Читать книгу The Islands of Croatia. 30 walks on 14 Adriatic islands онлайн

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The Roman forum, ninth-century Church of St Donatus and the bell tower of the 12th–13th century Cathedral of St Anastasia in Zadar

In the 12th century Venice launched a series of attacks on the coastal cities of Dalmatia, as well as on a number of its islands, sacking Zadar in 1202 as part of the infamous Fourth Crusade (which would go on to sack Constantinople two years later) and taking Dubrovnik in 1205. Venice is credited with having sourced much of the wood for its magnificent fleet from the islands of the Croatian Adriatic.

The Mongols arrived on the Adriatic coast during the 13th century, which they ravaged while in hot pursuit of King Bela of Hungary. There was a brief return to Hungarian rule in the 14th century, with Venice temporarily relinquishing its grip on Dalmatia, but by 1420 Venice controlled the whole of Dalmatia – with the exception of Dubrovnik, which became an independent republic with its own government from 1358 – a grip it would not relinquish until the arrival of Napoleon.