of Bribir, who was the longest Croatian Ban (1274–1312), conquering Bosnia and declaring himself "Lord of all of Bosnia" (1299–1312). He appointed his brother
Mladen I Šubić as Ban of Bosnia (1299–1304), and helped
Charles I from House of Anjou to be the King of Hungary. After his death in 1312, his son
Mladen II Šubić was the Ban of Bosnia (1304–1322) and Ban of Croatia (1312–1322). The kings from House of Anjou intended to strengthen the kingdom by uniting their power and control, but to do so they had to diminish the power of the higher nobility. Charles I had already tried to crash the aristocratic privileges, intention finished by his son
Louis the Great (1342–1382), relying on the lower nobility and towns. Both kings ruled without the Parliament, and inner nobility struggles only helped them in their intentions. This led to Mladen's defeat at the
battle of Bliska in 1322 by a coalition of several Croatian noblemen and Dalmatian coastal towns with support of the King himself, in exchange of Šubić's castle of
Ostrovica for
Zrin Castle in Central Croatia (thus this branch was named
Zrinski) in 1347. Eventually, the Babonić and Nelipić families also succumbed to the king's offensive against nobility, but with the increasing process of power centralization, Louis managed to force Venice by the
Treaty of Zadar in 1358 to give up their possessions in Dalmatia. When King Louis died without successor, the question of succession remained open. The kingdom once again entered the time of internal unrest. Besides King Louis's daughter
Mary,
Charles III of Naples was the closest king male relative with claims to the throne. In February 1386, two months after his coronation, he was assassinated by order of the queen
Elizabeth of Bosnia. His supporters, bans
John of Palisna,
John Horvat and Stjepan Lacković planned a rebellion, and managed to capture and imprison Elizabeth and Mary. By orders of John of Palisna, Elizabeth was strangled. In retaliation, Magyars crowned Mary's husband
Sigismund of Luxembourg. in the region in 1500 King Sigismund's army was catastrophically defeated at the
Battle of Nicopolis (1396) as the
Ottoman invasion was getting closer to the borders of the Hungarian-Croatian kingdom. Without news about the king after the battle, the then ruling Croatian ban
Stjepan Lacković and nobles invited Charles III's son
Ladislaus of Naples to be the new king. This resulted in the
Bloody Sabor of Križevci in 1397, loss of interest in the crown by Ladislaus and selling of Dalmatia to Venice in 1403, and spreading of Croatian names to the north, with those of Slavonia to the east. The dynastic struggle didn't end, and with the Ottoman invasion on Bosnia the first short raids began in Croatian territory, defended only by local nobles. charge on the Turks from the Fortress of Szigetvár'', by
Simon Hollósy As the
Turkish incursion into Europe started, Croatia once again became a border area between two major forces in the
Balkans. Croatian military troops fought in many battles under command of
Italian
Franciscan priest
fra John Capistrano, the Hungarian
Generalissimo John Hunyadi, and Hungarian King
Matthias Corvinus, like in the Hunyadi's
long campaign (1443–1444),
battle of Varna (1444), second
battle of Kosovo (1448), and contributed to the Christian victories over the
Ottomans in the
siege of Belgrade (1456) and
Siege of Jajce (1463). At the time they suffered a major defeat in the
battle of Krbava field (
Lika, Croatia) in 1493 and gradually lost increasing amounts of territory to the Ottoman Empire.
