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158-835: The term was later endorsed by Italian irredentists , who sought to annex regions in which ethnic Italians made up most (or a substantial portion) of the population: the Austrian Littoral, Trentino , Fiume and Dalmatia . The Triple Entente promised the regions to Italy in the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in exchange for Italy's joining the Allied Powers in World War I . The secret 1915 Treaty of London promised Italy territories largely inhabited by Italians (such as Trentino) in addition to those largely inhabited by Croats or Slovenes ;

316-551: A Triestine and thus Austrian citizen, was executed. When the irredentist movement became troublesome to Italy through the activity of Republicans and Socialists, it was subject to effective police control by Agostino Depretis . Irredentism faced a setback when the French occupation of Tunisia in 1881 started a crisis in French–Italian relations. The government entered into relations with Austria and Germany , which took shape with

474-415: A medieval European designation for a borderland or frontier district, more specifically, a buffer zone between different realms. In an 1863 newspaper article, Ascoli focused on a wide geographical area north and east of Venice which was under Austrian rule; he called it Triveneto ("the three Venetian regions"). Ascoli divided Triveneto into three parts: According to this definition, Triveneto overlaps

632-569: A portion of modern Friuli —the present-day provinces of Pordenone and Udine —and part of internal Istria). The Habsburg held the March of Carniola , roughly corresponding to the central Carniolan region of present-day Slovenia (part of their holdings in Inner Austria ), since 1335. During the next two centuries, they gained control of the Istrian cities of Pazin and Rijeka-Fiume ,

790-583: A segment of the Savoyard population demonstrated against the annexation. Indeed, the final vote count on the referendum announced by the Court of Appeals was 130,839 in favour of annexation to France, 235 opposed and 71 void, showing questionable complete support for French nationalism (that motivated criticisms about rigged results). At the beginning of 1860, more than 3000 people demonstrated in Chambéry against

948-622: A significant Italian presence in Dalmatia was the city of Zara (now called Zadar ). In the Austro-Hungarian census of 1910, the city of Zara had an Italian population of 9,318 (or 69.3% out of the total of 13,438 inhabitants). In 1921 the population grew to 17,075 inhabitants, of which 12,075 Italians (corresponding to 70,76%). In 1941, during the Second World War , Yugoslavia was occupied by Italy and Germany. Dalmatia

1106-467: A small Istriot-speaking minority. The eastern and northern areas were inhabited by South Slavs ( Slovenes and Croats ), with small Montenegrin ( Peroj ) and Serb minorities. Other ethnic groups included Istro-Romanians in eastern Istria , Carinthian Germans in the Canale Valley and smaller German- and Hungarian -speaking communities in larger urban centres, primarily members of

1264-889: A small community of Slavic speakers in northeastern Friuli (an area known as Slavia Friulana – Beneška Slovenija ) became part of the Kingdom of Italy. Otherwise, the Littoral lasted until the end of the Austrian Empire in 1918. The Italians in Julian March supported the Italian Risorgimento : as a consequence, the Austrians saw the Italians as enemies and favored the Slav communities of Julian March. During

1422-510: A substantial local ethnic Italian population ( Dalmatian Italians ), making up 33% of the total population of Dalmatia in 1803, but this was reduced to 20% in 1816. In Dalmatia there was a constant decline in the Italian population, in a context of repression that also took on violent connotations. During this period, Austrians carried out an aggressive anti-Italian policy through a forced Slavization of Dalmatia. According to Austrian census,

1580-672: A sudden decrease: in the twenty years 1890-1910, in Rab they went from 225 to 151, in Vis from 352 to 92, in Pag from 787 to 23, completely disappearing in almost all the inland locations. One consequence of irredentist ideas outside of Italy was an assassination plot organized against the Emperor Francis Joseph in Trieste in 1882, which was detected and foiled. Guglielmo Oberdan ,

1738-619: Is a calque of the Latin name, from μέσος ( mésos , "in the middle") and γήινος ( gḗinos , "of the earth"), from γῆ ( gê , "land, earth"). The original meaning may have been 'the sea in the middle of the earth', rather than 'the sea enclosed by land'. Ancient Iranians called it the "Roman Sea", and in Classical Persian texts , it was called Daryāy-e Rōm (دریای روم), which may be from Middle Persian form, Zrēh ī Hrōm (𐭦𐭫𐭩𐭤 𐭩 𐭤𐭫𐭥𐭬). The Carthaginians called it

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1896-582: Is known as al-Baḥr [al-Abyaḍ] al-Mutawassiṭ ( البحر [الأبيض] المتوسط ) 'the [White] Middle Sea'. In Islamic and older Arabic literature, it was Baḥr al-Rūm ( بحر الروم ) or al- Baḥr al-Rūmī ( بحر الرومي ) 'the Sea of the Romans' or 'the Roman Sea' or Baḥr al-šām ( بحر الشام ) or al-Baḥr al-šāmī ( البحر الشامي ) ("the Sea of Syria"). At first, that name referred only to the eastern Mediterranean, but

