Zadar was populated by the Illyrian people dating back to the ninth century BC. At the conclusion of the third century BC, the Romans descended upon Zadar. This conquest was to last more than 200 years.

Eventually by the 1st century BC the Romans had finally managed to subdue the Illyrians and Zadar was at once in control of the Roman Empire.

Shortly after Roman conquest, Zadar was transformed into a Roman city. Water from Lake Vrana was drafted to supply the newly built public baths. A typical Roman forum was constructed and paving was laid to from simple streets.

For a while Zadar was nothing more than a simple Roman occupied city; however when the Roman Empire split Zadar then became the capital city for the region of Dalmatia.

Moving further along the timeline; between the 6th – 7th centuries BC, Slavic migrants arrived in the city and Zadar was ultimately subdued by the power of Croatian and Hungarian kings and lords.

Enter the 12th century and the rise of the Venetian Empire. Over the next 200 years the Venetian Empire battered Zadar. The unrelenting attacks escalated as the Venetians focused on expanding their grasp on Adriatic trade.

The people of Zadar fought back against the Venetian Empire and by the year 1202 there had already been around 4 significant revolts instigated by the populace of Zadar; however none brought much success. Eventually the Venetians enlisted the help of the French Crusaders and managed to evict the people of Zadar from the city.

The citizens of Zadar were not without help however; the Croatian and Hungarian kings helped the populace’s insurrection and continuous revolts throughout the 13th – 14th centuries but ultimately this was to no avail and Zadar was finally purchased by Venice in the year 1409.

Now in the 16th century and under Venetian rule peace was short lived and massive fortifications were erected to defend against assaults from their new foe; the Turkish. Zadar had a hard time and the economy suffered greatly until the 17th century when the Turkish were at long last repelled.

1797 was the collapse of Venice and as a result of this Zadar was passed back and forth between French and Austrian control eventually ending up in control of the latter. Zadar however still had a great Italian influence left over from the Roman conquest all the way up until the middle of the 20th century.

The Zadar we see today could have been very different. The Old Town, similar to that of Dubrovnik was decimated in 1943 when the Allied Nations bombed Zadar to annihilate the new German occupants and it is thought that only around 40% on the Old Town was left standing.

After the war Zadar was rebuilt with great emphasis on unification between the new structures with the Old Town, resulting in what we see today.

As was becoming the unfortunate pattern in Zadar, harmony did not last for long. Now 1991 Zadar was bombed by Yugoslavia. This went on for approximately 3 months and the populace of Zadar spent the vast majority of this time in hiding.

Finally pushed back by the Croatian army in 1993 Zadar embraced peace once again and even to this day the signs of such a war filled past are minimal. Having been controlled by such a diversity of cultures is one of the great features of Zadar and the architecture left behind in this concoction is very magical indeed.

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