Everything about Dalmatia totally explained
Dalmatia (
South Slavic languages :
Dalmacija;
Italian:
Dalmazia;
Latin:
Dalmatia) is a region on the eastern coast of the
Adriatic Sea, situated mostly in modern
Croatia and spreading between the
island of
Rab in the northwest and the
Bay of Kotor (in
Montenegro) in the southeast. The hinterland,
Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers wide in the south.
Bosnia has a few kilometers of seashore in southern Dalmatia.
Definitions
In
antiquity historical region of Dalmatia was much larger than the present-day Dalmatia, stretching from
Istria to historical
Albania. 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,
sclerophyllous vegetation of the
Illyrian province, Adriatic
carbonate platform, and
karst geomorphology.
Among other things, the ecclesiastical primatical territory today continues to be larger because of the history: it includes part of modern Montenegro (another former republic of
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) have provincial authority over all Croatian dioceses except the exempt archbishopric of
Zadar.
The southernmost transitional part of historical Dalmatia, the
Gulf of Kotor, isn't part of present-day Croatian Dalmatia, but part of Montenegro.
Geography
Most of the area is covered by Dinaric Alps mountain ranges running from north-west to south-east.
On the coasts the climate is Mediterranean, further in the inland it's moderate continental. On the mountains, winters are frosty and snowy, while summers are hot and dry. In the southern part winters are milder.
During the centuries many woods have been cut down and replaced with bush and brush. There is evergreen vegetation on the coast.
The soils are generally poor, except on the plains where areas with natural grass, fertile soils and warm summers provide an opportunity for tillage. Elsewhere, land cultivation is mostly unsuccessful because of the mountains, hot summers and poor soils, although certain cultures such as olives and grapes flourish.
Resources of energy are scarce. Hydropower stations are largely used in energetics. There is a considerable amount of bauxite.
The largest Dalmatian mountains are
Dinara,
Mosor,
Svilaja,
Biokovo,
Moseć and
Kozjak. The regional coherent geographical unit of historical Dalmatia, coastal region between Istria and the Gulf of Kotor includes the
Orjen mountain in Montenegro as the highest peak at 1894 m. In present-day Dalmatia, the highest peak is Dinara (1913 m), which isn't a coastal mountain, while the highest coastal Dinaric mountains are on Biokovo (Sv. Jure 1762 m) and Velebit (Vaganjski vrh 1758 m).
The largest Dalmatian islands are
Dugi Otok,
Ugljan,
Pašman,
Brač,
Hvar,
Korčula,
Vis,
Lastovo and Mljet. The rivers are
Zrmanja,
Krka,
Cetina and
Neretva.
The Adriatic Sea's good
water quality, along with the immense number of
coves,
islands and
channels, makes Dalmatia an attractive place for nautical races and
nautical tourism.
Dalmatia also includes several
national parks that are tourist attractions:
Paklenica karst river,
Kornati archipelago,
Krka river
rapids and
Mljet island.
Administrative division
Dalmatia is today splitted between Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia. Montenegro owns the southern area, around
Kotor, whilst Bosnia owns a short coastal strip around the city of
Neum.
The greater part of Dalmatia is Croatian and it's composed of four counties, the primary cities of which are Zadar,
Šibenik, Split and
Dubrovnik. Other large cities in Croatian Dalmatia include
Biograd,
Kaštela,
Sinj,
Solin,
Omiš,
Knin,
Metković,
Makarska,
Trogir,
Ploče,
Trilj and
Imotski.
History
Classical antiquity
Dalmatia's name is derived from the name of an
Illyrian tribe called the
Dalmatae who 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 the river Neretva. Dalmatia as geographical name was in usage probably from the second half of the 2nd century BC and definitely from the first half of the 1st century BC for the area in the eastern Adriatic coast between
Krka and Neretva rivers. It was slowly incorporated into Roman possessions until the province of
Illyricum was formally established c. 32-27 BC.
Dalmatia then became part of the Roman province of
Illyricum. In 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 which spread into larger area inland to cover all of the
Dinaric Alps and most of the eastern Adriatic coast. Dalmatia was the birthplace of the Roman Emperor
Diocletian, who constructed
Diocletian's Palace in the core of what is now present day Split. During general reorganization of Roman Empire in 297 AD existing organization in Dalmatia was changed since the southern part of
Narona district was cut off and became the Roman province
Praevalis (
Praevalitana), so Narona district was a region from
Budva to the river Cetina, while
Liburnia also one of the
provincia Dalmatiarum was northern from Cetina including
Skradin. However Liburnia had status of separate administrative-territorial unit sometimes in Antique and later in the early Medieval.
The historian
Theodore Mommsen wrote (in his
The Provinces of the Roman Empire) that all Dalmatia was fully romanised and
Latin-speaking by the fourth century.
However analysis of the archeological material from that age has shown that process of
romanization was rather selective. While urban centres, both coastal and inland, were almost totally romanised so Latin language was spoken and written there and life was the same as in the other bigger cities in the
Roman Empire, situation out of these cities was completely different. Although Illyrians were subject to strong process of aculturisation they continued to speak their native language, respect their own gods and other traditions and follow their own social-political tribal organization which was only in some necessities adapted to Roman administration and political structure.
