1.
Poetry
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Poetry has a long history, dating back to the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Early poems evolved from folk songs such as the Chinese Shijing, or from a need to retell oral epics, as with the Sanskrit Vedas, Zoroastrian Gathas, and the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Ancient attempts to define poetry, such as Aristotles Poetics, focused on the uses of speech in rhetoric, drama, song and comedy. Later attempts concentrated on such as repetition, verse form and rhyme. From the mid-20th century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a creative act employing language. Poetry uses forms and conventions to suggest differential interpretation to words, devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly figures of such as metaphor, simile and metonymy create a resonance between otherwise disparate images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between verses, in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm. Some poetry types are specific to cultures and genres and respond to characteristics of the language in which the poet writes. Much modern poetry reflects a critique of poetic tradition, playing with and testing, among other things, in todays increasingly globalized world, poets often adapt forms, styles and techniques from diverse cultures and languages. Some scholars believe that the art of poetry may predate literacy, others, however, suggest that poetry did not necessarily predate writing. The oldest surviving poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, comes from the 3rd millennium BCE in Sumer. An example of Egyptian epic poetry is The Story of Sinuhe, other forms of poetry developed directly from folk songs. The earliest entries in the oldest extant collection of Chinese poetry, the efforts of ancient thinkers to determine what makes poetry distinctive as a form, and what distinguishes good poetry from bad, resulted in poetics—the study of the aesthetics of poetry. Some ancient societies, such as Chinas through her Shijing, developed canons of poetic works that had ritual as well as aesthetic importance, Classical thinkers employed classification as a way to define and assess the quality of poetry. Later aestheticians identified three major genres, epic poetry, lyric poetry, and dramatic poetry, treating comedy and tragedy as subgenres of dramatic poetry, Aristotles work was influential throughout the Middle East during the Islamic Golden Age, as well as in Europe during the Renaissance. English Romantic poet John Keats termed this escape from logic Negative Capability and this romantic approach views form as a key element of successful poetry because form is abstract and distinct from the underlying notional logic
2.
Croatia
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Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a sovereign state between Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital city is Zagreb, which one of the countrys primary subdivisions. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres and has diverse, mostly continental, Croatias Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The countrys population is 4.28 million, most of whom are Croats, the Croats arrived in the area of present-day Croatia during the early part of the 7th century AD. They organised the state into two duchies by the 9th century, tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Petar Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs which seceded from Austria-Hungary, a fascist Croatian puppet state backed by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany existed during World War II. After the war, Croatia became a member and a federal constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991 Croatia declared independence, which came wholly into effect on 8 October of the same year, the Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration. A unitary state, Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system, the International Monetary Fund classified Croatia as an emerging and developing economy, and the World Bank identified it as a high-income economy. Croatia is a member of the European Union, United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, the service sector dominates Croatias economy, followed by the industrial sector and agriculture. Tourism is a significant source of revenue during the summer, with Croatia ranked the 18th most popular tourist destination in the world, the state controls a part of the economy, with substantial government expenditure. The European Union is Croatias most important trading partner, since 2000, the Croatian government constantly invests in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors. Internal sources produce a significant portion of energy in Croatia, the rest is imported, the origin of the name is uncertain, but is thought to be a Gothic or Indo-Aryan term assigned to a Slavic tribe. The oldest preserved record of the Croatian ethnonym *xъrvatъ is of variable stem, the first attestation of the Latin term is attributed to a charter of Duke Trpimir from the year 852. The original is lost, and just a 1568 copy is preserved—leading to doubts over the authenticity of the claim, the oldest preserved stone inscription is the 9th-century Branimir Inscription, where Duke Branimir is styled as Dux Cruatorvm. The inscription is not believed to be dated accurately, but is likely to be from during the period of 879–892, the area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period
3.
