CROATIA
an Overview of its History, Culture and Science

Dedicated to the memory of Gordan Lederer (1958-1991)

Dear reader,
When you meet a new friend or colleague, you are necessarily confronted with his cultural and historical background, peculiarities of his own, that are sometimes difficult to conceive. Having this in mind, we believe you will understand our wish to give you a better insight into what could be called a Croatian cultural heritage, at least in a rapid and sketchy way. The connections with other European cultures are, as you will see, deep and longstanding. We shall also try to intersperse this hypertext with some interesting facts by which Croatia is recognizable. In short, we start by describing an extremely complex and interesting entity, unique in Europe - the Republic of Croatia, or in Croatian - Republika Hrvatska (HR).

• Generalities and basic facts about Croatia

• Historical and cultural overview:
  • The origins
  • The earliest Croatian princes and kings
  • Croats in Bosnia - Herzegovina

  • Our national Scripts:
    • Croatian Glagolitic:
    • Croatian Cyrillic:

  • Dubrovnik (Ragusa)
  • Croats in Boka kotorska
  • Croatian mariners in the New World; guilds and collegiums

  • Croats at European universities in the Middle Ages
  • Croatian Latinists
  • Croatian Humanists
  • Croatian Ecumenists
  • Croatian Encyclopaedists

  • The period of Croatia within the ex-Yugoslavia (1918-1941, 1945-1991), NDH (1941-1945)
  • The roots of the Greater-Serbian aggression on Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina (1991 - 1995)

  • Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac and saving the Jews in Croatia during WW2

  • Tihomir Blaskic prosecution, martyrdom in Bosnia and in the Hague...
    

    Merkwaardige Aanspraak van eenen Croätischen geestelijken, gehouden bij het uittrekken van het Croätisch volk naar het leger van zijne keizerlijke majesteit in Bohemen. Wegens deszelfs vootreflijkheid, uit het oorprongkltke vertaald, door W. In 's Gravenhage (the Hague!) 1778.

    Myn Liefste Hert, letter by Petar Zrinski to his wife Katarina, Dutch translation published in Amsterdam in 1671

• Music

• Art

• Sports

• History of science, including
  • Three Croatian Nobel prize winners
  • History of Croatian medicine
  • Humanitarian activity

• The University of Zagreb in the past and today

A clickable INDEX of more than 300 outstanding names in Croatian history, culture and science.

Every nation in the world has something characteristic by which it is recognizable. This is also the case with the Croats:

1. If you wear a tie (la cravate, die Krawatte), then remember its Croatian origin.
2. Croatian coat of arms during centuries
3. A remarkable Address given by a Croatian Minister to those going to war, and due to its excellency translated into German, Dutch (in the Hague!), Swedish in 1778, and into Latvian in 1804.
4. You probably use your PEN almost every day.
   • Well, maybe you don't know that its inventor is PENKALA.
   • Inventor of Parachute is Faust Vrancic (1551-1617).
   • The unit of magnetic induction is Tesla, named after the inventor of alternating current technology, of the three phase system, radio,...
   • Identification by fingerprints (scientific dactyloscopy) was introduced by Josip (Juan) Vucetic
   • Do you know what is MOHO-layer of the Earth?
   • Antun Lucic discovered the first major gusher in Texas in 1901.
   • Filip Wesdin (1748-1806), pioneer of European indology, author of the first Sanskrit grammar in Europe
5. Glagolitic Script
6. Tamburitza and folk music
7. Sir Willam H. Hadow: Croatian composer...JOSEPH HAYDN, London, 1897
8. Paula von Preradovic, author of verses of the Austrian national anthem

9. Chicago Indians, Ivan Mestrovic
10. Monument of Peace (Horsewoman), UN, Antun Agustincic
11. Museu Krekovic, Palma de Mallorca (Krekovic portrayed Mahatma Gandhi)
12. Pag lace (Paska cipka)

13. Letter by Albert Einstein and Heinrich Mann

14. The oldest blind theatre in Europe
15. The oldest arboretum in Europe (Trsteno near Dubrovnik)
16. The oldest maritime law in the world
17. The oldest insurance law in Europe
18. The first manual about Navigation in Europe
19. The first manual about book-keeping in Europe
20. The King of Dolls
21. Professor Balthasar, Croatian cartoon movie character, popular worldwide
22. The King of Chips
23. Croatan Indians, USA
24. The Wolf Man

25. Zinfandel
26. Croatian cook-book
27. Vegeta is an original, natural, and universal condiment of unique taste. Created in 1958 in Podravka, Koprivnica, it is now used in over 40 countries, and is one of the most popular of European condiments. Evidence of the indisputable quality and originality of Vegeta is, unfortunately, the numerous attempts at copying, imitating, and illegal duplication.
28. PLIVA is today the largest pharmaceutical company in Croatia and by sales, the largest in Central and Eastern Europe. Its best selling product is Sumamed antibiotic.
29. Dogs: Dalmatian dog, Dubrovnik hunger, Croatian shepherd, Istrian short hair hound, Istrian coarse-haired, Posavina hound, Tornjak

International terminology:

• cravat
• pen (penkala)
• parachute
• psychology
• encyclopaedia
• dactyloscopy
• ship screw (propeller)
• Zeppelin (David Schwartz)
• Tesla, three phase system, radio, radar, X-rays, robot,...
• Moho layer
• torpedo

Croatian Gallery

Recommended references and LINKS

All text files appearing on this web

Mirrors of this web in CROATIA and the USA

Old Croatian Letters

Acknowledgements
Written in 1992;
On this web since April 1995; Last update: January 2006