Bill, The cravat pre-dates French colonies in Africa, back to around 1630. Croatians fought in the thirty years war 1618-1648 and that is when stories claim the term came into being. http://www.academia-cravatica.hr/en/necktie_history.html And the reputation of the Croatians in that war was such that mothers in parts of German would threaten mis-behaving children with calling for the Croatians! A few cities that were laid waste by Croatian soldiers in that war were Kaiserslautern, Hayna, Lauf Robert Robert William F Kane <[email protected]> wrote: The story I heard was that the Croatian mercenaries were fighting with the French in North Africa and they began wearing scarves around their necks that they could pull up to cover their nose and mouth when the sand and dust blew as it almost always did. The French adopted the custom and called them Cravats. Bill Kane Interested in visting Croatia? Click on the link below to find out about a wonderful tour of Croatia! http://www.kollander-travel.com/