1.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
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Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic is a role-playing video game set in the Star Wars universe. Developed by BioWare and published by LucasArts, the game was released for the Xbox on July 15,2003, the game was later ported to Mac OS X, iOS, and Android by Aspyr, and it is playable on the Xbox 360 via its backward-compatibility feature. The player character, as a Jedi, must venture to different planets in the galaxy in order to destroy the Star Forge, players choose from three character classes and customize their characters at the beginning of the game, and engage in round-based combat against enemies. Through interacting with characters and making plot decisions, the alignment system will determine whether the players character aligns with the light or dark side of the Force. The game was directed by Casey Hudson, designed by James Ohlen, LucasArts proposed developing a game tied to Star Wars, Episode II – Attack of the Clones, or a game set thousands of years before the prequels. The team chose the latter as they thought that they would have creative freedom. Ed Asner, Ethan Phillips, and Jennifer Hale were hired to perform voices for the games characters, announced in 2000, the game was delayed several times before its release in July 2003. The game received acclaim upon release, with critics applauding the games characters, story. It was nominated for awards, and is considered one of the best games ever made. A sequel, Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords, the series story continued with the 2011 release of Star Wars, The Old Republic, an MMORPG developed by BioWare. Players choose from three character classes at the beginning of the game, and later choose from three Jedi subclasses. Beyond class, a character has skills stats, tiered feats, feats and Force powers are unlocked every level-up, while the player is given skill points to distribute among their skills every level. Combat is round-based, time is divided into rounds, and combatants attack and react simultaneously. The number of actions a combatant may perform each round is limited, combat actions are calculated using DnD rules. While these are not displayed directly on the screen, the breakdown for each action are accessible from a menu. For much of the game, the player can have up to two companions in their party and these companions will participate in combat. They can be controlled by the player, or act autonomously if the player does not give them any input. Outside of combat, the companions will randomly engage the player or each other in dialogue and they will also participate in conversations the player has with other non-player characters
2.
Coat of arms of Kotor
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The coat of arms of Kotor is an official insignia of Kotor, coastal town in Montenegro. This is a new Coat of Arms, adopted on 16 February 2009 and it is designed by Srđan Marlović, who also designed the Coat of arms of Podgorica and that of Bar. The Coat of Arms consists of the shield, divided into three fields. These three fields contain, The figure of Saint Tryphon A stone tower, complete with merlons, oculus, a lion in a salient position. The shield is topped with the wall crown with three merlons, and is surrounded by the golden lions as supporters, and with green Bay Laurel twig. The banner reads COMMUNITAS CIVITATIS CATHARI, the banner has a golden obverse, and a red reverse. The Flag of Kotor is two-colored, with small Coat of Arms in a medallion placed in the middle of the field, the hoist of the Flag is white, while the fly is red. In the center of the flag, a small medallion Coat of Arms is placed, defined by the golden scroll
3.
Montenegro
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Montenegro is a sovereign state in Southeastern Europe. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Old Royal Capital. In the 9th century, three Slavic principalities were in the territory of Montenegro, Duklja, roughly corresponding to the half, Travunia, the west, and Rascia. In 1042, archon Stefan Vojislav led a revolt that resulted in the independence of Duklja, Duklja reached its zenith under Vojislavs son, Mihailo, and his grandson Bodin. By the 13th century, Zeta had replaced Duklja when referring to the realm. In the late 14th century, southern Montenegro came under the rule of the Balšić noble family, then the Crnojević noble family, large portions fell under the control of the Ottoman Empire from 1496 to 1878. Parts were controlled by Venice and the First French Empire and Austria-Hungary, from 1515 until 1851, the prince-bishops of Cetinje were the rulers. The House of Petrović-Njegoš ruled the country from 1697 to 1918, from 1918, it was a part of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which was succeeded by SFR Yugoslavia in 1945, FR Yugoslavia in 1992, and subsequently by the state union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2003. On the basis of a referendum held on 21 May 2006. Montenegro is also a candidate negotiating to join the European Union, on 2 December 2015, Montenegro received an official invitation to join NATO, whereby it would be the 29th member country. This invitation was meant to start accession talks. The countrys name in most Western European languages reflects an adaptation of the Venetian Montenegro, many other languages, particularly nearby ones, use their own direct translation of the term black mountain. Examples are the Albanian name for the country, Mali i Zi, the Greek name Μαυροβούνιο, the Chinese name 黑山, all Slavic languages use slight variations on the Montenegrin name Crna Gora, examples include the Czech Černá Hora and the Polish Czarnogóra. Chechen and Ingush people call the country Ӏаьржаламанчоь, the name Crna Gora came to denote the majority of contemporary Montenegro only in the 15th century. The aforementioned region became known as Old Montenegro by the 19th century to distinguish it from the acquired territory of Brda. Its borders have changed little since then, losing Metohija and gaining the Bay of Kotor, the ISO Alpha-2 code for Montenegro is ME and the Alpha-3 Code is MNE. By 1000 BC, a common Illyrian language and culture had spread across much of the Balkans, interaction amongst groups was not always friendly – hill forts were the most common form of settlement – but distinctive Illyrian art forms such as amber and bronze jewellery evolved. In time, the Illyrians established a federation of tribes centred in what is now Macedonia
4.
Municipalities of Montenegro
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Montenegro is composed of 23 municipalities, the Old Royal Capital Cetinje and the Podgorica Capital City. Podgorica is divided into two subdivisions called urban municipalities, list of regions of Montenegro Cities and towns of Montenegro Populated places of Montenegro Subdivisions of Montenegro ISO 3166-2, ME Statistical Office of Montenegro - MONSTAT. Population census 2003 Statistical Office of Montenegro - MONSTAT, census of Population, Households and Dwellings in Montenegro 2011. Population by age, sex, and type of settlement per municipality, census of Population, Households and Dwellings in Montenegro,2011
5.
Democratic Front (Montenegro)
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The Democratic Front is an opposition political alliance in Montenegro. The main goal of the DF is to overthrow the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro of Milo Đukanović, miodrag Lekić led the alliances list in the parliamentary election of October 2012. Lekić ran in the 2013 presidential election, supported by both his Democratic Front and the Socialist Peoples Party, according to the electoral committees report, he was narrowly defeated by incumbent Filip Vujanović. However, many independent observers insisted that Vujanovićs victory came about as the result of an electoral fraud. In March 2015, Lekić split from the due to internal disagreements, having decided to form a new political party. 2015 anti-government protest in Montenegro Official site
6.
Rural area
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In general, a rural area or countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Whatever is not urban is considered rural, typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas are rural, though so are others such as forests. Different countries have varying definitions of rural for statistical and administrative purposes, in Canada, the census division has been used to represent regions and census consolidated sub-divisions have been used to represent communities. Intermediate regions have 15 to 49 percent of their living in a rural community. Predominantly urban regions have less than 15 percent of their living in a rural community. Predominantly rural regions are classified as rural metro-adjacent, rural non-metro-adjacent and rural northern, following Ehrensaft, as well, rural northern regions encompass all of the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Statistics Canada defines rural for their population counts and this definition has changed over time. Typically, it has referred to the population living outside settlements of 1,000 or less inhabitants, the current definition states that census rural is the population outside settlements with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants and a population density below 400 people per square kilometre. 84% of the United States inhabitants live in suburban and urban areas, Rural areas occupy the remaining 90 percent. The U. S. Census Bureau, the USDAs Economic Research Service, an urbanized area consists of a central surrounding areas whose population is greater than 50,000. USDA The USDAs Office of Rural Development may define rural by various population thresholds, for example, a metropolitan county is one that contains an urbanized area, or one that has a twenty-five percent commuter rate to an urbanized area regardless of population. In 2014, the USDA updated their rural / non-rural area definitions based on the 2010 Census counts, Rural health definitions can be different for establishing under-served areas or health care accessibility in rural areas of the United States. This became the Goldsmith Modification definition of rural, health care delivery in rural areas of the United States can be challenging. From 2005-2011, the rate of potentially preventable hospitalizations for acute conditions was highest in rural areas, in Brazil, theres different notions of rural area and countryside. Rural areas are any place outside an urban development and its carried by informal usage. Otherwise, countryside are officially defined as all municipalities outside the capitals metropolitan region. Some states as Mato Grosso do Sul doesnt have any metropolitan region, thus all of the state, Rio de Janeiro is singular in Brazil and its de facto a metropolitan state, as circa 70% of its population are located in Greater Rio
7.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
8.
