Cordun

The Kordun region (from French cordon [militaire] ) is located in central Croatia south of Karlovac and extends on both sides of the Korana . It forms part of the border region with Bosnia and Herzegovina . In the south the region borders on the Lika . The area is bordered to the west by the Velika and Mala Kapela mountain ranges and to the east by the Petrova Gora mountain range . The Kordun with the capital Slunj is now part of the Karlovac County . From the 16th to the 19th century, the area was under the direct military command of the Austrian War Council in Graz ( military border ).

history

The late medieval fortress Slunj was owned by the magnate family Frankopan (from the island of Krk) . In the 1550s years the surrounding area has been repeatedly hit by Ottoman troops, with the 1567 to Banus of Croatia and Slavonia appointed Franjo Slunjski Frankopan great contributions in defending acquired. In 1578 Slunj fell into the hands of the Ottomans for a short time. At the end of 1584 the captain of the Croatian military border Josef Thurn and the Croatian ban Tamás Erdődy brought the Ottoman army commanded by Beylerbey of Buda, Ferhad Pascha Sokolović , a heavy defeat at Slunj (see also Siege of Gvozdansko ).

Since the end of the 16th century the place was an important base of the military border (Karlstädter Generalat ) and served to secure the border area to the Ottoman Empire. The cordon (from French cordon ) belonged to France ( Illyrian provinces ) from 1809 to 1815 . After the military border was closed in 1871/81, the Kordun was united with civil Croatia . The population of the economically backward Kordun consisted to a large extent of Serbs or Orthodox Vlachians who were settled there (especially since the end of the 17th century) as refugees from the Ottoman Empire to defend the border. During the time of the Independent State of Croatia from 1941 to 1945, there were mass persecutions of the Serbs in the Kordun. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, the area was part of the Serbian Republic of Krajina, founded by Serbs and not recognized internationally . Numerous war crimes are said to have been committed against the Croatian population during the occupation. The Kordun region was reintegrated into the Croatian state association in 1995 through the military operation "Sturm" . Various war crimes are also said to have occurred during this operation. Today the economic situation is slowly starting to improve again. Nevertheless, there is still a tendency to migrate from this hilly and very agricultural region.

designation

The name "Kordun" is derived from a borderline of guards at the time of the Turkish wars. Characteristic of the border region to the Ottoman Empire, the so-called time were Tschardaks (kroat. Čardak ) or item (kroat. Pl. Poste ). These were small wooden huts that were erected at regular intervals and into which one reached the elevated viewing platform via a staircase. If the enemy recognized danger, the border guard fired a shot. This was repeated by the other border guards along this line, this cordon, so that they could react quickly. There were always 4–12 border guards at the border guards who went on patrol at night . Until 1773 mounted hussars stood as guards on the cordon , among other things to avoid robbery by Turks or Heiducken . The majority of the border posts were abolished in 1849.

topography

The area is characterized by extensive forests. Characteristic of this area is the porous nature of the karst soil ( limestone ), which creates numerous funnel-shaped sinkholes (Croatian dolina) or depressions. There are also many underground river systems, some of which have not yet been discovered. The red earth is also typical for this region .

swell

1. ↑ Franić, Dragutin. Plitvička Jezera i njihova okolica (1910). P. 375

Coordinates: 45 ° 7 ′ 0 ″  N , 15 ° 35 ′ 0 ″  E