Island in Croatia
Rab
[?aːb] (
Dalmatian
:
Arba
,
Latin
:
Arba
,
Italian
:
Arbe
,
German
:
Arbey
) is an island in the northern Dalmatia region in
Croatia
, located just off the northern Croatian coast in the
Adriatic Sea
.
The island is 22 km (14 mi) long, has an area of 93.6 km
2
(36 sq mi)
[1]
and 9,328 inhabitants (2011).
[2]
The main settlement on the island is the eponymous
town of Rab
, although the neighboring village of Palit has the biggest population. The highest peak is Kamenjak at 408 m. The northeastern side of the island is mostly barren,
karst
, while the southwestern side is covered by one of the last
oak
forests of the Mediterranean.
Ferries connect the island of Rab with the mainland port of Stinica and with the neighbouring islands of
Krk
and
Pag
.
European Coastal Airlines
offered multiple daily connections by seaplane from Rab to
Zagreb
and to
Rijeka
via
Rijeka Airport
in Omi?alj on the neighboring island of
Krk
, until it ceased operations in 2016.
[3]
Name
[
edit
]
The island of Rab was first mentioned in a
Greek
source
Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax
(360 BC) and then by other Greek and
Roman
geographists by the name
Arba
. That name belonged to the
Liburnians
, so far the oldest known inhabitants of the island. Arba was also the name of the Liburnian settlement in the modern city of Rab. It is not certain how old this name is; it may be as old as the settlement, which means from the beginning of the
Iron Age
since the Liburnians did not build the city walls on the island. The Illyrian-Liburnian word
Arb
meant 'dark, obscure, green, forested'. Therefore, name Arba should be comprehended as a toponym meaning "Black island", due to the rich pine forests that once grew on the island.
After the 1st century AD, it was recorded by many other Greek and Roman authors by the names
Arba
and
Arva
.
Its Medieval
Dalmatian
-speaking population used
Arbe
,
Arbia
,
Arbiana
,
Arbitana
and most frequently
Arbum
in the documents written in the
Latin
.
Arbe became also the
Venetian
name of the city in the 15th century when it fell under the authority of the
Republic of Venice
.
In
Croatian
it became
Rab
, a form which probably goes back as far as the 7th century
[
dubious
–
discuss
]
when the
Slavs
began to settle on the island.
[4]
However, the first record of the name Rab is preserved only in the middle of the 15th century (in a Latin document relating to the establishment of the Franciscan monastery of St. Eufemija), since the major establishment of
Croatian
inhabitants in the city did not occur before the 10th century, unlike the rest of the island and region.
History
[
edit
]
The island is first heard of under the
Illyrians
in 360 BC. It was part of
Liburnia
and then part of the
Roman Empire
. The emperor
Octavian Augustus
built town walls and gave Rab the title of
Municipium
.
Saint Marinus
, the founder of the mini-state of
San Marino
, originated on Rab, whence he fled during the religious persecutions of the Emperor
Diocletian
(this ancient tie is commemorated in the present
twin-city
agreement between Rab and San Marino).
The earliest bishop of Arba whose name is preserved in an extant document is Titianus, a participant in a council held in 532
Salona
, the
metropolitan see
of which Arba was a
suffragan
. Among the signatories of the
Second Council of Nicea
was a bishop of Rab, namely Ursus. (“Ursus episcopus Avaritianensium ecclesiae” Ursus of Rab)
[5]
[6]
On 17 October 1154, Arba was attached instead to the archdiocese of
Zadar
. By the
papal bull
Locum Beati Petri
of 30 June 1828, the history of the diocese as a residential see came to an end and its territory was united with that of
Krk
.
[7]
[8]
No longer a residential bishopric, Arba is today listed by the
Catholic Church
as a
titular see
.
[9]
During the
Middle Ages
, Rab was one of the
Dalmatian city-states
and remained part of the
Byzantine Empire
, with various degrees of autonomy. For a short time, it formed a part of the
medieval Kingdom of Croatia
. In 1000 the island, together with the many other islands and cities of
Dalmatia
, submitted to the
Republic of Venice
. In 1358 the island came under the rule of
King Louis the Great
, the
Angevin
ruler of
Hungary
.
During the
Renaissance
it was ruled by
Venice
from 1409 until the end of the 18th century followed by a brief interlude under
Napoleon
. It was eventually annexed by the
Habsburgs
in 1815 and remained under Austrian rule till 1918.
Since a majority of its residents were Italian speakers, the locals sought to be annexed to the
Kingdom of Italy
, but Italy eventually decided to cede the island to
Yugoslavia
in 1921, and many of its Italian-speaking residents subsequently left for
Istria
and the rest of Italy.
During
World War II
, the forces of
Fascist Italy
established the
Rab concentration camp
on the island. A memorial complex built in 1953 commemorates the site of the former camp, located in the village of Kampor.
After the Second World War, the island was part of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
until the
Croatian independence referendum
in 1991.
The island of Rab is rich in cultural heritage and cultural-historical monuments that make it a popular vacation destination. Rab is also known as a pioneer of
naturism
after the visit of
King Edward VIII
and
Wallis Simpson
.
The island is nowadays very popular with tourists and families for its beautiful nature, beaches, heritage and many events, particularly the Rab
arbalest
tournament and the Rab Medieval festival called
Rapska Fjera
.
Twin cities
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Duplan?i? Leder, Tea; Ujevi?, Tin; ?ala, Mendi (June 2004).
"Coastline lengths and areas of islands in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea determined from the topographic maps at the scale of 1 : 25 000"
(PDF)
.
Geoadria
.
9
(1).
Zadar
: 5?32.
doi
:
10.15291/geoadria.127
. Retrieved
27 November
2019
.
- ^
Ostro?ki, Ljiljana, ed. (December 2015).
Statisti?ki ljetopis Republike Hrvatske 2015
[
Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia 2015
]
(PDF)
. Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia (in Croatian and English). Vol. 47. Zagreb:
Croatian Bureau of Statistics
. p. 47.
ISSN
1333-3305
. Retrieved
27 December
2015
.
- ^
"European Coastal Airlines ceases operations"
.
www.exyuaviation.com
. 4 October 2016
. Retrieved
15 November
2018
.
- ^
"Povijest"
.
rab.hr
(in Croatian). City of Rab
. Retrieved
27 November
2019
.
- ^
Basi?, Ivan (2018).
New evidence for the re-establishment of the Adriatic dioceses in the late eighth century
. Oxford. pp. 261?287.
ISBN
978-1-138-22594-7
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
?kegro, Ante (2015).
The Sarnian diocese (Sarniensis Ecclesia)
(PDF)
. Zagreb.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Gams, Pius Bonifacius (1931).
Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae
. Leipzig. pp. 394?395.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Konrad Eubel,
Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi
,
vol. 1
Archived
2019-07-09 at the
Wayback Machine
, p. 101;
vol. 2
Archived
2018-10-04 at the
Wayback Machine
, p. 92;
vol. 3
Archived
2019-03-21 at the
Wayback Machine
, p. 115;
vol. 4
Archived
2018-10-04 at the
Wayback Machine
, p. 91;
vol. 5
, p. 95;
vol. 6
, p. 95
- ^
Annuario Pontificio 2013
(Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013
ISBN
978-88-209-9070-1
), p. 836
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Rab
.