Telephone numbers in Montenegro
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This is a list of dialing codes by town in Montenegro. Until Montenegro gained independence from Serbia and Montenegro, the nation was accessed through the dialing code +381. The new dialing code +382 was introduced after independence and the two codes were used in parallel until February 2007, when +382 nominally became the only acceptable code, as of 1 October 2007, +381 is used only for Serbia and +382 is the only acceptable code for Montenegro. Area codes have two digits after the initial 0 trunk prefix, and local numbers have six digits, the trunk prefix is omitted when calling from abroad. The following code prefixes are used for network groups
9.
Vehicle registration plates of Montenegro
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Present Montenegrin car plates have black characters on a rectangular white background, with blue strip on the left. The plates follow the 520 mm x 110 mm format, except for motorcycles, the present licence plates format was introduced on 6 June 2008, and replaced the old format gradually over the following year. The new format is on par with common European Union format, however, with an additional payment, it is possible to obtain the customized plates with any letter-number combination. Police vehicles have plates with letters, while military vehicles have plates with green letters. The diplomatic corps cars have separate format licence plates, with no municipality code, coat of arms, the plates used on bigger trucks and other vehicles that can be oversized for some of the smaller roads are red with white characters. Unlike the older licence plates, which were inherited from SFRY-era, and slightly changed in 1992, the municipalities that were previously absent were Andrijevica, Danilovgrad, Kolašin, Mojkovac, Plav, Plužine, Rožaje, Šavnik, Tivat and Žabljak. g. The first group of two/three numbers identifies the country or organization to which the plate has been issued, the letter in the middle is denoting the status of the owner. List of codes by country, Montenegro also has agriculture plates and these plates use agriculture machines like tractors etc. The plates consist of code of the municipality where the vehicle is registered. The characters are printed in white on a light-green background and their formats are very similar to civilian plates. P - Police V - Military In Podgorica amongst normal serial combinations exist two more which are used for two urban municipalities, one of them is Tuzi located eastern of Podgorica and uses combination PG Tx123. The other one is Zeta located south of Podgorica and uses combination PG Gx123, trailers registered in one of these urban municipalities also have specific combinations e. g. PG 123TA. Also, there exist two other combinations like PG MN123 and PG CG123, MN stands for Montenegro and CG also for Montenegro but on Montenegrin language. These two combinations are used by state authorities and Montenegrin administrations. Media related to License plates of Montenegro at Wikimedia Commons
10.
World Heritage Site
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A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
11.
Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor
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The Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor is a World Heritage Site located in Montenegro that was inscribed in 1979. It encompasses the old town of Kotor, the fortifications of Kotor, the old town of Kotor is contained within the city walls and a well preserved and restored medieval cityscape with notable buildings including the Cathedral of Saint Tryphon. Kotor was heavily damaged during the earthquake on April 15,1979, after significant rehabilitation within the town, the site was taken off this list in 2003. The fortifications consist of a system of military buildings to protect the medieval town of Kotor. They include the city walls with gates and bastions, ramparts that ascend the mountain of St. John, the castle of St. John, and supportive structures. While some of the date back to Roman and Byzantine times, most of the fortifications were erected during the Venetian rule. The fortifications are the most significant aspect of the World Heritage site, the region that is included in the heritage is the inner bay of Kotor with its surrounding mountains and towns, notably Risan and Perast in addition to Kotor. Further the islets of St. George and Our Lady of the Rocks are part of the heritage site, in 1979, when the site was inscribed it was also placed on the List in Danger due to earthquake damage. Due to concerted international efforts much of this, specifically concerning the city of Kotor, has been mitigated, in 2003 the site could be taken off the danger list. The heritage site faces challenges in a number of ways, Natural dangers such as erosion and earthquakes will always remain a threat. More acute, however, is the impact of human activity, thus some urban development has been noted to be incongruent with the goals of preservation
12.
Italian language
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By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
13.
Bay of Kotor
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The Bay of Kotor pronounced, Italian, Bocche di Cattaro), known simply as Boka, is a winding bay of the Adriatic Sea in southwestern Montenegro. The bay has been inhabited since antiquity and its well-preserved medieval towns of Kotor, Risan, Tivat, Perast, Prčanj and Herceg Novi, along with their natural surroundings, are major tourist attractions. Natural and Culturo-Historical Region of Kotor has been a World Heritage Site since 1979 and its numerous Orthodox and Catholic churches and monasteries make it a major pilgrimage site. A small naval port is under development as a yacht marina, the bay is about 28 km long with a shoreline extending 107.3 km. It is surrounded by two massifs of the Dinaric Alps, the Orjen mountains to the west, and the Lovćen mountains to the east, the narrowest section of the bay, the 2300 m long Verige Strait, is only 340 m wide at its narrowest point. The bay is a ria of the vanished Bokelj River that used to run from the high plateaus of Mount Orjen. The bay is composed of several smaller bays, united by narrower channels. The bay inlet was formerly a river system, tectonic and karstification processes led to the disintegration of this river. After heavy rains the waterfall of Sopot spring at Risan appears, the outermost part of the bay is the Bay of Tivat. On the seaward side is the Bay of Herceg Novi, at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor. The inner bays are the Bay of Risan to the northwest, the Verige Strait represents the bays narrowest section and is located between Cape St. Nedjelja and Cape Opatovo, it separates the inner bay east of the strait from the Bay of Tivat. The littoral Dinarids and the Prokletije mountains receive the most precipitation, November thunderstorms sometimes drop large amounts of water. By contrast, in August the area is completely dry. With a maximum discharge of 200 m³/s, one of the biggest karst springs, most of the time it is inactive but after heavy rain a remarkable waterfall appears 20 m above the Bay of Kotor. *classification scheme after Köppen Two wind systems have ecological significance, Bora, strong cold downslope winds of the Bora type appear in winter and are most severe in the Bay of Risan. Gusts reach 250 km/h and can lead to a significant temperature decline over several hours with freezing events, Bora weather situations are frequent and sailors study the mountains as cap clouds indicate an imminent Bora event. Jugo is a warm wind and brings heavy rain. It appears throughout the year but is concentrated in autumn
14.
Mediterranean Sea
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The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a separate body of water. The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus, meaning inland or in the middle of land and it covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2, but its connection to the Atlantic is only 14 km wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar. In oceanography, it is called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has a depth of 1,500 m. The sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia and it is located between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E. Its west-east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun, the seas average north-south length, from Croatia’s southern shore to Libya, is approximately 800 km. The Mediterranean Sea, including the Sea of Marmara, has an area of approximately 2,510,000 square km. The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade, the history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. In addition, the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri, the term Mediterranean derives from the Latin word mediterraneus, meaning amid the earth or between land, as it is between the continents of Africa, Asia and Europe. The Ancient Greek name Mesogeios, is similarly from μέσο, between + γη, land, earth) and it can be compared with the Ancient Greek name Mesopotamia, meaning between rivers. The Mediterranean Sea has historically had several names, for example, the Carthaginians called it the Syrian Sea and latter Romans commonly called it Mare Nostrum, and occasionally Mare Internum. Another name was the Sea of the Philistines, from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites, the sea is also called the Great Sea in the General Prologue by Geoffrey Chaucer. In Ottoman Turkish, it has also been called Bahr-i Sefid, in Modern Hebrew, it has been called HaYam HaTikhon, the Middle Sea, reflecting the Seas name in ancient Greek, Latin, and modern languages in both Europe and the Middle East. Similarly, in Modern Arabic, it is known as al-Baḥr al-Mutawassiṭ, in Turkish, it is known as Akdeniz, the White Sea since among Turks the white colour represents the west. Several ancient civilisations were located around the Mediterranean shores, and were influenced by their proximity to the sea. It provided routes for trade, colonisation, and war, as well as food for numerous communities throughout the ages, due to the shared climate, geology, and access to the sea, cultures centered on the Mediterranean tended to have some extent of intertwined culture and history. Two of the most notable Mediterranean civilisations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states, later, when Augustus founded the Roman Empire, the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum
15.
