Croatisation or Croatization (Serbo-Croatian: kroatizacija / хрватизација or pohrvaćenje / похрваћење; Italian: croatizzazione) is a process of cultural assimilation, and its consequences, in which people or lands ethnically only partially Croatian or non-Croatian become Croatian.

Serbs in the Roman Catholic Croatian Military Frontier were out of the jurisdiction of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć and in 1611, after demands from the community, the Pope established the Eparchy of Marča (Vratanija) with its seat at the Serbian-built Marča Monastery. He instated a Byzantine vicar as bishop, sub-ordinate to the Roman Catholic bishop of Zagreb, working to bring Serbian Orthodox Christians into communion with Rome which caused a struggle of power between the Catholics and the Serbs over the region.^[1][2] In 1695, the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Lika-Krbava and Zrinopolje was established by metropolitan Atanasije Ljubojevic and certified by Emperor Joseph I in 1707.^{[3][4][page needed]} In 1735, Orthodox Serbs protested in the Marča Monastery and it then became a part of the Serbian Orthodox Church until 1753 when the Pope restored the Roman Catholic clergy.^[5][6] On June 17, 1777, the Eparchy of Križevci was permanently established by Pope Pius VI with its see at Križevci, near Zagreb, thus forming the Croatian Greek Catholic Church which would after World War I include other people; Rusyns and Ukrainians of Yugoslavia.^[7]

Even with a predominant Croatian majority, Dalmatia retained relatively large Italian communities in the coast (Italian majority in some cities and islands, largest concentration in Istria). Many Dalmatian Italians looked with sympathy towards the Risorgimento movement that fought for the unification of Italy.^[8] However, after 1866, when the Veneto and Friuli regions were ceded by the Austrians to the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, Dalmatia remained part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, together with other Italian-speaking areas on the eastern Adriatic. This triggered the gradual rise of Italian irredentism among many Italians in Dalmatia, who demanded the unification of the Austrian Littoral, Fiume and Dalmatia with Italy. The Italians in Dalmatia supported the Italian Risorgimento: as a consequence, the Austrians saw the Italians as enemies and favored the Croatian communities of Dalmatia.^[9]

During the meeting of the Council of Ministers of 12 November 1866, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria outlined a wide-ranging project aimed at the Germanization or Slavization of the areas of the empire with an Italian presence:^[10]

His Majesty expressed the precise order that action be taken decisively against the influence of the Italian elements still present in some regions of the Crown and, appropriately occupying the posts of public, judicial, masters employees as well as with the influence of the press, work in South Tyrol, Dalmatia and Littoral for the Germanization and Slavization of these territories according to the circumstances, with energy and without any regard. His Majesty calls the central offices to the strong duty to proceed in this way to what has been established.

— Franz Joseph I of Austria, Council of the Crown of 12 November 1866^[9][11]

Dalmatia, especially its maritime cities, once had a substantial local Italian-speaking population (Dalmatian Italians), making up 33% of the total population of Dalmatia in 1803,^[12][13] but this was reduced to 20% in 1816.^[14] Bartoli's evaluation was followed by other claims that Auguste de Marmont, the French Governor General of the Napoleonic Illyrian Provinces commissioned a census in 1809 which found that Dalmatian Italians comprised 29% of the total population of Dalmatia. In Dalmatia there was a constant decline in the Italian population, in a context of repression that also took on violent connotations.^[15] During this period, Austrians carried out an aggressive anti-Italian policy through a forced Slavization of Dalmatia.^[16] According to Austrian censuses, the Italian speakers in Dalmatia formed 12.5% of the population in 1865,^[17] but this was reduced to 2.8% in 1910.^[18]

The Italian population in Dalmatia was concentrated in the major cities. In the city of Split in 1890 there were 1,969 Italians (12.5% of the population), in Zadar 7,423 (64.6%), in Šibenik 1,018 (14.5%) and in Dubrovnik 331 (4.6%).^[19] In other Dalmatian localities, according to Austrian censuses, Italians experienced a sudden decrease: in the twenty years 1890-1910, in Rab they went from 225 to 151, in Vis from 352 to 92, in Pag from 787 to 23, completely disappearing in almost all the inland locations.

