User:Allens/sandbox/List of Counties of Croatia

[[File:Croatia-counties-colorkey2.svg|450px|thumb|right|Counties of Croatia:

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The counties of Croatia (županije) are the primary administrative subdivisions of the Republic of Croatia. Since they were re-established in 1992, Croatia has been divided into 20 counties and the capital city of Zagreb; the last has the authority and legal status of both a county and a city, separately from the surrounding Zagreb County. The counties are subdivided into 127 cities and 429 (mostly rural) municipalities. The counties correspond to tier three of the EU's Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) division of Croatia. The NUTS Local Administrative Unit (LAU) divisions are two-tiered; the LAU 1 divisions for Croatia also match the counties (in effect making these the same as the NUTS 3 units).

Croatia was first subdivided into counties in the Middle Ages. The divisions have changed over time, reflecting: territorial losses to Ottoman conquest and subsequent Croatian recapture of some territory; changes in the political status of Dalmatia, Dubrovnik and Istria; and political circumstances, including the personal union and settlement between Croatia and Hungary. The traditional division of Croatia into counties was abolished in 1922, when the oblasts of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes were introduced; these were later replaced by the banovinas of Yugoslavia. Communist-ruled Croatia, as a constituent part of post-WWII Yugoslavia, organised Croatia into approximately one hundred municipalities. The counties were reintroduced in 1992, but with significant territorial alterations from the pre-1922 subdivisions; for instance, before 1922 Transleithanian Croatia was divided into eight counties, but the new legislation established fourteen counties in the same territory. Međimurje County was established in the eponymous region acquired through the 1920 Treaty of Trianon. The county borders have sometimes changed since their 1992 restoration (for reasons such as historical ties and requests by cities); the latest revision took place in 2006.

List of former counties
Counties were first introduced in Croatia during the House of Trpimirović's rule. The exact number and borders of these early counties are difficult to determine accurately; they were considered to encompass areas subordinated to a single centre of local authority, but the possessions of significant nobles had a legal status separate from local authority. The following eleven are usually listed as the oldest counties of Croatia, dating back to the 10th century: Livno (encompassing the Livanjsko polje); Cetina (centered on the Cetina river, with its seat in Stolac); Imotski (south of Livno County and Biokovo); Pliva (around the Pliva and Vrbas rivers); Pset (between the Una and Sana rivers); Primorje or Klis (along the Adriatic's coast between Šibenik and Omiš, with its seat in the Klis Fortress); Bribir (to the west of Primorje County); Nona (around Nin and Zadar); Knin (with its seat in the Knin Fortress); Sidraga (in the area between Bribir County and Zadar); and Nina or Luka (between Knin, Nona, Sidraga and Bribir counties). In the same period, the counties in Pannonian Croatia (north of Gvozd Mountain) are poorly documented.

The county number and extent have varied significantly, reflecting Ottoman conquest and Croatian recapture of various territories and societal and political changes through several centuries (including the absorption of the Croatian and Slavonian Military Frontiers by the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in 1881). The last major reorganisation of the counties before they were abolished in 1922 was in 1886, when eight counties were established within the kingdom. Some minor adjustments of county boundaries happened in 1913.