''Gačani''

The area of Gacka was inhabited in prehistory. The oldest locality in the area of Gacka from that period is located in Pećina in Ličko Lešće. Traces of charred bones of wild animals and bones with clearly visible traces of stone tools reveal the presence of man from the Mesolithic period - the transition from the older to the younger Stone Age.

Traces from the Middle and Late Bronze Age can be found in the area of Vrhovina. In the Bezdanjača cave under Vatinovac hill, just two kilometers west of Vrhovina towards Zalužnica, a necropolis dating back to 1400 BC was discovered - one of the largest cave necropolises in Europe. It is evident from the remains of material culture that this area was inhabited by groups of people belonging to the proto-Illyrians, the predecessors of the later formed Illyrian tribes. Gacka is one of the oldest Croatian provinces. Its inhabitants Gačani are mentioned as early as the beginning of the 9th century, for the first time in 818, at the time of the creation and formation of the early medieval Croatian state. Borna is the first Croatian ruler, who in Frankish records is called dux Guduscanorum, i.e. the leader of the Gačans, and the Gačans themselves natio Guduscanorum (people of the Gačans). - the source of the so-called City of Otočac