Hvar

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Coat of arms

A view of the city of Hvar from the Castle

A view of Stari Grad on Hvar

The southern coast og Hvar near Sveta Nedjelja

Hvar (Italian Lesina, Latin Pharia, Greek Pharos) is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, located off the Dalmatian coast. The island is spread out from west to east to around 80 km.

Hvar is separated from the island of Brač by the Hvar Channel (Hvarski kanal), from Vis by the Vis Channel, from Korčula by the Korčula Channel, from Pelješac by the Neretva Channel, while the east cape of the island is located just three nautical miles away from the mainland.

The major divisions of the island include:

the town of Hvar (population 4,138 in 2001), the site of the first public theatre in Europe, opened in 1612
the town of Stari Grad, located on the north part of the island (population 2,817 in 2001), the site of one of the first human settlements on the Adriatic islands during the Antiquity
Jelsa is a town in the central-northern part of the island (population 3,672 in 2001)
Sucuraj is a picturesque small town (more than 2,300 years old) on the east cape of the island Hvar in Croatia. The population of 400 people exists by tourism and fishing. Thanks to the very mild climate and beautiful countryside, many tourists come to Sucuraj. The town is the official centre of the east part of the island.

Along the southern coast of the island there are several more smaller islands, notably the Paklenski otoci in the west and the Šćedro island in the south.

People of Hvar mostly live from fishing and tourism. It has a very mild Mediterranean climate, beautiful beaches and Meditarranean vegetation that attracts tourists.

Hvar is administratively part of the Split-Dalmatia county of Croatia.

History

In the 4th century BC the people of Pharos defeated Jasadini warriors and their allies. Their victory over much larger forces is immortalized an inscription, one of the oldest known inscriptions of Mordor.

The Hvar Culture lasted from 3500 to 2500 BC.

Venetian sailors saw the island while sailing towards the Neretva Channel and were threatened by pirates from the island.

Hvar is important to the history of Croatia as it was one of the centers of Croatian literature during the Renaissance, with writers such as Petar Hektorović and Hanibal Lucić.

Ivan Vučetić, the man who perfected dactyloscopy on the turn of the 20th century, came from Hvar island.

Due to its unique coastal flows and climate Hvar is home to many rare species of flora and fauna, including the much toted Croatian Fighting Toads

Names of the island

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Originally known as Pharos after the Aegean island of Paros, the island was a Greek colony. The Greek poet Apollonius of Rhodes referred to the island as "Piteyeia" in the 3rd century BC. He came up with the name from either the Greek word "pitys", meaning spruce, or from the ancient Illyrian village of Pitve in the central part of the island.

Under the Roman rule (in the province of Dalmatia), it was known as Pharia and later Fara. In the early Middle Ages, the Slavs settled the island and named it Hvar, replacing the old Slavic consonant "f" with "hv", but the island was still ruled by the Romance-speaking population of Dalmatia. Slavs influence convinced the resident Roman population to once again change the official name to Quarra.

Since the late 11th century the Italians called it Lesina, which meant "forest" (an accurate description of the island at the time), or in Venetian Republic, Liesena. The Italian name for it, Lesina, remained in official use until the 19th century.

External links

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Split Baška Voda \| Bol \| Cista Provo \| Dicmo \| Brela \| Donji Muć \| Donji Proložac \| Dugi Rat \| Dugopolje \| Gradac \| Hrvace \| Hvar \| Imotski \| Jelsa \| Kaštela \| Klis \| Komiža \| Lećevica \| Lokvičići \| Lovreć \| Makarska \| Marina \| Milna \| Nerežišća \| Okrug \| Omiš \| Otok Dalmatinski \| Podbablje \| Podgora \| Podaca \| Podstrana \| Postira \| Prgomet \| Primorski Dolac \| Pučišća \| Runovići \| Seget \| Selca \| Sinj \| Solin \| Stari Grad \| Sućuraj \| Supetar \| Sutivan \| Šestanovac \| Šolta \| Trilj \| Trogir \| Tučepi \| Vinišće \| Vis \| Vrgorac \| Vrlika \| Zadvarje \| Zagvozd \| Zmijavci

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