Croatia - Neckties and Ball-point Pens

Well, I wear a necktie at least 2 days a week - at work!! But never in the last 5 years did I wonder when and where did these neckties originate!!

Being in Zagreb now, came across an interesting piece of Croatian history.

Croatia is the birth place of the Necktie (Cravat in Hrvatski) !! Now that was a real surprise!!

Catch a small excerpt from Wiki

The necktie traces back to the time of Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) when Croatian mercenaries from the Military Frontier in French service, wearing their traditional small, knotted neckerchiefs, aroused the interest of the Parisians. Due to the slight difference between the Croatian word for Croats, Hrvati, and the French word, Croates, the garment gained the name "Cravat". The new article of clothing started a fashion craze in Europe where both men and women wore pieces of fabric around their necks. In the late seventeenth century, the men wore lace cravats that took a large amount of time and effort to arrange. These cravats were often tied in place by cravat strings, arranged neatly and tied in a bow.

And the ball point pen was also invented by Slavoljub Penkala in Zagreb back in 1906.

Makes me wonder - how these 2 small things have changed the way we work!!