Split (redirected from Split, Croatia)

Split (splēt), Ital. Spalato, city (1991 pop. 189,388), S Croatia, on the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea. It is a major seaport, a regional transportation hub, and a leading commercial center. Shipbuilding and the production of plastics, chemicals, and cement are the leading industries. The city's scenic location and historic monuments make it an important tourist and seaside resort.

Split grew around the palace of Diocletian (who died there), built between 295 and 305. In the 7th cent. the inhabitants of nearby Salona took refuge from the Avars in the palace, which became the nucleus of the city. Split soon was made an episcopal, later an archiepiscopal, see of the Roman Catholic Church and became a flourishing port of medieval Dalmatia. It passed to Venice in 1420, but the Treaty of Campo Formio (1797) gave it to Austria, to which it was restored (1815) after the Napoleonic Wars. It was included in Yugoslavia in 1918. The city was the site of much fighting after the breakup of Yugoslavia.

The city has an archaeological museum, an oceanographic institute, and a university. The palace of Diocletian is the most remarkable among the Roman remains in Split. Its other ancient buildings include the cathedral and the baptistery, both originally Roman temples; parts of its ancient walls and gates; and the town hall.

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Split

 ancient Spalatum

Seaport (pop., 2001: 188,694), Dalmatia, Croatia. The Romans established the colony of Salonae nearby in 78 BC, and the emperor Diocletian lived at Split until his death in AD 313. After the Avars sacked the town in 615, the inhabitants built a new town within Diocletian's 7-acre (3-hectare) palace compound; this “old town” has been continuously inhabited since that time. Split came under Byzantine rule in the 9th century, shifted to Venetian control in 1420, and was held by Austria in the 18th and 19th centuries. It came under Yugoslavian rule in 1918, finally becoming part of independent Croatia in 1992. The port facilities were destroyed in World War II, but the old city was little-damaged, and repairs were subsequently made. Split is a commercial, educational, and tourist centre. Collectively with the historic royal residences, fortifications, and churches in the city, the palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.

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