Skradin

Skradin is a small town in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia. It is located near the Krka river and at the entrance to the Krka National Park, Template:Convert from Šibenik and Template:Convert from Split. The main attraction of the park, Slapovi Krke, is a series of waterfalls, the biggest of which, Skradinski buk, was named after Skradin.

History

During Antiquity, the city was known as Scardon and Scardona, a name attested in the writings of Strabo and Procopius (Template:Langx), Pliny the Elder (Template:Langx) and Ptolemy (Template:Langx).<ref name="Pavlović">Template:Cite book</ref>

Before the Roman conquest, the settlement was Illyrian, with the particularity of having the locally recurring suffix -ona.<ref name="Wilkes">Template:Cite book</ref> The prevailing theory links the root of the Illyrian toponym to a term meaning "steep", as a derivation of *sko/ard(h)-,<ref name="Georgiev">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Polome">Template:Cite book</ref> and it has been compared with the Scardus mountains in southern Illyria.<ref name=Lafe>Template:Cite book p. 363.</ref> After an initial development in Vulgar Latin in the form -una, the Illyrian suffix was reflected in South Slavic as -in.<ref name="Ureland">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Deretić">Template:Cite book.</ref> The survival of several of such toponyms in the area (e.g. Solin from Salona, Labin from Albona etc) points to the continuation of Illyrian settlements since ancient times.<ref name="Ureland" /> Another, more peripheral, theory says the root of the name might be related to that of the Scordisci, a Celtic or Illyrian tribe.<ref name="Pavlović" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Though initially located in present-day Eastern Slavonia and Syrmia,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the Scordisci might have been allied with the local tribe of the Dalmatae, as mercenaries, which would explain their presence in Dalmatia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

After the Roman conquest, Skradin became an administrative and military centre of the region, and was mentioned as a municipium in 530.<ref name="Deretić" /> It was destroyed during the Migration Period in the 7th century, and restored under Croatian rulers in Early Middle Ages.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

During the 10th century, it was one of the fortified towns in Croatia, as the centre of the Skradin županija.Template:Cn

Skradin under Šubić rule

Turina Fortress above the town

In the late 13th and early 14th centuries, Skradin flourished as the capital of the Šubić bans, Paul I and Mladen II. The Šubić's built the Turina fortress on the hill overlooking the Skradin harbor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They elevated the settlement below the fortress to a free city, at which point it also became a commune, and was granted its own statute and administration.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> They further enriched the city by constructing several richly-endowed monasteries which housed the Dominicans, Franciscans and other Christian orders.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Decline and Ottoman conquest

Skradin after Ottoman conquest in 1574

Skradin was conquered by the Ottomans in 1522 and remain part of the Ottoman Empire until 1684, with a few interruptions. During the Ottoman–Venetian wars, the town was devastated and subsequently relocated.<ref name="Deretić" />

In October 1683, some uskoks from Venetian Dalmatia, mainly Morlachs from Ravni Kotari, rose up against the Sanjak-bey of Klis and took Skradin and several other border towns which had been deserted by their Ottoman Muslim population, who was fearing an attack by the Morlachs.<ref name="Samardžić">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Mayhew">Template:Cite book</ref> The Venetians finally took Skradin in 1684 and the town recovered under their rule, during the 18th century, becoming the center of a municipality in 1705.<ref name="Deretić" />

Later, it was occupied by Napoleon as part of the French Empire, then Austria-Hungary.

In time it lost its importance as the centre of the region, which shifted to Šibenik, and so it stagnated - the Diocese of Skradin was abandoned in 1828.<ref>Naklada Naprijed, The Croatian Adriatic Tourist Guide, pg. 209, Zagreb (1999), Template:ISBN</ref>

Population

The municipality has a total population of 3,349 (2021 census). Its population is divided into the following settlements:<ref name="census2011">Template:Croatian Census 2021</ref> Template:Div col

• Bićine, population 173
• Bratiškovci, population 233
• Bribir, population 89
• Cicvare, population 12
• Dubravice, population 509
• Gorice, population 22
• Gračac, population 159
• Ićevo, population 78
• Krković, population 151
• Lađevci, population 99
• Međare, population 5
• Piramatovci, population 209
• Plastovo, population 167
• Rupe, population 392
• Skradin, population 508
• Skradinsko Polje, population 51
• Sonković, population 297
• Vaćani, population 105
• Velika Glava, population 40
• Žažvić, population 29
• Ždrapanj, population 21

Notable people

• Filip Dominik Bordini - priest and bishop
• Lujo Marun - priest and archaeologist
• Josip Mrkica - priest and writer
• Rüstem Pasha - Ottoman leader (birthplace uncertain)
• Zdravko Škender - singer

External links

• Template:Official website