Nikola Tesla was born in the village of Smiljan, in what is now Croatia. He was born on 10 July 1856, when the area belonged to the Austrian Empire and was part of the Military Frontier. Smiljan lies in the mountainous Lika region, near the town of Gospić.
Tesla was born into an ethnic Serb family. His father, Milutin Tesla, was an Eastern Orthodox priest, and the family lived beside the parish church. Tesla’s birthplace is now preserved as part of the Nikola Tesla Memorial Centre in Smiljan, which includes his reconstructed birth house and exhibits about his early life.
A frequent quiz mistake is choosing Gospić, because Tesla’s family moved there in 1862 when his father became parish priest. Gospić was important in Tesla’s childhood and schooling, but it was not his birthplace. Zagreb is Croatia’s capital and is much farther away; Lika identifies the wider historical region rather than the specific village.