There are several reasons for the decrease of the Dalmatian Italian population following the rise of European nationalism in the 19th century:^[20]

• The conflict with the Austrian rulers caused by the Italian "Risorgimento".
• The emergence of Croatian nationalism and Italian irredentism (see Risorgimento), and the subsequent conflict of the two.
• The emigration of many Dalmatians toward the growing industrial regions of northern Italy before World War I and North and South America.
• Multi generational assimilation of anyone who married out of their social class and/or nationality – as perpetuated by similarities in education, religion, dual linguistic distribution, mainstream culture and economical output.

In 1909 the Italian language lost its status as the official language of Dalmatia in favor of Croatian only (previously both languages were recognized): thus Italian could no longer be used in the public and administrative sphere.^[21] After the World War I, Dalmatia was annexed to Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the Italian community underwent a policy of forced Croatisation.^[22] The majority of the Italian Dalmatian minority decided to transfer in the Kingdom of Italy.^[23]

During the Italian occupation of Dalmatia in World War II, it was caught in the ethnic violence towards non-Italians during fascist repression. What remained of the Italian community in Dalmatia fled the area after World War II during the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus:^[24] from 1947, after the war, Dalmatian Italians were subject by Yugoslav authorities to forms of intimidation, such as nationalization, expropriation, and discriminatory taxation,^[25] which gave them little option other than emigration.^[26][27][28]

In 2001 about 500 Italians were counted in Dalmatia. In particular, according to the official Croatian census of 2011, there are 83 Italians in Split (equal to 0.05% of the total population), 16 in Šibenik (0.03%) and 27 in Dubrovnik (0.06%).^[29] According to the official Croatian census of 2021, there are 63 Italians in Zadar (equal to 0.09% of the total population).^[30]

During the 19th century, with the emergence of ideologies and active political engagements on introduction of ethno-national identity and nationhood among South Slavs, strong pressure was exerted on Bosnia and Herzegovina's diverse religious communities from outside forces, mainly from Serbia and Croatia.^[32] At the time, this pressure provoked some resistance, especially among Bosnian Franciscans, some of whom fiercely advocated against imminent Croatisation of Bosnian Catholics on one side, as well as imminent Serbianisation of Bosnian Orthodox people on the other, as prominent friar and historian, Antun Knežević, called them in his works, Catholic Bosniaks and Orthodox Bosniaks. Knežević's position and doctrine was that all Bosnians or Bosniaks are one people of three faiths, and that up to late 19th century, Croatian identity (and/or Serbian for that matter) never existed in Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[33] Although Fra Antun Knežević was not a unique phenomenon in this sense, he was certainly among the most articulate ones, and along with Fra. Ivan Franjo Jukić, who was his teacher and mentor earlier in his life and from whom he learned and adopted ideas, championed the notion that Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims are one nation and Bosnia and Herzegovina the country with deep cultural and historical roots. These two had the strongest impact and left the deepest mark on Bosnian culture and history, albeit insufficient to eventually halt the process. Even earlier, since at least the 17th century, many other members of the Franciscan order in Bosnia were developing and adopting the idea of a Bosniak identity regardless of religion, nurturing it within the brotherhood and carrying it over into 18th and 19th century.^{[34][35][36][37][38][39]}

Meanwhile, contemporary scholars saw Croatisation as a long lasting process of influencing and changing historical memory, through various methods and strategies.^[32] Dubravko Lovrenović, for instance, saw it as influencing a reception and interpretation of Bosnian medieval times, underlining its contemporary usage via revision and re-interpretation, in forms spanning from historical mythmaking by domestic and especially neighboring ethno-religious and nationalist elites, to identity and culture politics, often based on fringe science and public demagoguery of academic elite, with language and material heritage in its midst.^[32]

