The
Republic of Dubrovnik, also known as the
Republic of Ragusa,
was a maritime city-state that was based in the city of Dubrovnik from the
14th century until 1808.
Origins
From its establishment in the 7th century AD, the town of Dubrovnik was
under the protection of the Byzantine Empire. After the Crusades,
Ragusa/Dubrovnik came under the sovereignty of Venice (1205–1358), and by
the Peace Treaty of Zadar in 1358 it became part of the Hungarian-Croatian
Kingdom.
The city was fortified and had two harbors. The Communitas Ragusina
(Ragusa municipality or community) was renamed to Respublica Ragusina
(Ragusan republic) in the 14th century.
History
Having been granted complete self-government, bound only to pay a tribute
to the king and provide
assistance with its fleet, Dubrovnik started its
life as a free state. The Ragusan Republic reached its peak in the
15th and 16th centuries, when the Dubrovnik thalassocracy rivalled Most
Serene Republic of Venice and other Italian maritime republics.
Supported by its wealth and skilled diplomacy, the Latin/Slavic
Ragusa/Dubrovnik achieved a remarkable level of development during the 15th
and 16th century. After 1492, the city received a group of Sephardim
expelled from Spain and Portugal. They used their contacts with other
Sephardim in the Turkish Empire and Europe for commercial benefit.
The city was ruled by aristocracy, and marriage between members of three
different social classes was strictly forbidden. The nominal head of state
was the duke (Knez), or during
Venetian suzerainty the rector. Real power, however, was in the hands of two
Councils (Vijeće) that were held by the nobility.
The government of Dubrovnik was liberal in some other ways. It
abolished the slave trade in 1418 and became the first state to recognize
the independence of the newly formed United States of America. The city's
old flag has the word Libertas (freedom) on it, and the entrance to
the Lovrijenac fortress just outside the
city walls bears the inscription Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro,
meaning "Liberty is not sold for any kind of gold".
However, it was a staunch opponent of both the Eastern Orthodox and
Bogomil churches whose faithful it massively converted throughout its
newly-acquired coastal possessions from Konavli to Pelješac. Furthermore,
only Roman Catholics could acquire Ragusan citizenship which forced many
Orthodox Serb merchants and traders from neighbouring Herzegovina to
convert.
In 1526 Dubrovnik acknowledged the supremacy of the Turkish Sultan
(annual tribute was paid to the Sultan). A crisis of Mediterranean shipping
and especially a catastrophic earthquake on the April 6 1667 that
killed over 5,000 citizens, including the rector, and leveled most of the
public buildings, ruined the well-being of the Republic. With great effort
the Republic recovered a bit, but still remained a shadow of the former
Republic.
With the January 26, 1699 peace agreement, the Dubrovnik Republic
sold/gave two patches of its coast to the Ottoman Empire so that the
Venetians wouldn't be able to attack them from land, only from the sea. The
northeastern land border, the small town of Neum, is still the only outlet
of today's Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Adriatic sea. The southeastern
border village of Sutorina later became part
of Montenegro, which has coastline to the south.
In 1776, The Ragusan Republic became the first foreign power to
recognize the government of the United States.
In 1806 Dubrovnik surrendered to French forces, as that was the only way
to cut a month's long siege by the Russian-Montenegrin fleets (during which
3,000 cannon balls fell on the city). The French lifted the siege and saved
Dubrovnik for the time being. The French army, led by Napoleon, entered
Dubrovnik in 1806. In 1808 Marshal Marmont abolished the Dubrovnik
Republic and amalgamated its territory into Illyrian provinces.