2054-524: Is not to be confused with the Risorgimento , the historical events that led to irredentism, nor with nationalism or Imperial Italy , the political philosophy that took the idea further under fascism . During the 19th century, Italian irredentism fully developed the characteristic of defending the Italian language from other people's languages such as, for example, German in Switzerland and in

2212-729: The Allies that Zara was a chief logistic centre for German forces in Yugoslavia. By overstating its importance, he persuaded them of its military significance. Italy surrendered in September 1943 and over the following year, specifically between 2 November 1943 and 31 October 1944, Allied Forces bombarded the town fifty-four times . Nearly 2,000 people were buried beneath rubble: 10–12,000 people escaped and took refuge in Trieste and slightly over 1,000 reached Apulia. Tito's partisans entered Zara on 31 October 1944 and 138 people were killed. With

2370-566: The Black Sea . In Persian, the name was translated as Baḥr-i Safīd , which was also used in later Ottoman Turkish . Similarly, in 19th century Greek, the name was Άσπρη Θάλασσα ( áspri thálassa ; "white sea"). According to Johann Knobloch, in classical antiquity , cultures in the Levant used colours to refer to the cardinal points: black referred to the north (explaining the name Black Sea ), yellow or blue to east, red to south (e.g.,

2528-656: The Calypso Deep in the Ionian Sea . It lies between latitudes 30° and 46° N and longitudes 6° W and 36° E . Its west–east length, from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Alexandretta , on the southeastern coast of Turkey , is about 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi). The north–south length varies greatly between different shorelines and whether only straight routes are considered. Also including longitudinal changes,

2686-518: The Doge of Venice , established Venetian rule in the high and middle Adriatic around 1000. The Venetian presence was concentrated on the coast, replacing Byzantine rule and confirming the political and linguistic separation between coast and interior. The Republic of Venice began expanding toward the Italian interior ( Stato da Tera ) in 1420, acquiring the Patriarchate of Aquileia (which included

2844-618: The Fascist Italianization of Slovene areas, the militant anti-Fascist organization TIGR emerged in 1927. TIGR co-ordinated Slovene resistance against Fascist Italy until it was dismantled by the secret police in 1941, and some former members joined the Yugoslav Partisans . The Slovene Partisans emerged that year in the occupied Province of Ljubljana , and spread by 1942 to the other Slovene areas which had been annexed by Italy twenty years earlier. After

3002-601: The Germanization or Slavization of the areas of the empire with an Italian presence: His Majesty expressed the precise order that action be taken decisively against the influence of the Italian elements still present in some regions of the Crown and, appropriately occupying the posts of public, judicial, masters employees as well as with the influence of the press, work in South Tyrol , Dalmatia and Littoral for

3160-620: The Iberian Peninsula in Europe from Morocco in Africa —is only 14 km (9 mi) wide. The Mediterranean Sea encompasses a vast number of islands , some of them of volcanic origin. The two largest islands, in both area and population, are Sicily and Sardinia . The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of 1,500 m (4,900 ft) and the deepest recorded point is 5,109 ± 1 m (16,762 ± 3 ft) in

3318-534: The Italian Government , the treaty was signed by Mariano Rumor , Minister for Foreign Affairs . For Yugoslavia, the treaty was signed by Miloš Minić , the Federal Secretary for Foreign Affairs . Two major ethnolinguistic clusters were unified in the region. The western portion was inhabited primarily by Italians ( Italian , Venetian and Friulian were the three major languages), with

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3476-740: The Italian Lakes (Po). While the Mediterranean watershed is bordered by other river basins in Europe, it is essentially bordered by endorheic basins or deserts elsewhere. The following countries are in the Mediterranean drainage basin while not having a coastline on the Mediterranean Sea: The following countries have a coastline on the Mediterranean Sea: Several other territories also border

3634-705: The Italian Social Republic but under de facto German administration, that year. Many areas, (especially north and north-east of Gorizia) were controlled by the partisan resistance, which was also active on the Karst Plateau and interior Istria. The Nazis tried to repress the Yugoslav guerrillas with reprisals against the civilian population; entire villages were burned down, and thousands of people were interned in Nazi concentration camps . However,

3792-586: The Italian armistice of September 1943, many local uprisings took place. The town of Gorizia was temporarily liberated by partisans, and a liberated zone in the Upper Soča Valley known as the Kobarid Republic lasted from September to November 1943. The German Army began to occupy the region and encountered severe resistance from Yugoslav partisans, particularly in the lower Vipava Valley and

