Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
For nearly a millennium, bits and pieces of what we today call “Croatia” were batted
back and forth between foreign powers: Hungarians, Venetians, Ottomans, Habsburgs, and
Yugoslavs. Only in 1991 did Croatia (violently) regain its independence.
Croatia's first inhabitants were the mysterious Illyrians. While they left behind a few scant
artifacts, little is known about this group (except that they were likely the ancestors of
today's Albanians).
During antiquity, the Greeks and Romans both sailed ships up and down the strategic
Dalmatian Coast, founding many towns that still exist today, introducing winemaking and
otheragriculture,andlitteringtheAdriaticseabedwithshipwrecks.Romansbuiltlargerset-
tlements on the Dalmatian Coast as early as 229
B.C.
, and in the fourth century
A.D.
, Emper-
or Diocletian—who was born in what's now Croatia, and rose through the military ranks to
become the most powerful man on earth—built his retirement palace in the coastal town of
Split.
As Rome fell in the fifth century, Slavs (the ancestors of today's Croatians) and other
barbarians flooded Europe. They moved into deserted Roman settlements (including
Diocletian's now-abandoned palace) and made them their own. The northern part of Croa-
tia'scoastfellbrieflyundertheByzantines, whoslathered churcheswithshimmering mosa-
ics (the best are in the Euphrasian Basilica in Pore
č
, Istria).
Beginning in the seventh century, Slavic Croats began to control most of the land that is
today's Croatia. In
A.D.
925, the Dalmatian Duke Tomislav united the disparate Croat tribes
into a single kingdom. By consolidating and extending Croat-held territory and centralizing
power, Tomislav created what many consider to be the first “Croatia.”
By the early 12th century, the Croatian kings had died out, and neighboring powers (Hun-
gary,Venice,andByzantium)threatenedtheCroats.Forthesakeofself-preservation, Croa-
tia entered an alliance with the Hungarians in 1102, and for the next 900 years, the Croats
were ruled by foreign states. The Hungarians gradually took more and more power from
the Croats, exerting control over the majority of inland Croatia. Meanwhile, the Venetian
Republic conquered most of the coast and peppered the Croatian Adriatic with bell towers
and statues of St. Mark's winged lion. Through it all, the tiny Republic of Dubrovnik flour-
ished—paying off whomever necessary to maintain its independence and becoming one
of Europe's most important shipbuilding and maritime powers...a plucky rival to powerful
Venice.
