Istria, formerly Histria, is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The
peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and
the Bay of Kvarner. It is shared by three countries: Croatia, Slovenia, and
Italy. Geography
The geographical features of Istria include the Učka mountain ridge, which
is the highest portion of the Ćićarija mountain range; the rivers Dragonja,
Mirna, Pazinčica, and Raša; and the Lim bay and valley. Istria lies in three
countries: Croatia, Slovenia and Italy. By far the largest portion lies in
Croatia. "Croatian Istria" is divided into two counties, the larger being
Istria County in western Croatia. Important towns in Istria County include
Pula/Pola, Poreč/Parenzo, RovinjRovigno, PazinPisino, Labin/Albona, Umag/Umago,
MotovunMontona, Buzet/Pinguente, and Buje/Buie. Smaller towns in Istria
County include Višnjan, Roč, and Hum. The northwestern part of Istria lies in
Slovenia: it is known as Slovenian Istria, and includes the coastal
municipalities of Piran/Pirano, Izola/Isola and Koper/Capodistria, and
the Karstic municipality of Hrpelje-Kozina. Northwards of Slovenian
Istria, there is a tiny portion of the peninsula that lies in Italy. This
smallest portion of Istria consists of the comunes of Muggia and San Dorligo
della Valle, with the place of Santa Croce farthest north.
The ancient region of Histria extended over a much wider area, including the
whole Kras plateau until the southern edges of the Vipava Valley, the
southwestern portions of modern Inner Carniola with Postojna and Ilirska
Bistrica, and the Italian Province of Trieste, but not the Liburnian coast
which was already part of Illyricum. Climate
Central Istria has a Continental climate.
North-Slovenian coast of Istria has a Sub-Mediterranean climate.
West and south coast has a Mediterranean climate.
East coast has a Sub-Mediterranean climate with Oceanic climate influences.
The warmest places are Pula, Rovinj, while the coldest is Pazin.
Precipitation is moderate, with between 25 and 40 inches falling in the coastal
areas, and up to 60 inches in the hills. History
= Early history = The name is derived from the Castellieri
culture tribes of the Histri, which Strabo refers to as living in the
region. The Histri are classified in some sources as a "Venetic" Illyrian
tribe, with certain linguistic differences from other Illyrians. The
Romans described the Histri as a fierce tribe of pirates, protected by the
difficult navigation of their rocky coasts. It took two military campaigns
for the Romans to finally subdue them in 177 BC. The region was then called
together with the Venetian part the X. Roman Region of "Venetia et Histria",
the ancient definition of the northeastern border of Italy. Dante
Alighieri refers to it as well, the eastern border of Italy per ancient
definition is the river Arsia. The eastern side of this river was settled
by people whose culture was different than Histrians. Earlier influence of the
Iapodes was attested there, while at some time between the 4th and 1st
century BC, the Liburnians extended their territory and it became a part of
Liburnia. On the northern side, Histria went much further north and included the
Italian city of Trieste. Some scholars speculate that the names
Histri and Istria are related to the Latin name Hister, or Danube. Ancient
folktales reported—inaccurately—that the Danube split in two or "bifurcated" and
came to the sea near Trieste as well as at the Black Sea. The story of the
"Bifurcation of the Danube" is part of the Argonaut legend. There is also a
suspected link to the commune of Istria in Constanţa, Romania.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the region was pillaged by the
Goths, the Eastern Roman Empire, and the Avars. It was subsequently annexed to
the Lombard Kingdom in 751, and then annexed to the Frankish kingdom by Pepin
of Italy in 789. In 804, the Placitum of Riziano was held in the Parish of Rižan,
which was a meeting between the representatives of Istrian towns and
castles and the deputies of Charlemagne and his son Pepin. The report about this
judicial diet illustrates the changes accompanying the transfer of power from
the Eastern Roman Empire to the Carolingian Empire and the discontent of
the local residents. Afterwards it was successively
controlled by the dukes of Carantania, Merania, Bavaria and by the patriarch of
Aquileia, before it became the territory of the Republic of Venice in 1267. The
medieval Croatian kingdom held only the far eastern part of Istria, but they
lost it to the Holy Roman Empire in the late 11th century.