3950-681: The Italian city-states like Amalfi and Genoa before the Crusades, according to the Cairo Geniza documents. A document dated 996 mentions Amalfian merchants living in Cairo . Another letter states that the Genoese had traded with Alexandria . The caliph al-Mustansir had allowed Amalfian merchants to reside in Jerusalem about 1060 in place of the Latin hospice . The Crusades led to

4108-646: The Italian language and the Lombard language , specifically the Ticinese dialect . Italian irredentism in Switzerland was based on moderate Risorgimento ideals, and was promoted by Italian-Ticinese such as Adolfo Carmine  [ it ] . Following a brief French occupation (1798–1800) the British established control over Malta while it was still formally part of the Kingdom of Sicily . During both

4266-522: The Kingdom of Italy even areas where Italians were a minority or had been present only in the past. In the first case there were the Risorgimento claims on Trento , while in the second there were the fascist claims on the Ionian Islands , Savoy and Malta . The Corsican revolutionary Pasquale Paoli was called "the precursor of Italian irredentism" by Niccolò Tommaseo because he was

4424-644: The Maltese Italians , Corfiot Italians and Corsican Italians in order to control the Mediterranean sea (his Mare Nostrum , from the Latin "Our Sea"). In the 1930s Mussolini promoted the development of an initial Italian irredentism in Durres , in order to occupy all of Albania later. Durres (called "Durazzo" in Italian) has been for centuries, during the Middle Ages, a city with territory under

4582-756: The Messinian salinity crisis before being refilled by the Zanclean flood about 5.3 million years ago. The Mediterranean Sea covers an area of about 2,500,000 km (970,000 sq mi), representing 0.7% of the global ocean surface, but its connection to the Atlantic via the Strait of Gibraltar —the narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates

4740-715: The Punic Wars in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, the Roman Republic defeated the Carthaginians to become the preeminent power in the Mediterranean. When Augustus founded the Roman Empire , the Romans referred to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum ("Our Sea"). For the next 400 years, the Roman Empire completely controlled the Mediterranean Sea and virtually all its coastal regions from Gibraltar to

4898-641: The Red Sea ) and white to west. That would explain the Bulgarian Byalo More , the Turkish Akdeniz , and the Arab nomenclature described above, lit. "White Sea". Major ancient civilizations were located around the Mediterranean. The sea provided routes for trade, colonization, and war, as well as food (from fishing and the gathering of other seafood) for numerous communities throughout

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5056-499: The Risorgimento movement that fought for the unification of Italy. However, after the Third Italian War of Independence (1866), when the Veneto and Friuli regions were ceded by the Austrians to the newly formed Kingdom of Italy , Istria and Dalmatia remained part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire , together with other Italian-speaking areas on the eastern Adriatic. This triggered the gradual rise of Italian irredentism among many Italians in Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia, who demanded

5214-454: The Roman Empire , Mare Nostrum ("Our Sea"). The term Mare Mediterrāneum appears later: Solinus apparently used this in the 3rd century, but the earliest extant witness to it is in the 6th century, in Isidore of Seville . It means 'in the middle of land, inland' in Latin , a compound of medius ("middle"), terra ("land, earth"), and -āneus ("having the nature of"). The modern Greek name Μεσόγειος Θάλασσα ( mesógeios ; "inland")

5372-444: The Ten-Day War which saw the participation of thousands of people at the political rally in Piazza della Borsa followed by a long procession through the streets of the city, and on 8 November 1992, again in Trieste. The same Italian Social Movement and National Alliance asked for the review of the peace treaties signed by Italy after World War II, especially with regard to Zone B of the former Free Territory of Trieste , given that

5530-445: The Third Italian War of Independence in 1866. Even after the Capture of Rome (1871), the final event of the unification of Italy, many ethnic Italian speakers ( Trentino-Alto Adigan Italians, Savoyard Italians , Corfiot Italians , Niçard Italians , Swiss Italians , Corsican Italians , Maltese Italians , Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians ) remained outside the borders of the Kingdom of Italy and this situation created

5688-447: The early Middle Ages , two main political powers shaped the region: the Republic of Venice and the Habsburg (the dukes and, later, archdukes of Austria ). During the 11th century, Venice began building an overseas empire ( Stato da Màr ) to establish and protect its commercial routes in the Adriatic and southeastern Mediterranean Seas . Coastal areas of Istria and Dalmazia were key parts of these routes since Pietro II Orseolo ,

5846-411: The "Syrian Sea". In ancient Syrian texts, Phoenician epics and in the Hebrew Bible , it was primarily known as the "Great Sea", הים הגדול HaYam HaGadol , ( Numbers ; Book of Joshua ; Ezekiel ) or simply as "The Sea" ( 1 Kings ). However, it has also been called the "Hinder Sea" because of its location on the west coast of the region of Syria or the Holy Land (and therefore behind a person facing

