Legrad () is a village and a
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
in northern
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
, located north of
Koprivnica and east of
Ludbreg in the
Koprivnica–Križevci County.
In the 2011 census, there were a total of 2,241 inhabitants in the municipality, in the following
settlements:
*
Antolovec, population 75
*
Kutnjak, population 278
* Legrad, population 956
*
Mali Otok, population 146
*
Selnica Podravska, population 301
*
Veliki Otok, population 254
*
Zablatje, population 231
In the same census, an absolute majority of the population were
Croats
The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...
at 97.4%, with the largest minority being
Romani at 1% of the municipality. Beside the
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
majority, there are Hungarian and Croatian
Lutherans that have a tradition beginning in the 16th century.
History
Due to its favorable geographical position, Legrad became a chartered
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
as early as 1488. Since the mid-16th century, fortifications have been built to protect the town from Ottoman incursions. By the 17th century, Legrad was a major trading post for cattle which attracted merchants from Venice and Italy. The highly profitable cattle trade, run by the
Zrinski family, was used to finance their standing army and the defense against the Ottomans. The development of trade and handcrafting contributed to the demographic growth, and in 1771 Legrad and neighboring villages were recorded as having as many as 6,039 inhabitants. Cattle fairs in Legrad held their relevance into the 18th and 19th centuries.
Legrad got a railway station on the other side of the river Drava in Hungary in the second half of the 19th century and that the name of this train station was Légrád until a few years ago (see:
Serbian-Hungarian Baranya-Baja Republic).
It is historically very important that
Novi Zrin was near Legrad.
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Legrad was part of the
Zala County
Zala (, ; ; ) is an administrative county (Counties of Hungary, comitatus or ''vármegye'') in south-western Hungary. It is named after the Zala River. It shares borders with Croatia (Koprivnica–Križevci County, Koprivnica–Križevci and MeÄ ...
of the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
.
References
Populated places in Koprivnica-Križevci County
Municipalities of Croatia
{{KoprivnicaKriževci-geo-stub