Czechs are one of the recognised minorities of Croatia. According to the census of 2011 there were 9,641 Czechs in Croatia, comprising 0.22% of total population. Geographic representation Most Croatian Czechs live in Western Slavonia especially around the cities of Daruvar and Grubišno Polje. They comprise 5.25% of population of Bjelovar-Bilogora County and 0.83% of Požega-Slavonia County. They comprise a relative majority in Končanica municipality and in villages like Veliki Zdenci, Mali Zdenci, Golubinjak etc. They can be also found in almost all major towns in Croatia. , Czech is officially used in one municipality and five other settlements in Croatia, according to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. History After the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, Slavonia changed hands from the Ottomans to Habsburgs, and the Muslim population fled. This left large swathes of land vacant, and the Habsburgs started to colonize new lands with people from all parts of their Empire. The first Czechs arrived in Slavonia around the 1750s, and were settled in Western Slavonia throughout the 19th century. In Croatia, they could buy from ten or more acres of arable land for price of they sold in the Czech lands. Czechs also settled other parts of Croatia such as Gorski kotar, and bigger cities where they were praised as skilled workers and clerks, but were assimilated in two or three generations. One of these urban Czechs was August Šenoa, Croatian writer and mayor of Zagreb. Czechs soon found the need to culturally organise themselves, and in 1874 the first Česká Beseda (Czech word) was founded in Zagreb. This was an organization promoting Czech culture and the use of Czech in Croatia, and organised the first theater play in Czech in the same year. In time České Besedy (Czech plural of Česká Beseda) were founded all across Croatia, and opened Czech libraries and Sport societies (Sokol). In 1911 the first Czech newspaper started printing in Zagreb. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, established after the First World War, was very amicable to the Czech minority. This has been attributed to the cordial relations with Czechoslovakia during the interwar period, and joint Slavic roots. The first Czech school was open in 1922 in Daruvar, and first kindergarten in 1926 also in Daruvar. Czechs organized themselves politically and formed a Czech party which was active only in the first years of Kingdom. From 1922 the newspaper