6004-416: The 16th century and also maintained naval bases in southern France (1543–1544), Algeria and Tunisia. Barbarossa , the Ottoman captain is a symbol of this domination with the victory of the Battle of Preveza (1538). The Battle of Djerba (1560) marked the apex of Ottoman naval domination in the eastern Mediterranean. As the naval prowess of the European powers increased, they confronted Ottoman expansion in

6162-417: The 7th century, and with it the religion of Islam , which soon swept across from the east; at its greatest extent, the Arabs, under the Umayyads , controlled most of the Mediterranean region and left a lasting footprint on its eastern and southern shores. A variety of foodstuffs, spices and crops were introduced to the western Mediterranean's Spain and Sicily during Arab rule, via the commercial networks of

6320-416: The Alps. Most of the lowlands were occupied by the winter of 1943, but Yugoslav resistance remained active throughout the region and withdrew to the mountains. In the aftermath of the fall 1943 Italian armistice, the first of what became known as the Foibe massacres occurred (primarily in present-day Croatian Istria). The Germans established the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral , officially part of

6478-548: The Austrian Empire). Initially, the movement can be described as part of the more general nation-building process in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries when the multi-national Austro-Hungarian , Russian and Ottoman Empires were being replaced by nation-states. The Italian nation-building process can be compared to similar movements in Germany ( Großdeutschland ), Hungary , Serbia and in pre-1914 Poland . Simultaneously, in many parts of 19th-century Europe liberalism and nationalism were ideologies which were coming to

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6636-494: The Austro-Hungarian Empire or French in Nice and Corsica . The liberation of Italia irredenta was perhaps the strongest motive for Italy's entry into World War I and the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 satisfied many irredentist claims. Italian irredentism has the characteristic of being originally moderate, requesting only the return to Italy of the areas with Italian majority of population, but after World War I it became aggressive – under fascist influence – and claimed to

6794-527: The Dalmatian Italians formed 12.5% of the population in 1865. In the 1910 Austro-Hungarian census, Istria had a population of 57.8% Slavic-speakers (Croat and Slovene), and 38.1% Italian speakers. For the Austrian Kingdom of Dalmatia , (i.e. Dalmatia ), the 1910 numbers were 96.2% Slavic speakers and 2.8% Italian speakers. In 1909 the Italian language lost its status as the official language of Dalmatia in favor of Croatian only (previously both languages were recognized): thus Italian could no longer be used in

6952-490: The Dalmatian coast. By the end of hostilities in November 1918, the Italian military had seized control of the entire portion of Dalmatia that had been guaranteed to Italy by the Treaty of London and by 17 November had seized Fiume as well. In 1918, Admiral Enrico Millo declared himself Italy's Governor of Dalmatia. Famous Italian nationalist Gabriele d'Annunzio supported the seizure of Dalmatia and proceeded to Zara in an Italian warship in December 1918. The last city with

7110-455: The French and British periods, Malta officially remained part of the Sicilian Kingdom, although the French refused to recognise the island as such in contrast to the British. Malta became a British Crown Colony in 1813, which was confirmed a year later through the Treaty of Paris (1814) . Cultural changes were few even after 1814. In 1842, all literate Maltese learned Italian while only 4.5% could read, write and/or speak English. However, there

7268-536: The German speakers would speak Italian, Slovene or Croatian on social and public occasions, depending on their political and ethnic preferences and location. Among the rural population, German was spoken by about 6,000 people in the Canale Valley. In the major urban areas (primarily Trieste and Rijeka), Hungarian , Serbian , Czech and Greek were spoken by smaller communities. Italian irredentism Italian irredentism ( Italian : irredentismo italiano , Italian: [irredenˈtizmo itaˈljaːno] )

7426-430: The Germanization and Slavization of these territories according to the circumstances, with energy and without any regard. His Majesty calls the central offices to the strong duty to proceed in this way to what has been established. Istrian Italians were more than 50% of the total population of Istria for centuries, while making up about a third of the population in 1900. Dalmatia, especially its maritime cities, once had

7584-492: The Islamic world. These include sugarcane, rice, cotton, alfalfa, oranges, lemons, apricots, spinach, eggplants, carrots, saffron and bananas. The Arabs also continued extensive cultivation and production of olive oil (the Spanish words for 'oil' and 'olive'— aceite and aceituna , respectively—are derived from the Arabic al-zait , meaning 'olive juice'), and pomegranates (the heraldic symbol of Granada) from classical Greco-Roman times. The Arab invasions disrupted

7742-400: The Italian intervention in the World War I is also considered the Fourth Italian War of Independence , in a historiographical perspective that identifies in the latter the conclusion of the unification of Italy , whose military actions began during the revolutions of 1848 with the First Italian War of Independence . Italy signed the Treaty of London (1915) and entered World War I with