Fortifications of Kotor
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They incorporate military architecture of Illyria, Byzantium, Venice, and Austria. The top of the mountain of St. John was already fortified during Illyrian times, in the 6th century the emperor Justinian I reconstructed the fortress. With the retreat of the Byzantines, eventually and in spite of numerous incursions some independence was attained and this changed when in 1420 the then independent Republic of Cattaro succumbed to Venetian rule. As part of Albania Veneta the fortifications received their current structure, during this time there were two successful Ottoman sieges followed by occupations,1538 –1571 and 1657 –1699. In 1797 the fortifications passed to the Habsburg Monarchy with the Treaty of Campo Formio, three years later it was incorporated into the French Empires Illyrian Provinces. The fortifications were attacked by the British naval Captain William Hoste with his ship HMS Bacchante, in an unmilitary manner he hauled his ships cannon to positions above the fort using block and tackle and started the shelling. After a ten-day siege, the French garrison had no alternative, with the Congress of Vienna Kotor was returned to the Austrian Empire. After their defeat in World War I the Austrians left and the fortress was no longer manned, during World War II Kotor was occupied by the Axis forces and liberated on November 21,1944, a date commemorated over the Sea Gate. Severe earthquakes that damaged the fortifications occurred in 1563,1667, city walls protect the city on its northern and south-western side, towards the waters. The walls are fortified by bastions, most prominent being the Kampana tower, the Bembo Bastion has been converted into an open theatre. Two additional gates were present, one walled up south of the Sea Gate, from the Bembo Bastion and the Gurdic Bastion ramparts climb up to the top of the St. John Mountain that backs the city. The ramparts have positions at various points, within them is a network of communications as well as additional buildings including the Church of Our Lady of Remedy from 1518. On top of the mountain is the San Giovanni castel at a 280 meter height dominating the bay, the fortification system. Behind the castle hill the inhabitable and mountainous countryside further ascends toward the Lovcen, the circumference of the outer wall is 4.5 km, with a thickness between 2 and 16 m, and a height up to 20 m. The 1979 earthquake damaged much of the buildings in Kotor including the fortifications, the site was placed on the World Heritage List the same year, and also on the List in Danger. After rehabilitation it was taken off the latter in 2003, however, the fortifications are the most significant aspect of the World Heritage site and while they contain elements of different epochs, it was the Venetians who constructed most of the present structures. As such the monument represents one of the most important examples of defensive Venetian military architecture, the International Council on Monuments and Sites urged in 2001 the revitalization of the fortress. It found the fortifications in poor condition and they had been abandoned since the departure of the Austrians in 1918
16.
Republic of Venice
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It was based in the lagoon communities of the historically prosperous city of Venice. It was a leading European economic and trading power during the Middle Ages, the Venetian city state was founded as a safe haven for people escaping persecution in mainland Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. In its early years, it prospered on the salt trade, in subsequent centuries, the city state established a thalassocracy. It dominated trade on the Mediterranean Sea, including commerce between Asia, Europe and North Africa, the Venetian navy was used in the Crusades. Venice achieved territorial conquests along the Adriatic Sea, the city became home to an extremely wealthy merchant class, who patronized renowned art and architecture along the citys lagoons. Venetian merchants were influential financiers in Europe, the city was also the birthplace of great European explorers, including Marco Polo, as well as the classical music composer Vivaldi. The republic was ruled by the Doge, who was elected by members of the Great Council of Venice, the ruling class was an oligarchy of merchants and aristocrats. Venice and other Italian maritime republics played a key role in fostering capitalism, Venetian citizens generally supported the system of governance. The city-state enforced strict laws and employed ruthless tactics in its prisons, the opening of new trade routes to the Americas and the East Indies via the Atlantic Ocean marked the beginning of Venices decline as a maritime republic. The city state suffered defeats from the navy of the Ottoman Empire, in 1797, the country was colonized by Austria and France, following an invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte. Venice became a part of a unified Italy in the 19th century and it was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in reference to its title as one of the Most Serene Republics. He was the first historical Doge of Venice, whichever the case, the first doges had their power base in Heraclea. Ursuss successor, Deusdedit, moved his seat from Heraclea to Malamocco in the 740s and he was the son of Ursus and represented the attempt of his father to establish a dynasty. Such attempts were more commonplace among the doges of the first few centuries of Venetian history. They desired to remain well-connected to the Empire, another faction, republican in nature, believed in continuing along a course towards practical independence. The other main faction was pro-Frankish, supported mostly by clergy, they looked towards the new Carolingian king of the Franks, Pepin the Short, as the best provider of defence against the Lombards. A minor, pro-Lombard faction was opposed to close ties with any of these further-off powers, the successors of Obelerio inherited a united Venice. By the Pax Nicephori, the two emperors had recognised that Venice belonged to the Byzantine sphere of influence, many centuries later, the Venetians claimed that the treaty had recognised Venetian de facto independence, but the truth of this claim is doubted by modern scholars
17.
Adriatic Sea
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The Adriatic Sea /ˌeɪdriˈætᵻk/ is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula and the Apennine Mountains from the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto to the northwest, the countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia. The Adriatic contains over 1,300 islands, mostly located along its eastern, Croatian and it is divided into three basins, the northern being the shallowest and the southern being the deepest, with a maximum depth of 1,233 metres. The Otranto Sill, a ridge, is located at the border between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. The prevailing currents flow counterclockwise from the Strait of Otranto, along the eastern coast, tidal movements in the Adriatic are slight, although larger amplitudes are known to occur occasionally. The Adriatics salinity is lower than the Mediterraneans because the Adriatic collects a third of the water flowing into the Mediterranean. The surface water temperatures range from 30 °C in summer to 12 °C in winter. The Adriatic Sea sits on the Apulian or Adriatic Microplate, which separated from the African Plate in the Mesozoic era, the plates movement contributed to the formation of the surrounding mountain chains and Apennine tectonic uplift after its collision with the Eurasian plate. In the Late Oligocene, the Apennine Peninsula first formed, separating the Adriatic Basin from the rest of the Mediterranean, all types of sediment are found in the Adriatic, with the bulk of the material transported by the Po and other rivers on the western coast. The western coast is alluvial or terraced, while the eastern coast is indented with pronounced karstification. There are dozens of protected areas in the Adriatic, designed to protect the seas karst habitats. The sea is abundant in flora and fauna—more than 7,000 species are identified as native to the Adriatic, many of them endemic, rare and threatened ones. The Adriatics shores are populated by more than 3.5 million people, the earliest settlements on the Adriatic shores were Etruscan, Illyrian, and Greek. By the 2nd century BC, the shores were under Romes control, following Italian unification, the Kingdom of Italy started an eastward expansion that lasted until the 20th century. Following World War I and the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, the former disintegrated during the 1990s, resulting in four new states on the Adriatic coast. Italy and Albania agreed on their maritime boundary in 1992, Fisheries and tourism are significant sources of income all along the Adriatic coast. Adriatic Croatias tourism industry has grown faster economically than the rest of the Adriatic Basins, maritime transport is also a significant branch of the areas economy—there are 19 seaports in the Adriatic that each handle more than a million tonnes of cargo per year. The largest Adriatic seaport by annual cargo turnover is the Port of Trieste, in the southeast, the Adriatic Sea connects to the Ionian Sea at the 72-kilometre wide Strait of Otranto
18.
