Hvar - History

History

The first inhabitants of Hvar Island were Neolithic people who probably established trade links between Hvar and the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. The Hvar Culture lasted from 3500 to 2500 BC.

Beginning in the 4th century BC, the Greeks colonized the island. In 384 BC the Greek colonisers of Pharos defeated Iadasinoi warriors and their allies, invited by the Hvar indigenes in their resistance to the Greek colonization. Their victory over much larger forces was immortalized in one of the oldest known inscriptions of Croatia.

Hvar in 219 B.C. became a part of the Roman Empire and the Greek name Pharos was changed to Pharia.

After the fall of the Roman Empire the island was under the control of Bisantium. The population increased in the Late Antiquity with an abundance of archeological finds. A large number of new villa rustica in Stari Grad Plain and also on the previously vacant eastern shores was built.

In the early Middle Ages, Slavic tribes occupied the island. In the first half of the 7th century the Narentines took over the island. Venetian sailors saw the island while sailing towards the south and were threatened by the Narentine pirates from the island. In the 11th century the island joined the Kingdom of Croatia.

In the 12th century the rise of the Republic of Venice brought vines and wine cultivation which blossomed into a major industry for the island in the Middle Ages. The island eventually again fell under Byzantine rule, and then under Kingdom of Croatia and Hungary. In 1331 the Venetians put the island under protection from threats of piracy. According to the 1358 Treaty of Zadar, the island was handed over to the Kingdom of Hungary. For short time in the summer of 1390 it was held by the Bosnian king Stephen Tvrtko I. In 1409, the Republic of Venice finally again became its long-term owner.

In the 16th century, an uprising occurred between the plebeians and aristocracy, the most serious of the uprising occurred between 1510 and 1514 with the Venetians ruthlessly crushing the locals and sending twenty of their leaders to the hangman. The island became prosperous from fishing, the cultivation of rosemary, lavender and olives. The Venetians set up the Diocese of Hvar.

Hvar is important to the history of Croatia as it was one of the centers of Croatian literature during the Renaissance, with writers such as Petar Hektorović and Hanibal Lucić. In Stari Grad, tourists can see the Petar Hektorović fortress/villa called Tvrdalj Castle, architectonically designed by the poet himself.

Churches on the island contain many important paintings and artworks by famous Venetian artists, including Tintoretto, Veronese, Bellini and others.

In 1797 Hvar was annexed with the fall of the Venetian Republic by the Habsburg Monarchy as per the Treaty of Campo Formio. But forces of the French Empire seized it in 1806 during the Napoleonic wars before finally being taken by British marines and sailors in 1812.

During the Croatian national renaissance, in the age of national awakening in Europe, many leading figures in southern Croatia, and in Croatia as a whole, came from Hvar.

The Austrians regained control of the island in accordance to the 1815 Treaty of Vienna and into the beginning of the 20th century brought a period of relative prosperity. The Italian army occupied the island from 1918 until 1921, when Hvar with the rest of Croatia joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1939, an autonomous Croatian Banate was formed that included it. During WWII, it was under control of Independent State of Croatia, but under military occupation of Fascist Italy until 1943. After 1945, it became a part of People's Republic of Croatia, a constituent republic of Communist Yugoslavia.

Ivan Vučetić, the man who perfected dactyloscopy at the turn of the 20th century, came from Hvar island.

In 1992 the Republic of Croatia was recognized as an Independent state in which Hvar obtained a position in its territorial reorganization.

In today's Croatia, Hvar's most famous citizen is football player Igor Tudor (Juventus), while most famous Croatian deputy in Sabor (awarded as the "Deputy of the year") is from the island of Hvar, Tonči Tadić.