List of Empire ships (Sa–Sh)

Beautiful Places - Dubrovnik in your pocket

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• published: 05 Apr 2014
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Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea, in the region of Dalmatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Its total population is 42,615 (census 2011).[1] In 1979, the city of Dubrovnik joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The prosperity of the city of Dubrovnik was historically based on maritime trade. As the capital of the Republic of Ragusa, a maritime republic, the city achieved a high level of development, particularly during the 15th and 16th centuries. Dubrovnik became notable for its wealth and skilled diplomacy. The beginning of tourism in Dubrovnik is associated with the construction of the Hotel Imperial in Dubrovnik in 1897.[3] According to CNNGo, Dubrovnik is among the 10 best medieval walled cities in the world.[4] Although Dubrovnik was demilitarised in the 1970s to protect it from war, in 1991, after the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was besieged by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) for seven months and received significant shelling damage. The historical Latin and Dalmatian name of Dubrovnik is Ragusa (pronounced [raˈɡu.sa]), or Ragusium in older form. Ragusa is also the name in Italian, shared with another Ragusa in Sicily. The historical name in Greek is Raugia (Ραυγια) or Ragousa (Ραγούσα). The current name was officially adopted in 1918 after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but was in use from the Middle Ages. It is also referred to as Dubrovnik in the Charter of Ban Kulin in 1189. Historical lore indicates that Dubrovnik was founded in the 7th century on a rocky island named Laus, which is said to have provided shelter for refugees from the nearby city of Epidaurum.[5] Another theory by the late Tibor Živković appeared in 2007, based on new archaeological excavations. New findings (a Byzantine basilica from the 8th century and parts of the city walls) contradict the traditional theory. The size of the old basilica clearly indicates that there was quite a large settlement at the time.[6] There is also increasing support in the scientific community[who?] for the theory that major construction of Dubrovnik took place before the Common Era. This "Greek theory" has been boosted by recent findings of numerous Greek artifacts during excavations in the Port of Dubrovnik. Also, drilling below the main city road has revealed natural sand, contradicting the theory of Laus (Lausa) island. Dr Antun Ničetić, in his book Povijest dubrovačke luke ("History of the Port of Dubrovnik"), expounds the theory that Dubrovnik was established by Greek sailors. A key element in this theory is the fact that ships in ancient times travelled about 45--50 nautical miles (83--93 km; 52--58 mi) per day, and required a sandy shore to pull out of water for the rest period during the night. The ideal rest site would have fresh water source in its vicinity. Dubrovnik has both, and is situated roughly halfway between the two known Greek settlements of Budva and Korčula, 95 nautical miles (176 km; 109 mi) apart from each other. After the fall of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, the town came under the protection of the Byzantine Empire. Dubrovnik in those medieval centuries had a population of Latinized Illyrians.[7] After the Crusades, Dubrovnik came under the sovereignty of Venice (1205--1358), which would give its institutions to the Dalmatian city. After a fire destroyed almost the whole city in the night of August 16, 1296, a new urban plan was developed.[8][9][10] By the Peace Treaty of Zadar in 1358, Dubrovnik achieved relative independence as a vassal-state of the Kingdom of Hungary. Between the 14th century and 1808, Dubrovnik ruled itself as a free state, although it was a vassal from 1440 to 1804 of the Ottoman Empire and paid an annual tribute to its sultan.[11] The Republic reached its peak in the 15th and 16th centuries, when its thalassocracy rivalled that of the Republic of Venice and other Italian maritime republics. For centuries, Dubrovnik was an ally of Ancona, the other Adriatic maritime republic rival of Venice, which was the Ottoman Empire's chief rival for control of the Adriatic. This alliance enabled the two towns set on opposite sides of the Adriatic to resist attempts by the Venetians to make the Adriatic a "Venetian Bay", also said[by whom?] to control directly or indirectly all the Adriatic ports. Ancona and Dubrovnik developed an alternative trade route to the Venetian (Venice-Austria-Germany): starting in Dubrovnik it went on to Ancona, through Florence and ended in Flanders as seen on this map. The Republic of Ragusa received its own Statutes as early as 1272, statutes which, among other things, codified Roman practice and local customs. The Statutes included prescriptions for town planning and the regulation of quarantine (for sanitary reasons).