general information

Republic

Capital: Zagreb

Surface area: 56.500 km2

Population: 4,3 millions

Population density/km2: 76

Member of the EU since 2013

National day: June 25

National anthem: Lijepa nasa domovino

• Under Louis XIV, the Croatian regiment wore a scarf, giving us the word cravat (tie), derived from the Croatian word Hrvat/Cravate, followed by cravate (french), Krawatte (german), corbata ( spanish), cravatta (italian), gravata (portughuse), kravat (hungarian), krawat (polish), krawatt (swedish).

• Tourism makes up 25% of GDP.

• Croatia was the last country to continue to use Latin as the official language of parliament.

• Five Roman emperors came from Illyria (modern-day Croatia).

• The Latin words slavus and sclavus, and the words slave and Slavonia, go back to a time when slaves were Slavs from the Balkans and Slavonia.

• The monastery created by a monk named Marinus (from Rab, Croatia) was the basis for the small republic of San Marino (which is not part of the EU).

• Le Sabor, the Croatian parliament, is one of the oldest in Europe.

• The technique of taking fingerprints, or Dactyloscopy, was invented by the Croatian criminologist Ivan Vucetic (1858-1925).

• Croatian soldiers saved Napoleon at the Battle of Berezina.

With over 1100 non-touristy islands, this is a great country to island hop and bop. Back on the mainland check out Dubrovnik, Zagreb, Samobor and Varazdin and if you want to party with the locals, head to the beautiful beach town of Hvar. Croatia has some gorgeous national parks filled with glistening lakes and amazing canyons.