Split: History

Pre-20th-Century History

Split achieved fame when the Roman emperor Diocletian (AD245-313), noted for his persecution of early Christians, had his retirement palace built here from 295 to 305. After his death the great stone palace continued to be used as a retreat by Roman rulers. When the nearby colony of Salona was abandoned in the 7th century, many of the Romanised inhabitants fled to Split and barricaded themselves behind the high palace walls, where their descendants live to this day.

First the Byzantine Empire and then Croatia controlled the area, but from the 12th to the 14th centuries medieval Split enjoyed a large measure of autonomy which favoured its development. The western part of the old town around Narodni trg, which dates from this time, became the focus of municipal life, while the area within the palace walls continued as the ecclesiastical centre.

In 1420 the Venetians conquered Split, which led to a slow decline. During the 17th century, strong walls were built around the city as a defence against the Turks. In 1797 the Austrians arrived; they remained until 1918, with only a brief interruption during the Napoleonic Wars.

Modern History

Split's centuries-old period of gradual decline was reversed following the end of WWI, when the city unexpectedly benefited from the upheaval that convulsed Europe following the end of that cataclysmic conflict. Split was incorporated into the newly created Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which was to be renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. Interminable and occasionally fraught negotiations between the new kingdom and Italy led to the kingdom's eventual loss of the ports of Rijeka and Zadar, making Split for a time Croatia's principal port and boosting the city's strategic importance. A rail connection with Zagreb was completed in 1925.

Split's fortunes in WWII were tumultuous: first occupied by Italy, then briefly independent, then reoccupied by the Nazis. After the war, as part of Croatia, Split enjoyed a period of sustained growth under the auspices of the socialist federalist Yugoslavia. Its industrialisation led to an influx of rural migrants relocating to the city and multiplying its population threefold.

Recent History

Split was not spared further upheaval following the collapse of the Yugoslav federation and the subsequent Croatian declaration of independence in 1991. At the time, the city was the base of a significant federalist military presence, both naval and land-based. Tensions between federalist and Croatian forces lasted several months and occasionally spilled over into violence, although nothing like that which was inflicted on Dubrovnik to the south. The federalist military finally withdrew in early 1992.

Left to its own devices, Split's industrial economy collapsed, leaving many blue-collar workers unemployed. Although some parts of the city's manufacturing sector have since been reinvigorated and the economy is growing - albeit at a snail's pace - the city now depends on tourism and port traffic to keep its head above water.

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