Vis (island)

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Vis [ˈʋiːs] (Greek Issa, Italian Lissa, ), is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, the furthest one from the coast that is also inhabited.

There are two towns and municipalities on the island, Vis (1,960 inhabitants in the municipality) and Komiža (1,677).

History

Vis was inhabited by the time of the Neolithic period. In the 4th century B.C., the tyrant of Siracuse, Dionisius the Older, founded the colony Issa on the island. Later, it became an independent city-state, and even forged its own money and founded its own colonies elsewhere.

In the first century B.C., the island was held by Illyrian tribe of Liburni.

Vis was mentioned in the De Administrando Imperio of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos from around 950 as Ies, an island inhabitted by the Serbian tribe Neretvians.

Brothers of Stefan Nemanja Miroslav and Stracimir made pirate raids on Vis in 1184 and 1185.

In the Middle Ages it often changed rulers, and then for a long time it was under Venice. Because of the settlements were formed in the inland: the main settlements Velo Selo. During Venetian domination, the island's name was Lissa.

Later, the larger settlements developed also on the coat (Komiza and Luka of St. Juraj - present town of Vis). Administratively the island of Vis was for centuries bound to the island of Hvar.

The sea to the north of the island was the stage of two battles:

on 13 March 1811, a small Royal Navy fleet, under the command of captain William Hoste, defeated an outnumbering Franco-Venetian fleet (see Battle of Lissa (1811));
on 20 July 1866, the Austrian fleet, under admiral Tegetthoff, attacked the Italian fleet, under admiral Persano, sinking the battleship Re d'Italia (see Battle of Lissa (1866)).

During World War II, Vis was at one point the main hideout of Josip Broz Tito, the leader of the Yugoslav resistance movement. After the war, the Yugoslav People's Army used the island as one of its main naval bases. After Croatia became independent, its navy did not reclaim most of the facilities, and the many abandoned buildings are being used for civilian purposes, including modern happennings like 320x240.

External links

[Adriatic Islands Project:] Contact, commerce and colonisation 6000 BC - AD 600
[Vis Tourist Association]
[Vis - Croatian National Tourist Board]

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