Roman Dalmatia and the Middle Ages and
Istria with the ancient domains of the
Republic of Venice (indicated in fuchsia. Dashed diagonally, the territories that belonged occasionally) Roman Dalmatia was fully Latinized by 476 AD when the
Western Roman Empire disappeared. In the
Early Middle Ages, the territory of the Byzantine province of Dalmatia reached in the North up to the river
Sava, and was part of the
Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum. In the middle of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th century began the
Slavic migrations to the Balkans, which caused the Romance-speaking population, descendants of Romans and Illyrians (speaking
Dalmatian), to flee to the coast and islands. The hinterland, semi-depopulated by the
Barbarian Invasions,
Slavic tribes settled. The Dalmatian cities retained their Romanic culture and
language in cities such as
Zadar,
Split and
Dubrovnik. Their own
Vulgar Latin, developed into
Dalmatian, a now extinct
Romance language. These coastal cities (politically part of the
Byzantine Empire) maintained political, cultural and economic links with Italy, through the
Adriatic Sea. On the other side communications with the mainland were difficult because of the
Dinaric Alps. Due to the sharp
orography of Dalmatia, even communications between the different Dalmatian cities, occurred mainly through the sea. This helped Dalmatian cities to develop a unique Romance culture, despite the mostly Slavicized mainland. ,
Split In 997 AD the
Venetian Doge Pietro Orseolo II, following repeated complaints by the
Dalmatian city-states, commanded the Venetian fleet that attacked the
Narentine pirates. On the
Ascension Day in 998, Pietro Orseolo assumed the title of "
Dux Dalmatianorum" (Duke of the Dalmatians), associating it with his son
Giovanni Orseolo. This was the beginning of the Venetian influence in Dalmatia, however, while Venetian influence could always be felt, actual political rule over the province often changed hands between Venice and other regional powers, namely the
Byzantine Empire, the
Kingdom of Croatia, and the
Kingdom of Hungary. The Venetians could afford to concede relatively generous terms because their own principal aims was not the control of the territory sought by Hungary, but the economic suppression of any potential commercial competitors on the eastern Adriatic. This aim brought on the necessity of enforced economic stagnation for the Dalmatian city-states, while the Hungarian feudal system promised greater political and commercial autonomy. , c. 1000. The Republic is in dark red, borders in light red. In the Dalmatian city states, there were almost invariably two opposed political factions, each ready to oppose any measure advocated by its antagonist. The southernmost area of Dalmatia (now part of coastal
Montenegro) was called
Venetian Albania during that time. In these centuries a process of gradual assimilation took place among the native population. The Romance Dalmatians of the cities were the most susceptible because of their similar culture and were completely assimilated.
Venetian, which was already the
lingua franca of the Adriatic area, was adopted by the Latin Dalmatians of the cities (speakers of the
Dalmatian), as their own
vernacular language. This process was aided by the constant migration between the Adriatic cities and involved even the independent Dubrovnik (Ragusa) and the port of
Rijeka (Fiume). The Slavic population (mainly Croats) was only partially assimilated, because of the linguistic unsimilarity and because the Slavs were mostly situated in the hinterland and the islands. Dalmatian, however, had already influenced the Dalmatian dialect of
Croatian, the
Chakavian dialect, with the Venetian dialect influencing
Albanian. Starting from the 15th century, Italian replaced Latin as the language of culture in the Venetian Dalmatia and in the Republic of Ragusa. On the other hand, more and more Slavs (Catholic and Orthodox) were pushed into Venetian Dalmatia, to escape the Ottomans. This resulted in an increase of the Slavic presence in the cities.
Napoleonic era (1797–1815) In 1797, during the
Napoleonic Wars, the
Republic of Venice was dissolved. The former Venetian Dalmatia was included in the
Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy from 1805 to 1809 (for some years also the
Republic of Ragusa was included, since 1808), and successively in the
Illyrian Provinces from 1809. From the Middle Ages to the 19th century, Italian and Slavic communities in Dalmatia had lived peacefully side by side because they did not know the national identification, given that they generically defined themselves as "Dalmatians", of "Romance" or "Slavic" culture. Italian-speaking population resided mostly in urban areas. After the final defeat of
Napoleon, the entire territory was granted to the
Austrian Empire by the
Congress of Vienna in 1815. This marked the beginning of 100 years (1815–1918) of Austrian rule in Dalmatia.
