Editing Dubrovnik (section)

===Republic of Ragusa===

{{Main|Republic of Ragusa}}

[[File:Ragusa, Onofrio Fountain, Dalmatia, Austro-Hungary-LCCN2002710795.jpg|thumb|A 1900 [[photochrom]] of the Big Onofrio's fountain (1438)]]
[[File:Ariel overview of Lazzarettos of Dubrovnik in Croatia (48613209237) (cropped).jpg|alt=Ariel overview of Lazareti of Dubrovnik|thumb|upright=1.3|Aerial view of [[Lazzarettos of Dubrovnik|Lazareti complex]]]]

After the fall of the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom]], the town came under the [[protectorate|protection]] of the [[Byzantine Empire]]. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Dubrovnik grew into an oligarchic republic. After the [[Crusades]], Dubrovnik came under the sovereignty of [[Republic of Venice|Venice]] (1205–1358), which would give its institutions to the Dalmatian city. In 1240 Ragusa purchased the island of [[Lastovo]] from [[Stefan Uroš I]], king of [[Serbia]], who had rights over the island as ruler of parts of [[Zachlumia]].{{sfn|Harris|2003|loc=chapter "Territorial expansion"}} After a fire destroyed most of the city on the night of August 16, 1296, a new urban plan was developed.{{sfn|Harris|2003|p=289}}<ref>Piers Letcher, Robin McKelvie, Jenny McKelvie (2007), ''Dubrovnik, 2nd: The Bradt City Guide'', p. 7, Bradt Travel Guides. {{ISBN|978-1-84162-191-3}}</ref><ref>''Dubrovnik'', page 25, Volume 581 of Variorum collected studies series, Bariša Krekić, [[Variorum]], 1997. {{ISBN|978-0-86078-631-3}}</ref> By the [[Treaty of Zadar|Peace Treaty of Zadar]] in 1358, Dubrovnik achieved relative independence as a vassal-state of the [[Kingdom of Hungary]]. 

Between the 14th century and 1808, Dubrovnik ruled itself as a [[free state (government)|free state]], although it was a tributary from 1382 to 1804 of the [[Ottoman Empire]] and paid an annual tribute to its sultan.<ref>Pitcher, Donald Edgar. ''An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire'', Leiden: Brill, 1968, p. 70</ref> The Republic reached its peak in the 15th and 16th centuries, when its [[thalassocracy]] rivalled that of the [[Republic of Venice]] and other Italian maritime republics.

There are also signs of a long established [[Albanians|Albanian]] population in the Ragusan hinterlands since at least the Medieval period.<ref>[http://www.promacedonia.org/en/nm/kosovo.html  Origins: Serbs, Albanians and Vlachs Chapter 2 in Noel Malcolm's Kosovo, a short history (Macmilan, London, 1998, p. 22-40)]</ref> And a Ragusan document dating to 1285 states: "I heard a voice crying in the mountains in [[Albanian language|Albanian]]" (Audivi unam vocem clamantem in monte in lingua albanesca).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kapović |first1=Mate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8i0lDwAAQBAJ |title=The Indo-European Languages |last2=Ramat |first2=Anna Giacalone |last3=Ramat |first3=Paolo |date=2017-01-20 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-39153-1 |pages=554 |language=en}}</ref>

For centuries, Dubrovnik was an ally of [[Ancona]], the other Adriatic [[maritime republic]] rival of Venice, which was itself the [[Ottoman Empire]]'s chief rival for control of the Adriatic. This alliance enabled the two towns set on opposite sides of the Adriatic to resist attempts by the Venetians to make the Adriatic a "Venetian Bay", also controlling directly or indirectly all the Adriatic ports. Ancona and Dubrovnik developed an alternative trade route to the Venetian (Venice–[[Austria]]–[[Germany]]): starting in Dubrovnik it went on to Ancona, through [[Florence]] and ended in [[Flanders]]. Ragusa was an important base for the traffic of the [[Balkan slave trade]], from which slaves were transported from the Balkans across the Adriatic Sea to the [[Aegean Sea]],<ref name="auto">The Cambridge World History of Slavery: Volume 2, AD 500–AD 1420. (2021). (n.p.): Cambridge University Press. p. 117-120</ref> from which they were sold on to either [[slavery in Spain]] in the West or [[slavery in Egypt]] in the South.<ref name="auto"/>

The Republic of Ragusa received its own Statutes as early as 1272, which, among other things, codified Roman practice and local customs. The Statutes included prescriptions for [[Urban planning|town planning]] and the regulation of quarantine (for sanitary reasons).<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Naprijed, Naklada|location=Zagreb|title=The Croatian Adriatic Tourist Guide|page=354|date=July 1999|editor-last=Radovinovic|editor-first=Radovan|isbn=953-178-097-8}}</ref>

The Republic was an early adopter of what are now regarded as modern laws and institutions: a medical service was introduced in 1301, with the first [[pharmacy]], still operating to this day, being opened in 1317. An [[almshouse]] was opened in 1347, and the first quarantine hospital (Lazarete) was established in 1377. [[Slave trading]] ([[Balkan slave trade]]) was abolished in 1418, and an [[orphanage]] opened in 1432. A {{convert|20|km|0|abbr=on}} [[water supply network|water supply system]], instead of a cistern, was constructed in 1438 by the Neapolitan architect and engineer Onofrio della Cava. He completed the aqueduct with two public fountains. He also built a number of mills along one of its branches.

The city was ruled by the local [[aristocracy]] which was of Latin-Dalmatian extraction and formed two [[city council]]s. As usual for the time, they maintained a strict system of [[social class]]es. The republic abolished the [[History of slavery|slave trade]] early in the 15th century and valued liberty highly. The city successfully balanced its sovereignty between the interests of Venice and the [[Ottoman Empire]] for centuries.