Fjord
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Geologically, a fjord or fiord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by glacial erosion. Norways coastline is estimated at 29,000 kilometres with 1,190 fjords, a fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by ice segregation and abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by the rebounding of Earths crust as the ice load, in some cases this rebound is faster than sea level rise. Most fjords are deeper than the adjacent sea, Sognefjord, Norway, fjords generally have a sill or shoal at their mouth caused by the previous glaciers reduced erosion rate and terminal moraine. In many cases this causes extreme currents and large saltwater rapids. Saltstraumen in Norway is often described as the worlds strongest tidal current and these characteristics distinguish fjords from rias, which are drowned valleys flooded by the rising sea. Drammensfjorden is cut almost in two by the Svelvik ridge, a moraine that during the ice cover was under sea level. During the winter there is usually little inflow of freshwater. Surface water and deeper water are mixed during winter because of the cooling of the surface. In the deep there is still fresh water from the summer with less density than the saltier water along the coast. Offshore wind, common in the areas during winter, sets up a current on the surface from the inner to the outer parts. This current on the surface in turn pulls dense salt water from the coast across the fjord threshold, during the summer season there is usually a large inflow of river water in the inner areas. This freshwater gets mixed with saltwater creating a layer of water with a slightly higher surface than the ocean which in turn sets up a current from the river mouths towards the ocean. This current is more salty towards the coast and right under the surface current there is a reverse current of saltier water from the coast. In the deeper parts of the fjord the cold water remaining from winter is still, fjords with a shallow threshold this deep water is not replaced every year and low oxygen concentration makes the deep water unsuitable for fish and animals. In the most extreme cases there is a constant barrier of freshwater on the surface, gaupnefjorden branch of Sognefjorden is strongly affected by freshwater as glacial river flow in. Velfjorden has little inflow of freshwater, as late as 2000, some coral reefs were discovered along the bottoms of the Norwegian fjords. These reefs were found in fjords from the north of Norway to the south, the marine life on the reefs is believed to be one of the most important reasons why the Norwegian coastline is such a generous fishing ground
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Ria
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A ria is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a river valley that remains open to the sea. Typically, rias have a dendritic, treelike outline although they can be straight and this pattern is inherited from the dendritic drainage pattern of the flooded river valley. The drowning of river valleys along a stretch of coast and formation of rias results in an extremely irregular, often, there are islands, which are summits of partly submerged, pre-existing hill peaks. A ria coast is a coastline having several parallel rias separated by prominent ridges, the sea level change that caused the submergence of a river valley may be either eustatic, or isostatic. The result is often a large estuary at the mouth of a relatively insignificant river. The word ria comes from Portuguese ria or Galician ría, which is related to Spanish and Galician río, Rias are present all along the Galician coast in Spain. As originally defined, the term was restricted to drowned river valleys cut parallel to the structure of the rock that was at right angles to the coastline. However, the definition of ria was later expanded to other flooded river valleys regardless of the structure of the country rock, for a period of time, European geomorphologists regarded rias to include any broad estuarine river mouth, including fjords. These are long, narrow inlets with steep sides or cliffs, in the 21st century, however, the preferred usage of ria by geologists and geomorphologists is to refer solely to drowned unglaciated river valleys. It therefore excludes fjords by definition, since fjords are products of glaciation, portugal, the country has no rias as such, the Ria de Aveiro in Aveiro, and Ria Formosa in Eastern Algarve are actually lagoons. Atlantic coast of Spain Galicia, The Rias Baixas, like the Ria of Vigo, Ria of Pontevedra, Ria de Arousa, Ria of Muros and Noia, Ria of Corcubion, Cee and Ria de Aldán. The Rias Altas like the Ria of Corunna, Ria of Ares and Betanzos, Ria of Cedeira, Ria of O Barqueiro, Ria of Ferrol, Ria of Ortigueira, Ria of Viveiro, Ria of Foz and Ria of Ribadeo. Asturias, Ria of Avilés, Ria of Ribadeo, Ria of Navia, Ria of Villaviciosa, Ria of Ribadesella, Ria of Llanes, basque Country, Ria of Bilbao, mouth of the rivers Nervión, Ibaizabal, and Cadagua. Andalusia, Ria of Carreras, Ria of Huelva at the mouth of the rivers Odiel, Brittany, The rias in northern Brittany are called Abers, Aber Wrach, Aber Benoît, Aber Ildut. Ireland, Lough Swilly located on the tip of Ireland on the Inishowen peninsula region is an example of an Irish ria. Wales, Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire is a ria, others include the River Towy and the River Loughor. On the north coast is the River Camel and the River Taw, in Essex is the Blackwater River and River Crouch
20.
Orjen
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Orjen is transboundary Dinaric Mediterranean limestone mountain range, that stretches cca 25 km between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Its highest peak is the Orjen Peak, which stands at 1894 m on the border between two countries, the Orjen Peak is the highest peak in the subadriatic Dinarides. The massif of Orjen lies east to south-east of Trebinje in Bosnia and Herzegovina and north-west of Risan in Bay of Kotor. From the town of Risan, situated at the innermost protected part of the bay, at the main summit of Orjen and the surrounding ridges and high plateaux the action of quaternary glaciation is evident. In Ice Age long valley glaciers receded from Orjen to the Bay of Kotor, hollowing U-shaped valleys and cirques in their course. Glaciers also shaped jagged peaks and ridges, glacial and karst type relief combine now in a unique coastal scenery. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, few places show similar phenomena, with this privileged natural harbour the Bay of Kotor has been settled for millennia. Illyrians and Greeks colonised the coast from 400 BC and established todays ports Risan, due to lack of potable water, the high mountain was never densely populated. Snow patches collected from deep pit holes were used late in the 20th century to provide the few hamlets with water. Mount Orjen is a block mountain lifted up as a horst and thus towering above the lowered Bay of Kotor, with 1894 m difference between the lowest and the highest point, relief energy has a great role in the extremely harsh environment. Precipitation reaches 5000 l per m², amounts typical for tropical rainforests or the eastern Himalayas than the dry Mediterranean, lying at Europes wettest coast, snow easily accumulates on karstic plateaux and as late as June small snow patches continue to lie in shaded places under the summits. Skiing is possible but no relevant infrastructures exist today, Orjen is a more important hiking destination. Three mountain huts provide basic accommodation, Mount Orjen is composed of four high karstic plateaux divided by ridges. Three near parallel ridges collide in Zubački kabao, Orjens culmination point, the ridges are arranged by elevation with the highest to the north screening the Bijela gora plateaux from the Mediterranean coast. The separated plateaux are the Krivošije to the East, Bijela gora to the North, Only few settlements are scattered in surrounding poljes. The poljes of Grahovo, Dragalj, Vrbanj, Krusevica and Grabalj are important for agricultural use, migration circled around Mount Orjen as a major obstacle between the coastal, Herceg Novi and Risan and the interior towns of Grahovo, Trebinje and Niksic. Several dry river valleys are found on Orjen, Only in decades they react as short-living rivers when heavy rain and snow-melt combine. Flooding can be a problem and several poljes are renowned for their long inundation periods, Mediterranean mountains bear no glaciers any more except small snow fields in some shaded cirques of the Taurus range
21.
Cruise ship
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Transportation is not the only purpose of cruising, particularly on cruises that return passengers to their originating port, with the ports of call usually in a specified region of a continent. There are even cruises to nowhere or nowhere voyages where the ship makes 2–3 night round trips without any ports of call, by contrast, dedicated transport oriented ocean liners do line voyages and typically transport passengers from one point to another, rather than on round trips. The gradual evolution of passenger ship design from ocean liners to cruise ships has seen passenger cabins shifted from inside the hull to the superstructure with private verandas, the distinction between ocean liners and cruise ships has blurred, particularly with respect to deployment. Larger cruise ships have also engaged in longer trips such as transoceanic voyages which may not return to the port for months. Some former ocean liners operate as cruise ships, such as Marco Polo, the only dedicated transatlantic ocean liner in operation as a liner of December 2013 is Queen Mary 2 of the Cunard fleet. The industrys rapid growth has seen nine or more newly built ships catering to a North American clientele added every year since 2001, smaller markets, such as the Asia-Pacific region, are generally serviced by older ships. These are displaced by new ships in the growth areas. The worlds largest cruise ship is currently Royal Caribbean Internationals Harmony of the Seas beating her sister ships by about 2.15 meters, the birth of leisure cruising began with the formation of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company in 1822. The company started out as a line with routes between England and the Iberian Peninsula, adopting the name Peninsular Steam Navigation Company. It won its first contract to deliver mail in 1837, in 1840, it began mail delivery to Alexandria, Egypt, via Gibraltar and Malta. The company was incorporated by Royal Charter the same year, becoming the Peninsular, P&O first introduced passenger cruising services in 1844, advertising sea tours to destinations such as Gibraltar, Malta and Athens, sailing from Southampton. The forerunner of modern cruise holidays, these voyages were the first of their kind, the company later introduced round trips to destinations such as Alexandria and Constantinople. It underwent a period of expansion in the latter half of the 19th century, commissioning larger. Some sources mention Francesco I, flying the flag of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and she was built in 1831 and sailed from Naples in early June 1833, preceded by an advertising campaign. The cruise ship was boarded by nobles, authorities, and royal princes from all over Europe, however, it was restricted to the aristocracy of Europe and was not a commercial endeavour. Christian Wilhelm Allers published an account of it as Backschisch. The first vessel built exclusively for cruising, was Prinzessin Victoria Luise of Germany, designed by Albert Ballin. The ship was completed in 1900, the practice of luxury cruising made steady inroads on the more established market for transatlantic crossings
22.
