Looking at a map of Europe, the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina certainly looks landlocked,
what with being nearly completely surrounded by its clingy friend Croatia. Bosnia and Herzegovina
however is not landlocked but has a short 20km coastline around the town of Neum, bisecting
Croatia and cutting off Dubrovnik from the rest of the country. So how did Bosnia and Herzegovina end
up with such a tiny coastline? And how did Croatia become such a coast hog in the first place?
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Ah the Balkans, the region so messy people will shred you apart in the comments no matter what
you say. So, the reason why Croatia has such a long coastline, and why it’s broken up by this
little Bosnian strip of land, and why Bosnia and Herzegovina has just this little strip of
land at all, dates back way before Yugoslavia or any of that stuff that I’ll happily skirt
around for the sake of not being lit on fire, but actually hints to the drama happening here
throughout last millennium. Because if you want the short answer, it all has to do with Venice,
the Byzantines (and later the Ottomans), and a third independent power… Dubrovnik itself.
So you know how Venice had a vast trading empire throughout the Adriatic and Eastern
Mediterranean seas? Well, Venice wasn’t actually the only trading republic in the Adriatic Sea,
for there was also the Republic of Ragusa (not to be confused with some YouTuber named Adam).
Founded after the merging of a newly founded Roman city on the island of Lausa and a Croatian city
on the mainland called Dubrovnik, Ragusa (still called Dubrovnik in Croatian) was initially just
another city in the Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) Empire, however by around the turn of the 2nd
millennium Byzantium’s influence started to wane in the region, eventually giving way to
the Duchy of Croatia and the Frankish Empire. Then the area was brought under Venetian rule
following the Fourth Crusade, as Venice used the debt the Crusaders had accrued to invade Dalmatia
and bring down the Byzantines, putting the whole region under their hold. Ragusa was under Venetian
suzerainty for the next 150 years [suzerainty; a relation where a dominant state controls the
foreign relations of a vassal state but allows it sovereign authority in its internal affairs],
paying tribute to the Republic, until Venice ceded its Dalmatian holdings to Hungary under the 1358
Treaty of Zadar. Ragusa later became independent under Hungarian hegemony. As Hungary was not
exactly much of a naval power, the Republic of Ragusa grew in importance as a port for trade
between the east and the west, eventually coming to rival Venice with their sick trading skills.
Then who else but the Ottomans showed up [Mehter intensifies] with Ragusa becoming
a tributary of the Ottoman sultan in 1458. Ragusa was allowed to set its own trade policies
(as long as they didn’t conflict with Ottoman policies) and fly their own flags on their ships,
and its association with the empire opened up major opportunities for the Republic. Ragusan
merchants were allowed into the Black Sea-- which was closed to non-Ottoman
traffic-- and paid significantly less in customs duties, with the Ottomans also backing them up
in diplomatic disputes. Ragusa also turned out to be an important port for facilitating trade
between the Ottomans and any kingdoms they were at war with. This meant that the city
once under Venice’s suzerainty now became a fierce competitor of the maritime Republic.
By the 18th century the Ottoman borders with the Austrian Empire and Republic of Venice started to
take the shape they do today. The Ottoman Empire suffered a defeat at the Battle of Kahlenberg in
1683, and in 1699 under the Treaty of Karlowitz gave up many of their Balkan territories,
including Dalmatia, though still maintaining control over Bosnia. So if we take a look at
the territories held by the Ottomans and the territories held by the Austrian Habsburgs and
the Venetians and just add Ragusa in there and… oh my god I think I recognize those borders!
Dubrovnik however was still independent, but now it shared a land border with the Republic of
Venice. Thus in order to prevent land attacks from Venice, Ragusa gave the Ottomans this little strip
of land around Neum to serve as a buffer to keep Venice at bay. So this little strip of land wasn’t
necessarily intended to give a future Bosnian state access to the sea, which explains not just
how small modern Bosnia and Herzegovina’s coast is, but also how… unhelpful it is.
Neum, despite being the country’s only connection to the sea, doesn’t have a cargo port and only has
a population of around 3,000. Thus Bosnia and Herzegovina more often uses the nearby Croatian
port of Ploče, which has a direct rail link to the country. And that all kind of makes sense
if the corridor was only created as a buffer zone to protect Dubrovnik when this part of Dalmatia
was under a rival power, but now that they’re both in the same country this arrangement has
given the area some issues. So wait, how exactly did Dubrovnik end up as part of Croatia then?
Well to see what happens next, let’s play our favorite game:
Who Wants to Rule a Tiny, Random Piece of Europe? Tonight’s irresistible little patch
of land is the area around Dubrovnik, also known as the Republic of Ragusa,
and believe me there’s been plenty fighting for this little strip of Adriatic beachfront.
But before we spin the wheel, let’s introduce our six contestants; first up, from Ragusa itself, we
have Rector Sabo Giorgi (oh yes also the leaders of the Republic of Ragusa were called Rectors…
please stop snickering); next up, you know him, you love him (or maybe you don’t), Ottoman Sultan
Selim III himself; making a comeback as always we welcome back the Doge of Venice, Ludovico Manin;
next up is the king of Great Britain himself, King George III, wow you’re still ruling
after all that American Revolution stuff? Then we have Bolivian President José Mariano Serrano…
whose country doesn’t actually exist yet, I actually have no idea why they’re here;
and finally we have a mystery ruler. Who could it be? More importantly who is going to rule Dalmatia
next? Let’s spin the wheel and see who we get! [suspenseful music]
And there winner is… the mystery contestant, who is… Napoleon Bonaparte! [snaps fingers]
Good luck with that! Napoleon swept through the area in 1809,
bringing the area under French influence. With the Congress of Vienna in 1815 however, Ragusa
was absorbed into the Austrian Empire, followed by Bosnia in the 1870s. It is at this point though
the borders (or at least the borders that matter for this video’s titular question) have fully
crystallized. Now, even if it’ll be another century or so until these countries actually
become fully independent countries, Croatia has molded into being shaped like a dragon,
and what would become Bosnia and Herzegovina would go on to have the second shortest coastline of any
country in Europe, right behind Monaco. Oh god… should I continue explaining the
history even though it isn’t really relevant to our question anymore, or cut it off here
and just get to the conclusion? … Eh you know what, the comments are gonna explode either way.
Nowadays, although Croatia is a European Union member and Bosnia and Herzegovina a
potential candidate for becoming one, Croatia is currently undergoing a project to build a
bridge across the narrow strait that cuts off Dubrovnik, a bridge which in a sense
only makes sense to build because of the politics and history of the region.
Geographically speaking, there already are road links between Dubrovnik and the rest of Croatia,
those traveling along it just need to go through border checks.
That’s why it can be important to learn about these long gone conflicts and disputes,
as they can put our modern world into perspective (we didn’t make our modern world out of nothing,
after all). So why is Croatia building a bridge that normally wouldn’t make any sense?
Because of thousand-year old disputes with a city-state that’s now part of Italy
and dealings with an empire that’s now a republic centered in Anatolia. And that’s
why Bosnia and Herzegovina’s coastline is so short… ah crap I could’ve made this video a short!