Hvar

 

Hvar (Chakavian Hvor, or For, Greek: Φάρος, Faros) is an island in Croatia, off the east coast of the Adriatic Sea. It belongs to the group of central Dalmatian islands. Due to the large number of sunny days, it is often called Sunny Hvar.

Geographical location and properties
Hvar belongs to the group of central Dalmatian islands. It is located in the Split-Dalmatia County, in the middle of a group of islands that are part of this county. Seen in the immediate vicinity, north of it is the island of Brac, and south of it are Scedro (from which it is divided by Scedor Channel), Vis (more to the southwest), Paklinski islands, Korcula and the Peljesac peninsula.

It is 72 km long and 10.5 km wide in the wider part. Its total length of the coast is 254.2 km. It covers an area of ​​299.7 km2, which makes it the fourth largest Croatian island. The highest peak is Sv. Nikola, on which the chapel is located, 628 m high.

The road connecting the town of Hvar on the west and Sucuraj on the east side of the island is 84 km. The island of Hvar is mostly covered with pine forest, which creates an extremely pleasant climate and vineyards that produce up to 50,000 hectoliters of wine per year.

 

History

The island was inhabited in prehistoric times, 6000 years ago. From that period on the island there are finds of a distinctive Hvar culture (3500-- 2500 BC), known for painted pottery.

There are known finds from Marko and Grapčeva špilja, where the oldest representation of a ship in Europe was found on a fragment of a ceramic vase, and the site of Purkin kuk with megaliths.

Later, the island was inhabited by the Illyrians.

The Greeks knew about the island of Hvar in archaic times and it is believed that they founded the colony of Anchiala there, but there is no evidence for that. Before the arrival of Paran, the Old Town was protected by fortifications on the hill, which tells us about the importance of the fertile area for the natives.

Hvar was the site of ancient Greek colonization in the 4th century BC. Pharos was founded on it at that time, 385/384 BC, on the site of today's Old Town. Diodor Sikulski brings us information about that. Hvar was colonized by Dionozius of Syracuse, he founded the settlement of Ionian Paraná. Diodorus of Siculus also brings us information about the battle that was fought between the natives and Paraná. Namely, the commander from the colony that Dionysius had founded earlier came to the aid of the Paranians. It is Lesh in Albania or Vis. Two epigraphic monuments also testify to this battle - the inscription of the Hero Kalija who died about the war with the Illyrians and the monument of Faran, which testifies to the victory of Faran over the Jadasins. Pharos was a polis. It is not known if there were other ancient Greek settlements on the island, perhaps someone on the site of today's Hvar (scientists placed Heraclea or Dimos there, but there is no evidence for that). In the Starigrad field, the Faroese chora has been preserved, the original ancient Greek cadastral division of the country with stone boundaries (mounds) which is still visible today. The Faroese choir is an agricultural part that belongs to the polis, and in which, in addition to the farm estates, a temple can also be built; extraordinarily preserved, precise parcelling of fields in the immediate vicinity of the Old Town on Hvar. The Faroese choir is characterized by parcelling into a square-like square - clergy (180x190). The Faroese Choir is one of only two preserved such fields in Europe. The parishioners minted money with the image of Dionysus and the cluster and money with the image of Zeus and the goat.

 

With the fall of Syracuse, the essential protector of this island, the rule of the ancient Greeks came to an end. Demetrius of Faroe ruled Hvar with Roman approval. The island fell under the rule of ancient Rome in 219 BC and Pharos was given the name Pharia.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the island remained within Byzantium. In late antiquity the population of the island increased. This period abounds in archaeological finds. A large number of new rustic villas were built on the historic ager, but also on the previously neglected eastern parts of the island. There is a gap in written sources about this period until the settlement of the Slavs.