Following the establishment of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia in November 1991, and especially from May 1992 forward, the Herzeg-Bosnia leadership engaged in continuing and coordinated efforts to dominate and "Croatise" (or ethnically cleanse) the municipalities which they claimed were part of Herzeg-Bosnia, with increasing persecution and discrimination directed against the Bosniak population.^[40] The Croatian Defence Council (HVO), the military formation of Croats, took control of many municipal governments and services, removing or marginalising local Bosniak leaders.^[41] Herzeg-Bosnia authorities and Croat military forces took control of the media and imposed Croatian ideas and propaganda.^[42] Croatian symbols and currency were introduced, and Croatian curricula and the Croatian language were introduced in schools. Many Bosniaks were removed from positions in government and private business; humanitarian aid was managed and distributed to the Bosniaks' disadvantage; and Bosniaks in general were increasingly harassed.^{[citation needed]} Many of them were deported to concentration camps: Heliodrom, Dretelj, Gabela, Vojno, and Šunje.

Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, the official language Serbo-Croatian broke up into separate official languages and the process in relation to Croatian involved the Croatisation of its lexicon.^[43]

The Croatisation during Independent State of Croatia (NDH) was aimed primarily towards Serbs, and to a lesser degree, towards Jews and Roma. The Ustaše aim was a "pure Croatia" and the main target was the ethnic Serb population of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ministers of NDH announced the goals and strategies of the Ustaše in May 1941. The same statements and similar or related ones were also repeated in public speeches by single ministers, such as Mile Budak in Gospić and, a month later, by Mladen Lorković.^[44]

• One third of the Serbs (in the Independent State of Croatia) were to be forcibly converted to Catholicism
• One third of the Serbs were to be expelled (ethnically cleansed)
• One third of the Serbs were to be killed

A Croatian Orthodox Church was established in order to try and pacify the state as well as to Croatisize the remaining Serb population once the Ustaše realized that the complete eradication of Serbs in the NDH was unattainable.^[45]

• Dimitrija Demeter, a playwright who was the author of the first modern Croatian drama, was from a Greek family.
• Vatroslav Lisinski, a composer, was originally named Ignaz Fuchs. His Croatian name is a literal translation.
• Bogoslav Šulek, a lexicographer and inventor of many Croatian scientific terms, was originally Bohuslav Šulek from Slovakia.
• Stanko Vraz, a poet and the first professional writer in Croatia, was originally Jakob Frass from Slovenia.
• August Šenoa, a Croatian novelist, poet and writer, is of German descent. His parents never learned the Croatian language, even when they lived in Zagreb.
• Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger, a geologist, palaeontologist and archaeologist who discovered Krapina man^[46] (Krapinski pračovjek), was of German descent. He added his second name, Gorjanović, to be adopted as a Croatian.
• Slavoljub Eduard Penkala was an inventor of Dutch/Polish origins. He added the name Slavoljub in order to Croatise.
• Lovro Monti, Croatian politician, mayor of Knin. One of the leaders of the Croatian national movement in Dalmatia, he was of Italian roots.
• Adolfo Veber Tkalčević, linguist of German descent
• Ivan Zajc (born Giovanni von Seitz) a music composer was of German descent

Notable individuals, of Croatian origin, partially Magyarized through intermarriages and then Croatized again, include families:

• Keglević
• Pejačević (Pejasevich)
• Ladislav Pejačević
• Teodor Pejačević
• Dora Pejačević^[47]
• George Martinuzzi

• Cultural assimilation
• Anti-Croat Sentiment
• Bosniakisation
• Germanisation
• Italianization
• Magyarization
• Serbianisation
• Serbs of Croatia
• Istrian–Dalmatian exodus
• Dalmatian Italians
• Istrian Italians
• Forced assimilation
• Independent State of Croatia
• Ustaše
• Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia
• Greater Croatia

• http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/AXL/europe/croatiepolcroa.htm Archived 23 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
• http://www.serbianunity.net/culture/library/genocide/k3.htm
• http://www.aimpress.ch/dyn/trae/archive/data/199809/80930-018-trae-zag.htm
• http://www.southeasteurope.org/subpage.php?sub_site=2&id=16431&head=if&site=4 Archived 21 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
• http://www.nouvelle-europe.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=172&Itemid=
• http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=18696
• http://www.gimnazija.hr/?200_godina_gimnazije:OD_1897._DO_1921.
• https://web.archive.org/web/20080328060638/http://www.hdpz.htnet.hr/broj186/jonjic2.htm