= Venetian Republic = The coastal areas and cities of Istria
came under Venetian Influence in the 9th century. On 15 February 1267, Parenzo
was formally incorporated with the Venetian state. Other coastal towns
followed shortly thereafter. Bajamonte Tiepolo was sent away from Venice in
1310, to start a new life in Istria after his downfall. A description of the
16th-century Istria with a precise map was prepared by the Italian geographer
Pietro Coppo. A copy of the map inscribed in stone can now be seen in
the Pietro Coppo Park in the center of the town of Izola in southwestern
Slovenia. = Habsburg Monarchy =
The Inner part of Istria around Mitterburg had been part of the Holy
Roman Empire for centuries, and more specifically part of the domains of the
Austrian Habsburgs since the 14th century. In 1797, with the Treaty of
Campo Formio, the Venetian parts of the peninsula also passed to the Habsburg
Monarchy. = Napoleonic Era =
Following the Austrian defeat by Napoleon during the War of the Third
Coalition, Istria became part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy following
the Peace of Pressburg, and then part of the Illyrian provinces of the French
Empire after the Treaty of Paris. = Austrian Empire =
After this 7-year period, the Austrian Empire regained Istria, which became
part of the constituent Kingdom of Illyria. This kingdom was broken up in
1849, after which Istria formed part of Austrian Littoral, also known as the
"Küstenland", which also included the city of Trieste and the Princely County
of Gorizia and Gradisca until 1918. At that time the borders of Istria included
part of what is now Italian Venezia-Giulia and parts of modern-day
Slovenia and Croatia, but not the city of Trieste.
= Italy = After World War I and the dissolution of
Austria-Hungary, Istria was given to Italy.
The organization TIGR, founded in 1927 by young Slovene liberal nationalists
from Gorizia region and Trieste and regarded as the first armed antifascist
resistance group in Europe, soon penetrated into Slovene and
Croatian-speaking parts of Istria. = SFR Yugoslavia =
After the end of World War II, Istria was included into Yugoslavia, except for
a small part in the northwest corner that formed Zone B of the provisionally
independent Free Territory of Trieste; Zone B was under Yugoslav administration
and after the de facto dissolution of the Free Territory in 1954 it was also
incorporated into Yugoslavia. Only the small town of Muggia, near Trieste,
being part of Zone A remained with Italy.
The events of that period are visible in Pula. The city had an Italian majority,
and is located on the southernmost tip of the Istrian peninsula. Between
December 1946 and September 1947, a large proportion of the city's
inhabitants were forced to emigrate to Italy. Most of them left in the
immediate aftermath of the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty on February 10,
1947, which granted Pula to Yugoslavia. = After the breakup of Yugoslavia =
The division of Istria between Croatia and Slovenia runs on the former republic
borders, which were not precisely defined in the former Yugoslavia.
Various points of contention remain unresolved between the two countries
regarding the precise line of the border.
It became an international boundary with the independence of both countries from
Yugoslavia in 1991. Since Croatia's first multi-party elections in 1990, the
regional party Istrian Democratic Assembly has consistently received a
majority of the vote and maintained through the 1990s a position often
contrary to the government in Zagreb, led by the then nationalistic party
Croatian Democratic Union, with regards to decentralization in Croatia and
certain facets of regional autonomy. However, that changed in 2000, when the
IDS formed with five other parties a left-centre coalition government, led by
the Social Democratic Party of Croatia. After the reformed HDZ won the Croatian
parliamentary elections in late 2003 and formed a minority government, the IDS
has cooperated with the state government on many projects, both local and
national. Since Slovenia's accession to the European Union and the Schengen
Area, customs and immigration checks have been abolished at the
Italian-Slovenian border. Demographic history
The region has traditionally been ethnically mixed. Under Austrian rule in
the 19th century, it included a large population of Italians, Croats, Slovenes
and some Vlachs/Istro-Romanians, Serbs and Montenegrins; however, official
statistics in those times did not show those nationalities as they do today.
In 1910, the ethnic and linguistic composition was completely mixed.
According to the Austrian census results, out of 404,309 inhabitants in
Istria, 168,116 spoke Serbo-Croatian, 147,416 spoke Italian, 55,365 spoke
Slovene, 13,279 spoke German, 882 spoke Romanian, 2,116 spoke other languages
and 17,135 were non-citizens, which had not been asked for their language of
communication. During the last decades of the Habsburg dynasty the coast of
Istria profited from tourism within the Empire. Generally speaking, Italians
lived on the coast and in the inland cities of northern Istria, while Croats
and Slovenes lived in the eastern and southeastern inland parts of the
countryside. In the second half of the 19th century a
clash of new ideological movements, Italian irredentism and Slovene and
Croatian nationalism, resulted in growing ethnic conflict between Italians
on one side and Slovenes and Croats on the other side. This was intertwined
with class conflict, as inhabitants of Istrian towns were mostly Italian, while
Croats and Slovenes largely lived out in the eastern countryside.
