Adriatic report: Krk*
Krk is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the bay of Kvarner and part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county.
Krk is one of the largest Adriatic islands with an area of 407 km², and also the most populous one, with numerous towns and villages totalling 16,402. The eponymous city of Krk has 5,491 inhabitants (2001), while there are also smaller municipalities like Omišalj (2,998), Malinska-Dubašnica (2,726), Punat (1,876), Mošćenička Draga (1,641), Baška (1,554).
Krk is located rather near the mainland and has been connected to it via a 1,430 m long two-arch concrete bridge since 1980, one of the longest concrete bridges in the world. Due to the proximity to the city of Rijeka, Omišalj also hosts the Rijeka International Airport.
Krk has historically been a center of Croatian culture. The first known settlers of the island were the Illyrian tribes of the Japods and Liburnians, followed by the Greeks in the times when Krk belonged to the Electride, i.e. Apsirtide islands, today known as the Kvarner islands.
The Romans gained full control by the 9th century A.D.
Meanwhile, the Croats began settling the island as early as the 6th century, and eventually became the island’s major population. Christianity reached the island early. Hence, a bishopric was established in the 5th century A.D. with the town of Krk as its seat and Andrew, the first known bishop (680 A.D).
The Croats settled the island in family groups that lived within castles scattered throughout the island, which resulted in a variety of Chakavian dialects. The four main dialects are known as the “cha”, “che”, “cho” and “tza” varieties.
Various literature in Glagolitic alphabet was created and in part preserved on Krk (notably the Baška Tablet, the oldest preserved text in Croatian). Krk was also the seat of medieval bishops and important nobility, the Frankopans.
This was the only family coming from an Adriatic island that developed and prospered into one of the most powerful in Europe. Their origins can be traced to Vrbnik, from which they spread their power and territories to the mainland: Trsat, Bakar, Kraljevica, Crikvenica, Novi Vinodolski, Otocac, Brinje, Modrus, etc. At the height of their power they possessed territory equal to half of today’s Croatia.
Some counts of the Frankopan family became Croatian viceroys (”ban”) with great political influence. The first Frankopan mentioned was Dujam I (1118 A.D.) and the last Fran Krsto who was executed in 1671 by the orders of the emperor and king Leopold Habsburg.
The island came into Venetian possession in 1480, as the last of the Adriatic islands to fall under their reign. Count Ivan Frankopan was deceived and taken prisoner.
After the fall of the Frankopan family in the 15th century, Krk witnessess many different reigns: the Venetians, French, Austro - Hungarians, Italy, Germany and Yugoslavia. Finally, after five centuries, Krk again becomes an integral part of the Croatian corpus. The Republic of Croatia was proclaimed in 1991.
It is a pearl that change its beauty of colours in uncontaminated scenery and cristal sea.
* Text from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.