About Croatia

• Croatia is located in South-Central Europe, half way between the North Pole and the equator: the 45th parallel of the northern latitude runs through Croatia
• Capital: ZAGREB
• Population: 4.5 million
• Literacy: 98%
• Life expectancy: 75
• Access to clean water: 100% – highest quality drinking water in Europe
• indigenous flower: iris croatica (perunika)
• 8 national parks
• 5 nature reserves
• 5 historic sites and 1 natural site are on the UNESCO World Heritage List
• 1185 islands (50 inhabited) and 1777 km of coastline; approximately 2600 hours of sunshine on the islands each year make it one of the sunniest coasts in Europe
• 18th tourist destination in the world with over 8.5 million tourists each year
• Recently voted the ‘hottest-up-and-coming’ country by US tour operators
• Declared the top destination in the world in 2006 by National Geographic Adventure, and the top destination in the world by the Lonely Planet in 2005

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTS:

• 44% of the country is covered by forests
• Croatia is located on the Adriatic Sea, which is the cleanest part of the Mediterranean
• 10% of the Croatian landscape is protected by national parks
• There is no nuclear waste
• A recent study at Harvard ranked Croatia the 6th cleanest country in the world

CROATIAN INVENTIONS:

• TIE – The French word for tie is cravate, stemming from croate meaning Croatian; 17th century Croatian soldiers were the first to wear a tie, to distinguish themselves from other armies.
• PEN – short for Penkala, or the last name of the Croatian engineer Josip Penkala who constructed the ball-point and fountain pens in 1906. Croatians still call the pen penkala.
• PARACHUTE– Faust Vrančić invented the parachute in the 17th century.
• ZEPPELIN– a steerable metal airship invented by Croatian inventor David Schwarz.

AND MORE FUN FACTS:

• MARCO POLO was born on the Croatian island of Korčula in the 13th century
• DALMATIAN DOGS originate from the region of Dalmatia in Croatia, after which they were named.
• ZINFANDEL, the famous American wine, originates from a Croatian grape variety (crljenak)
• DUBROVNIK, an independent state at the time, was the very first country in the world to recognize the United States of America as an independent country in 1777.
• MILKA, the popular Swiss chocolate, was named after Milka Trnina, a Croatian opera diva of whom the Milka factory owner was a huge fan.
• CROATIAN LIMESTONE was used in constructing parts of the White House in Washington D.C. and the UN General Assembly in New York. Diocletian’s Palace in Split was constructed with it more than 1600 years ago.
• KUNA, Croatia’s currency, was named after a small rodent or marten in English.
• In 1991 Croatia obtained its independence for the first time in 1000 years, and after being in a practically incessant state of war since the 7th century – this being the reason for its unique, crescent shape.

CROATIAN NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS:

• VLADIMIR PRELOG – Nobel Prize for chemistry
• LAVOSLAV RUŽIČKA – Nobel Prize for chemistry
• IVO ANDRIĆ – Nobel Prize for literature for his novel Bridge over Drina; Andrić lived in Bosnia and wrote in Serbian

OTHER FAMOUS CROATIANS:

• NIKOLA TESLA – inventor of alternating current, i.e. the electricity we use today. He emigrated to USA from Croatia, where he died. His monument is at Niagara Falls and a measuring unit for magnetic inductivity was named after him.
• IVAN MEŠTROVIĆ – sculptor who spent the last years of his life in South Bend, Indiana. The University of Notre Dame campus has the largest collection of his sculptures outside of Croatia. His famous statues are exhibited in  Chicago (the Indian), at the UN building in New York and elsewhere.
• ANDRIJA MOHOROVIČIĆ – seismologist who discovered the moho-layer of the Earth’s crust.
• IVAN VUČETIĆ – invented dactyloscopy (identification by fingerprints).