Dalmatia,region ofCroatia,comprising a central coastal strip and a fringe of islands along theAdriatic Sea. Its greatest breadth, on the mainland, is about 28 miles (45 km), and its total length, from the Kvarner (Quarnero) gulf to the narrows ofKotor (Cattaro), is about 233 miles (375 km). The major islands from north to south (with Italian names in parentheses) are Krk (Veglia),Cres (Cherso),Rab (Arba), Pag (Pago), Dugi Otok (Isola Lunga), Brač (Brazza),Hvar (Lesina),Vis (Lissa),Korčula (Curzola), Mljet (Meleda), and Lastovo (Lagosta). A rugged and barren range of mountains, theDinaric Alps, divides Dalmatia from the interior. With peaks ranging from 1,500 feet (450 meters) to more than 6,200 feet (1,900 meters), the Dinaric Alps offer only two main passes: the Krka River canyon and theNeretva River valley. The Dalmatian coastline has numerous bays and harbors and is noted for its scenic beauty. The climate is mild, with dry summers,abundant rain in autumn and winter, and very little snow.

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The first recorded inhabitants of Dalmatia wereIllyrians (the name Dalmatia probably comes from the name of an Illyrian tribe, the Delmata, an Indo-European people who overran the northwestern part of theBalkan Peninsula beginning about 1000bce). The Greeks began to settle there from the 4th century, founding a number of colonies on the islands, the most famous of which were Issa (Vis), Pharos (Hvar), and Corcyra Melaina (Korčula), and a few towns on the mainland coast, one of which is Salona (Solin), near modern Split. The Greeks, opposed by the Illyrians, appealed to theRomans for help, and a long series of Roman-Illyrian wars began in 229. The fall of the Dalmatian capital, Delminium, in 155 brought Roman civilization to the country. On the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, Dalmatia fell under the power ofOdoacer in 481ce and later under that of Theodoric, to become a battlefield during the wars between the Goths and theByzantine emperorJustinian I.

By the time permanent Venetian rule had been established (1420), Dalmatia had passed through about 30 changes ofsovereignty.Byzantines, Greeks, Magyars, Tatars, Croatian and Serbian princes, Venetians, Sicilians, and Normans were among its conquerors. The Croatian kings and the Venetian doges were the only rulers who held power long enough to leave a permanent mark on Dalmatian character andconsciousness.

Venetian rule, established in 1420 when the king of Croatia,Ladislas of Naples, ceded the country to the Venetian republic, ended in 1797. This period was marked by Venetian warfare against the Turks. When the French gave Venice to Austria under theTreaty of Campo Formio (1797), Dalmatia became Austrian also; but in 1805, under theTreaty of Pressburg, Austria had to cede Dalmatia to Napoleon. It was returned to Austria after Napoleon’s fall and remained an Austrian crownland until 1918.

DuringWorld War I, by the secretTreaty of London (1915), theAllies had promised large territories, including northern Dalmatia, to theItalians in return for their support. This treaty embittered negotiations for a peace settlement. Finally, theTreaty of Rapallo (November 12, 1920) betweenItaly andYugoslavia gave all Dalmatia to the Yugoslavs except the mainlandZadar (Italian: Zara)enclave and the coastal islands of Cres, Lošinj (Lussino), and Lastovo. The Palagruza islands, in the mid-Adriatic, also passed to Italy. DuringWorld War II, when Yugoslavia was partitioned by theAxis powers, Dalmatia was annexed by Italy, but it passed to Yugoslavia in its entirety in 1947 as part of the Croatian republic (independent from 1992), with the city of Split serving as provincial capital.

Dalmatia’s principal cities are Zadar, Split (Spalato),Šibenik (Sebenico), Dubrovnik (Ragusa),Trogir (Trau), Korčula, and Kotor. The region’s economy is mainly agricultural. The soil is unsuitable for the cultivation of cereal grains but favors olive trees, vegetables, and, above all, vines. Dalmatian vineyards are rich in wine production. There are deposits ofbauxite that areexploited by the aluminum refinery near Šibenik. Abundant reserves of limestone coming from the neighborhood of Split account for much of Croatia’s cement output. There are also chemical factories as well as food-processing plants. Major shipbuilding yards are at Split. The rivers, except for a few miles on the Krka and on the Neretva, are unsuitable for navigation, but their precipitous fall makes them a natural source ofhydroelectric power. Tourism has become a major economic factor;Dubrovnik andSplit are major Mediterranean tourist attractions.