7900-532: The Italian irredentism. During World War I the main "irredent lands" ( terre irredente ) were considered to be the provinces of Trento and Trieste and, in a narrow sense, irredentists referred to the Italian patriots living in these two areas. Italian irredentism was not a formal organization but rather an opinion movement, advocated by several different groups, claiming that Italy had to reach its " natural borders " or unify territories inhabited by Italians. Similar nationalistic ideas were common in Europe in

8058-417: The Italian politician Matteo Renato Imbriani inventing the new term terre irredente ("unredeemed lands") in 1877; in the same year the movement Associazione in pro dell'Italia Irredenta ("Association for the Unredeemed Italy") was founded; in 1885 the Pro Patria movement ("For Fatherland") was founded and in 1891 the Lega Nazionale Italiana ("Italian National League") was founded in Trento and Trieste (in

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8216-419: The Italian state, was meant to provoke a nationalist revival through corporatism (first instituted during his rule over Fiume), in front of what was widely perceived as state corruption engineered by governments such as Giovanni Giolitti 's. D'Annunzio briefly annexed to this Italian Regency of Carnaro even the Dalmatian islands of Veglia and Arbe , where there was a numerous Italian community. After

8374-446: The Italians in the county of Gorizia and Gradisca were native Friulian speakers—one-quarter of the county's population, and seven to eight percent of the population of the Julian March. Venetian dialects were concentrated in Trieste, Rijeka and Istria, and the Istro-Venetian dialect was the predominant language of the west Istrian coast. In many small west Istrian towns, such as Koper (Capodistria), Piran (Pirano) or Poreč (Parenzo),

8532-411: The Levant, being the only state in history to ever do so, being given the nickname "Roman Lake". The Western Roman Empire collapsed around 476 AD. The east was again dominant as Roman power lived on in the Byzantine Empire formed in the 4th century from the eastern half of the Roman Empire . Though the Eastern Roman Empire would continue to hold almost all of the Mediterranean, another power arose in

8690-405: The Mediterranean Sea is the Nile , which takes its sources in equatorial Africa. The basin of the Nile constitutes about two-thirds of the Mediterranean drainage basin and encompasses areas as high as the Ruwenzori Mountains . Among other important rivers in Africa, are the Moulouya and the Chelif , both on the north side of the Atlas Mountains . In Asia, are the Ceyhan and Seyhan , both on

8848-450: The Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea without ship lock, because the water level is essentially the same. The westernmost point of the Mediterranean is located at the transition from the Alborán Sea to the Strait of Gibraltar, the easternmost point is on the coast of the Gulf of Iskenderun in southeastern Turkey. The northernmost point of the Mediterranean is on the coast of the Gulf of Trieste near Monfalcone in northern Italy while

9006-411: The Mediterranean towards East Africa and Asia. This led to a preference for the Mediterranean countries and their ports like Trieste with direct connections to Central and Eastern Europe experienced a rapid economic rise. In the 20th century, the 1st and 2nd World Wars as well as the Suez Crisis and the Cold War led to a shift of trade routes to the European northern ports, which changed again towards

9164-500: The Peace Treaty of 1947, Italians still living in Zara followed the Italian exodus from Dalmatia and only about 100 Dalmatian Italians now remain in the city. Under the Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947 , Istria , Kvarner , most of the Julian March as well as the Dalmatian city of Zara was annexed by Yugoslavia causing the Istrian-Dalmatian exodus , which led to the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 of local ethnic Italians ( Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians ),

9322-441: The Venetian-speaking majority reached 90 percent of the population and 100 percent in Umag (Umago) and Muggia . Venetian was also a strong presence on Istria's Cres - Lošinj archipelago and in the peninsula's eastern and interior towns such as Motovun , Labin , Plomin and, to a lesser extent, Buzet and Pazin . Although Istro-Venetian was strongest in urban areas, clusters of Venetian-speaking peasants also existed. This

9480-402: The Yugoslav resistance took over most of the region by the spring of 1945. Italian resistance in the operational zone was active in Friuli and weaker in the Julian March, where it was confined to intelligence and underground resistance in the larger towns (especially Trieste and Pula ). In May 1945, the Yugoslav Army entered Trieste; over the following days, virtually the entire Julian March

9638-406: The ages. The earliest advanced civilizations in the Mediterranean were the Egyptians and the Minoans , who traded extensively with each other. Other notable civilizations that appeared somewhat later are the Hittites and other Anatolian peoples , the Phoenicians , and Mycenean Greece . Around 1200 BC the eastern Mediterranean was greatly affected by the Bronze Age Collapse , which resulted in