Pope Leo X called Croatia the
forefront of Christianity (Antemurale Christianitatis) in 1519, given that several Croatian soldiers made significant contributions to the struggle against the
Ottoman Turks. Among them there were
ban Petar Berislavić who won a victory at
Dubica on the
Una river in 1513, the captain of
Senj and prince of
Klis Petar Kružić, who defended the
Klis Fortress for almost 25 years, captain
Nikola Jurišić who deterred by a magnitude larger Turkish force on their way to Vienna in 1532, or ban
Nikola IV Zrinski who helped save
Pest from occupation in 1542 and fought in the
Battle of Szigetvar in 1566. During the Ottoman conquest tens of thousands of Croats were taken in Turkey, where they became slaves. The
Battle of Mohács (1526) and the death of King
Louis II ended the Hungarian-Croatian union. In 1526, the Hungarian parliament elected two separate kings
János Szapolyai and
Ferdinand I Habsburg, but the choice of the Croatian sabor
at Cetin prevailed on the side of Ferdinand I, as they elected him as the new king of Croatia on 1 January 1527, uniting both lands under Habsburg rule. In return they were promised the historic rights, freedoms, laws and defence of Croatian Kingdom. from 1 January 1527, when Croatian Sabor elected the
Habsburg monarchy.However, the Hungarian-Croatian Kingdom was not enough well prepared and organized and the Ottoman Empire expanded further in the 16th century to include most of Slavonia, western Bosnia and
Lika. For the sake of stopping the Ottoman conquering and possible assault on the capital of Vienna, the large areas of Croatia and Slavonia (even Hungary and Romania) bordering the Ottoman Empire were organized as a
Military Frontier which was ruled directly from Vienna military headquarters. The invasion caused migration of Croats, and the area which became deserted was subsequently settled by
Serbs,
Vlachs,
Germans and others. The negative effects of
feudalism escalated in 1573 when the peasants in northern Croatia and Slovenia
rebelled against their feudal lords due to various injustices. After the fall of
Bihać fort in 1592, only small areas of Croatia remained unrecovered. The remaining were referred to as the
reliquiae reliquiarum of the once great Croatian kingdom. Croats stopped the Ottoman advance in Croatia at the
battle of Sisak in 1593, 100 years after the defeat at Krbava field, and the short
Long Turkish War ended with the
Peace of Zsitvatorok in 1606, after which Croatian classes tried unsuccessfully to have their territory on the Military Frontier restored to rule by the Croatian Ban, managing only to restore a small area of lost territory but failed to regain large parts of Croatian Kingdom (present-day western
Bosnia and Herzegovina), as the present-day border between the two countries is a remnant of this outcome.
Croatian national revival (1593–1918) In the first half of the 17th century, Croats fought in the
Thirty Years' War on the side of
Holy Roman Empire, mostly as light cavalry under command of imperial generalissimo
Albrecht von Wallenstein. Croatian Ban,
Juraj V Zrinski, also fought in the war, but died in a military camp near
Bratislava,
Slovakia, as he was poisoned by von Wallenstein after a verbal duel. His son, future ban and captain-general of Croatia,
Nikola Zrinski, participated during the closing stages of the war. . In 1664, the Austrian imperial army was victorious against the Turks, but Emperor
Leopold failed to capitalize on the success when he signed the
Peace of Vasvár in which Croatia and Hungary were prevented from regaining territory lost to the Ottoman Empire. This caused unrest among the Croatian and Hungarian nobility which plotted against the emperor. Nikola Zrinski participated in launching the conspiracy which later came to be known as the
Magnate conspiracy, but he soon died, and the rebellion was continued by his brother, Croatian ban
Petar Zrinski,
Fran Krsto Frankopan and
Ferenc Wesselényi. Petar Zrinski, along the conspirators, went on a wide secret diplomatic negotiations with a number of nations, including
Louis XIV of France, the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,
Sweden, the
Republic of Venice and even the
Ottoman Empire, to free Croatia from the Habsburg sovereignty. Imperial spies uncovered the conspiracy and on 30 April 1671 executed four esteemed Croatian and Hungarian noblemen involved in it, including Zrinski and Frankopan in
Wiener Neustadt. The large estates of two most powerful Croatian noble houses were confiscated and their families relocated, soon after extinguished. Between 1670 and the revolution of 1848, there would be only 2 bans of Croatian nationality. The period from 1670 to the Croatian cultural revival in the 19th century was Croatia's political Dark Age. Meanwhile, with the victories over Turks, Habsburgs all the more insistent they spent centralization and germanization, new regained lands in liberated Slavonia started giving to foreign families as feudal goods, at the expense of domestic element. Because of this the Croatian Sabor was losing its significance, and the nobility less attended it, yet went only to the one in Hungary. In the 18th century, Croatia was one of the crown lands that supported Emperor
Charles VI's Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 and supported Empress
Maria Theresa in the
War of the Austrian Succession of 1741–48. Subsequently, the empress made significant contributions to Croatian matters, by making several changes in the feudal and tax system, administrative control of the Military Frontier, in 1745 administratively united Slavonia with Croatia and in 1767 organized Croatian royal council with the ban on head, however, she ignored and eventually disbanded it in 1779, and Croatia was relegated to just one seat in the governing council of Hungary, held by the
