Split

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(Greek: Ασπάλαθος, Aspálathos; Latin: Spalatum; Italian: Spalato) is the largest and most important city in Dalmatia, the administrative center of Croatia's Split-Dalmatia County, and the country's second-largest city. It is a Mediterranean city, situated on a small peninsula on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea.

 

Geography and climate

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Split is situated on a peninsula between the eastern part of the Gulf of Kaštela and the Split Channel. The Marjan hill (178m), rises in the western part of the peninsula. The ridges Kozjak (779m) and his brother Mosor (1339m) protect the city from the north and northeast, and separate it from the hinterland.

 

Split has a Mediterranean climate: hot, dry summers (maximum air temperature in July reaches 42 °C) and warm, wet winters (average annual rainfall is 900mm).

 

Split is one of the sunniest places in Europe. Vegetation is of the evergreen Mediterranean type, and subtropical flora (palm-trees, agaves, cacti) grow in the city and its surroundings. The Marjan hill is covered with a large cultivated forest.

 

Demographics

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According to the 2001 census, the city of Split had 188,694 citizens, in 2007 this rose to 221,456. There are approximately 410,000 people in the Split metropolitan area. Split has one of the largest demographic growths in Croatia.

 

The entire Split-Dalmatia county has around 470,000 residents, with Croats making up 95.15% of the population.88.37% of the residents of the city are Roman Catholics.