UNESCO
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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Paris. It is the heir of the League of Nations International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, UNESCO has 195 member states and nine associate members. Most of its offices are cluster offices covering three or more countries, national and regional offices also exist. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs, education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture and it is also a member of the United Nations Development Group. UNESCO and its mandate for international cooperation can be traced back to a League of Nations resolution on 21 September 1921, on 18 December 1925, the International Bureau of Education began work as a non-governmental organization in the service of international educational development. However, the work of predecessor organizations was largely interrupted by the onset of World War II. On 30 October 1943, the necessity for an organization was expressed in the Moscow Declaration, agreed upon by China, the United Kingdom, the United States. This was followed by the Dumbarton Oaks Conference proposals of 9 October 1944, a prominent figure in the initiative for UNESCO was Rab Butler, the Minister of Education for the United Kingdom. At the ECO/CONF, the Constitution of UNESCO was introduced and signed by 37 countries, the Preparatory Commission operated between 16 November 1945, and 4 November 1946—the date when UNESCOs Constitution came into force with the deposit of the twentieth ratification by a member state. The first General Conference took place between 19 November to 10 December 1946, and elected Dr. Julian Huxley to Director-General and this change in governance distinguished UNESCO from its predecessor, the CICI, in how member states would work together in the organizations fields of competence. In 1956, the Republic of South Africa withdrew from UNESCO claiming that some of the organizations publications amounted to interference in the racial problems. South Africa rejoined the organization in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, UNESCOs early work in the field of education included the pilot project on fundamental education in the Marbial Valley, Haiti, started in 1947. This project was followed by missions to other countries, including, for example. In 1948, UNESCO recommended that Member States should make free primary education compulsory, in 1990, the World Conference on Education for All, in Jomtien, Thailand, launched a global movement to provide basic education for all children, youths and adults. Ten years later, the 2000 World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, UNESCOs early activities in culture included, for example, the Nubia Campaign, launched in 1960. The purpose of the campaign was to move the Great Temple of Abu Simbel to keep it from being swamped by the Nile after construction of the Aswan Dam, during the 20-year campaign,22 monuments and architectural complexes were relocated. This was the first and largest in a series of campaigns including Mohenjo-daro, Fes, Kathmandu, Borobudur, the organizations work on heritage led to the adoption, in 1972, of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The World Heritage Committee was established in 1976 and the first sites inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978, since then important legal instruments on cultural heritage and diversity have been adopted by UNESCO member states in 2003 and 2005
23.
Ancient Rome
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In its many centuries of existence, the Roman state evolved from a monarchy to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it came to dominate the Mediterranean region and then Western Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and it is often grouped into classical antiquity together with ancient Greece, and their similar cultures and societies are known as the Greco-Roman world. Ancient Roman civilisation has contributed to modern government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language and society. Rome professionalised and expanded its military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for modern republics such as the United States and France. By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the lands around the Mediterranean and beyond, its domain extended from the Atlantic to Arabia, the Roman Empire emerged with the end of the Republic and the dictatorship of Augustus Caesar. 721 years of Roman-Persian Wars started in 92 BC with their first war against Parthia and it would become the longest conflict in human history, and have major lasting effects and consequences for both empires. Under Trajan, the Empire reached its territorial peak, Republican mores and traditions started to decline during the imperial period, with civil wars becoming a prelude common to the rise of a new emperor. Splinter states, such as the Palmyrene Empire, would divide the Empire during the crisis of the 3rd century. Plagued by internal instability and attacked by various migrating peoples, the part of the empire broke up into independent kingdoms in the 5th century. This splintering is a landmark historians use to divide the ancient period of history from the pre-medieval Dark Ages of Europe. King Numitor was deposed from his throne by his brother, Amulius, while Numitors daughter, Rhea Silvia, because Rhea Silvia was raped and impregnated by Mars, the Roman god of war, the twins were considered half-divine. The new king, Amulius, feared Romulus and Remus would take back the throne, a she-wolf saved and raised them, and when they were old enough, they returned the throne of Alba Longa to Numitor. Romulus became the source of the citys name, in order to attract people to the city, Rome became a sanctuary for the indigent, exiled, and unwanted. This caused a problem for Rome, which had a large workforce but was bereft of women, Romulus traveled to the neighboring towns and tribes and attempted to secure marriage rights, but as Rome was so full of undesirables they all refused. Legend says that the Latins invited the Sabines to a festival and stole their unmarried maidens, leading to the integration of the Latins, after a long time in rough seas, they landed at the banks of the Tiber River. Not long after they landed, the men wanted to take to the sea again, one woman, named Roma, suggested that the women burn the ships out at sea to prevent them from leaving. At first, the men were angry with Roma, but they realized that they were in the ideal place to settle. They named the settlement after the woman who torched their ships, the Roman poet Virgil recounted this legend in his classical epic poem the Aeneid
24.
Ancient Greek
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Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
25.
Dalmatia (Roman province)
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Its name is probably derived from the name of an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae which lived in the central area of the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. Originally this region was called Illyria or Illyricum, when it became one of the two parts of the Roman province of Illyricum it was renamed Dalmatia, its counterpart province being Pannonia. Later the province of Illyricum was dissolved and replaced by two provinces, Dalmatia and Pannonia. It is not clear when this happened, but plausibly it occurred during the reign of the emperor Vespasian, the region which run along the coast of the Adriatic Sea and extended inland on the Dinaric Alps was called Illyria by the Greeks. Originally the Romans also called it Illyria, the Romans fought three Illyrian Wars mainly against the kingdom of the Ardiaei in the south of the region. In 168 BC they abolished this kingdom, divided it into three republics, the area became a Roman protectorate. The central and northern area of the region engaged in piracy, in response to this, Octavian conducted a series of campaigns in Illyricum. The area became the Roman province of Illyricum probably in 27 BC, due to troubles in the northern part of the region in 16-10 BC, it became an imperial province. The administrative organisation of Illyricum was carried out late in the reign of Augustus, due to Octavian having subdued the more inland region of Pannonia, the Romans changed the name of the coastal area to Dalmatia. Illyricum was composed of Dalmatia and Pannonia, in 6-9 AD there was a large scale rebellion in the province of Illyricum, the Bellum Batonianum. The province of Illyricum was eventually dissolved and replaced by two provinces, Dalmatia and Pannonia. It is unclear when this happened, some other diplomas attest the same. This was during the reign of Nero, therefore, Šašel-Kos supports the notion that the province was dissolved during the reign of Vespasian. In 337, when Constantine the Great died, the Roman Empire was partitioned among his sons, the empire was divided into three praetorian prefectures, the Galliae, Italia, Africa et Illyricum and Oriens. The size of the provinces had been decreased and their number doubled by Diocletian, the provinces were also grouped in dioceses. Dalmatia became one of the seven provinces of the diocese of Pannonia, initially, it was under the praetorian preacture of Italy, Africa and Illyricum. Sirmium, the capital of the praetorian prefecture of Illyricum, was the birthplace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. After he abdicated, he built Diocletians Palace in Salona, german historian Theodore Mommsen wrote that coastal Dalmatia and its islands were fully romanized and Latin-speaking by the 4th century
26.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
27.
Justinian I
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Justinian I, traditionally known as Justinian the Great and also Saint Justinian the Great in the Eastern Orthodox Church, was a Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the empires greatness, because of his restoration activities, Justinian has sometimes been called the last Roman in modern historiography. This ambition was expressed by the recovery of the territories of the defunct western Roman Empire. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered the Vandal kingdom in North Africa, the prefect Liberius reclaimed the south of the Iberian peninsula, establishing the province of Spania. These campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empires annual revenue by over a million solidi, during his reign Justinian also subdued the Tzani, a people on the east coast of the Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before. A still more resonant aspect of his legacy was the rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis. His reign also marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded such masterpieces as the church of Hagia Sophia, a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague in the early 540s marked the end of an age of splendour. Justinian was born in Tauresium around 482, a native speaker of Latin, he came from a peasant family believed to have been of Illyro-Roman or Thraco-Roman origins. The cognomen Iustinianus, which he later, is indicative of adoption by his uncle Justin. During his reign, he founded Justiniana Prima not far from his birthplace and his mother was Vigilantia, the sister of Justin. Justin, who was in the guard before he became emperor, adopted Justinian, brought him to Constantinople. As a result, Justinian was well educated in jurisprudence, theology, Justinian served for some time with the Excubitors but the details of his early career are unknown. Chronicler John Malalas, who lived during the reign of Justinian, tells of his appearance that he was short, fair skinned, curly haired, round faced, another contemporary chronicler, Procopius, compares Justinians appearance to that of tyrannical Emperor Domitian, although this is probably slander. When Emperor Anastasius died in 518, Justin was proclaimed the new emperor, during Justins reign, Justinian was the emperors close confidant. As Justin became senile near the end of his reign, Justinian became the de facto ruler, Justinian was appointed consul in 521 and later commander of the army of the east. Upon Justins death on 1 August 527, Justinian became the sole sovereign, as a ruler, Justinian showed great energy. He was known as the emperor who never sleeps on account of his work habits, nevertheless, he seems to have been amiable and easy to approach. Around 525, he married his mistress, Theodora, in Constantinople and she was by profession a courtesan and some twenty years his junior
28.
