Modruš-Rijeka County

The Modruš-Rijeka County shared borders with the Austrian (Cisleithanian) lands of Istria (part of the Austrian Littoral) and Carniola, the Austro-Hungarian condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croatian-Slavonian counties of Zagreb and Lika-Krbava and the city/corpus separatum of Fiume. The county had a strip of Adriatic Sea coast. Its area was 4,879 km² (1,884 sq mi) around 1910.

Most of the territory of the county was part of the Kingdom of Croatia when it entered a personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary in 1102, and with it became part of the Habsburg monarchy in 1526. The southern part of the later county around Ogulin was part of the Croatian Military Frontier established in 1553.

From 1466 until the late 18th century Rijeka (under the German name Sankt Veit am Flaum or the Italian and Hungarian name Fiume) was part of the Habsburg Erblande, forming part of Inner Austria. In 1776 it was transferred to Croatia, then in 1779 was subordinated directly to the Hungarian Crown as a corpus separatum, i.e. it became a formally separate entity, part of neither Croatia nor Hungary-proper.

The area became part of the Napoleonic Illyrian Provinces in 1809. After the 1815 Congress of Vienna the area was reincorporated into the Austrian Empire: the southern part returned to the Military Frontier; the northern part (the former French Croatie civile province) briefly remained with the newly-established Kingdom of Illyria, then was restored to Croatia, forming part of Zagreb County, while the Fiume was restored to its previous status as well as being the centre of the Croatian Littoral district.

In the decade following the 1848 revolutions Fiume formed part of the autonomous Kingdom of Croatia, becoming the seat of the new Fiume/Rijeka County. The period of absolutism came to an end in October 1860 and with it Fiume was restored to its previous status.

An 1885 map showing Croatia-Slavonia and south-western Hungary before the final restructuring of the Croatian-Slavonian counties. Fiume County (pale blue) and Ogulin-Slunj County (peach) can be seen in the far left.

Following the Compromise of 1867 which transformed the Austrian Empire into Austria-Hungary, Fiume remained a corpus separatum within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen (Transleithania), although its status was disputed by Croatia-Slavonia until the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918. Between 1871 and 1881 the Military Frontier was disbanded and the counties of Croatia-Slavonia were re-organised. Ogulin-Slunj County was formed from the merger of the former districts of the Ogulin (III) and Slunj (IV) regiments.

By 1886 the counties of Croatia-Slavonia had taken their final form. Modruš-Rijeka County was formed from Rijeka County, the bulk of Ogulin-Slunj County and an area around Severin na Kupi and Bosiljevo formerly belonging to Zagreb County. The south-western-most parts of Ogulin-Slunj County around Senj, Brinje and Krivi Put became the Brinje district and part of the Senj district of Lika-Krbava County while the former exclaves of the Slunj Regiment were transferred to Zagreb County.

In October 1918 Croatia-Slavonia seceded from Austria-Hungary as part of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which de facto merged with the Kingdom of Serbia to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later renamed to Yugoslavia) that December; this was formally recognised in 1920 by the Treaty of Trianon. In 1922 the Vidovdan Constitution came into force, replacing the Austro-Hungarian counties (and Serbian districts) with oblasts, thereby ending the existence of Modruš-Rijeka County.

Since 1991, when Croatia became independent from Yugoslavia, the county's former territory has been part of Croatia.

In 1900, the county had a population of 228,452 people and was composed of the following linguistic communities:[1]

• Croatian: 150,982 (66.1%)
• Serbian: 73,604 (32.2%)
• Hungarian: 601 (0.3%)
• German: 512 (0.2%)
• Slovak: 58 (0.0%)
• Ruthenian: 4 (0.0%)
• Romanian: 3 (0.0%)
• Other or unknown: 2,688 (1.2%)

According to the census of 1900, the county was composed of the following religious communities:[2]

• Roman Catholic: 154,276 (67.5%)
• Greek Orthodox: 73,632 (32.2%)
• Jewish: 335 (0.2%)
• Lutheran: 128 (0.1%)
• Calvinist: 66 (0.0%)
• Greek Catholic: 8 (0.0%)
• Unitarian: 0 (0.0%)
• Other or unknown: 7 (0.0%)

In 1910, the county had a population of 231,654 people and was composed of the following linguistic communities:[3]

• Croatian: 152,210 (65.7%)
• Serbian: 74,894 (32.3%)
• Hungarian: 899 (0.4%)
• German: 592 (0.3%)
• Slovak: 64 (0.0%)
• Romanian: 6 (0.0%)
• Ruthenian: 4 (0.0%)
• Other or unknown: 2,985 (1.3%)

According to the census of 1910, the county was composed of the following religious communities:[4]

• Roman Catholic: 156,060 (67.4%)
• Greek Orthodox: 74,941 (32.4%)
• Jewish: 382 (0.2%)
• Lutheran: 117 (0.1%)
• Calvinist: 101 (0.0%)
• Greek Catholic: 39 (0.0%)
• Unitarian: 4 (0.0%)
• Other or unknown: 10 (0.0%)

In the early 20th century, the subdivisions of Modruš-Rijeka county were:[5]

• Karlovac and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties of Croatia