Slavonski Brod is a city in eastern Croatia, with a population of 59,000 in 2011. Located in the region of Slavonia, it is the centre of Brod-Posavina County and a river port on the Sava river.NamesAlthough brod means 'ship' in modern Croatian, the city's name bears witness to an older meaning - 'water crossing', 'ford'.Among the names historically in use: Marsonia in the Roman Empire, Brood (in Slavonien) in the German speaking Austrian period, Brod na Savi after 1934.The ancient name "Marsonia" probably comes from the Proto-Indo-European word *mory (marsh), and the same root is seen in the near-by toponyms such as "Mursa" and "Mariniana".GeographyThe city is located 197km southeast of Zagreb and at an elevation of 96m. It developed at the strategically important crossing over the Sava river toward Brod in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnian city was called Bosanski Brod until 2009.Slavonski Brod is an important intersection of the Posavina part of the highway and a railway junction, since it is located on the highway linking Zagreb - Lipovac - Belgrade (E70, A3) and the Zagreb - Vinkovci - Belgrade railway. The ship port "Brod" on the Sava river is under construction.