Austrian Empire (1815–1918) were the majority of the population, in orange are the areas where
Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians were the majority of the population. The boundaries of
Venetian Dalmatia in 1797 are delimited with blue dots. During the period of the
Austrian Empire, the
Kingdom of Dalmatia was a separate administrative unit. After the
revolutions of 1848 and after the 1860s, as a result of the
romantic nationalism, two factions appeared. The
Autonomist Party, whose political goals of which varied from autonomy within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to a political union with
Italy. The Croatian faction (later called
Unionist faction or "Puntari"), led by the
People's Party and, to a lesser extent, the
Party of Rights, both of which advocated the union of Dalmatia with the
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia which was under Hungarian administration. The political alliances in Dalmatia shifted over time. At the beginning, the
Unionists and
Autonomists were allied together, against the
centralism of Vienna. After a while, when the national question came to prominence, they split. Many Dalmatian Italians looked with sympathy towards the
Risorgimento movement that fought for the unification of Italy. However, after 1866, when the
Veneto and
Friuli regions were ceded by the
Austrians to the newly formed
Kingdom of Italy, Dalmatia remained part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, together with other Italian-speaking areas on the eastern Adriatic. This triggered the gradual rise of
Italian irredentism among many Italians in Dalmatia, who demanded the unification of the
Austrian Littoral, Fiume and
Dalmatia with Italy. The Italians in Dalmatia supported the Italian
Risorgimento: as a consequence, the Austrians saw the Italians as enemies and favored the Slav communities of Dalmatia. During the meeting of the Council of Ministers of 12 November 1866, Emperor
Franz Joseph I of Austria outlined a wide-ranging project aimed at the
Germanization or
Slavicization of the areas of the empire with an Italian presence: In 1867, the Empire was
reorganized as the
Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Fiume (Rijeka) and the
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia were assigned to the Hungarian part of the Empire, while Dalmatia and
Istria remained in the Austrian part. The
Unionist faction won the elections in Dalmatia in 1870, but they were prevented from following through with the merge with
Croatia and
Slavonia due to the intervention of the Austrian imperial government. The Austrian century was a time of decline for the Dalmatian Italians, due to deitalianization of previously
italianized Slavs, emigration, assimilation, and political pressure by other rising nations. Some Italian-speaking people were passively
croatized. There were claims that
Auguste de Marmont, the French Governor General of the Napoleonic
Illyrian Provinces commissioned a census in 1814–1815 which found that Dalmatian Italians comprised 29 percent of the total population of Dalmatia. According to Austrian censuses, the Italian-speaking people represented 12.5% of the population in 1865, but this was reduced to 2.7% in 1910. In Dalmatia there was a constant decline in the Italian population, in a context of repression that also took on violent connotations. During this period, Austrians carried out an aggressive
anti-Italian policy through a forced Slavization of Dalmatia. The Italian population in Dalmatia was concentrated in the major coastal cities. In the city of
Split in 1890 there were 1,971 Dalmatian Italians (9% of the population), in
Zadar 7,672 (27%), in
Šibenik 1,090 (5%), in
Kotor 646 (12%) and in
Dubrovnik 356 (3%). In 1909,
Italian lost its
status as the official language of Dalmatia in favor of Croatian only (previously both languages were recognized): thus Italian could no longer be used in the public and administrative sphere.
The interwar period (1918–1941) (1915), i.e.
Trentino-Alto Adige, the
Julian March and
Dalmatia (tan), and the
Snežnik Plateau area (green). Dalmatia, after the WWI, however, was not assigned to Italy but to
Yugoslavia Following the conclusion of
World War I and the
disintegration of Austria-Hungary, the vast majority of Dalmatia became part of the newly formed
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia).
