Dalmatia

Dalmatia ; Dalmacija ( Croatian )
	coat of arms
	coat of arms
	; Dalmatia (dark blue) within Croatia
Basic data
State (s)	Croatia (historically also a small part of Montenegro )
Official language (s)	Croatian
	Makarska
	City center of Hvar

Dalmatia ( Serbo-Croatian Dalmacija / Далмација , Italian Dalmazia ) is a geographical and historical region on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea , in the south and south-east of Croatia and in south-western Montenegro . The historical region has not had an official status since the beginning of the 20th century . It extends from the island of Pag in the north to the Bay of Kotor in the south. The north-east of southern Dalmatia is largely bordered by Bosnia and Herzegovina . The main cities are Split , Zadar , Šibenik and Dubrovnik .

The name Dalmatia has existed since the 1st century and goes back to the name of the Delmaten (Dalmaten) , a tribe of the Illyrians . The spatial extent of Dalmatia has changed significantly over time: the historic region of Dalmatia temporarily extended to parts of the present-day states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania , Serbia and Kosovo . The name Dalmatia has only been used in Croatia and a small part of Montenegro to this day.

Relief and Climate

The Dalmatian landscape is a rugged and karstified coastal landscape. The most important feature of the region are the approximately 942 islands , spars , cliffs and rocks . 78% of all Croatian islands are in this region. The total area of the islands is 2070 km², which corresponds to about 4% of the area of Croatia . The origin of the islands lies in the Dinaric mainland , the islands are the parts of this mountainous landscape that protrude above sea level . The islands in the north of the country are more numerous, but also smaller. Their shape is elongated and parallel to the coast. These include Pag , Ugljan , Pašman , Dugi otok , Kornati and Žirje .

The open coast at the level of the town of Ploče is the invisible border between northern and central Dalmatia. The central Dalmatian islands of Hvar , Brač , Šolta , Korčula , Vis , Lastovo and Čiovo are larger and have an east-west orientation in contrast to the islands in the north, which are north-west-south-east. Northwest of Vis are Jabuka and Brusnik - these islands are of volcanic origin . The southernmost islands of Dalmatia are the Mljet and Elafiti islands and the Pelješac peninsula . Most of the islands (especially the bumps) are made of chalk rock , while the valleys and depressions are made of less permeable dolomite rock . There are moors in the lowlands on some islands . The pebble beaches were created on the edges of the lowlands as a result of the corrosion .

The coast is about 1200 km long. The southern part of the Velebit coast is very steep and inaccessible, the connection to the hinterland is only sparsely developed. The coastal region around Zadar , Biograd and Trogir is very fertile. The latter lies on the Neretva Delta, a landscape made up of flysch . The coast south of Dubrovnik is open and therefore most affected by corrosion.

The Mediterranean climate is characterized by mild, humid winters and sunny, dry summers . Precipitation is much higher on the Dalmatian coast with around 3000 mm in the south and 1800 mm in the north than in the interior. The average temperatures are 24.8 ° C in July and 5.1 ° C in January. The Scirocco , a hot wind from south to south-east, is typical for the region . The occasional cold fall wind Bora can reach a speed of 250 km / h and is one of the strongest winds in the world.

population

The island of Lavsa in the Kornati National Park

The population of Dalmatia is concentrated along the coast, where almost all of the larger cities are located. The interior, however, is only sparsely populated.

Due to its economic backwardness, Dalmatia was a country of emigration for a long time . A large part of the Croatian diaspora comes from here.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the preferred destinations for emigrants were overseas: North America , South America (especially Chile and Argentina ), Australia and New Zealand .

In the second half of the 20th century, however, many Dalmatian residents went to Germany , Austria and Switzerland as guest workers .

ethnicities

The vast majority of the population of Dalmatia are ethnic Croats .