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9796-447: The agreement between Italy and the Entente Allies in the Treaty of London of 1915 to have Dalmatia join Italy was revoked in 1919. To the west of Italy, the Fascists claimed that the territories of Corsica , Nice and Savoy held by France were Italian lands. The Fascist regime produced literature on Corsica that presented evidence of the island's italianità . The Fascist regime produced literature on Nice that justified that Nice

9954-401: The ancient Roman region of Regio X – Venetia et Histria introduced by Emperor Augustus in his administrative reorganization of Italy at the beginning of the first century AD. Ascoli (who was born in Gorizia) coined his terms for linguistic and cultural reasons, saying that the languages spoken in the three areas were substantially similar. His goal was to stress to the ruling Austrian Empire

10112-453: The annexation to France rumours. On 16 March 1860, the provinces of Northern Savoy (Chablais, Faucigny and Genevois) sent to Victor Emmanuel II , to Napoleon III , and to the Swiss Federal Council a declaration - sent under the presentation of a manifesto together with petitions - where they were saying that they did not wish to become French and shown their preference to remain united to the Kingdom of Sardinia (or be annexed to Switzerland in

10270-407: The area as generic Mediterranean Sea, in the Western Basin. It does not recognize the label Sea of Sardinia . Note 2: Thracian Sea and Myrtoan Sea are seas that are part of the Aegean Sea . Note 3: The Black Sea is not considered part of it. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Mediterranean Sea as follows: Stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar in

10428-466: The aspiration for the birth of a Great Italy and a vast Italian Empire . After World War II, Italian irredentism disappeared along with the defeated Fascists and the Monarchy of the House of Savoy . After the Treaty of Paris (1947) and the Treaty of Osimo (1975), all territorial claims were abandoned by the Italian Republic (see Foreign relations of Italy ). The Italian irredentist movement thus vanished from Italian politics. Italian irredentism

10586-439: The border was chosen from four proposed solutions at the Paris Peace Conference that year. Yugoslavia acquired the northern part of the region east of Gorizia, most of Istria and the city of Fiume. A Free Territory of Trieste was created, divided into two zones—one under Allied and the other under Yugoslav military administration. Tensions continued, and in 1954 the territory was abolished and divided between Italy (which received

10744-399: The borders of several countries around the newly created Kingdom of Italy. The irredentists sought to annex all those areas to the newly unified Italy. The areas targeted were Corsica , Dalmatia , Gorizia , Istria , Malta , County of Nice , Ticino , small parts of Grisons and of Valais , Trentino , Trieste and Fiume . Different movements or groups founded in this period included

10902-419: The borders of the Byzantine Empire around the sixth century and settled in the Eastern Alps between the sixth and eighth centuries. In Byzantine Dalmatia , on the east shore of the Adriatic Sea , several city-states had limited autonomy. The Slavs retained their languages in the interior, and local Romance languages (followed by Venetian and Italian ) continued to be spoken on the coast. Beginning in

11060-439: The case a separation with Sardinia was unavoidable). Giuseppe Garibaldi complained about the referendum that allowed France to annex Savoy and Nice, and a group of his followers (among the Italian Savoyards ) took refuge in Italy in the following years. In 1861, with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy , the modern Italian state was born. On 21 July 1878, a noisy public meeting was held at Rome with Menotti Garibaldi,

11218-410: The city of Fiume , Corsica , the island of Malta , the County of Nice and Italian Switzerland . After the end of World War I, the Italian irredentist movement was hegemonised, manipulated and distorted by fascism, which made it an instrument of nationalist propaganda, placed at the center of a policy, conditioned by belated imperial ambitions, which took the form of "forced Italianizations ", in

11376-640: The city of Trieste and its surroundings) and Yugoslavia, under the terms of the London Memorandum. In Slovenia the Julian March is known as the Slovene Littoral , encompassing the regions of Goriška and Slovenian Istria. In Croatia, the traditional name of Istria is used. After the divisions of 1947 and 1954, the term "Julian March" survived in the name of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. The Treaty of Osimo

11534-456: The coast with the cities of Zadar , Šibenik , Trogir and Split , remained completely unheeded by all the Italian governments that followed one another in that period. Various points were brought forward as arguments in support of the irredentist theses of claim, such as the geographical belonging of those lands to the Italian peninsula or the presence of more or less numerous communities of Italians or Italian speakers. After World War I

11692-486: The coast, and Slavs inhabited the interior. Fascist persecution, "centralising, oppressive and dedicated to the forcible Italianisation of the minorities", caused the emigration of about 105,000 Slovenes and Croats from the Julian March—around 70,000 to Yugoslavia and 30,000 to Argentina . Several thousand Dalmatian Italians moved from Yugoslavia to Italy after 1918, many to Istria and Trieste. In response to

