Editing Dalmatia (section)

==Definition==
[[File:REmpire Dalmatia.svg|thumb|right|Province of Dalmatia during the Roman Empire]]
In [[ancient history|antiquity]], the [[Dalmatia (Roman province)|Roman province of Dalmatia]] was much larger than the present-day region of Dalmatia, stretching from [[Istria]] in the north to modern-day [[Albania]] in the south.<ref name="Stallaerts2009">{{cite book|author=Robert Stallaerts|title=Historical Dictionary of Croatia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NSjRbIz4iDkC&pg=PA89|date=22 December 2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-7363-6|pages=89–}}</ref> Dalmatia signified not only a geographical unit, but was an entity based on common culture and settlement types, an eastern [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]] coastal belt with a [[Mediterranean climate]], [[sclerophyll]]ous vegetation of the [[Illyrians|Illyrian]] province, and a [[carbonate platform]].

===Modern area===
[[File:Dalmatia (Kingdom).svg|thumb|right|The extent of the [[Kingdom of Dalmatia]] (blue) which existed within Austria-Hungary until 1918, on a map of modern-day Croatia and Montenegro.]]

Today, Dalmatia is a [[Regions of Croatia|historical region]] only, not formally instituted in [[Croatia]]n law. Its exact extent is therefore uncertain and subject to public perception. According to Lena Mirošević and Josip Faričić of the [[University of Zadar]]:<ref name=Mirosevic>{{cite book|last1=Mirošević|first1=Lena|last2=Faričić|first2=Josip|year=2011|title=Perception of Dalmatia in Selected Foreign Lexicographic Publications|publisher=Geoadria|volume=XVI|page=124}}; Department of Geography, [[University of Zadar]].</ref>

<blockquote>...the modern perception of Dalmatia is mainly based on the territorial extent of the [[Austrian Empire|Austrian]] [[Kingdom of Dalmatia]], with the exception of Rab, which is geographically related to the [[Kvarner Gulf|Kvarner]] area and functionally to the [[Croatian Littoral|Littoral]]–[[Gorski Kotar]] area, and with the exception of the [[Bay of Kotor]], which was annexed to another state ([[Montenegro]]) after [[World War I]]. Simultaneously, the southern part of [[Lika]] and upper Pounje, which were not part of Austrian Dalmatia, became part of [[Zadar County]]. From the present-day administrative and territorial point of view, Dalmatia comprises the four Croatian littoral [[Counties of Croatia|counties]] with seats in [[Zadar]], [[Šibenik]], [[Split, Croatia|Split]], and [[Dubrovnik]].</blockquote>

"Dalmatia" is therefore generally perceived to extend approximately to the borders of the Austrian-held Kingdom of Dalmatia, which inherited these borders from the preceding border treaties between the [[Republic of Venice]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]], notably defined by the 'Linea [[House of Mocenigo|Mocenigo]]' in the [[Treaty of Passarowitz]] (1718). However, due to territorial and administrative changes over the past century, the perception can be seen to have altered somewhat with regard to certain areas, and sources conflict as to their being part of the region in modern times:

* The Bay of Kotor area in Montenegro. With the [[subdivisions of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia|subdivision]] of the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]] into [[Oblasts of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes|oblasts]] in 1922, the whole of the Bay of Kotor from [[Sutorina]] to [[Sutomore]] was granted to the Zeta Oblast, so that the border of Dalmatia was formed at that point by the southern border of the former [[Republic of Ragusa]].<ref>[[Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts]], ''Anali Zavoda za Povijesne Znanosti Hrvatske Akademije Znanosti i Umjetnosti u Dubrovniku'', p.405, Volume 38</ref> The ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' defines Dalmatia as extending "to the narrows of [[Kotor]]" (i.e. the southernmost tip of continental Croatia, the [[Prevlaka]] peninsula).<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.britannica.com/place/Dalmatia| title = ''Encyclopædia Britannica'': Dalmatia}}</ref> Other sources, however, such as the ''[[Treccani]]'' encyclopedia and the ''[[Rough Guides|Rough Guide]] to Croatia'' still include the Bay as being part of the region.<ref name="Dalmatia on the Rough Guide to Croatia">{{cite book|author=Bousfield, Jonathan|year=2010|title=The Rough Guide to Croatia|publisher=Penguin|page=[https://archive.org/details/roughguidetocroa0000bous/page/263 263]|isbn=978-1-84836-936-8|url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetocroa0000bous|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Dalmatia on Enciclopedia Treccani|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/dalmazia/}}</ref>
* The island of Rab, along with the small islands of [[Sveti Grgur]] and [[Goli Otok]], were a part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia and are historically and culturally related to the region, but are today associated more with the Croatian Littoral, due to geographical vicinity and administrative expediency.
* [[Gračac]] municipality and northern [[Pag (island)|Pag]]. A number of sources express the view that "from the modern-day administrative point of view", the extent of Dalmatia equates to the four southernmost counties of Croatia: Zadar, [[Šibenik-Knin County|Šibenik-Knin]], Split-Dalmatia, and [[Dubrovnik-Neretva County|Dubrovnik-Neretva]].<ref name=Mirosevic/><ref name=Frommers>{{cite book|last1=James|first1=Ryan|last2=Mastrini|first2=Hana|last3=Baker|first3=Mark|last4=Torme Olson|first4=Karen|last5=Charlton|first5=Angela|last6=Bain|first6=Keith|last7=de Bruyn|first7=Pippa|year=2009|title=Frommer's Eastern Europe|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0470473344|url=https://archive.org/details/frommerseasterne00bake_0|url-access=registration|quote=dalmatia borders counties.|page=[https://archive.org/details/frommerseasterne00bake_0/page/120 120]}}</ref><ref name=Turnock>{{cite book|last=Turnock|first=David|year=2003|title=The Human Geography of East Central Europe|publisher=Routledge|page=[https://archive.org/details/humangeographyof0000turn_j5u4/page/318 318]|isbn=1134828004|url=https://archive.org/details/humangeographyof0000turn_j5u4/page/318}}</ref><ref name=Heenan>{{cite book|last1=Heenan|first1=Patrick|last2=Lamontagne|first2=Monique|year=1999|title=The Central and Eastern Europe Handbook|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=168|isbn=1579580890}}</ref><ref name=nacional>{{cite news|date=2008 |title=Gorilo u nekoliko dalmatinskih županija |trans-title=Fire in several Dalmatian counties |url=http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/49268/gorilo-u-nekoliko-dalmatinskih-zupanija |language=hr |newspaper=[[Nacional (weekly)|Nacional]] |location=Zagreb |access-date=2014-05-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531124016/http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/49268/gorilo-u-nekoliko-dalmatinskih-zupanija |archive-date=2014-05-31 }}</ref><ref name=regionministry>{{cite web|url=http://www.mrrfeu.hr/default.aspx?id=1484|title=Za 29 dalmatinskih malih kapitalnih projekata 14.389.000 kuna|trans-title=14,389,000 kuna for 29 Dalmatian capital projects|language=hr|website=Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds|publisher=Republic of Croatia: Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds|access-date=2014-05-30|archive-date=2020-12-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217040704/http://www.mrrfeu.hr/default.aspx?id=1484|url-status=dead}}</ref> This definition does not include the Bay of Kotor, or the islands of Rab, Sveti Grgur, and Goli Otok. It also excludes the northern part of the island of Pag, which is part of the [[Lika-Senj County]]. However, it includes the Gračac municipality in Zadar County, which was not a part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia and is not traditionally associated with the region (but instead the region of Lika).