Minorities in Croatia and Croats in neighboring countries: historical identities

The proposed project, for the first time in Croatian historiography, envisages a historical investigation of the results of migration in the past in both directions between the area of today’s Republic of Croatia and the area of today’s surrounding countries in Central and Southeastern Europe. On the one hand, there are national minorities in Croatia, whose ancestors immigrated to Croatian lands in previous centuries for religious, political or economic reasons, or found themselves here due to a change in borders. There are currently 22 national minorities in the Republic of Croatia, which make up about 10% of the population according to the 2001 census. However, historical research so far, with a few exceptions, only partially dealt with certain topics from their past. Therefore, within the framework of the proposed project, their history and culture will be studied, especially that of autochthonous minorities (Serbs, Italians, Hungarians, Jews, Roma, Austrians/Germans, etc.), from their immigration to the present day, and their relationships will also be taken into account. with the majority population and with the mother country. In the same way, on the other hand, the proposed project will deal with the research of the history and culture of the Croats in the surrounding countries who settled there in the 15th-17th centuries. century, i.e. the old Croatian diaspora, which mainly arose as a result of the Ottoman conquests. Croats in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro (Vojvodina), Italy and the like will be taken into account. It is known that there is a large but dispersed Croatian minority in the surrounding countries, which scientists began to study as part of a special scientific research project only after the creation of the Republic of Croatia. The position of both population groups will be investigated through the prism of historical relations between Croatia (Croatian countries) and other countries of Central and Southeastern Europe. The expected results of the proposed project will be defended master’s theses and doctoral dissertations, as well as published scientific papers, discussions and monographs. The importance of the proposed research will be that in the future the obtained results will be able to be applied in historiography in order to give national minorities their place in the history of Croatia, and on the other hand to create a complete monograph on the history of the Croatian people in the homeland and abroad. The proposed research could also contribute to strengthening the identity of all the mentioned national minorities, in the European pluralistic atmosphere.