Duchy of Croatia
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Duchy of Croatia, was a medieval Croatian duchy that was established in the former Roman province of Dalmatia. Throughout its time it had several seats, namely Klis, Solin, Knin, Biaći and Nin, comprised the littoral, or coastal part of todays Croatia, the Duchy was in the center of competition between the Carolingian Empire and the Byzantine Empire for rule over the area. Rivalry with Venice emerged in the first decades of the 9th century and was to continue for the following centuries, Croatia saw periods of vassalage of the Franks or Byzantines and de facto independence until 879 when Croatian Duke Branimir received recognition from Pope John VIII as an independent realm. The ruling dynasty of Croatia was the House of Trpimirović, with interruptions by the House of Domagojević, the Duchy existed until around 925 when, during the rule of Duke Tomislav, Croatia became a kingdom. Dalmatian Croatia and Littoral Croatia are modern appellations amongst historians for the territory of the Duchy, the state is sometimes called a principality, i. e. the Principality of Croatia. The first recorded name for the Duchy was Land of the Croats, Croatia was not yet a kingdom at the time and the term regnum is used in terms of a country in general. In Byzantine sources the entity was called just Croatia. The first known duke, Borna, was named Duke of Dalmatia, the Croatian name is recorded in contemporary charters of Croatian dukes from the second half of the 9th century. Trpimir I was named Duke of the Croats in a Latin charter issued in 852, within the area of the Roman province of Dalmatia, various tribal groupings, which were called sclaviniae by the Byzantines, were settled along the Adriatic coast. Several coastal Dalmatian cities were under the rule of the Byzantines, including Split, Zadar, Kotor and Dubrovnik, as well as islands of Hvar and Krk. To the south Croatia bordered with the land of the Narentines, which stretched from the rivers Cetina to Neretva, in the southern part of Dalmatia, there was Zahumlje, Travunia and Dioclea. North of Croatia there was the Duchy of Pannonia, Croatia, as well as other early medieval states, didnt have a permanent capital and Croatian dukes resided in various places on their courts. The first important center of Croatia was Klis near Split, where Duke Trpimir I resided, other dukes ruled from the towns of Solin, Knin, Biaći and Nin. Most of Dalmatia was in the 7th century under the Avar Khaganate, in 614 the Avars and Slavs sacked and destroyed the capital of the province of Dalmatia, Salona, and retained direct control of the region for a few decades until they were driven out by the Croats. The earliest recorded Croatian leader, referred to by the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, was Porga, by the early 9th century, Croatia emerged as a political entity with a duke as head of the state, territorially in the basins of the rivers Cetina, Krka and Zrmanja. It was administered in 11 counties, from that point on, they were independent, and demanded to be baptised from the bishop of Rome, and was sent to them to be baptised in the time of Porinos their prince. Their land was divided in eleven zupanias, which are, Hlebiana, Tzenzena, Emota, Pleba, Pesenta, Parathalassia, Brebere, Nona, Tnena, Sidraga, Nina, and their ban has Kribasan, Litzan, Goutzeska. Although the Christianization of Croats began right after their arrival to Dalmatia, the Franks gained control of Pannonia and Dalmatia in the 790s and the first decade of the ninth century
4.
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
5.
Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)
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The Kingdom of Croatia was an administrative division that existed between 1527 and 1868 within the Habsburg Monarchy. The Kingdom was a part of the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, between 1744 and 1868 the Kingdom of Croatia included a subordinate autonomous kingdom, the Kingdom of Slavonia. The territory of the Slavonian Kingdom was recovered from the Ottoman Empire, in 1744 these territories were organized as the Kingdom of Slavonia and included within the Kingdom of Croatia as an autonomous part. In 1868 both were merged again into the newly formed Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, following the Battle of Mohács, in 1527 the Croatian and Hungarian nobles needed to decide on a new king. The bulk of the Croatian nobility convened the Croatian Parliament in Cetin, some of the nobles dissented and supported John Zápolya, but the Habsburg option prevailed by 1540, when John Zápolya died. Territory retaken from the Ottoman Empire was formed in 1745 as the Kingdom of Slavonia, in 1804 the Habsburg Monarchy became the Austrian Empire which annexed the Venetian Republic in 1814 and established the Kingdom of Dalmatia. Stephen in the Hungarian part of the Empire, while the Kingdom of Dalmatia became a Kronland in the Austrian part of the Empire. The new Kingdom claimed the Kingdom of Dalmatia, as the remaining Croatian land in the Empire, and often referred to itself as the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia. The change of leadership was far from a solution to the war with the Ottomans, in fact, Croatian territory under Habsburg rule was 25 years later reduced to about 20,000 km². In 1558, the parliaments of Croatia and Slavonia were united after many centuries into one, the centre of the Croatian state moved northward from coastal Dalmatia, as these lands were conquered by the Ottomans. The town of Zagreb gained importance, as did nearby Varaždin, taking advantage of the growing conflict between Maximilian and Sigismund, Suleyman started his sixth raid of Hungary in 1565 with 100,000 troops. They successfully progressed northwards until 1566 when they took a detour to capture the outpost of Siget which they failed to capture ten years previously. The small fort was defended by Count Nikola Šubić Zrinski and 2 and they were able to hold their ground for a month, and decimated the Ottoman army before being wiped out themselves. This siege, now known as the Battle of Szigetvár, bought time to allow Austrian troops to regroup before the Ottomans could reach Vienna. Ambroz Matija Gubec and other leaders of the mutiny raised peasants to arms in over sixty fiefs throughout the country in January 1573, Matija Gubec and thousands of others were publicly executed shortly thereafter, in a rather brutal manner in order to set an example for others. After the Bihać fort finally fell to the army of the Bosnian vizier Hasan Pasha Predojević in 1592, the remaining 16,800 km² where around 400,000 inhabitants lived were referred to as the remnants of remnants of the once great and renowned Kingdom of Croatia. By the 18th century, the Ottoman Empire was driven out of Ottoman Hungary and Croatia, subsequently, the empress made significant contributions to Croatian matters, by making several changes in the administrative control of the Military Frontier, the feudal and tax system. The empress also gave the independent port of Rijeka to Croatia in 1776, however, she also ignored the Croatian Parliament
6.