11850-708: The consequent settlement of the Treaty of Saint-Germain met some Italian claims, including many (but not all) of the aims of the Italia irredenta party. Italy gained Trieste , Gorizia , Istria and the Dalmatian city of Zara . In Dalmatia, despite the London Pact, only territories with Italian majority as Zara with some Dalmatian islands, such as Cherso , Lussino and Lagosta were annexed by Italy because Woodrow Wilson , supporting Yugoslav claims and not recognizing

12008-694: The control of the Italian states (Naples, Sicily, Venice), and many Italians settled there. The Durazzo section of the Albania Fascist Party was created in 1938, which was formed by some citizens of the city with distant and recent Italian roots (they started the local Italian irredentism). In 1939, all of Albania was occupied and united to the Kingdom of Italy: Italian citizens (more than 11,000) began to settle in Albania as colonists and to own land in 1940 so that they could gradually transform it into Italian territory. The italianization of Albania

12166-474: The county of Gorizia and Gradisca (except for the Monfalcone-Grado area, where Venetian was spoken), and in the town of Gorizia . Larger Friulian-speaking centres included Cormons , Cervignano , and Gradisca d'Isonzo . A dialect of Friulian (Tergestine) was spoken in Trieste and Muggia , evolving into a Venetian dialect during the 18th century. According to contemporary estimates, three-quarters of

12324-1000: The defeated Fascists and the Monarchy of the House of Savoy . After the Treaty of Paris (1947) and the Treaty of Osimo (1975), all territorial claims were abandoned by the Italian Republic (see Foreign relations of Italy ). The Italian irredentist movement thus vanished from Italian politics. Today, Italy, France , Malta , Greece , Croatia and Slovenia are all members of the European Union , while Montenegro and Albania are candidates for accession. The 1947 Constitution of Italy established five autonomous regions ( Sardinia , Friuli-Venezia Giulia , Sicily , Aosta Valley and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol ), in recognition of their cultural and linguistic distinctiveness. In

12482-673: The destruction of many cities and trade routes. The most notable Mediterranean civilizations in classical antiquity were the Greek city states and the Phoenicians , both of which extensively colonized the coastlines of the Mediterranean. Darius I of Persia , who conquered Ancient Egypt, built a canal linking the Red Sea to the Nile, and thus the Mediterranean. Darius's canal was wide enough for two triremes to pass each other with oars extended and required four days to traverse. Following

12640-619: The dissolution of the French Illyrian provinces . Austria gained most of the republic's territories, including the Adriatic coast, Istria and portions of present-day Croatia (such as the city of Karlstadt ). Habsburg rule abolished political borders which had divided the area for almost 1,000 years. The territories were initially assigned to the new Kingdom of Illyria , which became the Austrian Littoral in 1849. This

12798-534: The early 1990s, the breakup of Yugoslavia caused nationalistic sentiments to re-emerge in these areas; worthy of note in this regard are the demonstrations in Trieste on 6 October 1991 "for a new Italian irredentism". These were promoted by the Italian Social Movement and inspired by rumours about negotiations for the passage through Trieste of the Yugoslav troops expelled from Slovenia during

12956-573: The early 19th century the ideals of unification in a single Nation of all the territories populated by Italian-speaking people created the Italian irredentism. Many Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians looked with sympathy towards the Risorgimento movement that fought for the unification of Italy. The current Italian Switzerland belonged to the Duchy of Milan until the 16th century , when it became part of Switzerland . These territories have maintained their native Italian population speaking

13114-596: The east), which is sometimes translated as "Western Sea". Another name was the "Sea of the Philistines ", ( Book of Exodus ), from the people inhabiting a large portion of its shores near the Israelites . In Modern Hebrew , it is called הים התיכון HaYam HaTikhon 'the Middle Sea'. In Classic Persian texts was called Daryāy-e Šām (دریای شام) "The Western Sea" or "Syrian Sea". In Modern Standard Arabic , it

13272-414: The end of World War I , the Italian irredentist movement was hegemonised, manipulated and distorted by fascism, which made it an instrument of nationalist propaganda, placed at the centre of a policy, conditioned by belated imperial ambitions, which took the form of "forced Italianizations ", in the aspiration for the birth of a Great Italy and a vast Italian Empire . Fascist Italy strove to be seen as

13430-588: The end of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Migration Period , the area had linguistic boundaries between speakers of Latin (and its dialects ) and the Germanic- and Slavic-language speakers who were moving into the region. Germanic tribes first arrived in present-day Austria and its surrounding areas between the fourth and sixth centuries. They were followed by the Slavs , who appeared on

13588-710: The end of the war. In April 1918, in what he described as an open letter "to the American Nation" Paolo Thaon di Revel , Commander in Chief of the Italian navy , appealed to the people of the United States to support Italian territorial claims over Trento , Trieste , Istria , Dalmatia and the Adriatic , writing that "we are fighting to expel an intruder from our home". The outcome of the World War I and

