. The earth and its inhabitants .. . THE ADRIATIC PROVINCES, (GoRiziA, Trieste, Istkia, Dalmatia.) GE^"ERAL Aspects.—Mountaiks. IIE basin of the Isonzo, the peninsula of Istria, the Dalmatian coast land and its islands, form part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in spite of watersheds and nationality. The German and the Magyar are strangers in these Adriatic regions, from which they are separated by the ramifications of the Alps— " Che Italia cliiude c i suoi tei'inini ;—Dame, Inferno, canto ix. Istria and the basin of the Isonzo belong to Cisleithan Austria ; the coasts of
. The earth and its inhabitants .. . THE ADRIATIC PROVINCES, (GoRiziA, Trieste, Istkia, Dalmatia.) GE^"ERAL Aspects.—Mountaiks. IIE basin of the Isonzo, the peninsula of Istria, the Dalmatian coast land and its islands, form part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in spite of watersheds and nationality. The German and the Magyar are strangers in these Adriatic regions, from which they are separated by the ramifications of the Alps— " Che Italia cliiude c i suoi tei'inini ;—Dame, Inferno, canto ix. Istria and the basin of the Isonzo belong to Cisleithan Austria ; the coasts of Quarnero and of Fiume, as far as the ridge of Yellebic, or Velebit, are subject to Hungary. The possession of harbours on the Adriatic is of paramount importance to the great Danubian empire. Trieste enables German Austria to freely com- municate with the oviter world and to threaten Italy, Fiume affords similar advantages to Hungary. But Dalmatia, which stretches far south along the eastern shore of the Adriatic, is almost beyond 'the sphere of Austrian or Hungarian influence. Its boundaries have been fixed in the most arbitrary manner. Geographically as well as ethnographically it forms part of the peninsula of the Balkans ; and if its inhabitants declined to throw in their lot with the Slavs, they would naturally turn towards Italy. The same sea washes the coasts of both, while frequent and long-continued intercourse has brought about a partial assimilation in manners and language. For a long time the Venetians held possession of a great part of Dalmatia, and republican Ragusa became almost Italian. The chances of war threw Dalmatia into the hands of France, and later into those of Austria. The reasons which prevented Dalmatia from asserting its independence lie on the surface. No material bonds ever united the Slavs of this strip of coast land in defence of their independence, and they found no support amongst their kinsmen in the interior, from whom they are separat
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade18, booksubjectgeography, bookyear1883