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 Dalmatia to the
Byzantine Empire, while Liburnia stayed in Gothic possession as
Liburnia Tarsatica.
Middle Ages
The
Avars invasions of the sixth century devastated all Dalmatia, and the decimated romanized Dalmatians survived only in the mountains, as shepherds called
morlachs. The main city of Roman Dalmatia, Salona, never recovered from the destruction. Some of these romanized Dalmatians took refuge in the Dalmatian islands, where they founded new small cities (as was done in Italy with
Venice) and maintained a Romance language, called
Dalmatian language, until the
Renaissance. With the barbarian Avars came
tribes of Slavs, who settled in the depopulated areas of Dalmatia under the orders of the Avar kings. In the 14th century the
popes confirmed that the Slavs populating Dalmatia had the privilege to celebrate the
eucharistic sacrifice using the
Roman Rite (original in
Latin language) in the
Church Slavonic language with even traces of
Croatian language.
Arrival of the Slavs
The Slavs started organizing their domain into increasingly powerful states. The
Croats controlled the northern and central part of Dalmatia at the time and by the 10th century became
an independent kingdom which persisted until the turn of the 12th century. The southern sections of inland Dalmatia were more fragmented, with the Duchies of
Pagania (Narenta or the Principality of Narentines),
Zahumlje (Hum),
Travunia and
Doclea/
Zeta being occasionally prominent, especially in the later periods. The Serbian state of
Rascia expanded at the expense of Travunia and Pagania in the 10th century. Zahumlje became a
vassal of the new
Croatian Kingdom in the early 10th century, while the Paganians joined the Croats in statehood in 1050. After the fall of Serbia in the second half of the 10th century, Duklja took over the leadership in the eastern part of the region creating a large kingdom in 1077. The Croatian Kingdom had its capital cities in Dalmatia:
Biaći,
Nin,
Biograd, Šibenik (founded as a port of the Croatian kingdom, while Byzantium controlled Trogir and Split) Knin, Split, Omiš,
Klis, Solin. In 1166-1168 the Serbian Grand Duke
Stefan Nemanja took rule over the southern Dalmatian duchies.Croatian dukes and the
Kingdom of Croatia ruled much of Dalmatia for extended periods from the ninth through to the eleventh centuries.
Rivalry between Venice, Byzantium, Croatia and Hungary
The Romance population of Dalmatia started to develop coastal cities like Dubrovnik and Zadar, where the maritime commerce promoted a rich and powerful development.
The
Republic of Venice made several attempts from the tenth century to attain control of the Dalmatian islands and city-states, while Byzantium also preserved an influence on them. This Byzantine influence faded towards the end of the eleventh century, by which time the
Kingdom of Hungary also expanded its influence southwards when Croatia yielded to Hungarian rule resulting in the
Pacta conventa agreement.
The 13th, 14th and 15th centuries were marked by a rivalry between Venice and the Hungarian kingdom, as the Byzantine influence had fully faded.
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 kings, 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.
Venetian Dalmatia, Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik), and Ottoman conquests
The Republic of Venice controlled most of Dalmatia from 1420 to 1797, the most southern parts being called
Albania Veneta.
Venetian was the commercial
lingua franca in the Mediterranean at that time, and it heavily influenced Dalmatian and to a lesser degree coastal Croatian and
Albanian.
The southern city of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) became de facto independent in 1358 through the
treaty of Zadar when Venice relinquished its suzerainty over it to
Louis I of Hungary.
In 1481, it switched allegiance to the
Ottoman Empire. This gave its tradesmen advantages such as access to the Black Sea, and the
Republic of Ragusa was one of fiercest competitors to Venice's merchants in the 15th and 16th century.
The Republic of Venice was also one of the powers most hostile to
the Ottoman Empire's expansion, and participated in
many wars against it. As the Turks took control of the hinterland, many Christians took refuge in the coastal cities of Dalmatia.
After the
Great Turkish War, more peaceful times made Dalmatia experience a period of certain economic and cultural growth in the 18th century, with the re-establishment of trade and exchange with the hinterland.
Modern Times
Napoleonic France
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 occupation by the
Russian Empire and Montenegro.
In 1805, Napoleon created his Kingdom of Italy around the Adriatic Sea, annexing to it the former Venetian Dalmatia from Istria to Cattaro (Kotor).
In 1809 he removed the Venetian Dalmatia from his Kingdom of Italy and created the Illyrian Provinces, which were annexed to France, and created his marshal
Nicolas Soult duke of Dalmatia.
Napoleon's rule in Dalmatia was marked with many wars, which caused many rebellions. On the other side, French rule contributed a lot to the Italian and Croatian national awakenings (the first newspaper in Italian and Croatian was issued then, the
Il Regio Dalmata-Kraglski Dalmatin in Zara). French rule brought a lot of improvements 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.
Austria-Hungary
Congress of Vienna in 1815, Dalmatia was granted as a province to the Emperor of Austria. It was officially known as the
Kingdom of Dalmatia.
