Fun facts about Croatia

1. The origin of the name Croatia is uncertain.
2. The origin of Croat people are not known for sure. Its believed they arrived from southern Poland, south of Krakow in the early 7th century.
3. Croatia was once a kingdom in 925 under the kingship of Tomislav, the first king of the country.
4. The first native Croatian ruler recognized by the Pope was Duke Branimir.
5. In northern Croatia, the fossils of Neanderthals have been unearthed.
6. Kingdom of Croatia and Kingdom of Hungary in 1102 were ruled by the same King, Ladislaus I.
7. Croatians are also some of the best conversationalists.
8. Bog! Is a friendly and very common greeting among the Croats in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Bog means Hi And Bye.
9. Due to the variety of dialects that are used in Croatia, it is common to find people having difficulty in understanding each others' language and intention.
10. Because of its unique patterns, lacemaking in Croatia has been recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
11. Lonely Planet described Croatia as the country of glittering waters.
12. In 2011, Forbes magazine ranked Croatia in the top 12 world best retirement havens
13. Croatia is identified by the IMF as an emerging and developing economy.
14. As per the World Bank, Croatia is a high-income economy.
15. Tourism plays a significant role in the country's economy, which is also dependent on agriculture.
16. Cres and Krk are the largest islands of Croatia
17. Croatia has numerous deep caves, at least three are deeper than 1,000 m.
18. Croatia has a system of lakes with distinctive colors including mint green, grey or blue
19. Tourism contributes 15% to Croatia's GDP.
20. The European Union is Croatia's most important trading partner.
21. The city (Dubrovnik) has also been described as the pearl of the Adriatic.
22. Croatia has a total of eight national parks. One of these is Plitvice Lakes National Park