Croatia has a long and interesting history. The archeologists found skeletons of cave people. During the Roman Empire, people left many buildings in Croatia.
When the Roman Empire was coming to an end, a lot of the tribes were moving through Europe. The legend says that the Croatian tribe came to where Croatia today is, and settled there.
The tribe used to believe in many gods. When they moved to Croatia, they became Catholics.
At first, Croatian people had lords. First Croatian king was named Tomislav. They say he had a shield with red and white squares on it. That shield is now on Croatian flag. Over the shield, there is a crown, and each part of the crown stands for one part of Croatia. The shield and the crown are in the middle of a red, white and blue stripe.
Tomislav was a brave king with loyal soldiers and a big fleet. Croatia was not an independent kingdom for a very long time. Soon enough, they became united with the Hungarian kingdom. After that, Croatia was not independent until the 20th century.
In the 20th century, Croatia was a part of Yugoslavia, together with Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia. Unfortunately, there had to be a war so Croatia could be an independent country.
But, Croatia is now independent for more than 20 years.
Online Croatian lessons for kids: dinolingo.com
