Albania Veneta

 

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The Republic of Venice in 1560 and the Albania Veneta shown as the pink area south of the Republic of Ragusa around Cattaro (Kotor)
The Republic of Venice in 1560 and the Albania Veneta shown as the pink area south of the Republic of Ragusa around Cattaro (Kotor)

Albania Veneta (English: Venetian Albania) was the name for the possessions of the Republic of Venice in southern Dalmatia that existed from 1420 to 1797. It originally covered the coastal area of what is now northern Albania and the coast of Montenegro, but the Albanian and southern Montenegrin parts were lost to the Ottomans in 1571 [1].

Contents

Name and geography

The word "Veneta" in Albania Veneta was used to differentiate the area from the Ottoman Albania (called Albania Ottomana in those centuries), an area stretching from Kosovo to southern Albania [2].

These Venetian possessions stretched from the southern borders of the Republic of Ragusa (modern-day Dubrovnik) to Durazzo (Durres) in coastal Albania. The Venetian territories never reached more than 20 km from the Adriatic Sea. After 1573 the southern limit was moved to the village of Confin (Kufin) near Budua (Budva), because of the Ottoman conquests of Antivari (Bar), and Dulcigno (Ulcinj) in the Balkans.
The Venetian territory was centered around the Bay of Kotor and included the modern towns of Kotor, Risan, Perast, Tivat, Herceg Novi, Budva, and Sutomore.

History

Venice periodically controlled the small southern Dalmatian villages around in the 10th century, but did not permanently assume control until 1420. The Venetians assimilated the Dalmatian language into the Venetian dialect quickly. The Venetian territories around Kotor lasted from 1420 to 1797 and were called Albania Veneta, a province of the Republic of Venice [3].

When the Turks started to conquer the Balkans in 15th century, the population of Christian Slavs in Venetian Dalmatia increased greatly. By the end of 17th century the Romance speaking population of the historical Albania Veneta was a minority, according to Oscar Randi in his book Dalmazia etnica, incontri e fusioni[4].

After the French Empire conquered and put and dissolved the Republic of Venice in 1797, the area of the Albania Veneta changed control many times: in 1805 was annexed to the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy[5], then in 1809 became part of the French Illyrian Provinces and finally in 1815 was put under Habsburg control in the Dalmatia of the Austrian Empire.

In the Austrian Empire, the former venetian territories of Albania Veneta were part of Austrian Dalmatia, and in 1878 (at the Congress of Berlin) another 40 km² around Sutomore were added to this territory.

Italian writers from "Albania Veneta"

Writers from XV century to the end of the XVIII century.

Gallery

Catholic Cathedral of Saint Tryphon in Cattaro (Kotor)

Church in Perasto (Perast) with typical Venetian bellfry

Postcard showing the Venetian architecture of Perasto in 1900

Old Cattaro (Kotor)

Venetian walls of Cattaro (Kotor)

Old Perasto (Perast)

Roman mosaic in Risano (Risan)

Old Venetian church of Cattaro (Kotor)

Notes

  1. ^ Cecchetti, Bartolomeo. Intorno agli stabilimenti politici della repubblica veneta nell'Albania. pag. 978-983
  2. ^ Paulucci, Luigi. Le Bocche di Cattaro nel 1810. pag. 24
  3. ^ Durant, Will. The Renaissance. pag. 121
  4. ^ Randi, Oscar. Dalmazia etnica, incontri e fusioni. pag. 37-38
  5. ^ Sumrada, Janez. Napoleon na Jadranu / Napoleon dans l'Adriatique.pag. 159

Bibliography

References