Konavle

The territory of Konavle was inhabited by people from the Neolithic era. Around 1000 BC. e. here lived the Illyrian tribes of Ardiye and Plei . In 167 BC. e. the region became part of the Roman state, its main city became Epidaurus . From about 493, the ostrogoths hosted here. In 535, Konavle became part of Byzantium. In the 7th century, Slavs and Avars came here, who founded a settlement on the site of ancient Epidaurus, later named Stari Grad ( lat. Civitas vetus , whence came the modern name of the city - Cavtat ). The Slavic tribe of konovlians (or canalites ) settled here ^[4] . Under his name in written sources Konavle ( Greek Κανάλη ) was first mentioned by Constantine Porphyrogenitus in the 10th century as a territorial unit, ruled from the 9th century by archon . In the chronicles of priest Dukljanin, Konavle is mentioned as a county, which was part of Red Croatia , the territory of which coincided with the Byzantine region of Mountain Dalmatia. In the XI century, Konavle became part of the Duklian state , in the XII century - into the state of Nemanjic , in 1378 - into the Bosnian state. After the death of the Bosnian king Tvrtko I Konavle was divided between the Bosnian feudal lords ^[3] .

In 1419, the residents of Dubrovnik, with the consent of the Hungarian king Sigismund , acquired the eastern part of the region from the Khumsky feudal lord Sandal Hranic for an annual fee of 500 perpers : this was how the Konavle income was established ^[5] . In 1426 they bought the western part of Konavle from . Under the authority of the Dubrovnik Republic, the region was ruled by a prince ( lat. Comes ), whose residence was in the town of Sveti Martin and in Cavtat. For the defense of the southern outskirts of the Dubrovnik Republic, the Falcon fortress on the Konavl field, which suffered from the earthquake of 1667, was important, and after 1672 was abandoned. In the XVIII century, the region was still engaged in maritime trade. In the years 1799-1800 a peasant uprising occurred. From 1809 to 1815 - as part of the Illyrian provinces . After that they were included in the Habsburg Empire - as part of the so-called Kingdom of Dalmatia . In 1840-1847 an uprising of peasants flared up again in Konavle. In 1901, the to the Bay of Kotor. At this time, the region was experiencing an economic boom. During the Yugoslav wars in the fall of 1991, Konavle was occupied by troops of the Yugoslav People’s Army , whose soldiers committed acts of robbery in the settlements of the region. After the signing of the Geneva Agreements on September 30, 1992, Yugoslavia withdrew its troops from the region’s territory. In 1993, Konavle underwent artillery attacks from Bosnia and Herzegovina, where there was war at that time. From 1992 to 2002, the southern tip of Konavle, the Peninsula was a demilitarized zone under UN control ^[3] .

• Map Konavle