Why is Neum not in Croatia?
- Nadia Dalla Gasperina
- 20 set 2023
- Tempo di lettura: 3 min
Aggiornamento: 15 set 2024
You have definitely seen this meme on the internet.
If you look well enough you can find a tiny space separating the Croatian coastline in two: the town of Neum and its surroundings, belonging to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Recently, Croatia completed the Pelješac bridge to finally connect its two parts and avoid the international border posed by Neum. The bridge is surrounded by controversies and corruption scandals, but this is not the topic of the blog. Instead - why is Neum even there? Why is it not part of Croatia? We must delve into history to answer these questions.
There was a time, at the end of the 14th century, when the Kingdom of Bosnia included a longer shoreline than now, extending from the territories south of Zadar to Kotor in contemporary Montenegro. Yet one small strip of land stood unbothered: the area of the Republic of Ragusa (nowadays Dubrovnik), which after gaining independence from the Republic of Venice, started to secure more and more autonomy and ultimately became a self-governing territory. From 1399, as the Kingdom of Bosnia started to decline and was absorbed by the Ottoman empire, Ragusa acquired Neum which became part of the self-governing entity.
Those were also the years when the Ottoman empire was rapidly advancing in the Balkan peninsula, soon incorporating the Republic of Ragusa as a vassal state. Still, Ragusa was able to retain virtually all autonomy in exchange for tributes. In the mid and late 17th century, the Ottoman empire was at its greatest expansion:
The Kingdoms and States around the Ottoman empire started to worry and formed a coalition against Ottoman expansion: the Holy League. As the Ottomans had their eyes on Vienna and tried to capture it, the Holy League intervened and defeated them in the Great Turkish War (also known as the Holy League Wars) between 1683 and 1699. As much as this seems like an unnecessary addition to everything said above, 1699 is the turning point for Neum. The Great Turkish War ended in 1699 with the Treaty of Karlowitz, in which the Ottomans lost a considerably large part of their territory.
Before unveiling the fate of Neum after 1699, we must consider another important player in the field: the Republic of Venice, which ruled over most of the Adriatic coastline. Now, the Republics of Ragusa and of Venice were never best friends: after gaining independence from Venice in 1358, Ragusa was proud of its autonomy, going as far as forging the motto “Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro” ("Liberty is not well sold for all the gold"). Having such a powerful neighbour eager to expand as soon as the chance arises is not easy, even more so if you are in a constant competition to dominate trade in the Mediterranean. Therefore, Ragusa gave part of its territory, namely the corridor of Neum, to the Ottoman empire. Neum would function as a protection in case Venice decided to invade Ragusa by land. This trick worked until the Republic of Ragusa was abolished and annexed to the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy much later, in 1808.
Neum remained part of the Ottoman empire until 1878, when, with the Treaty of Berlin, it passed under the control of Austria-Hungary. After World War I and the defeat of Austria-Hungary, it became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which would soon become the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After that, it was briefly part of first the Littoral Banovina (a subdivision of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), then of the Banovina of Croatia. These are the only two times when Neum was not part of either the Ottoman empire or Bosnia and Herzegovina following the year 1699. When the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was created in 1945, Neum came to be part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which it remains until now.
And that’s the story of how Bosnia got its 20-something kilometre-long coastline: all you need is a proud, self-standing Republic, a vast empire alwayson the look for new lands, and a greedy neighbour.