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Split

City in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia

Split (; Croatian: [splît] ) is the second-largest city in Croatia, after the capital Zagreb, situated on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. As the administrative seat of Split-Dalmatia County and the largest city on the Croatian coast, it serves as a key economic, cultural, and transportation hub for the region. Developed around the historic core of Diocletian's Palace and extending across a central peninsula toward its surrounding suburbs and hinterland, Split combines a continuous urban tradition spanning more than seventeen centuries with a contemporary role as one of Croatia's leading tourist destinations. The city itself has a population of over 160,000, while the metropolitan area encompasses approximately 310,000 inhabitants. The city was founded as the Greek colony of Aspálathos (Ancient Greek: Ἀσπάλαθος) in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE on the coast of the Illyrian Dalmatae, and in 305 CE, it became the site of the Palace of the Roman emperor Diocletian. It became a prominent settlement around 650 when it succeeded the ancient capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, Salona. After the sack of Salona by the Avars and Slavs, the fortified Palace of Diocletian was settled by Roman refugees. Soon after, Split became a Byzantine city. Later it drifted into the sphere of the Republic of Venice and the Kingdom of Croatia. For much of the High and Late Middle Ages, Split enjoyed autonomy as a free city of the Dalmatian city-states, caught in the middle of a struggle between Venice and Croatia for control over the Dalmatian cities. Venice eventually prevailed and, during the early modern period, Split remained a Venetian city, a heavily fortified outpost surrounded by Ottoman territory. Its hinterland was won from the Ottomans in the Morean War of 1699, and in 1797, as Venice fell to Napoleon, the Treaty of Campo Formio rendered the city to the Habsburg monarchy. In 1805, the Peace of Pressburg added it to the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy and in 1806 it was included in the French Empire, becoming part of the Illyrian Provinces in 1809. After being occupied in 1813, it was eventually granted to the Austrian Empire following the Congress of Vienna, where the city remained a part of the Austrian Kingdom of Dalmatia until the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918 and the creation of Yugoslavia. In World War II, the city was annexed by Italy, then liberated by the Partisans after the Italian capitulation in 1943. It was then re-occupied by Germany, which granted it to its puppet Independent State of Croatia (NDH). The city was liberated again by the Partisans in 1944, and was included in the post-war Socialist Yugoslavia, as part of the People's Republic of Croatia. In 1991, Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia amid the Croatian War of Independence. Today, Split is a major transportation hub and a popular tourist destination attracting over one million visitors annually. Its historic core, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, reflects the city's continuous urban life from late antiquity to the present. The Port of Split is one of the busiest passenger ports in the Mediterranean and serves as a key gateway to the southern Adriatic islands, while the University of Split reinforces the city's role as a major educational and research centre. The city gained additional international recognition when it hosted the 1979 Mediterranean Games and 1990 European Athletics Championships.