Italy entered the war on the side of the
Entente in 1915, after the secret
London Pact, which granted to Italy a large portion of Dalmatia. The pact was nullified in the
Treaty of Versailles due to the objections of American president
Woodrow Wilson and the South Slavic delegations. However, in 1920 the Kingdom of Italy managed to get after the
Treaty of Rapallo, most of the
Austrian Littoral, part of
Inner Carniola, some border areas of
Carinthia, the city of Zadar along with the island and
Lastovo. A large number of Italians (allegedly nearly 20,000) moved from the areas of Dalmatia assigned to Yugoslavia and resettled in Italy (mainly in Zara). In November 1918, after the surrender of Austria-Hungary, Italy occupied militarily
Trentino Alto-Adige, the
Julian March,
Istria, the
Kvarner Gulf and
Dalmatia, all Austro-Hungarian territories. On the Dalmatian coast, Italy established the first
Governorate of Dalmatia, which had the provisional aim of ferrying the territory towards full integration into the Kingdom of Italy, progressively importing national legislation in place of the previous one. The administrative capital was
Zara. The Governorate of Dalmatia was evacuated following the Italo-Yugoslav agreements which resulted in the
Treaty of Rapallo (1920). After the war, the
Treaty of Rapallo between the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and the Kingdom of Italy (12 November 1920), Italy annexed
Zadar in Dalmatia and some minor islands, almost all of Istria along with Trieste, excluding the island of
Krk, and part of
Kastav commune, which mostly went to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. By the
Treaty of Rome (27 January 1924), the
Free State of Fiume (Rijeka) was divided between Italy and Yugoslavia. Relations with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were severely affected and constantly remained tense, because of the dispute over Dalmatia and because of the lengthy dispute over the city-port of
Rijeka (Fiume), which according to the Treaty of Rapallo had to become a free state according to the
League of Nations, but was annexed to Italy on 16 March according to the
Treaty of Rome. In 1922
Fascism came to power in Italy. The fascist policies included strong nationalistic policies. Minority rights were severely reduced. This included the shutting down of educational facilities in Slavic languages, forced Italianization of citizen's names, and the brutal persecution of dissenters. In Zara most Croats left, due to these oppressive policies of the fascist government. The same happened with the Italian minority in Yugoslavia. Although, the matter was not entirely reciprocal: the Italian minority in Yugoslavia had some degree of protection, according to the Rapallo Treaty (such as Italian citizenship and primary instruction). All this increased the intense resentment between the two ethnic groups. Where in the 19th century there was conflict only on the upper classes, there was now an increasing mutual hatred present in varying degrees among the entire population.
World War II and post-war (1941–1943) showing the
province of Zara, the
province of Spalato and the
province of Cattaro The
Kingdom of Yugoslavia was
invaded by the Wehrmacht in 1941 and parts of Dalmatia were annexed to Italy as the
Governatorate of Dalmatia with Zadar as its capital. The local population was subject to violent forced
italianization by the fascist government. Several concentration camps were established by Italian authorities to house these "enemies of the state", including the infamous
Gonars and
Rab concentration camps. The Italian authorities were not able to maintain full control over the hinterland and the interior of the islands, however, and they were partially controlled by the
Yugoslav Partisans after 1943. Following the
Italian capitulation of 1943, the
German Army took over the occupation after a short period of Partisan control (officially, the Governorship of Dalmatia was handed to the control of the puppet
Independent State of Croatia). During this period a large proportion of the coastal city population volunteered to join the Partisans (most notably that of Split, where a third of the total population left the city), while many Italian garrisons deserted to fight as Partisan units and still others were forced to surrender their weapons and equipment. As Soviet troops advanced in the Balkans in 1944, a small-scale evacuation took place in Zadar, while Marshall
Josip Broz Tito's Partisans (since 1942 recognized as Allied troops) simultaneously moved to liberate the remainder of Axis-occupied Dalmatia.
Split was henceforth the provisional capital of Allied-liberated Croatia. In 1943–44 the city of Zadar suffered 54 air raids by the
Allies and it was severely damaged, with heavy civilian casualties. Many civilians had already escaped to Italy when the Partisans controlled the city. After World War II Italy ceded all remaining Italian areas in Dalmatia to the new
SFR Yugoslavia. This was followed by a further emigration, referred to as the
Istrian-Dalmatian exodus, of nearly all the remaining Italians in Dalmatia. Italian-language schools in Zadar were closed in 1953, due to a dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia over Trieste. In 2010 a kindergarten for the small Italian community of Zadar was going to be opened, promoted by the local Italian association, but the local Croatian authorities refused to open the school because the number of attending children was too small. Indeed, the issue was of administrative nature because the administration claimed that the Italian ethnicity had to be proved by the ownership of an Italian passport. Due to the restrictions imposed to the double nationality of the Italian minority in Yugoslavia after 1945, this requirement could only be met by a limited number of children. This administrative difficulty has been solved in 2012 and the opening of the kindergarten took place in 2013. ==Population decline==