Dalmatia
Historical timeline
| 12000-10000 BC | After the end of the ice age the sea level rises and the island world off Dalmatia takes shape. |
| 4500-3000 BC | Cave dwellers live near Šibenik and on Hvar. Archaeologists call this culture "Danilo". |
| 1800-1650 BC | In the Bronze Age the first rampart works are erected on Brač in the course of the Cetina culture. |
| 1100 BC | Illyrians migrate from Central Europe to Dalmatia and build pile dwellings, burial mounds and settlements. |
| 500 BC | Greek traders see business opportunities and settle on the southern Dalmatian islands |
| 389 BC | The city of Pharos is founded. Known today as Stari Grad. |
| 229 BC | The first Roman-Illyrian war breaks out. In the end a Roman state is established around Hvar. |
| 219 BC | The second Roman-Illyrian war destroys Hvar |
| 200 BC | Today's Trogir is founded |
| 78 BC | The Romans conquer Salona |
| 33 BC | The whole of Dalmatia is now under Roman rule. |
| 27 BC | Dalmatia is given the name "Illyricum" and is a Roman province from now on. |
| Ca. 250 | Salona becomes a bishop's seat |
| 284 | Diocletian becomes Caesar |
| 305 | Diocletian abdicates and withdraws to his palace in Split. |
| 313 | End of the persecution of Christians and recognition of Christianity by Emperor Constantine. |
| 395 | The Roman Empire breaks into two parts. Dalmatia belongs to the Western Empire. |
| 425 | Dalmatia is conquered by the Eastern Roman Empire / Byzantium. |
| 504 | Goths migrate in under the leadership of Theodoric the Great and conquer Dalmatia. |
| 535 | Byzantium reconquers Salona and rules in Dalmatia again. |
| 6./7. century | Slavs and Avars migrate into Dalmatia. Salona is destroyed and the Byzantines driven out. |
| 621 | Slavs seize power, Avars have to assimilate. The first Croats settle in Dalmatia. |
| 7. century | Advancing Christianisation. Split becomes a bishop's seat. Around 800 Višeslav is the first to call himself "Croatian prince" |
| 803 | Northern Dalmatia is conquered by Charlemagne. |
| 852 | Prince Trpimir declares his family the ruling dynasty. The last descendant dies in 1102. |
| 879 | Prince Branimir professes Christianity and Rome recognises Croatia as a state of its own. |
| 925 | Prince Tomislav becomes the first king of Croatia. The country comprises: central Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia and Bosnia. |
| 928 | King Tomislav disappears suddenly and without trace. |
| 930 | The Hungarians are defeated and Dalmatia is united with Pannonia. |
| 1000 | Venice conquers Zadar, Trogir and Split. Croatia recognises the doge as prince and pays tribute. |
| 1102 | The Hungarian king becomes head of state of the Hungarian-Croatian realm. Croatia remains autonomous. |
| 12. century | Venice, Byzantium and Croatia alternately conquer and lose important Dalmatian coastal cities. |
| 1301 | The noble house of Anjou ascends the Croatian-Hungarian throne. |
| 1329 | Venedig regiert fast ganz Dalmatien (bis on Omis). |
| 1358 | Venice has to cede its province of Dalmatia, which joins Croatia again. |
| 1409 | Venice buys the island of Pag, Zadar, Vrana and Novigrad from the Croatian king. |
| 1420 | Venice reconquers large parts of Dalmatia |
| 1493 | The Turks conquer Dalmatia: 30 battles, 70 destroyed towns. |
| 1527 | The nobility places Croatia under Habsburg protection in order to master the Turkish invasion. |
| 1593 | The Ottoman army is defeated for the first time at Sisak. |
| 1667 | Dubrovnik is destroyed by an earthquake |
| 1699 | Venice is granted the territories that it liberated from the Turks alongside Austria. |
| 1712 | Croatia recognises the Habsburgs' matrilineal right of succession. |
| 1718 | The Turks have been driven out; apart from Dubrovnik, Dalmatia is Venetian. |
| 1776 | Varaždin, capital of the kingdom since 1756, burns down. Zagreb becomes the new capital. |
| 1797 | In the Peace of Campo Formio Dalmatia falls to Austria again. |
| 1805 | At Pressburg it is decided to cede Dalmatia to France. |
| 1808 | Napoleon dismantles the Republic of Dubrovnik |
| 1813 | some Dalmatian islands are conquered by England. |
| 1815 | Napoleon's defeat causes Dalmatia to fall to Austria again. |
| 1830 | The national movement "Illyrian spring" breaks out. |
| 1848 | On 19 April the freedom fighter and humanist Jelačić declares the relationship with Hungary at an end. (Croatia continues to be treated as a Hungarian subsidiary land.) |
| 1861 | The newly founded People's Party wants to unite Dalmatia and Croatia. |
| 1868 | Dalmatia is given a parliament of its own and is largely independent of Austria-Hungary. |
| 1918 | After the lost war the "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" is proclaimed. |
| 1928 | On 20 June a deputy of the "Radical Party" shoots four members of the Peasants' Party. The king thereupon has parties banned. |
| 1929 | Dictatorship and abolition of the constitution by King Karađorđević. Unrest breaks out. |
| 1934 | The king is murdered |
| 1941 | Under Italian occupation thousands of Jews and Serbs are killed. Serbs kill a good many Croats in revenge. |
| 1943 | The former partisan fighter Josip Bronz Tito becomes president of his underground movement. |
| 1946 | The "Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia" is proclaimed and Tito its prime minister. |
| 1948 | Yugoslavia is expelled from the Communist International and given economic support by the USA. |
| 1967 | The "Croatian spring" liberalises the political situation |
| 1971 | Tito forces the liberal leadership of the "League of Communists of Croatia" to resign as a body. They are replaced by more loyal followers of the line. |
| 1980 | Tito is dead and Yugoslavia's constituent republics are at odds. |
| 1985 | A political liberalisation slowly sets in. |
| 1990 | Croatia is an independent state and the "Croatian Democratic Union" wins the first elections. In September: Serb uprising and the beginning of the Balkan war. |
| 1991 | Croatia breaks off contact with the Yugoslav parliament. Yugoslavs and Serbs conquer the Dalmatian hinterland and drive out Croats. |
| 1992 | Croatia becomes a member of the UN and is recognised as autonomous by almost all the states of the world. |
| 1993 | Despite the ceasefire Croatia reconquers the Serb-occupied territories. |
| 1995 | The Dayton peace agreement. |
| 1996 | Croatia becomes a member of the Council of Europe. |
| 1997 | Tourism increases again in Croatia and on the Balkan coasts. |
| 1999 | The nationalist president Tuđman (in office since 1990) dies. |
| 2000 | Social Democrats and Liberals win the elections. Stipe Mesić becomes president. Croatia becomes a member of the WTO. |
| 2001 | For the first time exactly as many tourists as before the war. |
| 2003 | Kroatien beantragt EU-Mitgliedschaft. |
| 2005 | Negotiations on full membership of the EU are opened. |
Luxury where the coast breathes. The finest place to stay on the Makarska Riviera Villas on the Makarska Riviera Ask someone who knows the region.
We know the places and beaches we write about. If a question remains, write to us.
Write to us