This selection of 144 chronologically ordered and commented photographs brings to life the most important events that have marked the profound transformation of Croatia since its independence, following the first free elections in 1990. It includes both the political, economic, and social upheavals of the country, as well as cultural and sporting achievements that have left their mark on the collective memory of Croatians.

Located at the crossroads of the Mediterranean and Central Europe, on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, Croatia, with its 3.9 million inhabitants, is both an old nation and a young European state. Although its history is millennia old, it only regained its independence in 1991, after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the advent of democracy in Central Europe.

Contemporary Croatia is the heir of the 9th-century Croatian duchies in the marches of the Carolingian Empire and the medieval Croatian Kingdom founded in 925. In 1102, it entered a personal union with the Hungarian crown, to finally be integrated, from 1527 to 1918, into the Habsburg Empire of Austria, which became Austria-Hungary in 1867. Meanwhile, from as early as 1409, the coastal province of Dalmatia became Venetian, except for the independent Republic of Dubrovnik, and remained so for four centuries until its brief incorporation into Napoleon's Illyrian Provinces (1809–1814), before joining the other Croatian lands of the Austrian Empire.

After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, Croatia was integrated into the Yugoslav kingdom and then became one of the socialist republics of the Yugoslav federation in 1945. With the collapse of communism, Croatia declared its independence in 1991. Facing open military aggression, it was forced to defend itself during a deadly war marked by the occupation of a quarter of its territory. It eventually succeeded in liberating these areas militarily in 1995, while the region of Vukovar was peacefully reintegrated only in 1998. Following a vast program of reconstruction, economic and social modernization, and the revival of tourism, Croatia became a member of NATO in 2009 and the European Union in 2013. It held its first EU presidency in 2020 and joined the Schengen Area and the Eurozone in 2023, and is expected to join the OECD by 2026.