Dalmatia
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Map of Dalmatia in present day Croatia highlighted |
Dalmatia (
Croatian :
Dalmacija) is a region on the eastern coast of the
Adriatic Sea, in modern
Croatia, spreading between the island of
Rab in the northwest and the
Gulf of Kotor (
Boka Kotorska) in the southeast. The
hinterland, Inner Dalmatia (
Zagora), ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north but narrows to just a few kilometers wide in the south.
Croatian Dalmatia is currently composed of four counties, the capital cities of which are
Zadar,
Šibenik,
Split and
Dubrovnik. Other larger cities in Dalmatia include
Biograd,
Kaštela,
Sinj,
Solin,
Omiš,
Knin,
Metković,
Makarska,
Trogir,
Ploče,
Trilj and
Imotski.
The larger Dalmatian islands are
Dugi Otok,
Ugljan,
Pašman,
Brač,
Hvar,
Korčula,
Vis,
Lastovo and
Mljet. The larger Dalmatian mountains are
Dinara,
Mosor,
Svilaja,
Biokovo,
Moseć and
Kozjak. The rivers are
Zrmanja,
Krka,
Cetina and
Neretva.
Because of the way sea currents and winds flow, the
sea water of the
Adriatic is cleaner and warmer on the Croatian side than it is on the Italian side. The Dalmatian
concordant coastline also includes an immense number of
coves,
islands and
channels. This makes it an attractive place for nautical races, and
nautical tourism in general. There's also a good number of
marinas.
Dalmatia also includes several
national parks that are tourist attractions:
Paklenica karst river,
Kornati archipelago,
Krka river rapids and
Mljet island within island.
The historical region of Dalmatia was much larger than the present-day Dalmatia. Dalmatia signified not only a geographical unit, but it was an entity based on common culture and settlement types, a common narrow eastern Adriatic coastal belt,
Mediterranean climate,
sclereophyllus vegetation of the
Illyrian vegetation province, Adriatic
carbonate platform, and
karst morphology.
Among other things, the ecclestiastical primatical territory today continues to be larger because of the history: it includes part of modern
Montenegro (another former republic of
Tito's
Yugoslavia), notably around
Bar (Antivari), the (honorary) Roman Catholic
primas of Dalmatia, but an exempt
archbishopric without
suffragans while the archbishoprics of
Split (also a historical primas of Dalmatia) has provincial authority over all Croatian dioceses except he exempt archbishopric of
Zadar.
The southernmost transitional part of historical Dalmatia, the
Gulf of Kotor is not part of present-day Croatian Dalmatia, but part of
Montenegro. The regional coherent geographical unit of historical Dalmatia, the coastal region between
Istria and the Gulf of Kotor, includes the
Orjen mountain whose peak at 1894 m is the highest point, even if it is part of Montenegro. If we take present-day Dalmatia only as a geographical unit, the highest peak would be
Dinara (1913 m) which is not a coastal mountain. On the other hand,
Biokovo (Sv. Jure 1762 m) and
Velebit (Vaganjski vrh 1758 m) are coastal Dinaric mountains but not as high as Orjen. In the tectonical sense, Orjen is the highest mountain of austro-hungarian province Dalmatia, while Biokovo is the highest mountain of the administrative unit of Split-Dalmatia county.
Classical antiquity
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Dalmatia province, Roman Empire |
Dalmatia is a region with a long history. Its name is probably derived from the name of an
Illyrian tribe called the
Dalmatae which lived in the area of the eastern
Adriatic coast in the
1st millennium BC. It was part of the
Illyrian kingdom between the
4th century BC until the
Illyrian Wars in the
220s BC and 168 BC when the
Roman Republic established its protectorate south of river
Neretva. Area north of Neretva was slowly incorporated until province
Illyricum was formally established c. 32-27 BC
Dalmatia then became part of the
Roman province of Illyricum. In AD 6-9
9 AD, the Dalmatians raised the last in a series of revolts together with the Pannonians, but it was finally crushed and in
10 AD Illyricum was split into two provinces,
Pannonia and Dalmatia. The province of Dalmatia spread inland to cover all of the
Dinaric Alps and most of the eastern Adriatic coast. Dalmatia was later the birthplace of the Roman Emperor
Diocletian.