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
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It was associated with the Hungarian Kingdom within the dual Austro-Hungarian state, being within the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen or Transleithania. The kingdom was ruled by the Habsburg Emperor-King of Austria-Hungary under his title as King of Croatia and Slavonia, the Kings appointed steward was the Ban of Croatia and Slavonia. Although it was under the suzerainty of the Crown of Saint Stephen, in 1918, the kingdom declared independence and reformed into the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The claim was, for most of the time, supported by the Hungarian government, the union between the two primarily Croatian lands of Austria-Hungary never took place, however. The laws passed in Croatia-Slavonia used the phrase Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia, in Hungarian, Croatia is referred to as Horvátország and Slavonia as Szlavónia. The combined polity was known by the name of Horvát-Szlavón Királyság. The short form of the name was Horvát-Szlavónország and, less frequently Horvát-Tótország, the order of mentioning Dalmatia was a contentious issue, as it was ordered differently in the Croatian and Hungarian language versions of the 1868 Settlement. The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was created in 1868, when the kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia were joined into one single kingdom. The Croatian parliament, elected in a manner, confirmed the subordination of Croatia-Slavonia to Hungary in 1868 with signing of Hungarian-Croatian union constitution called the Nagodba. This kingdom included parts of present-day Croatia and Serbia, in the end, fifty-five per cent of the total income of Croatia-Slavonia were assigned to the Joint Treasury. The kingdom existed until 1918 when it joined the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, the new Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom was divided into counties between 1918 and 1922 and into oblasts between 1922 and 1929. With the formation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929, most of the territory of the former Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia became a part of the Sava Banate, the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 created the Dual Monarchy. Under the Compromise, Austria and Hungary each had separate parliaments that passed and maintained separate laws, each region had its own government, headed by its own prime minister. The common monarchy consisted of the emperor-king and the ministers of foreign affairs, defense. At Franz Josephs insistence, Hungary and Croatia reached the Compromise in 1868, the agreement granted the Croats autonomy over their internal affairs. The Croatian ban would now be nominated by the Hungarian prime minister, areas of common concern to Hungarians and Croats included finance, currency matters, commercial policy, the post office, and the railroad. Croatian became the language of Croatias government, and Croatian representatives discussing common affairs before the Hungarian diet were permitted to speak Croatian. A ministry of Croatian Affairs was created within the Hungarian government, although the Nagodba provided a measure of political autonomy to Croatia-Slavonia, it was subordinated politically and economically to Hungary
7.
White Croatia
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White Croatia was the ill-defined homeland of the White Croats in Central and Eastern Europe. After the migration of the White Croats in the 7th century, it gradually lost the primacy under influence by other Slavic states of Czechs and it is considered that White Croatia ceased to exist as separate ethnopolitic state in the 10th century. According to the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, there existed another White Croatia along Red Croatia in Dalmatia, the epithets white for Croats and their homeland Croatia, as well great for Croatia, is in relation to the symbolism used in ancient times. The epithet white is related to the use of colors for cardinal directions among Eurasian people and it meant Western Croats/Croatia, in comparison to lands where they lived before. The epithet great signified subsequently populated land, but also old, ancient, constantine VII in De Administrando Imperio recounts in 30th chapter ancient Croatia, also called white, is still unbaptized to this day, as are also its neighboring Serbs. Plundered by the Franks and Turks and Pechenegs, while in 31st chapter the Croats at that time were dwelling beyond Bagibareia, where the Belocroats are now. They are subject to Otto, the king of Francia. Other sources suggest that Croats in the 10th century lived between Moravians and Czechs on Upper Elbe, as well in Galicia in the vicinity of Kievan Rus, in modern scholarship the widespread opinion is that theres no simple answer on the location of White Croatia. Initially was considered it was situated on the river Elbe, while later around Vistula, pavel Jozef Šafárik and Lubor Niederle placed megali Croatia in Eastern Galicia to the Vistula in the East. N. P. Barsov situated the Croats in the area of Carpathian Mountains, on the slopes of Tatra Mountains to the river Tisa and Prut on the South, to Dniester to the East. Other scholars also placed it in the territory of Galicia, some scholars considered that White Croatia embraced Nisa and Upper Elbe in the West, to Bug and Upper Prut and Siret in the East. In other words, lands of present-day Czech Republic, Poland, in comparison, some scholars placed it on more narrow territory, from North-Eastern Bohemia to Upper Vistula. Nada Klaić considered Croats arrived from Carantania, rather than Lesser Poland and it is considered that in the 10th century there were only remnants of the Croats, scattered in the West in Bohemia, and another in the East in Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia. This theory would abide with the tradition of using colors for cardinal directions