Population by Croatian county

County	Population (2011 census)	including Croatians	other ethnic groups
Zadar County (Zadarska županija)	170,017 (100.00%)	157,389 (92.57%)	12,628 (7.34%): of which 8,184 Serbs (4.81%)
Šibenik-Knin County (Šibensko-kninska županija)	109,375 (100.00%)	95,582 (87.39%)	13,793 (12.61%): thereof 11,518 Serbs (10.53%)
Split-Dalmatia County (Splitsko-dalmatinska županija)	454,798 (100.00%)	441,526 (97.08%)	13,272 (2.92%): of which 4,797 Serbs (1.05%), 1,389 Bosniaks (0.31%) and 1,025 Albanians (0.23%)
Dubrovnik-Neretva County (Dubrovačko-neretvanska županija)	122,568 (100.00%)	115,668 (94.37%)	6,900 (5.63%): of which 2,095 Serbs (1.71%) and 1,978 Bosniaks (1.61%)

Historical

The numerically largest minority are Krajina Serbs , who made up the majority of the population in a part of the hinterland of northern Dalmatia (around the town of Knin ) before the war between 1990 and 1995 . A Serbian minority also lived in some coastal cities, especially Zadar and Šibenik , until the war. During Operation Oluja , with which this area was reintegrated into the Croatian state in 1995, most of the Serbs fled. Some of them have returned over the past few years.

There was a small Italian minority in Zadar . According to the 2011 census, 90 Italians lived in the city of Zadar. This corresponds to 0.12% of the total population. The majority of the former Italian inhabitants of Dalmatia, however , partly moved or fled to Italy after the First and partly after the Second World War . The place Arbanasi, formerly an independent village, today a district of Zadar, goes back to Albanians who were settled there as refugees during the Venetian period; today, however, their offspring are largely assimilated.

There are also groups of Bosniaks and Slavic Muslims , Kosovar Albanians and Macedonians who immigrated to Yugoslavia .

Biggest cities

The largest cities in Dalmatia ( Croatia ) are (population according to 2001 census):

The old town of Dubrovnik

Split 211,192
Zadar 72.718
Šibenik 51,553
Dubrovnik 43,770
Kaštela 34.103
Sinj 25,373
Solin 19.011
Omiš 15,472
Knin 15,190
Metković 15,384
Makarska 13,716
Trogir 12,995
Ploče 10,834
Trilj 10,799
Imotski 10,213

In the Montenegrin part of the Austro-Hungarian Crown Land of Dalmatia , which existed until 1918, the cities are:

Kotor 22,947
Herceg Novi 12,700

Annotation:

↑ 2011 census

Administrative division

The Croatian Dalmatia is now divided into four counties (Croatian, plural : županije ). These are from north to south:

Croatian name ( Županija )	German name	Area (km²)	Population (2011 census)	Administrative headquarters	geographical location
Zadarska županija	Zadar County	3,643	170.017	Zadar	includes the northernmost part of Dalmatia around the city of Zadar , the offshore islands and the hinterland from the Adriatic to the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina
Šibensko-kninska županija	Šibenik-Knin County	2,994	109,375	Šibenik	around the cities of Šibenik and Knin from the Adriatic Sea to the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina
Splitsko-dalmatinska županija	Split-Dalmatia County	4,524	454.798	Split	in central Dalmatia around the city of Split , also includes the islands of Brač , Hvar and Vis
Dubrovačko-neretvanska županija	Dubrovnik-Neretva County	1,782	122,568	Dubrovnik	the southernmost part of Dalmatia around the city of Dubrovnik and the Neretva estuary , the Pelješac peninsula and the islands of Korčula , Mljet and Lastovo

history

antiquity

Dalmatia at the time of the Roman Empire

In ancient times Dalmatia was inhabited by Illyrian tribes. North of the Krka lived Liburnians , further south the Delmats (Dalmatians), in what is now Montenegro up to Lissos that Labeaten . On the coast and on the islands there have been since the 6th century BC. BC Greek colonies. Hellenic foundations were Epidauros , Melaina Korkyra (both 6th century BC), Issa , Pharos , Narona and Rhizon (all 4th century BC), perhaps also Aspalathos .

The Delmats were able to live between 175 and 170 BC. Make independent from the kingdom of the Illyrian king Genthios . The capital of their community was Delminium (today: Tomislavgrad ).