[[Latin]] was originally used in official documents of the Republic. [[Italian language|Italian]] came to use in the early 15th century. A variant of the Dalmatian language was among the spoken ones, and was influenced by [[Croatian language|Croatian]] and Italian. The presence of Croatian in everyday speech increased in the late 13th century, and in literary works in the mid-15th century.{{sfn|Harris|2003|p=247}} In the coming decades, Dubrovnik became a cradle of [[Croatian literature]].{{sfn|Harris|2003|pp=249, 260}}

The economic wealth of the Republic was partially the result of the land it developed, but especially of seafaring trade. With the help of skilled diplomacy, Dubrovnik merchants travelled lands freely and the city had a huge fleet of [[Cargo ship|merchant ships]] (known as [[wikt:argosy|argosy]]) that travelled all over the world. From these travels they founded some settlements, from India (cf. [[Ragusan trade with India]]) to America, and brought parts of their culture and flora home with them. One of its keys to success was not conquering, but trading and sailing under a white flag with the {{langx|la|Libertas}} word (freedom) prominently featured on it. The flag was adopted when slave trading was abolished in 1418.

In search of Indian spices and textiles, merchants from Dubrovnik arrived in Goa, India, and settled in what is now called Gandauli. The people of Dubrovnik arrived in the Portuguese colony of Goa between 1530 and 1535, and after that they founded their own colony, Sao Braz, named after the patron saint of Dubrovnik, St. Blaise. The church was built around 1563 and was a replica of the original church of St. Blaise in Dubrovnik. About 12,000 inhabitants lived in São Braz and was a thriving colony until the 1570s when trade between Croats and Indians declined.<ref>{{Cite web |last=croatiaweek |date=2018-05-27 |title=The Croats of Goa, India |url=https://www.croatiaweek.com/the-croats-of-goa-india/?fbclid=IwY2xjawG73jdleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRiA5j6ARsXK8T2wB088COi3DaPzee6NI8q-qGvywYDHFOX-auCgEwLofA_aem_O1uAK8hQDz4yyPdcc9Nvmw |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Croatia Week |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bačan |first=Danijel |date=2023-06-23 |title=Was Dubrovnik a Colonial Power? |url=https://3seaseurope.com/dubrovnik-republic-ragusa-colonial-power-colonies/?fbclid=IwY2xjawG73lVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHR03PmouRa3mmLia76ZGUX8VNbdRpl8S2a7isYaIUdVmvUHOWL3dqliDdA_aem_iqZW2pYqaGPFlTZnttTVOQ |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=3 Seas Europe |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=CROATIANS IN SOUTH AFRICA AND AT GOA IN INDIA, 1508 |url=https://www.croatia.org/crown/croatians/www.croatians.com/DISCOVERY-GOA-S%20AFRICA.htm?fbclid=IwY2xjawG73o1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHU6HBp6puiN2VxlYHnr6UKcpkyGHDR2mitKhZbu8hDqoTzdsTSS61BaVNw_aem_61MQHtJMqPByTNmbSIm86g |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=www.croatia.org}}</ref> 

Many [[Converso]]s, Jews from Spain and [[Portugal]] who converted to Christianity, were attracted to the city. In May 1544, a ship landed there filled exclusively with Portuguese refugees, as Balthasar de Faria reported to King John. During this time one of the most famous cannon and bell founders of his time worked in the city: [[Ivan Rabljanin]] (also known as Magister Johannes Baptista Arbensis de la Tolle). By 1571 Dubrovnik had sold its protection over some Christian settlements in other parts of the Ottoman Empire to France and [[Venice]]. At that time there was also a colony of Dubrovnik in [[Fes]] in Morocco. The bishop of Dubrovnik was a [[Cardinal protector]] in 1571, at that time there were only 16 other countries which had Cardinal protectors.

Dubrovnik was a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire at one time. From this, they gained benefits such as access to the [[Black Sea]], paid less customs duties (they however needed to make tribute payments) and had the diplomatic support of the Turks in trade disputes against the [[Venetian Republic|Venetians]]. This status also allowed increased trade with the inland regions through the Balkan overland trade which made merchants from Dubrovnik to build up a strong network unequaled with other Christian states.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Quataert |first1=Donald |url=http://archive.org/details/economicsocialhi0002unse_j7n1 |title=An economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire |last2=İnalcık |first2=Halil |publisher=Cambridge University Press |others=Internet Archive |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-521-57456-3 |location=New York |pages=511 |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Dubrovnik 1667.jpg|thumb|Dubrovnik before the earthquake in 1667|right]]

The Republic gradually declined due to a combination of a [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] shipping crisis and the catastrophic [[1667 Dubrovnik earthquake|earthquake of 1667]]<ref>Husebye, Eystein Sverre. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vwK4jhvjHQkC&dq=dubrovnik+earthquake+of+1667&pg=PA86 ''Earthquake Monitoring and Seismic Hazard Mitigation in Balkan Countries'']</ref> that killed over 5,000 citizens, levelled most of the public buildings and, consequently, negatively affected the [[Quality of life|well-being]] of the Republic. In 1699, the Republic was forced to sell [[Neum|two mainland patches of its territory]] to the Ottomans in order to avoid being caught in the clash with advancing Venetian forces. Today this strip of land belongs to [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]] and is that country's only direct access to the Adriatic. A highlight of Dubrovnik's diplomacy was the involvement in the [[Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War#Ragusa|American Revolution]].{{what|reason=What "involvement"?|date=July 2024}}<ref>[[Wayne S. Vucinich]] (ed.), ''Dubrovnik and the American Revolution: Francesco Favi's Letters,'' Ragusan Press, 1977.</ref>