Dalmatia

Dalmatia Dalmacija (Croatian) Dalmazia (Italian) Dalmàssia (Venetian)
Historical Region
Flag Coat of arms
Dalmatia, on a map of Croatia Sometimes regarded as Dalmatia:   (striped) Gračac Municipality   Bay of Kotor area in Montenegro   Rab Island and surroundings
Country	Croatia  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Montenegro
Named after	Dalmatae
Capital	Salona (10 - 639) Zadar (640 - 1918) Split (Largest city)
Area 2
• Total	12,190 km2 (4,710 sq mi)
Highest elevation (Dinara)	1,831 m (6,007 ft)
Population  (2021)2
• Total	803,930
• Density	66/km2 (170/sq mi)
Demonym	Dalmatian
Time zone	Central European Time
^ Dalmatia is not an official subdivision of the Republic of Croatia; it is a historical region.[1] The flag and arms below are also unofficial/historical; none are legally defined at present. ^ The figures are an approximation based on statistical data for the four southernmost Croatian Counties (Zadar without Gračac, Šibenik-Knin, Split-Dalmatia, Dubrovnik-Neretva, Novalja, Rab and Lopar).[2][3]

Dalmatia (/dælˈmeɪʃə, -tiə/ ^ⓘ; Croatian: Dalmacija [dǎlmatsija]; Italian: Dalmazia [dalˈmattsja]) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Austrian Empire, and presently the Republic of Croatia.

Dalmatia is a narrow belt stretching from the island of Rab in the north to the Bay of Kotor in the south. The Dalmatian Hinterland ranges in width from fifty kilometres in the north, to just a few kilometres in the south; it is mostly covered by the rugged Dinaric Alps. Seventy-nine islands (and about 500 islets) run parallel to the coast, the largest (in Dalmatia) being Brač, Pag, and Hvar. The largest city is Split, followed by Zadar, Šibenik, and Dubrovnik.

The name of the region stems from an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae, who lived in the area in classical antiquity. Later it became a Roman province (with a much larger territory than the modern region), and consequently a Romance culture emerged, along with the now-extinct Dalmatian language, later largely replaced with related Venetian and Italian, which were mainly spoken by the Dalmatian Italians. With the arrival of the Sclaveni (South Slavs) to the area in the late 6th and early 7th century, who eventually occupied most of the coast and hinterland, Slavic and Romance elements began to intermix in language and culture, over time creating a distinctly Dalmatian cultural, linguistic, and culinary landscape, which is still evident today.

After the medieval Kingdom of Croatia, in which most of Dalmatia was situated, entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102, its cities and lands were often conquered by, or switched allegiance to, the kingdoms of the region during the Middle Ages. Eventually, Dalmatia came under the rule of the Republic of Venice, which controlled most of Dalmatia between 1409 and 1797 as part of its State of the Sea (though Venice had already controlled a number of coastal towns and islands since the year 1000), with the exception of the small but stable Republic of Ragusa (1358–1808) in the south. Between 1815 and 1918, the region was a province of the Austrian Empire known as the Kingdom of Dalmatia. After the Austro-Hungarian defeat in World War I, Dalmatia was split between the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which controlled most of it, and the Kingdom of Italy, which held several smaller parts. After World War II, the People's Republic of Croatia as a part of Yugoslavia took complete control over the area. Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Dalmatia became part of the Republic of Croatia.