Ostrogoths
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The Ostrogoths were the eastern branch of the later Goths. They built an empire stretching from the Black Sea to the Baltic, the Ostrogoths were probably literate in the 3rd century, and their trade with the Romans was highly developed. Their Danubian kingdom reached its zenith under King Ermanaric, who is said to have committed suicide at an old age when the Huns attacked his people and subjugated them in about 370. After their annexation by the Huns, little is heard of the Ostrogoths for about 80 years, after the collapse of the Hun empire after the Battle of Nedao, Ostrogoths migrated westwards towards Illyria and the borders of Italy, while some remained in the Crimea. During the late 5th and 6th centuries, under Theodoric the Great most of the Ostrogoths moved first to Moesia, in 493, Theodoric the Great established a kingdom in Italy. A period of instability then ensued, tempting the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian to declare war on the Ostrogoths in 535 in an effort to restore the western provinces of the Roman Empire. Initially, the Byzantines were successful, but under the leadership of Totila, the war lasted for almost 20 years and caused enormous damage and depopulation of Italy. The remaining Ostrogoths were absorbed into the Lombards who established a kingdom in Italy in 568, a division of the Goths is first attested in 291. The Tervingi are first attested around that date, the Greuthungi, Vesi, the Ostrogoths are first named in a document dated September 392 from Milan. Claudian mentions that they together with the Greuthungi inhabit Phrygia, according to Herwig Wolfram, the primary sources either use the terminology of Tervingi/Greuthungi or Vesi/Ostrogothi and never mix the pairs. All four names were used together, but the pairing was always preserved, as in Gruthungi, Ostrogothi, Tervingi and that the Tervingi were the Vesi/Visigothi and the Greuthungi the Ostrogothi is also supported by Jordanes. This interpretation, however, though common among scholars today, is not universal. Both Herwig Wolfram and Thomas Burns conclude that the terms Tervingi and Greuthungi were geographical identifiers used by each tribe to describe the other and this terminology therefore dropped out of use after the Goths were displaced by the Hunnic invasions. In support of this, Wolfram cites Zosimus as referring to a group of Scythians north of the Danube who were called Greuthungi by the north of the Ister. Wolfram asserts that it was the Tervingi who remained behind after the Hunnic conquest and he further believes that the terms Vesi and Ostrogothi were used by the peoples to boastfully describe themselves. On this understanding, the Greuthungi and Ostrogothi were more or less the same people, the nomenclature of Greuthungi and Tervingi fell out of use shortly after 400. In general, the terminology of a divided Gothic people disappeared gradually after they entered the Roman Empire, the term Visigoth, however, was an invention of the sixth century. Cassiodorus, a Roman in the service of Theodoric the Great, invented the term Visigothi to match Ostrogothi, the western-eastern division was a simplification and a literary device of sixth-century historians where political realities were more complex
29.
Saracen
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Saracen was a term widely used among Christian writers in Europe during the Middle Ages. The terms meaning evolved during its history, in Europe during the Early Medieval era, the term came to be associated with Arab tribes as well. By the 12th century, Saracen had become synonymous with Muslim in Medieval Latin literature, such expansion in the meaning of the term had begun centuries earlier among the Byzantine Romans, as evidenced in documents from the 8th century. In the Western languages before the 16th century, Saracen was commonly used to refer to Muslim Arabs, the term Saraceni might be derived from the Semitic triliteral root srq signifies to steal, rob, plunder. The noun sāriq - sariqīn means, ptolemys 2nd century work, Geography, describes Sarakēnē as a region in the northern Sinai Peninsula. Ptolemy also mentions a people called the Sarakēnoi living in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula, the Augustan History also refers to an attack by Saraceni on Pescennius Nigers army in Egypt in 193, but provides little information as to identifying them. Both Hippolytus of Rome and Uranius mention three distinct peoples in Arabia during the first half of the century, the Saraceni, the Taeni. The Taeni, later identified with the Arabic-speaking people called Tayy, were located around Khaybar, the Saraceni were placed north of them. These Saracens, located in the northern Hejaz, were described as people with a certain military ability who were opponents of the Roman Empire, the Saracens are described as forming the equites from Phoenicia and Thamud. In one document the defeated enemies of Diocletians campaign in the Syrian Desert are described as Saracens. Other 4th century military reports make no mention of Arabs but refer to as Saracens groups ranging as far east as Mesopotamia that were involved in battles on both the Sasanian and Roman sides. The Saracens were named in the Roman administrative document Notitia Dignitatum—dating from the time of Theodosius I in the 4th century—as comprising distinctive units in the Roman army and they were distinguished in the document from Arabs. Beginning no later than the fifth century, Christian writers began to equate Saracens with Arabs. Saracens were associated with Ishmaelites in some strands of Jewish, Christian and this claim was popular during the Middle Ages, but derives more from Paul’s allegory in the New Testament letter to the Galatians than from historical data. The name Saracen was not indigenous among the populations so described but was applied to them by Greco-Roman historians based on Greek place names. As the Middle Ages progressed, usage of the term in the Latin West changed, but its connotation remained negative, associated with opponents of Christianity, in an 8th-century polemical work, John of Damascus criticized the Saracens as followers of a false prophet and forerunner to the Antichrist. By the 12th century, Medieval Europeans had more specific conceptions of Islam and used the term Saracen as an ethnic, in some Medieval literature, Saracens—that is, Muslims—were described as black-skinned, while Christians were lighter-skinned. An example is in The King of Tars, a medieval romance, the Song of Roland, an Old French 11th-century heroic poem, refers to the black skin of Saracens as their only exotic feature
30.
Constantine VII
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Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, the Purple-born, was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 913 to 959. He was the son of the emperor Leo VI and his wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, and the nephew of his predecessor. Constantine VII is best known for his four books, De Administrando Imperio, De Ceremoniis, De Thematibus and his nickname alludes to the Purple Room of the imperial palace, decorated with porphyry, where legitimate children of reigning emperors were normally born. Constantine was also born in this room, although his mother Zoe had not been married to Leo at that time, nevertheless, the epithet allowed him to underline his position as the legitimized son, as opposed to all others who claimed the throne during his lifetime. Sons born to a reigning Emperor held precedence in the Eastern Roman line of succession over elder sons not born in the purple, Constantine was born at Constantinople, an illegitimate son born before an uncanonical fourth marriage. To help legitimize him, his mother gave birth to him in the Purple Room of the palace, hence his nickname Porphyrogennetos. He was symbolically elevated to the throne as a child by his father. In June 913, as his uncle Alexander lay dying, he appointed a regency council for Constantine. Following Alexanders death, the new and shaky regime survived the attempted usurpation of Constantine Doukas, Patriarch Nicholas was presently forced to make peace with Tsar Simeon of Bulgaria, whom he reluctantly recognized as Bulgarian emperor. Because of this concession, Patriarch Nicholas was driven out of the regency by Constantines mother Zoe. She was no more successful with the Bulgarians, who defeated her main supporter, in 919 she was replaced as regent by the admiral Romanos Lekapenos, who married his daughter Helena Lekapene to Constantine. Romanos used his position to advance to the ranks of basileopatōr in May 919, to kaisar in September 920, thus, just short of reaching nominal majority, Constantine was eclipsed by a senior emperor. Nevertheless, he was an intelligent young man with a large range of interests. Romanos kept and maintained power until 944, when he was deposed by his sons, Romanos spent the last years of his life in exile on the Island of Prote as a monk and died on June 15,948. With the help of his wife, Constantine VII succeeded in removing his brothers-in-law, several months later, Constantine VII crowned his own son Romanos II co-emperor. In 949 Constantine launched a new fleet of 100 ships against the Arab corsairs hiding in Crete, but like his fathers attempt to retake the island in 911, on the Eastern frontier things went better, even if with alternate success. In 949 the Byzantines conquered Germanicea, repeatedly defeated the enemy armies, but in 953 the Hamdanid amir Sayf al-Daula retook Germanicea and entered the imperial territory. An Arab fleet was destroyed by Greek fire in 957
31.