After the
Western Roman Empire collapsed in
476, with the beginning of the Migration Period, the region was ruled by the
Goths up to
535, when
Justinian I added it to the
Eastern (Byzantine) Empire.
Middle Ages
Arrival of the Slavs
Soon afterwards, the
Migration Period brought on a major settlement of
Slavs in the first half of the 7th century.Dalmatia became distinctly divided between two different communities, the Slavs and Romanised Illyrians all over the former Roman province and the Latin population and Romanised Illyrians in few coastal cities: Trogir, Split, Zadar and insular part of Dubrovnik (now merged with continent).
The Slavs started organizing their domain into increasingly powerful states.
The
Croats arrived (according to migration theories) in the 7th century. Croats have formed few duchies, and in 925 their duke
Tomislav declared himself as king, uniting southern Croat duchies of Littoral Croatia and Pagania, and northern, Pannonian Croatia into
an independent kingdom which persisted under Croat dinasty until the turn of the
12th century, when went into personal union with Hungarian kingdom, with Hungarian dinasty as kings.
The southernmost sections of inland Dalmatia were more fragmented and inhabited by Slavs that later nationally developed as Croats and Montenegrins (in Duklja), with the Duchies of
Pagania,
Zahumlje (Hum),
Travunia and
Doclea/
Zeta being occasionally prominent, especially in the later periods. Zahumlje became a
vassal of the new
Croatian Kingdom in the early 10th century.
The Croatian Kingdom had its capital cities in Dalmatia:
Biaći,
Nin,
Biograd,
Šibenik (founded as a port of Croatian kingdom, while Byzantium controlled
Trogir and Split)
Knin,
Split,
Omiš,
Klis,
Solin.
Rivalry of Croatia, Venice, Byzantium, and Hungary
The
Republic of Venice made several attempts to attain control of the Dalmatian islands and city-states, while Byzantium also preserved an influence on them, although one which faded towards the end of the eleventh century, by which time the
Kingdom of Hungary also expanded southwards by having Croatia enter into a personal union with the King of Hungary.
The 13th, 14th and 15th centuries were marked by a rivalry of Venice and Hungary, as the Byzantine influence had fully faded. The once rival Slavic-speaking and Romance-speaking populations of Dalmatia started contributing to a common civilization, and achieved a remarkable development of art, science and literature. The cities would accept foreign sovereignty, mainly of Venice, but strived to preserve local autonomy.
In
1346, Dalmatia was struck by the
Black Death. The economic situation was also poor, and the cities became more and more dependent on Venice. During this period Dalmatia was briefly ruled by Croatian magnates
Šubić, the first
Bosnian king Stephen
Tvrtko, and contested by the
Angevins and
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor in the early 15th century, but the end result of this conflict was that the Venetians took control of most of Dalmatia by
1420.
Republic of Ragusa and Ottomans conquests
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Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) before 1808 |
The southern city of
Dubrovnik (Ragusa) had managed to achieve complete independence as the
Republic of Ragusa, and preserved it despite the numerous foreign invasions. The
Ottoman wars in Europe had started affecting the area in the mid-15th century, and when the
Venetian and
Ottoman frontiers met, border wars became incessant. The Turks took control of much of the hinterland, and helped the Republic of Dubrovnik maintain its independency, but under their
suzerainty. The Ottoman invasion further contributed to the inclusion of the Croats and other Slavs in the cities.
After the expansion of the
Ottoman Empire was finally contained in the
Great Turkish War at the turn of the
18th century, Dalmatia experienced a period of certain economic and cultural growth in the 18th century, as the trade routes with the hinterland were reestablished in peace. Christians also migrated from the Ottoman-held territory into the Christian-ruled Venice.
Modern Times
Napoleonic France and Austria-Hungary
This period was abruptly interrupted with the fall of the
Republic of Venice in
1797.
