History History

The history of Dubrovnik begins... in Cavtat. This city in Konavle, founded by the Greeks and later taken over by the Romans, is where the first inhabitants of Dubrovnik were born. At the beginning of the 7th century, the population of Cavtat (then known as Epidaurus) fled the Avar invasions and took refuge on the rocky promontory of Laus, an islet separated from the mainland. Here, the refugees built a city which they named Ragusium and which they placed under the protection of Constantinople. This history has not completely disappeared today: in Italian, Cavtat is still called "Ragusa Vecchia", or Old Ragusa!

Ragusa joined its neighbor across the street: Dubrava (whose name refers to the abundant oak forests in the region at that time), populated by Slavs. The tiny arm of the sea that separated Dubrava from Ragusa was then filled in and became the main street of Dubrovnik: the Stradun.

During the Fourth Crusade, Venice took control of Constantinople, which put Dubrovnik at the mercy of the Serenissima. Ragusa eventually belonged to the Serenissima: the doge placed a figure of his choice in the position of the rector(knez), the head of the city first mentioned in 1181 and who resided in the rector's palace. Dubrovnik thus became a city-state developed on the Venetian model. The regulation in terms of urban development and hygiene imposed by Venice (in 1272 in particular) was retained by the Republic of Ragusa. Trade continued to flourish and Venice used the port of Dubrovnik as its base in the southern Adriatic

The first half of the 14th century was marked by the territorial expansion of Dubrovnik. Still under the tutelage of Venice, the city came into possession of the island of Lastovo at the beginning of the century. In 1333, it obtained a concession on the locality of Ston (Pelješac peninsula), giving it access to the precious salt mines. Then Dubrovnik buys from the king of Bosnia a part of the peninsula of Pelješac and also recovers the island of Mljet.

As elsewhere in Europe, the plague epidemic also hit Ragusa, causing the death of half the population. The plague returned several times during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and the city took measures. In 1377, Dubrovnik imposed the confinement and isolation of suspect ships for thirty days. This was one of the earliest examples of "quarantine. In the late 16th century, the Lazareti were built near the Ploče Gate.

The peace of Zadar marked the end of Venetian sovereignty in Dubrovnik. The city agreed to become part of the Hungarian-Croatian kingdom in exchange for some minor concessions (annual tribute of 500 ducats, homage paid to the king and the flag of the monarchy flown during the monarch's visit...), but it kept its autonomous power. Ragusa could again elect its rector and prosper as never before, attracting many populations: Greeks, Jews, Germans, Catalans, Italians... all were tolerated and even managed to rise to the top of the local power. This was the beginning of the Republic of Ragusa which survived for more than three centuries, until the arrival of Napoleonic troops in 1806.

Thanks to a perfect mastery of diplomacy and a clever balancing act, Ragusa extended its area of influence even further. It acquired the rest of Pelješac (Primorje) in 1399 and in 1426, a large part of Konavle (including the city of Cavtat) was returned to it. It signed many treaties to protect itself from Venice with the cities of Ancona, Ravenna and Pisa. In the 15th century, the wall of Ston was also completed to protect the salt marshes. Charles VIII granted Ragusa the right to trade in French ports, which initiated the beginning of a privileged relationship between the kingdom of France and the city of Dubrovnik. Many Ragusans were sent to France, and many of them became famous at the Sorbonne

While the surrounding powers succumbed one by one to the Ottoman advance towards the west, Dubrovnik became an ally of the Sublime Porte. Several treaties were signed in 1430, 1458 and 1481, guaranteeing the city the protection of the sultan and the right to trade on Turkish territory. In exchange, Ragusa paid an annual tribute of 12,500 ducats and kept a neutral position during the conflicts between Christianity and the Ottoman Empire, which allowed it to trade on both sides.