In 156 BC The Delmats were attacked and subdued for the first time by a Roman army . They became tributaries, but it was not until Augustus (31 BC - 14 AD) that the country was finally incorporated into the empire after the Illyrian revolt, in which the Delmats had participated, was put down by Tiberius in 9 AD had been.

The province of Dalmatia was then established under Emperor Augustus .

After the end of the Western Roman Empire, Dalmatia was conquered by Odoacer in 481 and, after his death in 493, fell under the rule of the Ostrogothic King Theodoric . The rule of the Goths ended in 535 when Justinian I , who himself came from the Illyricum , incorporated Dalmatia into the Eastern Roman Empire . Subsequently, the already remote and impoverished province was plagued by Slavic raids and in 569 and 595 by Avar incursions (see also Maurikios' Balkan campaigns ).

Early middle ages

The settlement of the Slavs in the Roman provinces of Illyria and Dalmatia in the first half of the 7th century was a turning point in the history of the country and marks the end of late antiquity : while in the interior the invaders had no difficulties in driving out or integrating the indigenous population , they met mighty, well-fortified cities on the coast. So while the other areas were settled by the Slavs, the Roman-Latin population moved to the large cities that offered protection, such as Ragusa (today's Dubrovnik ), Jadera (today Zadar ) or others, where Roman idioms could still be found for a long time are called the Dalmatian language in modern Romance studies .

The rule of East Stream over Dalmatia (535-1102) remained after the Slavic immigration - apart from the suzerainty over the coastal cities - soon only nominally exist.

In the hinterland of the coast, several Slavic states emerged in the following centuries: in northern and central Dalmatia the Croatian principality and later kingdom, about which there are reliable reports from around 800, in the area of the Neretva estuary the state of Pagania of the Narentans (Neretvani) and further south in the hinterland of Dubrovnik in what is now Herzegovina the principalities of Zahumlje and Travunia . While Croatia was Christianized early on, the Narentans remained pagan for a long time. In the administrative sense, Dalmatia has since been understood to mean only the coastal cities and a part of the offshore islands, where the political and social structures from the Roman-Byzantine period partially remained.

View of the city of Korčula

Over time, trade developed between the population in the cities and those living near the city. Gradually there was a mixing of the population, so that the Slavs increasingly settled in the cities and these increasingly lost their Romanesque characteristics.

In 806 the Franconian Empire temporarily extended its influence to Dalmatia. In 829 Saracens plundered the coast. A republic of Slavic pirates arose at the mouth of the Neretva , which even succeeded in destroying a fleet of Venice in 887 and demanding a tribute from Venice itself until it was destroyed by Doge Pietro II Orseolo in 998. With this victory, the Doge assumed the title of Prince of Dalmatia. However, at first there was no permanent Venetian rule over large parts of Dalmatia, rather the Croatian principality became the most important power on the Dalmatian Adriatic coast.

The Croatian prince Mislav (835–845) moved his main residence to Klis near Split . Prince Trpimir (845–864) called the Benedictine order into the country and offered refuge at his court to Gottschalk von Orbais, who was persecuted in Franconia . He founded the diocese of Nin . Prince Domagoj (876-874) fought so intensely against Venice that Byzantium , who owned Venice at the time, tried to eliminate it through a conspiracy . The Romanesque cities in Dalmatia, which until then paid tribute to Byzantium, paid tribute to Prince Branimir (879–892). After the defeat at Makarska in 887 (when the Doge Pietro I Candiano fell), the Venetians paid taxes for the passage along the Croatian coast. Prince Branimir received from Pope John VIII on June 7, 879 recognition of the "secular power" over Dalmatia. Under King Tomislav (910–928) Croatia was united into one kingdom. The kingdom flourished under the reign of King Petar Krešimir IV .

The Principality of Travunia, on the other hand, fell under the influence of the Greater Župane of Raszien from the Vlastimirić dynasty and thus became part of the medieval Serbian state.

In Zahumlje, on the other hand, the local Višević dynasty ruled.

Meanwhile, the kings of Croatia expanded their rule over northern and central Dalmatia, taking tribute from Roman cities like Zadar , and consolidating their own power in Croatian cities.

