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Korčula town, said to have been the birthplace of Marco Polo

A ceasefire and UN negotiations in early 1992 were accompanied by the withdrawal of the JNA, although significantly it did not mark a return to pre-war borders or provide for their future settlement. In May 1995 Croatian forces took matters into their own hands and entered occupied western Slavonia, quickly regaining control of the area; the Krajina Serbs responded by shelling Zagreb. In August Croatia retook the Serb stronghold of Knin. In December 1995 the Dayton Accord was signed in Paris, and Croatia’s international borders were recognised.

The years since 1995 have seen most of the physical scars of the war repaired, at least on the coast – although many parts of Vukovar in eastern Slavonia still remain in ruins. Tourist numbers and foreign property buying have soared, and local salaries have risen. Croatia achieved candidacy status for EU membership in 2004, finally joining the EU in July 2013.

Language

Croatian is a South Slavonic language, closely related to Serbian and Bosnian. The relationship between Croatian and Serbian is variously seen as similar to that between British and American English, or as that between two wholly separate and distinct languages, depending on one’s point of view. The standardisation of language while Croatia was part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–1991) resulted in the amalgamation of Croatian and Serbian (as the two dominant languages within the Federation) into Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat. This was written in the Latinised Croatian alphabet in Croatia, and in Cyrillic in Serbia. Since independence, there has been a concerted effort on both sides of the border to untangle, and in some cases polarise, the two languages.