Dalmatia
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Dalmatia is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea. The hinterland ranges in width from fifty kilometres in the north, to just a few kilometres in the south,79 islands run parallel to the coast, the largest being Brač, Pag and Hvar. The largest city is Split, followed by Zadar, Dubrovnik, the name of the region stems from an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae, who lived in the area in classical antiquity. Later it became a Roman province, and as result a Romance culture emerged, along with the now-extinct Dalmatian language, later largely replaced with related Venetian. With the arrival of Croats to the area in the 8th century, who occupied most of the hinterland, Croatian and Romance elements began to intermix in language and the culture. During the Middle Ages, its cities were conquered by, or switched allegiance to. The longest-lasting rule was the one of the Republic of Venice, between 1815 and 1918, it was as a province of Austrian Empire known as the Kingdom of Dalmatia. It was the Romans who first gave Dalmatia its name, inspired by the Illyrian word “delmat”, meaning a proud and its Latin form Dalmatia gave rise to its current English name. In the Venetian language, once dominant in the area, it is spelled Dalmàssia, the modern Croatian spelling is Dalmacija, pronounced. Dalmatia is referenced in the New Testament at 2 Timothy 4,10 so its name has been translated in many of the worlds languages. In antiquity the Roman province of Dalmatia was much larger than the present-day Split-Dalmatia County, Dalmatia is today a historical region only, not formally instituted in Croatian law. Its exact extent is uncertain and subject to public perception. According to Lena Mirošević and Josip Faričić of the University of Zadar, simultaneously, the southern part of Lika and upper Pounje, which were not a part of Austrian Dalmatia, became a part of Zadar County. From the present-day administrative and territorial point of view, Dalmatia comprises the four Croatian littoral counties with seats in Zadar, Šibenik, Split, Dalmatia is therefore generally perceived to extend approximately to the borders of the Austrian Kingdom of Dalmatia. The Encyclopædia Britannica defines Dalmatia as extending to the narrows of Kotor, other sources, however, such as the Treccani encyclopedia and the Rough Guide to Croatia still include the Bay as being part of the region. This definition does not include the Bay of Kotor, nor the islands of Rab, Sveti Grgur and it also excludes the northern part of the island of Pag, which is part of the Lika-Senj County. However, it includes the Gračac Municipality in Zadar County, which was not a part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia and is not traditionally associated with the region, the inhabitants of Dalmatia are culturally subdivided into two or three groups
32.
Dalmatian language
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Dalmatian /dælˈmeɪʃən/ or Dalmatic /dælˈmætɪk/ was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, the Ragusan dialect of Dalmatian was the official language of the Republic of Ragusa, though in later times Venetian, then Serbo-Croatian came to supersede it. Dalmatian speakers lived in the coastal towns Zadar, Trogir, Spalato, Ragusa, and Kotor, each of these cities having a local dialect, almost every city developed its own dialect. Most of these became extinct before they were recorded, so the only trace of these ancient dialects is some words borrowed into local dialects of todays Croatia, Ragusan is the Southern dialect, whose name is derived from the Romance name of Dubrovnik, Ragusa. It came to the attention of scholars in two letters, from 1325 and 1397, and other mediaeval texts, which show a language influenced heavily by Venetian. The available sources include some 260 Ragusan words including pen, teta, chesa, and fachir, which were quoted by the Dalmatian Filippo Diversi, the rector of Ragusa in the 1430s. The Maritime Republic of Ragusa had, at one time, an important fleet, the language was in trouble in the face of Slav expansion, as the Ragusan Senate decided that all debates had to be held in lingua veteri ragusea and the use of the Slav was forbidden. Nevertheless, in the 16th century, Ragusan fell out of use, the languages name is derived from the Italian name of Krk, Veglia, an island in Kvarner, called Vikla in Vegliot. On the inscription dating from the beginning of the fourth century, the Serbo-Croatian name derives from the Roman name, whereas the younger name Vecla, Vegla, Veglia was created in the mediaeval Romanesque period. The Roman Republic gradually came to occupy the territory of Illyria between 229 and 155 BC, merchants and authorities settling from Rome brought with them the Latin language, and eventually the indigenous inhabitants mostly abandoned their languages for Vulgar Latin. Dalmatian was spoken on the Dalmatian coast from Fiume as far south as Cottora in Montenegro, speakers lived mainly in the coastal towns of Jadera, Tragurium, Spalatum, Ragusa and Acruvium, and also on the islands of Curicta, Crepsa and Arba. The Dalmatian dialect of Ragusa is known from two letters, dated 1325 and 1397, as well as from other mediaeval texts, the oldest preserved documents written in Dalmatian are 13th century inventories in Ragusan. The available sources include roughly 260 Ragusan words, surviving words include pen, teta, chesa, and fachir, which were quoted by the Dalmatian, Filippo Diversi, the head of school of Ragusa in the 1430s. Dalmatian was influenced heavily by Venetian and Serbo-Croatian. A 14th-century letter from Zadar shows strong influence from Venetian, the language that after years under Venetian rule superseded Iadera, other dialects met their demise with the settlement of populations of Slavic speakers. The last speaker of any Dalmatian dialect was Burbur Tuone Udaina, Bartoli wrote in Italian and published a translation in German in 1906. The Italian language manuscripts were reportedly lost, and the work was not re-translated into Italian until 2001, some of its features are quite archaic. Dalmatian is the only Romance language that has palatalised /k/ and /g/ before /i/, some of its words have been preserved as borrowings in South Slavic languages, mainly in Chakavian
33.
First Bulgarian Empire
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The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state that existed in southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded circa 681 when Bulgar tribes led by Asparukh moved to the north-eastern Balkans, there they secured Byzantine recognition of their right to settle south of the Danube by defeating – possibly with the help of local South Slavic tribes – the Byzantine army led by Constantine IV. At the height of its power, Bulgaria spread from the Danube Bend to the Black Sea, as the state solidified its position in the Balkans, it entered into a centuries-long interaction, sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile, with the Byzantine Empire. Bulgaria emerged as Byzantiums chief antagonist to its north, resulting in several wars, Byzantium had a strong cultural influence on Bulgaria, which also led to the eventual adoption of Christianity in 864. After the disintegration of the Avar Khaganate, the country expanded its territory northwest to the Pannonian Plain, later the Bulgarians confronted the advance of the Pechenegs and Cumans, and achieved a decisive victory over the Magyars, forcing them to establish themselves permanently in Pannonia. During the late 9th and early 10th centuries, Simeon I achieved a string of victories over the Byzantines, thereafter, he was recognized with the title of Emperor, and proceeded to expand the state to its greatest extent. After the annihilation of the Byzantine army in the battle of Anchialus in 917, the Byzantines, however, eventually recovered, and in 1014, under Basil II, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Bulgarians at the Battle of Kleidion. By 1018, the last Bulgarian strongholds had surrendered to the Byzantine Empire, and it was succeeded by the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1185. After the adoption of Christianity, Bulgaria became the center of Slavic Europe. Old Bulgarian became the lingua franca of much of Eastern Europe, in 927, the fully independent Bulgarian Patriarchate was officially recognized. The Bulgars and other tribes in the empire gradually adopted an essentially foreign Slavic language. Since the late 9th century, the names Bulgarians and Bulgarian gained prevalence and became permanent designations for the local population, the First Bulgarian Empire became known simply as Bulgaria since its recognition by the Byzantine Empire in 681. Some historians use the terms Danube Bulgaria, First Bulgarian State, during its early existence, the country was also called the Bulgar state or Bulgar qaghanate. Between 864 and 917/927, the country was known as the Principality of Bulgaria or Knyazhestvo Bulgaria, in English language sources, the country is often known as the Bulgarian Empire. The eastern Balkan Peninsula was originally inhabited by the Thracians who were a group of Proto-Indo-European tribes, the whole region as far north as the Danube River was gradually incorporated into the Roman Empire by the 1st century AD. The decline of the Roman Empire after the 3rd century AD, nonetheless, it never relinquished the claim to the whole region up to the Danube. A series of administrative, legislative, military and economic reforms somewhat improved the situation, the group of Slavs that came to be known as the South Slavs was divided into Antes and Sclaveni who spoke the same language. The Slavic incursions in the Balkans increased during the half of Justinian Is reign and while these were initially pillaging raids
34.