In the coastal area of northern Dalmatia , the Slavic liturgy with Church Slavonic and Glagolitic script spread - starting from the former Byzantine islands of the Kvarner - so that one of the few cases arose here in which Latin was not used as the liturgical language in the Roman Catholic Church . This condition was not officially recognized for a long time; the Synod of Split in 1059 demanded that the liturgies be in Latin or Greek. In practice, however, the Slavic liturgy continued.

Between Hungary-Croatia and Venice from 1100

In 1100 Croatia came to the Hungarian crown in personal union. In 1102, the Hungarian King Koloman was crowned King of Croatia in Biograd . The Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenus forced the rule over Dalmatia again, but in 1186 Byzantium and the Kingdom of Hungary concluded a peace treaty in which Byzantium renounced Dalmatia and Croatia. In the course of the Middle Ages, a synthesis of Romanesque and Croatian cultures developed in the Dalmatian cities.

In the 12th century, Dalmatia was subject to frequent attacks by Venice . Especially Zadar , which, along with Zagreb, was the headquarters of the Croatian ban . In 1241 the Hungarian King Béla fled the Mongols to Dalmatia. On the Grobnik field (Grobničko polje) near the city of Rijeka , according to Croatian tradition, the Mongols were finally defeated by Croatian troops in 1242. In any case, the Mongols moved south, sacked Dubrovnik and invaded Serbia and Bulgaria . Then the remnants of the once powerful Mongols withdrew to Russia and further to Asia. Even a raid by the Normans in 1073 could only be stopped with great effort and the help of the Venetian fleet.

Unable to withstand the storm of the times alone, without the protection of East Stream and prevented by internal quarrels from establishing a defensive alliance, the Dalmatian city-states of Venice and Hungary asked for support. In contrast to the Hungarians, the Venetians were not interested in the territorial expansion of their country, but only wanted to prevent the flourishing of a competing political or economic power (i.e. Hungary-Croatia) on the eastern Adriatic coast, and therefore generously helped the Dalmatian cities.

But Hungary also had its supporters. As in almost all city-states, two opposing parties emerged in those on the Dalmatian coast, which hardly found each other. While the peasants and domestic traders were more likely to support the powerful neighbor Hungary, the seafaring traders sought support from Venice. Many of the cities thus effectively paid tribute to one of the two powers, but they always adhered to their city rights. Even after Koloman of Hungary became king of Croatia and Dalmatia in 1102–1105 , the rights of the cities were confirmed:

they chose their own magistrate, bishop, and judge;
Roman law remained in force;
they were even allowed to continue their own foreign policy;
no stranger, not even a Hungarian, was allowed to settle in a city without being welcomed;
those who rejected Hungarian rule could emigrate at any time with all their possessions;
the customs income was divided between the Hungarian king, the magistrate, the bishop and the citizenry.

The Venetians basically offered the cities that belonged to them the same freedoms and rights. Not surprisingly, the still very idiosyncratic Dalmatian cities only remained loyal to their masters when it suited them, and revolts were frequent. Between 1180 and 1345 there were even four revolts in Zadar, although the city was treated with special care by its Venetian masters, who viewed the city's ownership as fundamental to their maritime rise. The spread of the Bogomil heretics, the competition between Venice and Hungary and the vague, almost forgotten claims of Eastern Estrom did not contribute to peace in the region. In 1202, Dalmatia supported the army of Venice in the Fourth Crusade . In 1242 Tatars broke into the country.

In the meantime, the rule of Serbian kings was consolidating in the south of Dalmatia and in the hinterland of Dubrovnik. The Archon of Dioclitia Mihailo Vojisavljević received the royal insignia from Pope Gregory VII in 1077 and thus became the first crowned king of Serbia. Southern Dalmatia as far as Makarska fell under his control, with the exception of Dubrovnik. As a result, the Nemanjid dynasty ruled over Raszien, Dioklitien, Zahumlje and Travunien.