In 1848, the Croatian Assembly (Sabor) published the People's Requests, in which they requested among other things the abolition of serfdom and the unification of Dalmatia and Croatia. The Dubrovnik Municipality was the most outspoken of all the Dalmatian communes in its support for unification with Croatia. A letter was sent from Dubrovnik to Zagreb with pledges to work for this idea. In 1849, Dubrovnik continued to lead the Dalmatian cities in the struggle for unification. A large-scale campaign was launched in the Dubrovnik paper
L'Avvenire (
The Future) based on a clearly formulated programme: the federal system for the Habsburg territories, the inclusion of Dalmatia into Croatia and the Slavic brotherhood. The president of the council of Kingdom of Dalmatia was the politician Baron Biagio Ghetaldi.
In the same year, the first issue of the Dubrovnik almanac appeared,
Flower of the National Literature (
Dubrovnik, cvijet narodnog književstva), in which
Petar Preradović published his noted poem "To Dubrovnik". This and other literary and journalistic texts, which continued to be published, contributed to the awakening of the national consciousness reflected in efforts to introduce the Croatian language into schools and offices, and to promote Croatian books. The Emperor
Franz Joseph brought the so-called Imposed Constitution which prohibited the unification of Dalmatia and Croatia and also any further political activity with this end in view. The political struggle of Dubrovnik to be united with Croatia, which was intense throughout 1848 and 1849, didn't succeed at that time.
In 1861 was the meeting of the first Dalmatian Assembly, with representatives from Dubrovnik. Representatives of Kotor (the Venetian "Cattaro") came to Dubrovnik to join the struggle for unification with Croatia. The citizens of Dubrovnik gave them a festive welcome, flying Croatian flags from the ramparts and exhibiting the slogan: Ragusa with Cattaro (Kotor). The Kotorans elected a delegation to go to Vienna; Dubrovnik nominated Niko Pucić. Niko Pucic went to Vienna to demand not only the unification of Dalmatia with Croatia, but also the unification of all Croatian territories under one common Assembly.
In 1883 was the death of politician
Niko Pucić (born 1820). He was a member of the Croatian Assembly and champion of the unification of Dalmatia (particularly Dubrovnik) with Croatia. He was the editor of the review
Ragusa and founder of the review
Slovinac. In the same year died
Ivan August Kaznacić (born 1817), publicist and promoter of the Illyrian cause. He edited the review
Zora dalmatinska (
Dalmatian Dawn) and founded the Dubrovnik review
L'Avvenire.
In 1893, the minister of the city, the Baron
Francesco Ghetaldi-Gondola,
opened the monument for Ivan Gundulić in Piazza Gundulic (Gondola).
At the same time, part of the population of the coastal cities identified themselves with Italian ethnicity and gave rise to
irredentistic movements, especially around Zadar, called
Zara in Italian.
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 and the islands of
Cres,
Lošinj and Lastovo.
After 1918, nearly all the Italian population of Dalmatia incorporated into Yugoslavia took refuge in Zadar. In 1922, the Dalmatian region of Yugoslavia 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 peninsula including Dubrovnik.
In 1939, the Maritime Banovina was joined with
Sava Banovina (and with smaller parts of other banovina's) to form a new province named the
Banovina of Croatia. In 1939, ethnic Croatian 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, in 1941,
Nazi Germany, Italy,
Hungary and
Bulgaria occupied Yugoslavia, redrawing their borders. A new Nazi puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), was formed, and the
Kingdom of Italy was assigned some parts of the Dalmatian coast, notably around Zadar and Split, as well as many islands. The remaining parts of Dalmatia became part of the NDH. Many Croats moved away from the Italian
Governatorato di Dalmazia (as the Italian Dalmatia was called) and took refuge in the
Fascist state of Croatia, which became the fighting ground for a guerrilla war between the
Axis and the
Partisans.
After the surrender of Italy in September 1943, the Italian population concentrated in Zara was harassed for over a year by allied bombardments carried out at the request of Tito (Zara is nicknamed "The Italian Dresden") and finally was forced to escape en masse from
Tito's partisans. There were more than 20,000 Italians in Zara before World War II, but only 80 Italians remained in this city after 1946.
After the defeat of Italy and NDH, Dalmatia was restored to Croatia, more precisely, to the People's Republic of Croatia, part of the
Second Yugoslavia (then called the Federative People's Republic of 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 republican borders became international borders as they're now.
Contemporary Dalmatia
After the Balkan war of the nineties, Dalmatia is divided between:
Postage stamps
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 one-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.
Gallery
Image:Narodni Trg (Pjaca).JPG|Narodni Trg (Pjaca) in Split
Image:Sibenik_2003.jpg|Šibenik
Image:Zadar.jpg|Panoramic view of Zadar
Image:Zadar_Forum.jpg|Roman Forum in Zadar
Image:Krapanj_cafe.jpg|Summer on a street in Krapanj
Image:hvar_panorama.jpg|Panoramic view of Hvar
Image:Bol_Brac.jpg|Panoramic view of Bol
Image:Korchula tower.JPG| Inside the Korčula (town)
Further Information
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