Dubrovnik
See also: Raguse (homonymy)
Dubrovnik is a town of Croatia, populated of 48.000 inhabitants. It was known formerly under the name of Raguse and its inhabitants, as what is referred to it, are still called ragusains .
Geography
Located at the south of the Dalmatian coast , near the border with the Bosnia-Herzégovine and the Montenegro, thestrong one of Dubrovnik ( Ragusa in Italian and Latin) is one of the high tourist places of Croatia. This port city indeed carries many testimonys of its very rich history, through its monuments and of its paved streets.
The principal one of them, the Placed (or Stradun ), is a broad paved avenue traced in the middle of the city, on the old marsh which separated the Latin Raguse on the rock from Dubrava on the continent. When the city increases during the Middle Ages, it drained this marsh and made an artery of it.
History
The Middle Ages and modern time
See also: Republic of Raguse
Dubrovnik was founded during first half of the seventh century. As of its foundation, the city was placed under the protection of Byzance. In 980, the city became the seat of one évêché. Following the example Venice of which it became concurrent, Dubrovnik could draw part of its coastal position to develop a lucrative maritime trade.
It was controlled by a vice-chancellor, elected official each month. This one was placed with the palate of the vice-chancellor, where it received neither friends, nor family, devoting itself entirely to its task. The République of Raguse included/understood only the ports of Raguse (Dubrovnik) and Ragusavecchia (Cavtat) until in 1120, date on which it extended its back-country.
Between 1180 and 1190, the Large Prince of Rascie Stefan Nemanja (see) twice tried to seize the Republic, without success. Between 1233 and 1242, the Republic again extended its possessions in the back-country.
The importance of its traffic led it to establish first forty in 1377 to protect itself from the black Peste.
After the Fourth crusade, it passed under the domination of Venice, until in 1358. In 1358 (peace treaty of Zadar), the République of Raguse recognized the suzerainty of the king of Hungary, with which it poured a tribute until 1526, after the battles of Mohács. The Hungarian authority related however only to the taxes and the fleet and one thus makes traditionally begin independence from the Republic of Raguse with 1358.
The Republic accepted the island of Meleda (Mljet) then the neighborhoods of Slano in 1399. Between 1427 and 1451, it bought the area of Konavle to the Royaume of Bosnia.
In 1409 and 1417, Venice disputed to him the monopoly of the trade in the town of Drijeva, which was then possession of the kingdom of Bosnia. It failed by twice, and Raguse remained main trade of the salt (saltworks of the Neretva), which passed by this city.
In 1416, it is the first European state to abolish the Esclavage and, therefore, to prohibit the trade of the slaves. During fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it developed its trade between Europe Othoman E and the ports of the Mediterranean. At the sixteenth century, the merchant fleet of the Republic counted 160 ships.
The Turkish projection in the Balkans, and in particular the conquest of the Serbia, night seriously with the trade of the Republic. It signed, in 1442, a treaty with the Othoman S; this treaty authorized the merchants of Raguse to be traded in the Balkans, with the help of the payment of a tax.
Savagely catholic, the Republic reserved the post offices of the magistrature to the members of this religion and obliged sometimes the Orthodoxe ones to convert. In 1492, it accommodated however a group of expelled Jews of Spain.
At the end of the fifteenth century, conflicts opposed Venice to the Hungarians, then Othoman Venice with the S for the control of the market of Drijeva, harming thus seriously the trade of the merchants of Raguse, who had the monopoly of it. It should be waited until 1503 so that a peace treaty is signed.
Just like Venice, it offered assistance to Moslem alliance at the time of the Bataille of Diu against the Portuguese, in 1509, in the Indian Ocean (see).
After 1526, it paid a tribute with the Othomans, and this until in 1718. The tribute rose then with 12.500 ducats per year. The republic was never concerned completely the crisis of the maritime trade in the Mediterranean and the earthquake of 1667 (more than 5.000 dead).
In 1699, it yielded two ground portions to the Ottoman Empire. In this manner, Venice could not any more attack it but by the sea route, and either by terrestrial way. This is at the origin of the single access to the sea of the Bosnia in the area of Neum.
The commercial power that it acquired thus was the source of the political power which it knew to safeguard until the annexation in 1809 by Napoleon Bonaparte (incorporation in the provinces illyriennes directed by Marmont then Fouché).
Recent time
The 1st October 1991, the Armée popular Yugoslavian attacks and encircles Dubrovnik during the Croatian Guerre of independence. The seat lasted until May 1992. The largest artillery attack took place the December 6th 1991, killing 19 people and by wounding 60. The full number of victims in this area is of 114 civilians killed, according to the Croix-Rouge, of which the Croatian poet Milan Milisić (see).Of 1992 with 1993, the city, in addition, was the target of shootings of the army serbo-Montenegrin posted on the heights of Trebinje, in the north of the city.
The attack against Dubrovnik aimed at compromising a political company Montenegrin E reticent in the military companies decided by Slobodan Milošević: one had told with the reservists Montenegrins that the " Oustachis " attacked the Montenegro, and they put at bag the area, in particular Cavtat and the valley of Konavle.
There is not less also a contemporary Serb speech which claims that Dubrovnik would be " serbe" , under pretext which the town of Raguse was founded in an area invaded by the Serb ones at the 7th century. This lie makes it possible Serb to annex writers and scientists of which, occupied by the Othomans, they cruelly missed before the 19th century. It is thus not only because the city legally did not become " croate" that by the Cvetković-Macek agreement of August 26th, 1939 that many authors hesitated to speak about Dubrovnik like " city; croate" , that whose its inhabitants had ceased doubting as of the 19th century, after the short intellectual fashion of the " Serb catholiques" : the Serb propaganda, relayed in France by the Third Republic, also played a part.
Rebuilding
68% of the buildings of the old city would have been touched directly or indirectly by the shootings of Obus.The rebuilding proceeded, as much as possible, in the respect of the traditional techniques, while applying antiseismic standards new, in this area geologically unstable.
The restoration of the roofs was particularly problematic, the traditional materials not being more available in sufficient quantity. The old tiles were thus gradually replaced by news, building by building.
Images of the old city
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