Zadar History

Zadar, city and seaport in southwestern Croatia, on the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea, about 115 km (about 70 mi) northwest of Split. Zadar is an important cargo port with a strategic maritime location. The city is a popular seaside resort, with beaches and camping nearby. Ferry service connects it with other cities on the Dalmatian coast and with Italy. There are numerous architectural landmarks, including the 9th-century Saint Donatus Church, and several museums.

Zadar was probably first settled in the 4th century BC by the Illyrians, an ancient people of Indo-European stock. In the 1st century BC the settlement became a colony of Rome and was known as Iadera. It passed to the Byzantine Empire in 553 and was settled by the South Slavs in the 7th cent. Although disputed by Venice, Hungary, and Croatia, it remained under Byzantine protection until 1001, when Emperor Alexius I transferred it to Venice. At the end of the 11th cent. it was seized by Hungary, but the leaders of the Fourth Crusade, persuaded by the doge Enrico Dandolo, re-conquered it for Venice in 1202. After a five-day siege the Crusaders sacked the city, an act for which they were condemned by Pope Innocent III. Hungary continued to dispute Zadar with Venice, which obtained permanent possession of the city only in 1409. The Treaty of Campo Formio (1797) gave it to Austria, and was held by the French under Napoleon I from 1805 to 1813, when it was again taken by Austria.

From 1815 to 1918, it was the capital of the crownland of Dalmatia. Zadar passed to Italy by the Treaty of Saint-Germain (1919), was occupied (1945) by Yugoslav forces at the end of World War II, and was formally ceded to Yugoslavia by the Italian peace treaty of 1947 as part of the constituent republic of Croatia. The city has several Roman monuments and medieval churches and palaces.

Population est. at 80,000..