Zala county arose as one of the first (counties) of the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1850, shortly after the
1848 revolutions, the mostly Croatian-speaking area between the
Mur and
Drava rivers – the
Međimurje region (; , ) – was transferred to the
Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia; it was
returned to Zala in 1860 and remained until 1918. In 1920, by the
Treaty of Trianon, the south-west of the county (the Međimurje region and southeastern parts of
Prekmurje ()) became part of the newly formed
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (from 1929 as Yugoslavia). The award recognised the
1918 occupation of Međimurje and
1919 occupation of Prekmurje. The remainder stayed in Hungary. The Yugoslavian part was
occupied and annexed again by Hungary between 1941 and 1945 during
World War II. In 1950, as part of the Communist reforms of local government, the county's borders were re-drawn again. A small part of former
Vas county, north of Zalaegerszeg, went to
Zala County. The part of Zala county north of
Lake Balaton went to
Veszprém County. Since 1991, when
Slovenia and
Croatia became independent from
Yugoslavia, most of Međimurje is part of Croatia (mostly in
Međimurje County;
Legrad is in
Koprivnica-Križevci County);
Razkrižje,
Globoka and Prekmurje (the area around
Lendava) is in Slovenia. ==Demographics==