March of Istria

The March of Istria, or the Margraviate of Istria (German: Markgrafschaft Istrien) was a historical frontier county, or march centered on the Istrian peninsula. It was established after the Carolingian conquest at the end of the 8th century, and continued to exist in various territorial scopes and administrative forms within the Holy Roman Empire, consequently becoming integrated into the Austrian Kingdom of Illyria, and the Austrian Littoral. In time it lost its most western (coastal) regions, that became pat of the Venetian Istria, while the Istrian frontier county, or march was reduced to central and eastern parts of the Istrian peninsula. Those regions were reintegrated after 1797, and the reunited Istrian march was finally abolished in 1918.^[1]