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Croats (Croatian: Hrvati) are a south Slavic people mostly living in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (where they're one of the constitutive nations). There are significant Croat minorities of Vojvodina (northern Serbia) and the Austrian province of Burgenland as well as bordering areas in Western Hungary and Slovakia, and have a notable diaspora in western Europe, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The Croats are often characterized by a strong affiliation with Catholicism and the Croatian language.
The population numbers are reasonably exact domestically: they number a bit under four million in Croatia and around 600,000 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Abroad, their count is rather approximated due to incomplete statistical records and naturalization but estimates suggest that there at least as many Croats abroad as there are as domestically. The largest emigrant groups are in western Europe: Germany, Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom etc. Overseas, the Americas contain the largest Croatian emigration: the United States (Ohio, California) and Canada (Mississauga), as well as Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil and Bolivia.
There are also notable Croat groups in Australia (Perth, Sydney) and New Zealand as well as South Africa.
Tanais stone with the inscription "Horoatos" highlighted
The origin of the Croat tribe before the great migration of the Slavs is uncertain. One theory suggests they are descended from ancient Persia (cf. Alans). The earliest mention of the Croatian name, Horovathos, can be traced on two stone inscriptions in Greek language and script, dating from around the year 200 AD, found in the seaport Tanais on the Azov sea, Crimea peninsula (near the Black Sea). Both tablets are kept in the Archeological museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
In the 7th century, the Croat tribe moved from the area north of the Carpathians and east of the river Vistula (what was referred to as the White Croatia) and migrated into the western Dinaric Alps.
Genetically, most Croats have a mixed genotype similar to other Slavs, but with the major set of genes being specific to a "Dinaric" subgroup probably inherited from pre-Slavic Croatia's and Bosnia's inhabitants.
For the rest of the history of the Croats, please see history of Croatia.
- See also: List of Croats
de:Kroaten
fi:Kroaatti
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