Banovina of Croatia

Banovina of Croatia Banovina Hrvatska Бановина Хрватска
Banate of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
←   ←   ← 1939–1941 →   →   →
Civil flag Coat of arms
Map of the Banovina of Croatia
Capital	Zagreb
Language(s)	Serbo-Croatian
Government	Banate
Ban
- 1939–1941	Ivan Šubašić
Historical era	Interwar Period / WWII
- Established	24 August 1939
- Disestablished	10 April 1941
Area
- 1939	65,456 km2 (25,273 sq mi)
Population
- 1939 est.	4,024,601
Density	61.5 /km2  (159.2 /sq mi)
Currency	Yugoslav dinar

The Banovina of Croatia or Banate of Croatia (Croatian, Serbian, Serbo-Croatian: Banovina Hrvatska, Cyrillic script: Бановина Хрватска) was a province (banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1939 and 1943 (de facto up to 1941). Its capital was at Zagreb and it included most of present-day Croatia along with portions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It included area of 65,456 km² and had population of 4,024,601. Its flag was the red white and blue Croatian tricolor.^[1] Ban of the Banovina of Croatia in that period was Ivan Šubašić.

History

The banovinas of Yugoslavia, established in 1929, deliberately avoided following ethnic or religious boundaries which resulted in the country's ethnic Croats, like other ethnic groups, being divided among several banovinas. Following a struggle within the unitary Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Croat leaders won autonomy for a new ethnic-based banovina with the Cvetković-Maček Agreement.

On the basis of the political agreement between Dragiša Cvetković and Vlatko Maček, and the Decree on the Banate of Croatia (Uredba o Banovini Hrvatskoj) dated August 24, 1939, the Banate of Croatia was created.^[2] The entire area of the Sava and Littoral Banovinas was combined and parts of the Vrbas, Zeta, Drina and Danube banovinas (districts Brčko, Derventa, Dubrovnik, Fojnica, Gradačac, Ilok, Šid and Travnik) were added to form the Banate of Croatia.^[3] The borders of the Banate of Croatia are partly the historical borders of Croatia, and partly based on the application of the principle of ethnicity according to which Bosnian and Herzegovinian territory with a majority Croat population was annexed to the Banate.^[2]

Under the Agreement, central government continued to control defense, internal security, foreign affairs, trade, and transport; but an elected Sabor and a crown-appointed ban would decide internal matters in Croatia. Ironically, the Agreement fueled separatism. Maček and other Croats viewed autonomy as a first step toward full Croatian independence, so they began haggling over territory; Serbs attacked Cvetković, charging that the Agreement brought them no return to democracy and no autonomy; Muslims demanded an autonomous Bosnia; and Slovenes and Montenegrins espoused federalism. Regent Pavle appointed a new government with Cvetković as prime minister and Maček as vice prime minister, but it gained little support.^[4]

In 1941, the World War II Axis Powers occupied Yugoslavia, and establishing a government-in-exile in London. Legally, the Banovina of Croatia remained a part of the occupied Kingdom of Yugoslavia, while the Axis proceeded to dismember Yugoslav territory and the Banovina along with it. Some of the coastal areas from Split to Zadar and near the Gulf of Kotor were annexed by Fascist Italy but the remainder was added to the Independent State of Croatia, a Nazi puppet-state formed in occupied Yugoslavia. As the Kingdom of Yugoslavia became the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia with the success of the Yugoslav Partisans, a new Federal State of Croatia was established within it, succeeding the Banovina.

Population

History of Croatia
This article is part of a series
Early history
Prehistoric Croatia
Origins of the Croats
White Croatia
Medieval history
Littoral Croatia · Pannonian Croatia · Pagania · Zachlumia · Travunia
Kingdom of Croatia
March of Istria
Republic of Poljica
Republic of Dubrovnik
Kingdom of Bosnia
Habsburg Empire
Kingdom of Croatia
Croatian Military Frontier
Illyrian Provinces · Kingdom of Illyria
Kingdom of Slavonia
Kingdom of Dalmatia
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs
Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Banovina of Croatia)
World War II Independent State of Croatia Federal State of Croatia
Socialist Republic of Croatia
Contemporary Croatia
War of independence
Republic of Croatia
Croatia Portal v · d · e

Banovina of Croatia was populated mostly by Croats (74%), but it also had large Serb minority (19%). It was divided on 99 kotars of which 81 had Croat majority, 17 Serbian (12 absolute, 5 relative) and 1 which Muslim majority which were not considered separate nation at the time.

Sports

The Croatian Football Federation was the governing body of football within the Banovina. It organized a domestic league and a national team. The Banovina of Croatia had four international matches: two pairs of home-and-away matches against Switzerland and Hungary. The Croatian Rowing Championships were held on June 29, 1940.^[5]

The Croatian Boxing Federation was reconstituted on October 5, 1939 as the governing body of boxing within the entire Banovina of Croatia.^[6]

Gallery

• 

  Bannates of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia prior to the establishment of the Banovina of Croatia

• 

  State flag and ensign of the Banovina of Croatia

• 

  Lesser coat of arms of the Banovina of Croatia

See also

• Kingdom of Yugoslavia
• SR Croatia
• Timeline of Croatian history

References

1. ^ Flags of the World
2. ^ ^{a b} Croatian History Museum
3. ^ Uredba o banovini Hrvatskoj (Croatian)
4. ^ The Sporazum, Tripartitate Pact, and Outbreak of World War II
5. ^ Kronologija hrvatskog veslanja
6. ^ Povijest hrvatskog sporta: Boks

External links

• Map of Yugoslav banovinas with the Banovina of Croatia (Hungarian)