Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
Primorje-Gorski Kotar County (Croatian: Primorsko-goranska županija) lies in western Croatia and includes the Bay of Kvarner, the surrounding Northern Croatian Littoral, and the mountainous region of Gorski kotar. Its capital is Rijeka. The county covers an area of 3.588 km2 and has a population of 265.419(2023).
The city of Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). The city’s economy largely depends on ship-building and maritime transport. Rijeka hosts the Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc, first built in 1765, as well as the University of Rijeka, founded in 1973, but with roots dating back to 1632 and the local Jesuit School of Theology.
Apart from Croatian and Italian, linguistically the city is home to its own unique dialect of the Venetian language, Fiuman, with an estimated 20.000 speakers among the autochthonous Italians, Croats and other minorities. Historically, Fiuman served as the lingua franca among the many ethnicities inhabiting the multi-ethnic port city. In certain suburbs of the modern extended municipality, the autochthonous population still speaks Chakavian, a dialect of Croatian.
In 2016, Rijeka was selected as the European Capital of Culture for 2020, alongside Galway in Ireland.
The county of Primorje-Gorski kotar also includes the island territories of Krk, Cres, Lošinj and Rab. Risnjak National Park and Učka mountain range are protected areas in the county.
(Source: Wikipedia)