Around 1323 the local nobility of Branojević, who were feuding with Dubrovnik, made their own business in Zahumlje . Since the requests for assistance to the Serbian King Stefan Dečanski were unsuccessful, the Senate of Dubrovnik turned to the Bosnian Ban Stjepan II. Kotromanić . This began a campaign against the Branojević, defeated them and annexed Zahumlje in 1326. With this conquest, medieval Bosnia gained access to the sea for the first time. The Serbian tsar Stefan Dušan tried to win back Zahumlje, but his ambitions were mainly directed against Byzantium, which is why he sought good diplomatic relations with Dubrovnik and in 1333 left all Dalmatian possessions north of Dubrovnik to the mouth of the Neretva to the republic.

In northern Dalmatia, the power of some Croatian magnates such as the Count of Bribir even exceeded that of the Hungarian king. Tvrtko I. Kotromanić founded the Bosnian kingdom and in 1389 annexed the entire Adriatic coast between Kotor and Rijeka , apart from the Venetian Zadar and its independent ally Dubrovnik (Italian: Ragusa).

In 1409, Ladislaus of Anjou-Durazzo sold Dalmatia to the Republic of Venice for 100,000 ducats .

When the power of Bosnia and even Hungary was finally broken by the onslaught of the Turks, Venice celebrated an easy victory: in 1420 all of Dalmatia had fallen apart from Omiš (this only in 1444) and Dubrovnik (which maintained its independence). Since the new rule promised peace, many cities welcomed the change.

There was brief peace in the country, but the Turks moved on. Constantinople fell in 1453, Serbia in 1459, Bosnia in 1463 and Herzegovina in 1483. The borders of Venice and the Ottoman Empire met and the period of the so-called Turkish Wars began.

Early modern age

The Republic of Dubrovnik (Ragusa) sought protection in friendship with the invaders. After Venice withdrew its troops home in 1508 and Hungary fell out with Dalmatia in 1526, the Turks easily conquered most of Dalmatia. The peace of 1540 left Venice only a few coastal cities, while the remainder became a Turkish province under the direction of a shanjakbegam - an administrator with a military supreme command - ruled from the fortress of Klis (Clissa) .

Dubrovnik (Ragusa) alone has lost none of its glamor over the centuries thanks to its untouched autonomy, its politics and diplomacy, its trade, its seafaring and its culture.

In the 16th century, Dubrovnik's merchant fleet was the third largest in the Mediterranean and consisted of over 300 ships.

The Uskok pirate community was originally formed from refugees from the Ottoman-occupied territories. The acts of the Uskoks led to a reissue of the war between Venice and the Turks from 1571 to 1573.

The possessions of the Republic of Venice on the Adriatic in 1796

A report by a Venetian agent paints a surprising picture of these battles: The war is very reminiscent of a medieval chivalric novel, full of individual battles, tournaments and other knightly adventures. They also clearly showed that the Dalmatian mercenaries surpassed the Italians in courage and skills. Many of these troops served outside, for example in Lepanto (today Naupaktos ), when in 1571 a Dalmatian squadron supported the Allied fleet of the Spanish, Venice, Austria and the Papal States in defeating the Turkish Navy.

A new war broke out in 1645 and lasted - with interruptions - until 1699, when the Peace of Karlowitz ( Sremski Karlovci ) ended it. The peace treaty gave Dalmatia to Venice, including the coast of Herzegovina but excluding Dubrovnik and the surrounding land, which was protected by the Ottoman Empire.

The Venetians granted the occupied Croatian cities a certain autonomy , but the heads of the cities had to be Venetian nobles.

Under Venetian rule, an anti-Croatian policy was also carried out for the first time: Citizens of the city of Zadar (Zara), for example, were prohibited from marrying Croatians .

The Republic of Ragusa / Dubrovnik before 1808

Venice made great profits through its tax and customs policy and massive overexploitation of forests, without being interested in any serious progress in the region. The city of Venice is largely built on logs from Dalmatia, the Venetian fleet also devoured vast amounts of wood. The partially vegetationless karst areas of Istria and Dalmatia were largely created by the massive deforestation by the Venetians.

