Page 12 - Discovering Hvar

preservation of their customs and language, quite different from those in the west part
of the island. They speak a štokavian dialect (main dialect in the language of Croatian
literature), while the dialect of the west island population is čakavian with a multitude
of Italian words still surviving in their speech.

The island’s population made their living from agriculture (wine, olives, figs, carobs),
fishing and salting the fish, as well as navigation, as the two traditional branches of the
economy. After the demise of the Venetian Republic in 1797, Hvar was briefly, until 1805,
part of the Austrian Empire and then fell under Napoleon’s rule (1805-1813). Liberated
from restrictive Venetian laws and regulations that controlled the development of do-
mestic shipbuilding, the islanders developed in 19th century a respectable fleet of
sailing ships that sailed the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. On the island of Lampedu-

sa near the Tunisian coast they started a small fishing colony. Stari Grad led the way in
these enterprises, as its shipyards built the largest sailing ships, but the other towns
also contributed greatly to the flourishing of this industry. Vine growing was another
important branch of the island’s economy that encountered rapid development – even
the most inaccessible pockets of fertile land were cultivated.
The century of Austro-Hungarian rule (1813-1918) coincided with the greatest population
growth. In 1900 the island numbered 18,097 inhabitants, more than ever in its long history.
Hand in hand with the population increase came the urban transformation of the settle-
ments and the final stages in the process of the islanders’growing national awareness.

The founding of the first professional tourist society – The Hygiene Society, in Hvar in
1868, had most likely made no great impression on the local people at the time, but
today, when the island makes its living from tourism, this event may be viewed as a
breaking point in the shaping of its future.
In the first half of the 20th century the island suffered great migrations. The destruc-
tion of the wine industry (phylloxera, Peronsopora, drop in the prices of wine) and the
death of the sailing ship traffic drove the islanders to find their fortune in the Americas.

In World War II, Hvar was occupied by Italy and after 1943, for a brief time, by Germany.
The casualties counted 420 killed. Over 3,000 people had to find refuge in the Sinai
Desert in Egypt. The 1960s slowed down the population loss with the building of large
hotels for tourism, but the war for independence that Croatia fought between 1991
and 1995 shook again the fragile island communities. Now, the island is home to only
11,025 people.
The ancestors bequeathed to the modern-day islanders a remarkable cultural her-
itage. The splendour of the centuries gone by is embodied in the urban palaces and
villas, in the churches and monasteries, fortifications and embankments, all intertwined

with the loveliness of rural village houses and yards, field huts and stone roads. The
harmony between the island and its people, carefully built over centuries, is today
being eaten away by the desire for quick profit. This book is a plea to help in the effort
to reverse these trends.

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