Skip over navigation
Reference Center
Encyclopedia
Dictionary
Thesaurus

Sponsored Links

More Sponsored Links For:

Zadar
Columbia Encyclopedia entry: Zadar
Zadarzä'där, Ital. Zara, city (1991 pop. 176,343), W Croatia, on the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea. A seaport and a tourist center, it has industries that produce liqueur, processed fish, textiles, and cigarettes. It is the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishop and has a branch of the Univ. of Zagreb. Founded by the Illyrians in the 4th cent. B.C., Zadar became a Roman colony in the 2d cent. B.C. It passed to the Byzantine Empire in 553 and was settled by the South Slavs in the 7th cent. Although disputed by Venice, Hungary, and Croatia, it remained under Byzantine protection until 1001, when Emperor Alexius I transferred it to Venice. At the end of the 11th cent. it was seized by Hungary, but the leaders of the Fourth Crusade, persuaded by the doge Enrico Dandolo, reconquered it for Venice in 1202. After a five-day siege the Crusaders sacked the city, an act for which they were condemned by Pope Innocent III. Hungary continued to dispute Zadar with Venice, which obtained permanent possession of the city only in 1409. The Treaty of Campo Formio (1797) gave it to Austria, where, from 1815 to 1918, it was the capital of the crownland of Dalmatia. Zadar passed to Italy by the Treaty of Saint-Germain (1919), was occupied (1945) by Yugoslav forces at the end of World War II, and was formally ceded to Yugoslavia by the Italian peace treaty of 1947 as part of the constitutent republic of Croatia. The city has several Roman monuments and medieval churches and palaces.

The Columbia Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2001-09 Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

Wikipedia search results for: Zadar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Zadar faces the islands of Ugljan and Pašman, from which it is separated by the narrow Zadar Strait. The promontory on which the old city stands used to be separated from the mainland by a deep moat which has since become a landfill. The harbor, to the north-east of the town, is safe and spacious. Zadar is the seat of a Catholic archbishop. In antiquity, Iadera and Iader, the much older roots of the settlement's names were hidden, the names being most probably related to a hydrographical term. It was coined by an ancient...more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: Zadar
Results 1 - 4  of 4
  • Dalmatia

    Dalmatia, Croatian Dalmacija, historic region of Croatia, extending along the Adriatic Sea, approximately from Rijeka (Fiume) to the Gulf of Kotor. Split is the provincial capital; other citie...

  • Dandolo

    Dandolo, ancient Venetian family that produced four doges, many admirals, and other prominent citizens. Enrico Dandolo, c.1108–1205, became doge in 1192. He is considered the founder of the Ve...

  • Croatia

    Croatia, Croatian Hrvatska, officially Republic of Croatia, republic (2005 est. pop. 4,496,000), 21,824 sq mi (56,524 sq km), in the northwest corner of the Balkan Peninsula. Roughly crescent-...

  • Crusades

    Crusades, series of wars undertaken by European Christians between the 11th and 14th cent. to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. In the 7th cent., Jerusalem was taken by the caliph Umar....

Video Results

powered by Truveo
more video »
Toggle Results

Reference Center To Go

Get Dictionary at your fingertips!

Download the Toolbar Now
About This Page | Browse Directory | Tell Us What You Think
© 2009 ReferenceCenter.com. All Rights Reserved.