Only the Catholic faith connected the Croats with the Venetians. Venice's oligarchical and colonialist policies led to resistance and uprisings. The largest uprising took place on the island of Hvar in 1510 under the leadership of Matija Ivanić . The Uskoks fought the Venetians on land with guerrilla tactics, at sea with piracy.

After further fighting, peace was restored in 1718 by the Treaty of Passarowitz , in which the Habsburg monarchy in Dalmatia came into play.

Only the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte ended the rule of Venice over most of Dalmatia during his short reign.

19th century to 1918

Split

After the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797, Dalmatia fell to Austria in the Treaty of Campo Formio . The Republic of Dubrovnik initially retained its independence, and its importance grew due to its neutrality in the Napoleonic Wars.

With the Peace of Pressburg in 1805, the country came to France, which immediately handed it over to the Kingdom of Italy . French again, in 1809 it formed part of the Illyrian Provinces . The occupation was challenged by Russia , which occupied the Bay of Kotor ( Cattaro ) and won the support of Montenegro against the French. After the Congress of Vienna in 1814/15, the entire region fell back to the Austrian Empire, which was constituted in 1804 .

As a result, the landscape became the crown land of Dalmatia in the Empire. After the Austro-Hungarian settlement of 1867, the autonomous Croatia- Slavonia was one of the countries of the Hungarian crown ; Dalmatia was one of the kingdoms and countries represented in the Vienna Imperial Council . This continued division of the Croatian countries sparked violent protests in Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia and was a major topic in the Dalmatian parliament .

All plans, in particular by Archduke heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand , to form a third, southern Slavic part of the Habsburg monarchy , including Bosnia and Herzegovina , were rejected by the Hungarian government in particular and destroyed by the First World War . The assassination attempt in Sarajevo was not least due to these plans, which would have undermined the dream of a unified southern Slav state under Serbian leadership.

In 1900 the crown land of Dalmatia had 12,835 km² and 610,000 inhabitants. Along with Trieste and Istria, Dalmatia was an important coastal area of the Austro-Hungarian Navy , in which many officers and sailors came from Dalmatia.

Recent history

From 1919 to 1947 the city of Zara / Zadar belonged to the Kingdom of Italy (postcard from 1920)

At the end of World War Dalmatia was in 1918-19 largely the end of October 1918 proclaimed the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (from 1929 Kingdom of Yugoslavia to join), the city of Zadar (it. Zara ) and the island of Lastovo (it. Lagosta ) had to be left (as well as Istria ) to the war victor Italy .

Dalmatia initially formed its own province in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes . After the dissolution of the historical provinces by the Constitution of 1920, it was divided into two administrative districts (oblasti) with administrative headquarters in Split and Dubrovnik . After the coup of King Alexander I in 1929, Yugoslavia was reorganized into nine banks (Banovine) and the northern and central Dalmatia together with western Herzegovina formed the coastal bank (Primorska Banovina) with the administrative seat of Split. The southern Dalmatian area around Dubrovnik was combined with Montenegro , eastern Herzegovina and part of Kosovo in the Zeta Banschaft (Zetska Banovina) with the administrative seat of Cetinje (in Montenegro). This separation of Dubrovnik from the rest of Dalmatia and its connection to a Serbian-dominated administrative district led to protests by the Croatian population, but continued until 1939. Through the agreement between the Yugoslav government and the Croatian Peasant Party of 1939, the whole of Dalmatia (apart from the Italian Zadar and the Bay of Kotor) became part of the newly created autonomous Banschaft Croatia (Banovina Hrvatska) .

During the Second World War 1941-1943 large parts of the coastal area including the cities of Split and Šibenik and the offshore islands were occupied by the troops of fascist Italy Mussolini , while the rest of Dalmatia came to the " Independent State of Croatia ", also a dictatorship, which was allied with the Axis powers .

Immediately after the annexation of Dalmatia, guided by the idea of “ irredentism ” and Mussolini's imperial ambitions, the Italian fascists began with anti-Croatian measures: Croatian officials were dismissed and their posts were filled with Italians. The immigration of Italians was encouraged. Prison camps were set up on the islands of Rab and Molat . A considerable part of the Croatian and Serbian population of Dalmatia joined the anti-fascist movement of the Tito partisans as a result.