A genius and enfant terrible of the Republic of Ragusa, Marin Držić is considered one of the most important authors in the Croatian language of the Renaissance. Born in Dubrovnik, a stone's throw from the Rector's Palace, the young Držić received a religious education and was ordained a priest at the age of 18. Recipient of a scholarship from the Ragusan Senate, he was sent to Italy in 1538 to study canon law, but he was immediately noticed for his jovial and outgoing temperament. Very popular among the students, he was elected deputy rector of the University of Siena and ended up being punished for having played in a comedy contrary to morality and public order. He returned to Dubrovnik in 1545 without having completed his studies. From 1548, after trips to Vienna, Constantinople and Venice, Marin Držić began to write his plays: Tirena, Venus and Adonis, Dundo Maroje, Novela od Stanca and Tripče de Utolče are among the works that have survived to this day. They tell the story of Ragusan society in its daily life, often denouncing social injustices. In 1562, moreover, Držić left Ragusa again, fed up with the local administration. He moved to Venice and even tried to organize - from a distance - a coup d'état in his hometown, but he did not succeed. He died in 1567 and was buried in the Basilica of St. John and St. Paul in Venice, where the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb placed a plaque in his honor in 1972.

Protected by the Ottomans and free to trade with all the world, Dubrovnik knew its golden age. Its fleet was the third largest in the world and the prosperity of the city was ensured by its wealth in silver (Serbian and Bosnian mines), in salt (Ston) and by its numerous territorial possessions. Ragusa mastered without fail the naval art and diplomacy and opened many consulates abroad. The Renaissance flourished in the shadow of the city walls, and the great noble families became patrons of the arts: poets, scholars, architects, painters and sculptors transformed the city into the pearl of the Adriatic. The Croatian language acquired its letters of nobility. The Ragusa school (an artistic movement) had nothing to envy to its Florentine or Venetian counterparts. Ragusa gave birth to geniuses such as Marin Držić (the Croatian Shakespeare), and later to Ivan Gundulić or Ruđer Bošković (scientist who directed the optics of the Paris Navy at the end of the 18th century).

The earthquake that destroyed three quarters of the city - without affecting the ramparts - and took away almost half of the population of the city (4,000 souls) marked a historical turning point. The city was rebuilt in a refined baroque style, no more extravagance. The growth of Atlantic trade dealt a blow to the finances of the Republic of Ragusa: the spice route was lost to it. Just like its great rival, the Republic of Venice, Dubrovnik saw the beginning of a slow decline in the 17th century.

Signed in Sremski Karlovci, today in Serbia, this treaty marks the beginning of the retreat of the Ottoman Empire in Eastern Europe. In Dalmatia, the Republic of Venice obtained new territories, but the diplomats of Ragusa insisted that there was no common border between the city-state and the Serenissima. The port of Neum was thus attributed to the Ottomans. This tongue of land now belongs to Bosnia and Herzegovina and cuts the Croatian territory in two (it is precisely to bypass this territory that Croatia inaugurated in 2021 the Pelješac bridge).

The arrival of Napoleon's troops in Dubrovnik marked the end of the Republic of Ragusa, even though it was officially proclaimed two years later. The region of Dubrovnik was then attached to the Illyrian Provinces and in 1815, following the Congress of Vienna, the city joined the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its future is now linked to that of Croatia, of which it is a full part.

The nationalist effervescence that conquered Croatia was also felt in Dubrovnik. While in Zagreb Josip Jelačić (1801-1859) promulgated the first Croatian political program, demanding among other things from Vienna the abolition of the feudal regime, the unification of Croatian regions and the election of a representative assembly, in Ragusa the political panorama was divided between those who favored the constitution of a Croatian state and the autonomists who emphasized the kinship with Italy.

The First World War disrupted the map of Europe, including the organization of the Balkan Peninsula. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was dismantled and the Slavic peoples of the South were grouped together in the new kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The Croatian Diet no longer existed, and Croatia lost its state identity. In 1929, King Alexander Karađorđević proclaimed Yugoslavia. This was the beginning of a period of dictatorship, which was accompanied by an intensification of repression.

Yugoslavia was dismantled in the spring of 1941 and was invaded by German, Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian troops. Ante Pavelić, the leader of the Italian-backed Ustasha (literally insurgents, the Croatian fascist movement), became the head of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a puppet state allied with the Nazis and fascists. With the exception of a few territories, central Dalmatia became Italian, but Dubrovnik, like southern Dalmatia, was assigned to the NDH

Started in 1941, the resistance was established three years later. Belgrade was liberated in November 1944, Zagreb in May 1945. Marshal Tito, secretary of the Communist Party since 1937 and leader of the partisans, took over the government in March 1945. On November 29, the newly elected Constituent Assembly proclaimed the republic with Tito as president. A federation of six republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia) and two autonomous regions (Kosovo and Vojvodina) was formed. Dubrovnik returned to the socialist republic of Croatia.

