Zadar

Zadar (US: , Croatian:), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, pronounced; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serves as the seat of Zadar County and of the wider northern Dalmatian region. The city proper covers 25 km (9.7 sq mi) with a population of 75,082 in 2011, making it the second-largest city in Dalmatia and the fifth-largest in the country.

Zadar traces its origins to the 9th century BC as a settlement of the Illyrian tribe of the Liburnians, called Iader. In 59 BC, it was renamed Iadera (Jadera) when it became a Roman municipium. In 48 BC, it became a Roman colony. During Roman rule, Zadar acquired the characteristics of a traditional ancient Roman city, with a regular street grid, a public square (forum), and an elevated capitolium with a temple. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, Zadar became the capital of the ByzantineTheme of Dalmatia.

At the beginning of the 9th century, Zadar briefly came under Frankish rule. In 998, the city swore allegiance to DogePietro II Orseolo and became a vassal of the Republic of Venice. In 1186, it placed itself under the protection of the Hungarian King Béla III. In the Middle Ages, Zadar's population was predominantly Romance and the Dalmatian language was spoken, later largely replaced with related Venetian, which would remain the principal language spoken in the city until the 20th century.

In 1202, during the Fourth Crusade, the Venetians, with the help of the Crusaders, reconquered and plundered Zadar. The Kingdom of Hungary gained control of the city following the Treaty of Zadar in 1358, when it was taken by King Louis I of Anjou. In 1409, King Ladislaus of Naples sold Dalmatia back to Venice, and Zadar became the de facto capital of Venetian Dalmatia. When the Ottoman Empire conquered the Dalmatian Hinterland in the early 16th century, the city became an important stronghold safeguarding Venetian trade in the Adriatic, as well as the administrative and cultural center of Venetian possessions in Dalmatia. This fostered an environment in which art and literature could flourish, and between the 15th and 17th centuries Zadar came under the influence of the Renaissance, producing many important Italian Renaissance figures such as Giorgio Ventura and Giovanni Francesco Fortunio, who wrote the first Italian grammar, as well as many Croatian writers, including Petar Zoranić, Brne Krnarutić, Juraj Baraković, and Šime Budinić, who wrote in the Croatian language. After the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, Zadar briefly came under French administration as part of the Illyrian Provinces. From 1815 to 1918 it served as the capital of the Kingdom of Dalmatia, a crown land of the Austrian Empire (and later Austria-Hungary). Throughout the 19th century, the city became one of the centres of the Illyrian movement amid the growing polarisation and politicisation of ethnic identities between Croats and Dalmatian Italians, the latter forming a majority of Zadar's citizens.

Under the Treaty of Rapallo in 1920, Zadar became part of the Kingdom of Italy. During World War II, it was bombed by the Allies and witnessed the evacuation of its ethnic Italian population. The Partisans captured the city on 1 November 1944, and in 1947 it officially became part of the Socialist Republic of Croatia (a federal constituent republic of Yugoslavia). It was then repopulated by new settlers, mainly from the surrounding islands and from the hinterland. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, in 1991 Zadar became part of the Republic of Croatia.

Today, Zadar is a historical center of Dalmatia, Zadar County's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, educational, and transportation centre. Zadar is also the episcopal see of the Archdiocese of Zadar. Because of its rich history and cultural heritage, Zadar is today one of the most popular tourist destinations in Croatia, named the "entertainment center of the Adriatic" by The Times and "Croatia's new capital of cool" by The Guardian.

UNESCO's World Heritage Site list included the fortified city of Zadar as part of the Venetian Works of Defence between the 16th and 17th centuries: Stato da Terra – Western Stato da Mar in 2017.