Istria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Istria (IS-tree-e), Croatian and Slovenian Istra (IS-trah), Italian Istria (IS-tryah) is a peninsula in southern Slovenia and northwestern Croatia, in the north of the Adriatic Sea.
Important towns include Koper/Capodistria ("head of Istria"), Pula/Pola, Poreč/Parenzo, Rovinj/Rovigno, Pazin/Pisino, Labin/Albona, Motovun/Montona, Buzet/Pinguente and Buje/Buie. Of special mention are the tiny towns of Hum and Roč.
The name is derived from the Illyrian tribe of the Histri, which Strabo mentioned that lived in this region. The Romans described them as a fierce tribe of Illyrian pirates, protected by the difficult navigation of their rocky coasts. It took two military campaigns for the Romans to finally subdue them in 177 BCE.
After the fall of the Western Roman empire, Istria was pillaged by the Longobardi and the Goths, annexed to the Frankish kingdom by Pippin III (789), then successively controlled by the dukes of Carinthia, the dukes of Meran, the duke of Bavaria and the patriarch of Aquileia, before it became territory of the republic of Venice.
It passed to the Habsburgs in 1797, (reverting temporarily to Napoleon in 1805 - 1813). Later it became part of Italy; a policy of forced italianisation and the Nazi occupation during World War II worsened the traditionally tolerant ethnic relations.
After the end of WWII, Istria was assigned to Yugoslavia. In the process, between 1945 and 1947, an estimated 15,000 Italian-speakers were killed and 300.000 left the region. Some well-known postwar exiles from Istria include race driver Mario Andretti, singer Sergio Endrigo and boxer Nino Benvenuti.
Most of Istria lies in Croatia today, in the Istria county. A small section, including the coastal towns of Portorož (Portorose) and Koper (Capodistria) lies in Slovenia. It has a long tradition of tolerance between the people who live there, be it Croats, Italians, Slovenians, Istroromanians, Albanians, Serbs or anyone else. The Istrians are somewhat skeptical of official Zagreb and like their cultural autonomy.
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