The break with the Soviet Union in 1948 set Tito's Yugoslavia on a new course. While the state remained a totalitarian, one-party regime, self-management, economic decentralization and the relaxation of collectivization and planning became the key words of Tito. The Non-Aligned Movement was launched in 1961 in Belgrade, making Yugoslavia a major player on the international scene. Ten years later, the "Croatian Spring" called for more freedom and autonomy in Croatia, but it was suppressed in blood. The economy slowed during the 1970s, and when Tito died in 1980, the country fell victim to the nationalists. The Red History Museum in Dubrovnik traces the turbulent history of Yugoslavia.

After the victory of Franjo Tuđman's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in the first multiparty elections in Croatia in 1990 and after the victory of the "yes" vote in the independence referendum in May 1991, war broke out in Yugoslavia. In Dubrovnik, the siege began on October¹, 1991 with the invasion of Konavle by the Yugoslav army, the JNA. At the time, the Montenegrin authorities and Serbia were spreading the message that Dubrovnik was armed to the teeth and that 30,000 Ustasha (Croatian fascists), aided by Turkish mercenaries, were threatening to invade the Kotor region. In reality, Dubrovnik and its surroundings had been very weakly militarized for more than thirty years and therefore particularly vulnerable. While the population took mass refuge in the hotels of Lapad and Babin Kuk, the old city was hit by bombing from the top of Mount Srđ. Sponza Palace, the Jesuit church, the clock tower are hit. On October 30, the JNA resumed firing, the old city was again damaged (and a civilian killed), and also targeted the hotel complexes in the west of the city. On November 9, Lapad, Gruž, and the imperial fort in Srđ were bombed. On November 19, the Kouchner plan for Dubrovnik requires the cessation of JNA advancement in Mokošica. On December 6, the St. Nicholas bombing, targeting the old town, was the most intense. It was not until January 1992 that a cease-fire, partly negotiated by the United Nations, came into effect, and it took several months for the localities in the region to be completely liberated. The siege of Dubrovnik caused the death of a hundred civilians and the (partial) destruction of nearly 70% of the buildings in the old city, not to mention the ruined hotels..

The signing of the Dayton Agreement on 14 December 1995 marked the end of hostilities in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina (in Kosovo the conflict continued until 1999). The liberation of Croatian territory, which began in the summer of 1995, lasted until early 1998. While the Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević is indicted for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, the first Croatian president Franjo Tuđman dies of cancer on December 12, 1999.

Stjepan Mesić, leader of the opposition, was elected president of the Republic of Croatia in February 2000, replacing Tuđman. The parliamentary elections saw the victory of the opposition coalition of six parties around the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Mesić's team focuses its program on Croatia's integration into the European Union. Stjepan Mesić was re-elected President in the 2005 elections.

Ivo Josipović became the third president of independent Croatia. Ivo Sanader, head of the HDZ, was appointed Prime Minister in 2003, after the Social Democrats lost the parliamentary elections. After Sanader's resignation in 2009, Croatia's Prime Minister is, for the first time in its history, a woman, Jadranka Kosor. But in the early elections of 2011, the socialists of the SDP returned to power and Zoran Milanović was elected Prime Minister.

Following a 66% positive referendum in Croatia (in January 2012), the country became the 28th member of the EU on July¹, 2013. Today, Croatia is continuing negotiations for membership in the Schengen area and the Eurozone.

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović was elected President of the Republic, marking the return of the HDZ. The parliamentary elections are also won by the conservatives, who win several times. In 2016, former HDZ MEP Andrej Plenković becomes prime minister. He wins another term in 2020.

The construction of the Pelješac Bridge is complete. The new infrastructure connects the Dubrovnik region with the rest of the Croatian coastline, while bypassing the Bosnian territory of Neum

Ten years after joining the European Union, Croatia joins the Schengen area and the euro zone on January 1, 2023. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković celebrates "a historic moment" for the country.