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LOCATION: Croatia is located in southeastern Europe, bordering the Adriatic Sea, between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. It stretches in the form of an arc from the Danube in the northeast to Istria in the west and Boka Kotorska in the southeast. Its area is 56, 414 sq.km and the area of the coastal sea about 31, 900 sq.km. Geographically, it is situated on the crossroads between Central Europe and the Mediterranean.
GEOGRAPHIC COORDINATES: 45°10' N 15°30' E
CLIMATE: Mediterranean and continental; continental climate predominant with hot summers and cold winters; the coastal areas have mild winters and dry summers.
TERRAIN: It is geographically diverse with flat plains along the Hungarian border, low mountains and highlands near Adriatic coastline and islands
LAND: 56, 414 kmē
WATER: 128 kmē
SEA: 33, 200 kmē
TOTAL: 89, 742 kmē
LAND BOUNDARIES: 2, 197 km
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ELEVATION EXTREMES:
LOWEST point: Adriatic Sea 0 m
HIGHEST point: Dinara 1, 830 m
BORDERING COUNTRIES: Bosnia and Herzegovina 932 km, Slovenia 670 km, Hungary 329 km, Serbia and Montenegro (north) 241 km, Serbia and Montenegro (south) 25 km
NATURAL RESOURCES: Petroleum, some coal, bauxite, low-grade iron ore, calcium, natural asphalt, silica, mica, clays, salt, hydropower
LAND USE: 23.55% of land the country is arable with 2.24% grow permanent crops. The total irrigated area is around 30 kmē according to 1998 figures.
NATURAL HAZARDS: destructive earthquakes
Croatia can be divided into three major natural parts:
The Pannonian and Peri-Pannonian area comprises lowland and hilly parts of eastern and northwestern Croatia.
The Adriatic Area includes the narrow coastal belt separated from the hinterland by high mountains. This is predominantly a Karst area with very dry summers.
The Croatian Adriatic coast is one of the most indented in the world: It has 1246 islands and islets with a total coastline of 4, 058 km, the total length of the mainland coast being 1777 km.
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