Napoleon's troops stormed the region and ended the independence of the Republic of Ragusa as well, but saving it from the occupation of Russian Empire and Montenegro. Napoleon's rule in Dalmatia was marked with many wars, which caused many rebellions. On the other side, French rule contributed a lot to Croat national awakening - first newspaper in Croatian language were issued then, in Zadar ("Kraglski Dalmatin"). French rule brought a lot of improvement in infrastructure; many roads were built or reconstructed. Napoleon himself blamed marechal Marmont, the governor of Dalmatia, that too much money was spent on Dalmatia.
By
1815, Dalmatia was taken by the
Austrian Empire. After the
Revolutions of 1848, the Croatian population of Dalmatia increasingly urged unification with
Croatia which was controlled by the
Hungarian (
Transleithania) part of the then
Austro-Hungarian Empire.
After 1918
In the
First World War, the Austrian Empire disintegrated, and Dalmatia was again split between the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia) which controlled most of it, and the
Kingdom of Italy which held small portions of northern Dalmatia around
Zadar.
In 1922, the Dalmatia region was divided into two provinces, the District of the City of Split (Splitska oblast), with capital in
Split, and the District of the City of Dubrovnik (Dubrovačka oblast), with capital in
Dubrovnik.
In 1929, the
Maritime Banovina ("Primorska Banovina"), a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was formed. Its capital was
Split, and it included most of Dalmatia and parts of present-day
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Southern parts of Dalmatia were in
Zeta Banovina, from the
Gulf of Kotor to
Pelješac peinsula including
Dubrovnik.
In 1939, the Maritime Banovina was joined with
Sava Banovina to form new province named the
Banovina of Croatia. In
1939,
ethnic Croat areas of the Zeta Banovina from the
Gulf of Kotor to
Pelješac including
Dubrovnik were merged with a new
Banovina of Croatia.
During
World War II,
Fascist Italy occupied the entire region together with
Nazi Germany, but after the end of the war Dalmatia was restored to
Second Yugoslavia.
Dalmatia was divided between three
federal republics of Yugoslavia - almost all of the territory went to Croatia, leaving the
Gulf of Kotor to
Montenegro and a small strip of coast at
Neum to
Bosnia and Herzegovina. When Yugoslavia dissolved in
1991 the republic borders became country borders as they are now.
Italy issued special
postage stamps for the part of northern Dalmatia it had occupied during World War I, necessitated by the locals' use of Austrian currency.The stamps were produced as
surcharges of Italian stamps; the first appeared
1 May 1919, and consisted of the Italian 1-lira overprinted "una / corona".
5c and 10c overprints were issued in
1921, reading "5[10] / centesimi / di corona", followed by an additional five values in 1922. Similar overprints were made for special delivery and
postage due stamps.
Soon after the annexed territories switched to Italian currency and stamps. As a result, usage was uncommon and validly-used stamps are today worth about 50-100% more than unused. They are easily confused with the Italian issues used in occupied Austria; the Dalmatian overprints are distinguished by their use of a
sans serif typeface.
Image:Narodni Trg (Pjaca).JPG|Narodni Trg (Pjaca) in SplitImage:Luka 1.jpg|Split HarbourImage:Old City, Dubrovnik.JPG|DubrovnikImage:Sibenik.jpg|ŠibenikImage:Zadar.jpg|Panoramic view of ZadarImage:Zadar_Forum.jpg|Roman Forum in ZadarImage:Krapanj_cafe.jpg|Summer on the street in KrapanjImage:hvar_panorama.jpg|Panoramic view of Hvar*
Dalmatian language*
Dalmatian (dog) *
Dalmatian Pelican*
Illyria*
Dubrovnik photos*
Travel to Dalmatia - Picture Gallery of Dalmatia*
Dalmatia.INFO - Misc info about cities, news and info
*
Italian optants' page*
Collection of interactive, vector format Flash maps, including details of cities, counties, and streets - CroMaps*
Dalmacija.net: history, culture and tourism*
Accommodation offer of Dalmatia*
Dalmacija u mom oku*
Dubrovnik, Pearl of Dalmatia*
Catholic hierarchy - Croatia*
The Link to Dalmatia*
Split: Split *
Omis*
Drvenik*
Info and accommodation in Makarska riviera*
Split.iNFO - City of Split
