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Early history Once populated by the
Illyrians, the exact time of foundation of the first settlement is not known. According to some sources, the oldest settled area dates two millennia back. The city, first mentioned in 168 BC, was settled during
ancient Roman times, when it was known as
Acruvium,
Ascrivium, or
Ascruvium ( : , : Askrīvion) and was part of the
Roman province of Dalmatia.
Middle Ages The city has been fortified since the early
Middle Ages, when Emperor
Justinian built a fortress above Ascrivium in 535, after expelling the
Ostrogoths. Ascrivium was plundered by the
Saracens in 840. It was further fortified towards the peak of Saint Ivan by
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos in the 10th century. It was one of the more influential
Dalmatian city-states, initially with a Romance-speaking population, as throughout the early Middle Ages, and until the 11th century the
Dalmatian language was still spoken in Kotor. The city was part of Byzantine Dalmatia in that period, and the modern name of Kotor probably originated in the Byzantine name for the city:
Dekatera or
Dekaderon. In 1002, the city suffered damage under the occupation of the
First Bulgarian Empire, and in the following year it was ceded to
Duklja by the Bulgarian
Tsar Samuil. Duklja, or Dioclea, was a vassal duchy of the Bulgarian Empire at the time. The local population resisted the pact and, taking advantage of its alliance with
Dubrovnik, maintained its high autonomy. Duklja, the biggest Serb duchy at the time, gradually became more powerful under
Vojislavljević dynasty and eventually independent from Byzantium in 1040. The city remained autonomous up until Duklja was once again subdued by Byzantium in 1143. The city was conquered in 1185 by
Stefan Nemanja, the ruler of the
Grand Principality of Serbia and founder of the
Nemanjić dynasty. At that time Kotor was already an episcopal see subordinated to the archbishopric of
Bari, and in the 13th century,
Dominican and
Franciscan monasteries were established to check the spread of
Bogomilism. Under the rule of the Nemanjić, Kotor became a partially autonomous city, enjoying many privileges and maintaining its republican institutions. This is evidenced by a statute from 1301, which demonstrates that Kotor had the status of a city under Serbian rule. In the 14th century the commerce of
Cattaro, as named in Latin scripts (in Serbian
Котор, град краљев/Kotor, grad kraljev/Kotor, city of the King), rivaled that of Republic of Ragusa, and caused the
Republic of Venice to be envious. Kotor remained the most important trading port of subsequent Serb states –
Kingdom of Serbia and
Serbian Empire, up to its downfall in 1371. After the
fracturing of the Serbian Empire, the city was taken by the
Kingdom of Hungary, only to change hands repeatedly between them and the Republic of Venice in the period between 1371 and 1384. After that, Kotor was held by the
Kingdom of Bosnia under
Tvrtko I Kotromanić between 1384 and 1391. The king of Bosnia, who claimed the Serbian throne, minted his coins in Kotor. After the death of Tvrtko in 1391, Kotor became fully independent, until the administration, wary of the looming
Ottoman danger, asked Venice for protection. The city acknowledged the
suzerainty of Venice in 1420.
Venetian rule , UNESCO site The city was part of the
Venetian Albania province of the
Venetian Republic from 1420 to 1797. Four centuries of Venetian domination have given the city the typical Venetian architecture, that contributes to make Kotor a
UNESCO world heritage site. In the 14th and 15th centuries, there was an influx of settlers from the oblasts of
Trebinje (the region around forts Klobuk Ledenica and Rudina) and the
Duchy of Saint Sava (
Gacko and
Dabar) to Kotor. The Italian name of the city is
Cattaro. Under Venetian rule, Kotor was besieged by the
Ottoman Empire in
1538 and 1657, endured the
plague in 1572, and was nearly destroyed by
earthquakes in 1563 and
1667. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the customs of the local administration of Kotor, such as the right of the
popolari to elect urban representatives, were unchanged and tolerated by the
Provveditore of the city, despite Venetian laws prohibiting such institutions. In 1627, during a dispute between the populari and Kotor's nobility, this right was revoked by the
consultare Fulgenzio Micanzio, thus empowering the position of the city's urban elite. Above the entrance to the old city Kotor, is a stone relief with the
emblem of Yugoslavia. Following the
socialist revolution, it replaced a stone relief depiciting the Venetian
lion of St. Mark.
Habsburg and Napoleonic rule , 1841 After the
Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797, it passed to the
Habsburg monarchy. However, in 1805, it was assigned to the
French Empire's client state, the
Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, by the
Treaty of Pressburg, although in fact held by a Russian squadron under
Dmitry Senyavin. After the Russians retreated, Kotor was united in 1806 with this Kingdom of Italy and then in 1810 with the French Empire's
Illyrian Provinces. Kotor was
captured by the British in an attack on the Bay led by Commodore John Harper in the brig sloop (18 guns). To seal off Kotor, residents along the shore literally pulled the ship in windless conditions with ropes.
Saracen's crew later hauled naval 18-pounder guns above Fort St. John, the fortress near Kotor, and were reinforced by Captain William Hoste with his ship (38 guns). The French garrison had no alternative but to surrender, which it did on 5 January 1814. It was restored to the Habsburgs by the
Congress of Vienna. Until 1918, the town, then known as
Cattaro, was head of the district of the same name, one of the 13
Bezirkshauptmannschaften in the
Kingdom of Dalmatia.
World War I During
World War I, Cattaro was one of three main bases of the
Austro-Hungarian Navy, the home port of the Austrian Fifth Fleet, consisting of pre-dreadnought battleships and light cruisers, and a base for Austrian and German submarines. The
Cattaro mutiny of sailors of the Austro-Hungarian Navy occurred in Kotor starting on 1 February 1918. The mutiny remained isolated and had to be abandoned after three days due to the arrival of loyal troops. Four sailors were subsequently executed according to naval law. The area was the site of some of the fiercest battles between local Montenegrins and
Austria-Hungary. The city came under the allied
occupation of the eastern Adriatic in 1918. After 1918, the city became a part of
Yugoslavia and officially became known as
Kotor.
World War II Between 1941 and 1943 the
Kingdom of Italy annexed the area of Kotor which became one of three provinces of the Italian
Governorate of Dalmatia – the
Province of Cattaro had an area (subdivided in 15 "Comuni") of 547 km2 and a population of 39,800 inhabitants. Most of the city's inhabitants were Orthodox (with some Roman Catholics). After the war the remaining
Dalmatian Italians of Kotor (300 inhabitants) left Yugoslavia towards Italy (
Istrian-Dalmatian exodus). ==Main sights==