Duklja
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Between 1043 and 1080, under Mihailo Vojislavljević, and his son, Constantine Bodin, Duklja saw its apogee. Mihailo was given the nominal title King of Slavs by the Pope after having left the Byzantine camp and supported a Slavic uprising in the Balkans, in which his son Bodin played a central part. Having incorporated the Serbian hinterland and installed vassal rulers there, this maritime principality emerged as the most powerful Serb polity, between 1113 and 1149 Duklja was the centre of Serbian–Byzantine conflict, with members of the Vojislavljević as protégés of either fighting each other for power. In historiography, K. Jirechek was the first to use Duklja, Doclea was originally the name of the Roman city on the site of modern Podgorica, built by Roman Emperor Diocletian, who hailed from this region of Roman Dalmatia. The Romanized Illyrian tribe known as Docleatae that inhabited the area derived their name from the city, in later centuries, the Romans hypercorrected the name to Dioclea, wrongly guessing that an i had been lost due to vulgar speech patterns. Duklja is the later Slavic version of the name of this region, the demonym, or tribal name, appearing in De Administrando Imperio was Dioklitianoi. According to De Administrando Imperio, in chapter 35, Diokleia included the large, inhabited cities of Gradetai, Nougrade, Gradetai may have been Starigrad, Nougrad may have been Prevlaka, while the location of Lontodokla is uncertain. Since the 12th century, the term Zeta began to replace the name Duklja, DAI mentions Croats and Serbs having settled the Western Balkans, the Serbs having founded baptized Serbia which included the land of Bosna. The other Serb-inhabited lands that were mentioned in the DAI included the maritime Paganija, Zahumlje and Travunija, all of the maritime lands bordered Serbia to the north. The DAI has been a widely used source in reconstructing the earliest histories of the South Slavic states, the DAI claims that Duklja had been made desolate by the Avars and repopulated in the time of the Emperor Heraclius, just as were Croatia and Serbia, by Slavs. Fine argues given that Serbs settled in regions along its borders, ivo Banac proposed that the DAI mention that a part of the Croats split off and took control of Illyricum and Pannonia after settling northern Dalmatia could be connected to Duklja. The dubious Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, compiled in 1298–1301 by a Cistercian monk in the service of Paul I Šubić of Bribir, refers to Croats in southern Dalmatia. If this is not mere Byzantine confusion over Serbs and Croats, scholars have debated at length as to the reliability of such sources. Ultimately, the origins of Duklja are not known with certainty, moreover, what actually constituted a people in the Middle Ages has been rigorously debated. There is no evidence that peoples known as Serbs or Croats migrated en masse as coherent nations. Rather, some sort of group identity began to form within the Balkans from the late 7th century as Slavic notables formed a system of alliances and this coincides with the final demise of Avar hegemony over the western Balkans. At the same time, the Byzantines had begun to re-establish some control in parts of the Balkans after the 7th century collapse of imperial control, the establishment of the Byzantine theme of Dyrrhachium facilitated diplomatic contacts between the East Romans and the Adriatic Sclaviniae. There is little evidence that a notion of nation-type ethnicity
35.
Samuel of Bulgaria
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Samuel was the Tsar of the First Bulgarian Empire from 997 to 6 October 1014. As Samuel struggled to preserve his countrys independence from the Byzantine Empire, his rule was characterized by constant warfare against the Byzantines, in his early years Samuel managed to inflict several major defeats on the Byzantines and to launch offensive campaigns into their territory. In the late 10th century, the Bulgarian armies conquered the principality of Duklja and led campaigns against the Kingdoms of Croatia, but from 1001, he was forced mainly to defend the Empire against the superior Byzantine armies. Samuel died of an attack on 6 October 1014, two months after the catastrophic battle of Kleidion. His successors failed to organize a resistance, and in 1018, four years after Samuels death, Samuel was considered invincible in power and unsurpassable in strength. Similar comments were even in Constantinople, where John Kyriotes penned a poem offering a punning comparison between the Bulgarian Emperor and Halleys comet, which appeared in 989. During Samuels reign, Bulgaria gained control of most of the Balkans as far as southern Greece. He moved the capital from Skopje to Ohrid, which had been the cultural and military centre of southwestern Bulgaria since Boris Is rule, because of this, his realm is sometimes called the Western Bulgarian Empire. Samuels energetic reign restored Bulgarian might on the Balkans, and although the Empire was disestablished after his death and his mother was Ripsimia of Armenia, the daughter of King Ashot II of Armenia. The actual name of the dynasty is not known, Cometopuli is the nickname used by Byzantine historians which is translated as sons of the count. The Cometopuli rose to power out of the disorder that occurred in the Bulgarian Empire from 966 to 971, during the reign of Emperor Peter I, Bulgaria prospered in a long-lasting peace with Byzantium. This was secured by the marriage of Peter with the Byzantine princess Maria Lakapina, during these years the Byzantines and Bulgarians had entangled themselves in a war with Kievan Rus Prince Sviatoslav, who invaded Bulgaria several times. After a defeat from Sviatoslav, Peter I suffered a stroke, Boris was allowed back to Bulgaria to take his fathers throne, restore order and oppose Sviatoslav, but had little success. This was allegedly used by Nicholas and his sons, who were contemplating a revolt in 969, the Rus invaded Byzantine Thrace in 970, but suffered a defeat in the Battle of Arcadiopolis. The new Byzantine Emperor John Tzimiskes used this to his advantage and he quickly invaded Bulgaria the following year, defeated the Rus, and conquered the Bulgarian capital Preslav. Boris II of Bulgaria was ritually divested of his insignia in a public ceremony in Constantinople and he. Although the ceremony in 971 had been intended as a termination of the Bulgarian Empire. Count Nicholas, Samuels father, who had ties to the royal court in Preslav
36.
Republic of Ragusa
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The Republic of Ragusa was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia that existed from 1358 to 1808. It reached its peak in the 15th and the 16th centuries, before being conquered by Napoleons French Empire. It had a population of about 30,000 people, out of whom 5,000 lived within the city walls and its motto was Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro, which translated from Latin means Liberty is not well sold for all the gold. Originally named Communitas Ragusina, in the 14th century it was renamed Respublica Ragusina, in Italian it is called Repubblica di Ragusa, in Croatian it is called Dubrovačka Republika. The Croatian name Dubrovnik is derived from the word dubrava, an oak grove, by a folk etymology. It came into use alongside Ragusa as early as the 14th century, the Latin, Italian and Dalmatian name Ragusa derives its name from Lausa, it was later altered in Rausium, Rhagusium or Ragusium or Rausia and finally into Ragusa. The official change of name from Ragusa to Dubrovnik came into effect under Austria-Hungary and it is known in historiography as the Republic of Ragusa. In the 15th century the Ragusan republic also acquired the islands of Korčula, Brač, however they had to be given up due to the resistance of local minor aristocrats sympathizing with Venice which was granting them some privileges. In the 16th century administrative units of the Republic were, the City of Ragusa, Lastovo and Mljet were semi-autonomous communities each having its own Statute. Some of the survivors moved 25 kilometres north to an island near the coast where they founded a new settlement. It has been claimed that a raid by the Slavs in 656 resulted in the total destruction of Epidaurum. Slavs, including Croats and Serbs, settled along the coast in the 7th century, the Slavs named their settlement Dubrovnik. The Romance and Slavs held each other antagonistically, though by the 12th century the two settlements had merged, the channel that divided the city was filled creating the present-day main street which became the city centre. Thus, Dubrovnik became the Croatian name for the united town, there are recent theories based on excavations that the city was established much earlier, at least in the 5th and possibly to the Ancient Greek period. An ideal combination would have a water source in the vicinity. Dubrovnik had both, being halfway between the Greek settlements of Budva and Korčula, which are 95 nautical miles apart, during its first centuries the city, known as Ragusium in Latin and Raousion in Greek, was under the rule of the Byzantine Empire. The Saracens laid siege to the city in 866–67, it lasted for fifteen months and was raised due to the intervention of Byzantine Emperor Basil I, who sent a fleet under Niketas Ooryphas in relief. Ooryphas showing of the flag had swift results, as the Slavic tribes sent envoys to the Emperor, once more acknowledging his suzerainty
Szeged, Hungary
Santa Barbara, United States
