Main Areas in Croatia:

Split

Split (Italian: Spalato, Latin: Spalatum, Greek: Aspalathos) is the largest and most important city in Dalmatia, the administrative center of Croatia's Split-Dalmatia County. It is situated on a small peninsula on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea. The majority of its citizens are Croats: 95.15% (2001 census). Split is situated on a peninsula between the eastern part of the Gulf of Kastela and the Split Channel. A hill, Marjan (178 m), rises in the western part of the peninsula. The ridges Kozjak (780 m) and Mosor (1,330 m) protect the city from the north and northeast, and separate it from the hinterland. Split has a Mediterranean climate: hot, dry summers (maximum air temperature in July reaches 36°C) and warm, wet winters (average annual rainfall is 900 mm). Split is one of the sunniest places in Europe. Vegetation is of the evergreen Mediterranean type, and subtropical flora (palm-trees, agaves, cacti) grow in the city and its surroundings. Marjan is covered with a cultivated forest. During the Middle Ages and under Venetian rule Split developed into an important port city with trade routes to the interior through the nearby Klis pass. Culture flourished as well, Split being the hometown of Marko Marulic, a classic Croatian author. Marulic wrote Judita (1501) in Split, and published it there (1521). It is widely held to be the first modern work of literature in Croatian. Venice held Split until its own downfall in 1797. The city fell to Austria-Hungary after a brief period of Napoleonic rule (1806–1813). Under Austria, however, Split stagnated. The general upheavals in Europe starting in 1848 gained no ground in Split.