During the last years of the war (1943–1945) Zadar was the target of heavy Allied bombing raids that destroyed a large part of the historic old town. With the victory of the partisans over the Axis powers in 1944/1945, all of Dalmatia became part of the Croatian republic of Yugoslavia . However, the Bay of Kotor remained permanently separated from Dalmatia and was attached to Montenegro . The majority of the Italian population group left Dalmatia by 1954; The exodus affected not only immigrants from the Mussolini years, but also long-established Italians who saw no future for themselves in communist Yugoslavia.

At the end of the sixties tourism began to develop in Dalmatia . The region remained economically underdeveloped. After the suppression of the “Croatian Spring” in 1971, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia decided to stop the construction of the motorway connection from Zagreb to Split, which is important for the infrastructure of Dalmatia .

Since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991/1992, Dalmatia has been part of independent Croatia.

During the Croatian War , tourism almost came to a standstill in 1991 and 1992. Numerous hotels have been converted into refugee camps for up to 460,000 Croatians and Bosniaks displaced by Serbian militants and the JNA . On the other hand, in 1995, in view of the military operation Oluja , the recapture of Serb-occupied parts of Croatian territory, around 92,000 Serbs fled to the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina or to Serbia and Montenegro .

Since the reintegration of the internationally unrecognized " Republic of Serbian Krajina " in 1995, the transport links in Dalmatia have been continuously expanded. The motorway connection from Zagreb to Split was completed in 2005, and further expansion to Dubrovnik is in progress. This is of enormous importance for the economic development of these areas, as the majority of holidaymakers arrive with their own vehicle.

Politically, the south of Croatia is now divided into four counties , so that Dalmatia is no longer an administrative unit. However, thanks to the tourist brand Dalmatia, which combines historical cities and scenic beauty with southern ease, the area remains a unity in the perception of foreign countries.

Others

The Dalmatian dog breed is named after the region.
The dalmatic , the liturgical garment of the deacon, got its name from the fact that it was brought to Rome from Dalmatia.

literature

Antoni Cetnarowicz: The National Movement in Dalmatia in the 19th Century. From "Slavism" to the modern Croatian and Serbian national idea. In: People and Structures. Volume 16 / Studia Polono-Helvetica. Volume 5 (original title: Odrodzenie narodowe w Dalmacji ). Lang, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin / Bern / Bruxelles / New York, NY / Oxford / Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-631-57418-8 .

Konrad Clewing: Statehood and National Identity Formation. Dalmatia in pre-March and revolution. In: Southeast European Works . Volume 109. Oldenbourg , Munich 2001, ISBN 3-486-56526-5 (also dissertation at the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich 1997).

Aleksandar Jakir: Dalmatia between the world wars. Agrarian and urban living environment and the failure of Yugoslav integration. In: Southeast European Works . Volume 104. Oldenbourg, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-486-56447-1 (also dissertation at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg 1997).

Wolfgang Libal: Dalmatia. Urban culture and islands on the Yugoslav Adriatic coast. Prestel , Munich / London / New York, NY 1999 (first edition 1990), ISBN 3-7913-2107-2 .

Peter Stachel: Half-colonial and half-oriental? Dalmatia as a tourist destination in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In: Peter Stachel, Martina Thomsen (Ed.): Between the exotic and the familiar. On tourism in the Habsburg Monarchy and its successor states . Transcript Verlag , Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-8376-2097-9 , pp. 165-199.

Michael M. Stanić: Dalmatia. A short art history of a European urban landscape . Böhlau , Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-20044-2 .

Lothar Waldmüller : The synods in Dalmatia, Croatia and Hungary. From the Migration Period to the end of the Arpades (1311) . In: Council history , series A, representations . Schöningh, Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-506-74686-3 (also habilitation thesis at the University of Augsburg 1980).

Maude M. Holbach: Dalmatia. The land where East and West meet . Vienna / Leipzig 1909

Dalmatia . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 7 : Constantine Pavlovich - Demidov . London 1910, p. 772 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

State Law and Ordinance Gazette for the Kingdom of Dalmatia 1848–1918