Split is the largest and most important city in Dalmatia, the administrative center of Croatia's Split-Dalmatia County, and the country's second-largest city.
It is a Mediterranean city, situated on a small peninsula on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea.
Split is also one of the oldest cities in the area, dating more that 1700 years, although some new archeological researches show the possibility of the city being even older.
Although the beginnings of Split are usually linked to the building of Diocletian's Palace, the city was founded as a Greek colony of Aspálathos much earlier.
The Greek settlement lived off trade with the surrounding Illyrian tribes, mostly the Delmatae, who inhabited the (much larger) nearby city of Salona.
In time, the Roman Republic became the dominant power in the region, and conquered the Illyrians in the Illyrian Wars of 229 BC and 219 BC. Upon establishing permanent control, the Romans founded the province of Dalmatia with Salona as the capital.
The name of the nearby town thus changed from "Aspálathos" to "Spalatum
Since 1979, the historic center of Split has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. |
