Vukovar-Srijem County

Vukovar-Srijem County, Vukovar-Sirmium County or Vukovar-Syrmia County, named after the eponymous town of Vukovar and the region of Syrmia, is the easternmost Croatian county. It includes the eastern parts of the region of Slavonia and the western parts of the region of Syrmia, as well as the lower Sava river basin, Posavina and Danube river basin Podunavlje. Due to the overlapping definitions of geographic regions, division on Slavonia and Syrmia approximately divides the county vertically into north-west and south-east half, while division on Posavina and Podunavlje divides it horizontally on north-east and south-west half. The county's seat is in Vukovar, a town on the Danube river while its biggest town and economic and transportation center is in Vinkovci, town with 33,328 inhabitants. Vinkovci served as an temporary de facto seat of the county during the Croatian War of Independence with some institutions still remaining in the town as of 2020. In 2011 the entire population of the county was 180,117. Other than Vukovar and Vinkovci, settlements with town status are Ilok, Otok and Županja. Vukovar-Srijem County is ethnically most diverse county in Croatia with Croat majority and significant Serb, Hungarian, Pannonian Rusyns, Bosniak, Ukrainian and Slovak communities. The county was one of the most affected regions by the Croatian War of Independence and today belongs to the group of the least developed counties in Croatia with significant part of it being classified as an Areas of Special State Concern. Name The name of the Vukovar-Srijem County is derived from the name of its seat town of Vukovar and the standard Croatian name of the region of Syrmia. The name is formed out of the possessive adjective for the two eponymous with literal English translation being the Vukovarian-Syrmian County. The larger historical Syrmia County also covered large parts of modern Serbia and the easternmost part of Brod-Posavina County (see § Habsburg Empire and Austria-Hungary).