Antiquity Since the first millennium BC the region was inhabited by the
Iapodes, an ancient people related to
Illyrians. During the
Gallic invasion of the Balkans, a division of the Gallic army passed through the territory of today's Lika and a part of this army settled among the Iapodes. In the 2nd century BC, Iapodes came into conflict with the
Roman Empire, suffering several military campaigns, most significantly in 129 BC, 119 BC and finally being conquered in 34 BC by
Augustus Caesar.
Medieval in
Brinje, held by the noble
Frankopan and
Gorjanski families Bijelohrvati (or
White Croats) originally migrated from
White Croatia to Lika in the first half of the 7th century. After the settlement of Croats (according to migrations theories), Lika became part of the
Principality of Littoral Croatia. Lika then became a part of the
Kingdom of Croatia in 925, when
Duke Tomislav of the Croats received the crown and became
King of Croatia. The name of Lika is derived from old
Illyrian language, meaning "body of water"; its
cognates are
liquor ("fluid") in
Latin and
liqén ("lake") in modern
Albanian. Indeed, a major feature of the Lika landscape are rivers and lakes, as well as
marshes and
floodplains, many of which have been drained in 18th to 20th centuries. The name initially referred to
Lika River, and over time came to denote the region. The first mention of Lika as a toponym appears in 10th-century
Constantine Porphyrogenitus' book
De Administrando Imperio as , in a chapter dedicated to Croats and the organisation of their state, describing how their
ban "has under his rule
Krbava, Lika and
Gacka". Among the twelve noble Croat tribes that had a right to choose the Croat king, the
Gusić tribe was from Lika. The ethnonym
Guduscani mentioned in medieval sources was also thought to be related to Lika.
From the 15th century in the
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia In 1493 the Croatian army suffered a heavy defeat from the Ottoman forces in the
Battle of Krbava Field, near
Udbina in Lika. As the Ottomans advanced into Croatia, the Croatian population from the region gradually started to move into safer parts of the country or abroad. The linguistic character of the region changed, as many indigenous
Chakavian-speakers left while in their place arrived speakers of Neo-Shtokavian Ikavian from western Herzegovina and western Bosnia, as well as Orthodox speakers of Ijekavian dialects. In 1513 the town of
Modruš, the location of the
episcopal see in Lika, was overrun by the Ottomans. In 1527 they captured Udbina, including the
Udbina Castle, leaving most of Lika under Ottoman control. The region became initially part
Sanjak of Bosnia, later the
Sanjak of Klis and finally the
Sanjak of Krka. The devastation of Lika and Krbava was such that almost half a century they remained largely uninhabited. At the end of the 16th century the Ottomans started settling those who had achieved
Vlach social status in the area, as well as Muslims in larger settlements where they soon formed a majority of the population. Prince Radic was appointed Prince of Senj by King Rudolf in Graz (1 December 1600). Radic family is a Native noble family from Lika region; members of the family were Uskok military leaders at the headquarters in Senj. Prince of Senj was very active against Ottoman. In 1683 after Ottoman defeat at the battle of Vienna, 30,000 Muslims from Lika began to move towards Bosnia. Large number of these Muslims originated from Bosnia from which they came a century earlier, while a substantial proportion was of Croatian origin. The Ottoman rule in Lika mostly ended in 1689 with the recapture of Udbina. However area of
Donji Lapac remained in Ottoman hands for 102 years. The borders between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire were initially concluded with the
Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, finally concluded with
Treaty of Sistova in 1791. Lika was incorporated into the Karlovac general command of the
Croatian Military Frontier. It was repopulated by immigrants from Ottoman held regions. Catholics predominated in urban settlements, while Orthodox Christians were mostly present in the interior of Lika. On 15 July 1881 the
Military Frontier was abolished, and Lika was restored to
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, an autonomous part of
Transleithania (the Hungarian part of the Dual Monarchy of
Austro-Hungary). It was within the
Lika-Krbava County, with Gospić as the county seat. Its population was ethnically mixed and in 1910 consisted of 50.8% Serbs and 49% Croats.
Kingdom of Yugoslavia to SFRY After the collapse of Austria-Hungary, Croatia and Slavonia, of which Lika was part, became part of the
State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs on October 29, 1918. The newly created state then joined the
Kingdom of Serbia on December 1, 1918 to form
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes which was in 1929 renamed into Yugoslavia. Lika remained inside Croatia, which became one of the constituent provinces of the Kingdom. The majority of Lika belonged to the
Županija Lika-Krbava with the capital in
Senj (instead of in
Gospić previously). The new constitution abolished any previous borders and Lika became a part of the
Primorsko-krajiška Oblast with the capital in
Karlovac. In 1929, the region became a part of the
Sava Banate (
Savska banovina) of the newly formed
Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and then in 1939 of the
Croatian Banate (
Hrvatska banovina). Yugoslavia was invaded and split by the
Axis forces in 1941 and Lika became a part of the
Independent State of Croatia (NDH), an Axis puppet state led by the
Ustaše. The Ustaše carried out
numerous massacres of Serbian civilians in the region as part of the genocide planned by Croatian
poglavnik Ante Pavelić. On 27 July the
Srb uprising started against the Ustaše in Lika, led by
Yugoslav Partisans. In June 1943 the founding session of the
State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH) was held in Otočac in Lika, in the territory held by the Partisans. The war ended in 1945 and Croatia became a Socialist federal unit of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Croatian War of Independence In August 1990 an insurrection known as
Log Revolution started in Serb populated areas of Croatia. Due to recent civil unrest and with Croatia declaring independence from Yugoslavia in June 1991, the Serb majority settlements of eastern Lika joined with fellow Serbian populace in Croatia in the creation and declaration of independence of the
Republic of Serbian Krajina (
RSK). Subsequently, the Serbian paramilitary units were created with the backing of the
Yugoslav People's Army and Serbian paramilitary forces. Clashes with the Croatian police that followed later in 1991 quickly erupted in
a full-scale war. The fiercest fighting in Lika took place during the
Battle of Gospić in August and September 1991 that resulted in the seat of the province being heavily damaged by the Serbian forces. Western Lika remained under Croatian control, while eastern Lika was under RSK control. War continued until 1995, when the Croatian Army took over the region in
Operation Storm, ending the existence of the RSK. After the war, a number of towns and municipalities in the region were designated
Areas of Special State Concern. ==Climate==