 Kaštelina castle | |
 Interactive map of Vir | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Adriatic Sea |
| Area | 22.38 km2 (8.64 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 112 m (367 ft) |
| Highest point | Bandira |
| Administration | |
| County | Zadar County |
| Largest settlement | Vir |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 3,045[1] (2021) |
| Pop. density | 136/km2 (352/sq mi) |
Vir (pronounced[v̞îːr]) is anisland on theCroatian coast of theAdriatic Sea with an area of 22 km2.[2] It lies inDalmatia, north of thecity ofZadar. It is connected to themainland via aroad bridge. The main village on the island is theeponymous village of Vir. There are two more villages, Lozice and Torovi.[3] According to the 2011 census, the island had a population of 3,000 inhabitants, making it the 13th most populous island in Croatia.[1]
The highest peak on the island is Bandira (112 m).
The first known mention of Vir was inMare Nostrum Dalmaticum (1069), a charter byCroatian kingPeter Krešimir IV, where the island is referred to asUeru (Veru), a word believed to have an ancient Mediterranean origin, meaning "pasture".[4] As part of thePacta conventa in 1102, defining the status ofCroatia in personal union with Hungary, Vir and the area became a part of a union with theKingdom of Hungary.[5] During the 1241Mongol invasion of Europe, the Hungarian KingBéla IV of Hungary fled to the south, and theMongol forces under the leadership ofKadan followed him all the way toDalmatia, where they were repelled by the Croatian forces. Afterwards, Hungarian rule was quickly restored back to normal. In 1313, theRepublic of Venice sent three thousand soldiers to the island, claiming it, and used it as a base to attack and conquer the nearby city ofZadar. This marks the new era of the reign ofVenice over the area.[5]
In the 16th century, theOttoman conquest of Europe started to threaten the Dalmatian coast, causing Venice to build the Kaštelina fortress as a precaution in case of an Ottoman invasion. Local documents indicate that 36 people lived on Vir in 1579, and 130 people by 1603.[5] During theNapoleonic Wars,Napoleon's army established theIllyrian Provinces over large swaths of Dalmatia, including Vir, as part of a direct rule of theFirst French Empire from 1809 to 1814. Following the defeat of the French forces, the area became part of theAustrian Empire, in 1867 reformed intoAustria-Hungary. Following thedissolution of Austria-Hungary afterWorld War I, Vir became part of theKingdom of Yugoslavia, while the neighboring Zadar was left as an enclave of theKingdom of Italy. In 1941,Fascist Italy ruled byBenito Mussoliniconquered the rest of Dalmatia, while Vir was under the control of theNazipuppet state ofIndependent State of Croatia. AfterWorld War II,Tito'sPartisan forces expelled Italian forces and incorporated Zadar and Vir into the newly formedSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia by 1945. Following thedissolution of Yugoslavia,Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia, and theCroatian War of Independence escalated in 1991. The Serb and Yugoslav forces mountedan attack on the Zadar area, but were stopped. Vir became a part of the newly sovereign Croatia and was mostly untouched by the war, which ended in 1995.
Vir is atourist hotspot. Official statistics in 2018 documented over 80,000 guests from over 70 countries on the island already by the end of July. In 2018, the highest number of foreign tourists was fromSlovenia,Germany,Hungary,Slovakia, theCzech Republic,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Poland,Austria,Sweden andSwitzerland. With an average of 12.6 overnight stays per tourist, Vir holds the record of the longest time of tourist stays in Croatia.[6]
The island is one of the biggest described endemic places of origin ofhouse-mouse-bornelymphocytic choriomeningitis in the world, withIFA testing having found LCMV antibodies in 36% of the tested population.[7][8]
44°18.20568′N15°05.13222′E / 44.30342800°N 15.08553700°E /44.30342800; 15.08553700
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