The Croatian word for the Istrians is Istrani, or Istrijani, the latter being
in the local Chakavian dialect. The term Istrani is also used in Slovenia. Today
the Italian minority is organized in many towns and consists officially of
around 45.000 inhabitants. The Istrian county in Croatia is bilingual, as are
large parts of Slovenian Istria. Every citizen has the right to speak either
Italian or Croatian in public administration or in court. Furthermore,
Istria is a supranational European Region that includes Italian, Slovenian
and Croatian Istria. = Ethnicity =
Discussions about Istrian ethnicity often use the words "Italian",
"Croatian" and "Slovene" to describe the character of Istrian people. However,
these terms are best understood as "national affiliations" that may exist
in combination with or independently of linguistic, cultural and historical
attributes. In the Istrian context, for example, the word "Italian" can just as
easily refer to autochthonous speakers of the Venetian language whose
antecedents in the region extend before the inception of the Venetian Republic
or to the Istriot language the oldest spoken language in Istria, dated back to
the Romans, today spoken in the southwest of Istria. It can also refer
to Istrian Croats who adopted the veneer of Italian culture as they moved from
rural to urban areas, or from the farms into the bourgeoisie.
Similarly, national powers claim Istrian Croats according to local language, so
that speakers of Čakavian and Štokavian dialects of the Croatian language are
considered to be Croatians, while speakers of other dialects may be
considered to be Slovene. Croatian dialect speakers are descendants of the
refugees of the Turkish invasion and Ottoman Empire of Bosnia and Dalmatia in
the 16th century. The government of the Republic of Venice
had settled them in Inner Istria, which had been devastated by wars and plague.
Many villages have the Morlachian name like Katun. As with other regions, the
local dialects of the Croatian communities vary greatly across close
distances. The Istrian Croatian and Italian vernaculars had both developed
for many generations before being divided as they are today. This meant
that Croats/Slovenes on the one side and Venetians/other Italians on the other
side yielded to each other culturally while simultaneously distancing
themselves from members of their ethnic groups living farther away.
Another important Istrian community are the Istro-Romanians in the east and
north of Istria and parts of neighbouring Liburnia. A small Albanian
community, which until the late 19th century spoke the Istrian Albanian
dialect, is also present in the peninsula.
Census According to the 2011 Croatian census
data for the Istria County, 68.33% of the inhabitants were Croats, 6.03% were
Italians, 3.46% were Serbs, 2.95% were Bosniaks, 1.15% were Albanians, and
1.96% did not state their nationality. Those declaring themselves regionally as
Istrians made up 12.11%. Other nationalities had less than 1% each.
The data for Slovenian Istria is not as neatly organized, but the 2002 Slovenian
census indicates that the three Istrian municipalities had a total of 56,482
Slovenes, 6,426 Croats and 1,840 Italians.
The small town of Peroj has had a unique history which exemplifies the
multi-ethnic complexity of the history of the region, as do some towns on both
sides of the Cicarija mountains that are still identified with the Istro-Romanian
people which the UNESCO Redbook of Endangered Languages calls "the smallest
ethnic group in Europe". Gallery
See also Bay of Piran
Brijuni History of Istria
Istria County Istrian exodus
Istrian Italians March of Istria
Roman Catholic Diocese of Poreč-Pula References
Notes Further reading
Ashbrook, John. "Self-perceptions, denials, and expressions: Istrianity in
a nationalizing Croatia, 1990-1997". Nationalities Papers 33: 459–487.
doi:10.1080/00905990500353923. Luigi Tomaz, Il confine d'Italia in
Istria e Dalmazia. Duemila anni di storia, Presentazione di Arnaldo Mauri,
Think ADV, Conselve 2008. Luigi Tomaz, In Adriatico nel secondo
millennio, Presentazione di Arnaldo Mauri, Think ADV, Conselve, 2010.
Louis François Cassas "Travels in Istria and Dalmatia, drawn up from the
itinerary of L. F. Cassas" Eng trans. from 1802 Fr pub.
External links Istria on the Internet
Old postcards of Istria A Brief History of Istria / Darko
Darovec Results of Austrian Census on Dec. 31st,
1910 Travels in Istria and Dalmatia: drawn up
from the itinerary of L. F. Cassas on Google Books