ban of Croatia. To fight the Austrian centralization and absolutism, Croats passed their rights to the united government in Hungary, thus to together resist the intentions from Vienna. But the connection with Hungary soon adversely affected the position of Croats, because Magyars in the spring of their nationalism tried to Magyarize Croats, and make Croatia a part of a united Hungary. Because of this pretensions, the constant struggles between Croats and Magyars emerged, and lasted until 1918. Croats were fighting in unfavorable conditions, against both Vienna and Budapest, while divided on Banska Hrvatska, Dalmatia and Military Frontier. In such a time, with the fall of the
Venetian Republic in 1797, its possessions in eastern
Adriatic mostly came under the authority of France which passed its rights to Austria the same year. Eight years later they were restored to France as the
Illyrian Provinces, but won back to the Austrian crown 1815. Though now part of the same empire, Dalmatia and Istria were part of
Cisleithania while Croatia and Slavonia were in Hungarian part of the Monarchy. in 1830. In the 19th century Croatian
romantic nationalism emerged to counteract the non-violent but apparent
Germanization and
Magyarization. The Croatian national revival began in the 1830s with the
Illyrian movement. The movement attracted a number of influential figures and produced some important advances in the
Croatian language and culture. The champion of the Illyrian movement was
Ljudevit Gaj who also reformed and standardized Croatian. The official language in Croatia had been Latin until 1847, when it became Croatian. The movement relied on a South Slavic and Panslavistic conception, and its national, political and social ideas were advanced at the time. By the 1840s, the movement had moved from cultural goals to resisting Hungarian political demands. By the royal order of 11 January 1843, originating from the chancellor
Metternich, the use of the Illyrian name and insignia in public was forbidden. This deterred the movement's progress but it couldn't stop the changes in the society that had already started. On 25 March 1848, was conducted a political petition "
Zahtijevanja naroda", which program included thirty national, social and liberal principles, like Croatian national independence, annexation of Dalmatia and Military Frontier, independence from Hungary as far as finance, language, education, freedom of speech and writing, religion, nullification of serfdom etc. In the
revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire, the Croatian
Ban Jelačić cooperated with the Austrians in quenching the
Hungarian Revolution of 1848 by leading a military campaign into Hungary, successful until the
Battle of Pákozd. Croatia was later subject to Hungarian hegemony under ban
Levin Rauch when the Empire was transformed into a dual monarchy of
Austria-Hungary in 1867. Nevertheless, Ban Jelačić had succeeded in the abolition of
serfdom in Croatia, which eventually brought about massive changes in society: the power of the major landowners was reduced and arable land became increasingly subdivided, to the extent of risking famine. Many Croatians began emigrating to the
New World countries in this period, a trend that would continue over the next century, creating a large Croatian
diaspora.
Modern history (1918–present) After the
First World War and
dissolution of Austria-Hungary, most Croats were united within the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, created by unification of the short-lived
State of SHS with the
Kingdom of Serbia. Croats became one of the constituent nations of the new kingdom. The state was transformed into the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929 and the Croats were united in the new nation with their neighbors – the South Slavs-
Yugoslavs. In 1939, the Croats received a high degree of autonomy when the
Banovina of Croatia was created, which united almost all ethnic Croatian territories within the Kingdom. In the
Second World War, the
Axis forces created the
Independent State of Croatia led by the
Ustaše movement which sought to create an ethnically pure Croatian state on the territory corresponding to present-day countries of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Post-WWII
Yugoslavia became a
federation consisting of 6 republics, and Croats became one of two
constituent peoples of two – Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croats in the Serbian autonomous province of
Vojvodina are one of six main ethnic groups composing this region. Following the democratization of society, accompanied with ethnic tensions that emerged ten years after the death of
Josip Broz Tito, the Republic of Croatia declared independence, which was followed by
war. In the first years of the war, over 200,000 Croats were displaced from their homes as a result of the military actions. In the peak of the fighting, around 550,000 ethnic Croats were displaced altogether during the Yugoslav wars. Post-war government's policy of easing the immigration of ethnic Croats from abroad encouraged a number of Croatian descendants to return to Croatia. The influx was increased by the arrival of Croatian refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the war's end in 1995, most Croatian refugees returned to their previous homes, while some (mostly Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Janjevci from Kosovo) moved into the formerly-held Serbian housing. ==Genetics==