Povijest županijskog upravno-teritorijalnog ustroja Bjelovarsko-bilogorske županije
The History of the Administrative and territorial organisation of the Bjelovar-Bilogora County

Summary/Abstract: The abolition of the Varaždin Generalate in 1871 represented a major turning point in the development of Bjelovar and its wider area. Within the process of integration in the system of Croatia as civil state, a new administrative and territorial organisation was introduced; thereby, the military territorial organisation of the Varaždin Generalate was abolished, and the Bjelovar County was formed in that territory with the seat in Bjelovar, being the eighth county in the territory of the Kingdom of Croatia. The formation of the Bjelovar County in 1871 represented the beginning of the modern administrative and territorial county organisation of the Bjelovar area, which – despite the fifty-year long period of abolition (1922-1992) – remained maintained up to the present. After the Republic of Croatia had gained its independence and the Bjelovar-Bilogora County had been formed, the tradition of the county organisation, which had – in that area – in all times represented one of the most important levers of nation-building conscience, was restored. In the 136-year long history of the administrative and territorial county organisation of the Bjelovar area, several periods are to be distinguished: 1. Bjelovar County 1871-1874 – transitional period between the abolition of the Varaždin Generalate and the passing of the first Political Administration Organisation Act; 2. Bjelovar County 1874-1886 – territorial division of the County into sub-county units and political municipalities; 3. Bjelovar-Križevci County 1886-1922 (1924) – period between the merging of the Bjelovar County and the Križevci County and the abolition of the county organisation 1922-1924; 4. Bjelovar-Bilogora County – period since 1992. Regardless of the above-described changes concerning the spatial aspect, the internal territorial organisation and the political administration, which had been in force in the Bjelovar County area for the last 136 years, its administrative and territorial organisation always managed to unite the elements of modern regionalisation with the century-long experience in county organising in the Croatian territory. Thus, the county history in the Bjelovar area remains a credible witness to the operation of the Croatian state and its organisation throughout various historical epochs.

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