Then it came into the three-century possession of the Neretva principality. In the same period, the population became fully settled and adopted the Croatian language, culture and names. The information that Hvar is a part of the Neretva principality is given by the emperor-writer Konstantin Porfirogenet in the 36th chapter of his work On the management of the empire. At that time, the old Croatian tribe of Slavogosta settled on the island.

In the 11th century it became part of the medieval Croatian kingdom of Petar Krešimir IV ..

Later, the Venetian Republic, Byzantium, and the Croatian-Hungarian Kingdom took over.

In 1331, the commune was finally placed under Venetian protection from Omis pirates. In 1420, the Venetians completely controlled it. Venetian rule was until the fall of Venice, in 1797. In that period, the town of Hvar was the main Venetian port on the eastern Adriatic coast. The island of Hvar was part of the same administrative unit as the island of Vis, the Hvar commune. The trace of this division is today's Hvar-Brač-Vis diocese. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the literary and cultural scene in Hvar was very developed. The Hvar humanist circle was very influential, and it is best known for the so-called Hvar quartet consisting of Petar Hektorović, Mikša Pelegrinović, Jeronim Bartučević and Hanibal Lucić. The historian and ideologist Vinko Pribojević is also significant, who wrote and gave a speech on the origin and adventures of the Slavs, which is one of the most important historical sources from the 16th century. From 1510 to 1514, the Uprising of the Hvar people led by Matija Ivanić against the Hvar nobles lasted. The people overthrew the aristocratic government on the island, and the uprising was eventually quelled by Venice.

After 1797, the island of Hvar came under the rule of the Habsburg Monarchy. From 1806 to 1814 it was for a short time under Napoleon's France, and then it was again part of the Habsburg Monarchy, ie by reorganizing it, in the Austrian part of Austro-Hungary. Then comes the "little golden period" for this island: all island ports are arranged, a cadastre is made, small industrialization takes place, and the upward economic cycle in the agricultural market (vine, pyrethrum, lavender) strengthens the middle class, and the lag of the lower classes was alleviated by the infusion of principal on the island. Until the advent of steamships, the island had its own merchant navy.

The consulates of Greece, Parma, the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples were then opened in the town of Hvar.

In 1858, the first meteorological station in Croatia was opened on Hvar.

 

In 1868, the first tourist association ("Hygienic Society") was founded.

With the disintegration of Austro-Hungary in 1918, it entered the State of SCS. The Kingdom of Italy occupied the island in 1918 and remained so until 1921, when it finally became part of the Kingdom of SCS / Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

In 1941, with the fall of the Kingdom, Hvar became part of the Independent State of Croatia, where it was part of the large parish of Cetina.

With the fall of the NDH government, it is part of the People's Republic of Croatia. The island was one administrative unit, the municipality of Hvar with its headquarters in the town of Hvar.

With the independence of Croatia in 1991, Hvar was divided into four municipalities: the town of Hvar, Stari Grad, Jelsa and Sucuraj.

At the beginning of the Homeland War, the island's population and economy suffered the consequences of the naval blockade, which was established by the JRM.

In September 1991, the first serious military organization of the ZNG and the Hvar Police Station took place.

On October 6, 1991, the Mixed Detachment of Naval Infantry Zvir - Hvar Island was established. On December 23, 1991, the coastal artillery battalion "Pelegrin" was established. If 787 veterans, 781 of them from the island of Hvar, are sold to members of the coastal battalion on Pelegrin, members of the regular, special and reserve police, a larger number of volunteers who went outside the island and joined other units, the figure is about 1000 veterans who in various ways actively participated in the defense of the homeland, which makes up more than 9 percent of the total population of the island of Hvar, ie every tenth Hvar resident participated in the defense of the Croatian homeland. Hvar residents who laid their lives on the altar of the homeland, and they are: Ružica Malla, yob. Belic, Ante Franicevic, Tomislav Toni Petric, Ivica Stipisic, Predrag Bogdanic and Andrej Plenkovic.

In July 2004, an international research team found traces of dinosaurs on Hvar.