Going Places - That Other Croatia (Lost Lands #85)

Twenty years ago, I achieved a long sought after goal by traveling to every county in one American state which happened to be Wyoming. How I decided to do this in Wyoming was rather simple. For five years I lived and traveled around the northern High Plains and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States. One day while looking at a map of Wyoming, I suddenly realized that I had been in all but a couple counties. I then made plans to visit them as soon as possible. The final county turned out to be the toughest to visit. It was in the remote, southwestern part of the state. I can still remember the thrill when I saw the sign for the Lincoln County line. That evening, I celebrated at a treeless camp site in the baking heat beside a languid reservoir. It was quite an experience and one I will never forget.

The same thrill swept over me once again when I completed a similar goal of going to every county in Hungary. The final one was Nograd County in northern Hungary. The moment I crossed the county line on a freezing cold mid-December day, I felt a sense of accomplishment unlike anything else in my life. All the transatlantic plane trips, all the bus, train, and car rides across a five-year period were worth it. How many Americans can say they have been to every county in Hungary? I was one of a select few. ?I had spent a lot of time, money, and energy to make it happen. At the time, my sense of accomplishment was mitigated by a feeling that this would probably never happen again. The older I get, the more difficult it becomes to conceive of doing this again in another Eastern European country.

Coming Attractions – Boots On The Ground

My itinerary for the lost lands beyond Hungary’s borders will help me visit more counties (or provinces) where I have never been before in Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia. Or if I have?to visit those counties in greater depth. By chance, I have visited about two-thirds of the counties in Croatia. Now that I am working on my itinerary stops for the northern part of the country, new opportunities are beginning to arise. ?I will be going where few tourists care to go. In Croatia there are three must see areas, and everywhere else. The three are Dalmatia, Istria, and Zagreb, everywhere else is invisible to all but locals and curious travelers. Croatia’s tourism, more than most countries, is defined by its geography. ?Dalmatia and Istria are best known for their proximity to the country’s spectacular coastline. Zagreb has the right mix of historical and cultural attractions. These areas dominate tourism in Croatia. Everything else might also as well be invisible and that includes some places on its beautiful coastline.

As for the regions that border Hungary, the Medimurje and Slavonia, they could be called the unknown provinces. Anyone who fancies rural life will enjoy either region. Subtle delights are in abundance, spectacular beauty is rare. I passed through Medimurje and Slavonia many years ago, but never really visited them. I spent a lot of time gazing out the window of a train. What I did not do was set foot on the ground. That means I did not have any real experience of either place. Boots on the ground are invaluable if you really want to learn about a place. Coming to grips with Croatia means more than time spent at the seaside or traipsing around Zagreb. Less visited provinces offer a window into a little-known world. With that in mind, I have been looking forward to visiting the parts of northern Croatia closest to the border with Hungary.

Assimilation Factors - Divisible By One

Hungary borders seven countries, all of which are home to lands it lost due to the post-World War I Treaty of Trianon. Its border with Croatia is the third longest of those seven. That should mean that Croatia looms large in the lost lands. It does not. I have spent a considerable time in both countries and heard very little about their relationship. Part of the reason is due to numbers. There are only an estimated 14,000 Hungarians in Croatia, all in its northern parts. This is surprising since the relationship between Hungary and Croatia goes all the way back to the Middle Ages. After a succession crisis led to a leadership vacuum in medieval Croatia, the Kingdom of Hungary was able to gain control of it in 1102. They largely kept that control except for Dalmatia, until the Treaty of Trianon when Croatia became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Relations between Hungarians and Croatians were pretty good, but Croatians always ended up subordinate to the Hungarians. Their relationship is akin to the same one that Hungarians had with Austrians but in reverse.

Being treated as second class citizens did not sit well with Croats. They achieved a limited form of autonomy in the Habsburg, and then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This would not be enough for them. They chafed at Hungary’s attempts to impose Magyarization on them in the late 19th century. All this did was to further exacerbate the movements towards an independent Croatia. By the time World War I was in its closing stages, the Croats were ready to join their fellow Slavs in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. As for Hungary, there was nothing they could do to stop this. They were at the mercy of decisions by the victorious powers at the Paris Peace Conference. Eight hundred years of shared history was no match for ethnic ties between Croats and their fellow South Slavs.?

Relative Proximity – Ties That Bind

While millions of Hungarians in the lost lands longed for the mother country and to be reunited with their ethnic kin, there were not enough Hungarians to stir up much dissent in Croatia. The ethnic Hungarians who decided to stay in Croatia experienced few problems compared to those in other parts of the lost lands who were not so lucky. It helped that Croatia did not have a large population of Hungarians. The same is true today. Perhaps that is why the Treaty of Trianon had not been a source of contention. Hungary and Croatia have spent much of their existence in a personal union. That is no longer the case, but in some areas close to the border those ties can still bind.