13746-608: The entire Mediterranean. Once, most of the trade between Western Europe and the East was passing through the region , but after the 1490s the development of a sea route to the Indian Ocean allowed the importation of Asian spices and other goods through the Atlantic ports of western Europe. The sea remained strategically important. British mastery of Gibraltar ensured their influence in Africa and Southwest Asia. Especially after

13904-642: The exception of some northern Istrian villages (where primary education was in Italian and the Slovene national movement penetrated only in the late 19th century) and the Carinthian Slovenes in the Canale Valley, who were Germanised until 1918 and frequently spoke only the local dialect. Slovene-Italian bilingualism was present only in some north-west Istrian coastal villages and the confined semi-urban areas around Gorizia and Trieste, while

14062-523: The existing autonomist tendencies in Corsica and then the independence of Corsica from France, that would be followed by the annexation of Corsica into Italy. In 1923, Mussolini temporarily occupied Corfu , using irredentist claims based on minorities of Italians in the island, the Corfiot Italians . Similar tactics may have been used towards the islands around the Kingdom of Italy – through

14220-497: The face of history and in the face of God ... As Corsicans we wish to be neither slaves nor "rebels" and as Italians we have the right to deal as equals with the other Italian brothers ... Either we shall be free or we shall be nothing... Either we shall win or we shall die (against the French), weapons in hand ... The war against France is right and holy as the name of God is holy and right, and here on our mountains will appear for Italy

14378-514: The first to promote the Italian language and socio-culture (the main characteristics of Italian irredentism) in his island; Paoli wanted the Italian language to be the official language of the newly founded Corsican Republic . Pasquale Paoli's appeal in 1768 against the French invader said: We are Corsicans by birth and sentiment, but first of all we feel Italian by language, origins, customs, traditions; and Italians are all brothers and united in

14536-672: The flourishing of trade between Europe and the outremer region. Genoa, Venice and Pisa created colonies in regions controlled by the Crusaders and came to control the trade with the Orient. These colonies also allowed them to trade with the Eastern world. Though the fall of the Crusader states and attempts at banning of trade relations with Muslim states by the Popes temporarily disrupted

14694-651: The forefront of political culture. In Eastern Europe, where the Habsburg Empire had long asserted control over a variety of ethnic and cultural groups, nationalism appeared in a standard format. The beginning of the 19th century "was the period when the smaller, mostly indigenous nationalities of the empire – Czechs , Slovaks , Slovenes , Croats , Serbs , Ukrainians , Romanians – remembered their historical traditions, revived their native tongues as literary languages, reappropriated their traditions and folklore, in short, reasserted their existence as nations". In

14852-578: The formation of the Triple Alliance in 1882. The irredentists' dream of absorbing the targeted areas into Italy made no further progress in the 19th century, as the borders of the Kingdom of Italy remained unchanged and the Rome government began to set up colonies in Eritrea and Somalia in Africa. Italy entered the World War I in 1915 with the aim of completing national unity: for this reason,

15010-941: The former Austro-Hungarian elite. This is illustrated by the 1855 ethnographic map of the Austrian Empire compiled by Karl von Czoernig-Czernhausen and issued by the Austrian k. u. k. department of statistics. According to the 1910–1911 Austrian census, the Austrian Littoral (which would be annexed by Italy from 1920 to 1924) had a population of 978,385. Italian was the everyday language ( Umgangsprache ) of 421,444 people (43.1 percent); 327,230 (33.4 percent) spoke Slovene, and 152,500 (15.6 percent) spoke Croatian. About 30,000 people (3.1 percent) spoke German, 3,000 (0.3 percent) spoke Hungarian, and small clusters of Istro-Romanian and Czech speakers existed. The Friulian , Venetian and Istriot languages were considered Italian; an estimated 60,000 or more "Italian" speakers (about 14 percent) spoke Friulian. The standard Italian language

15168-436: The immediate coastline on all sides of the Mediterranean tends to have strong maritime moderation. The sea was an important route for merchants and travellers of ancient times, facilitating trade and cultural exchange between the peoples of the region. The history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies. The Roman Empire maintained nautical hegemony over

15326-473: The intention of gaining those territories perceived by irredentists as being Italian under foreign rule. According to the pact, Italy was to leave the Triple Alliance and join the Entente Powers . Furthermore, Italy was to declare war on Germany and Austria-Hungary within a month. The declaration of war was duly published on 23 May 1915. In exchange, Italy was to obtain various territorial gains at

15484-408: The late 19th century. The term "irredentism", coined from the Italian word, came into use in many countries (see List of irredentist claims or disputes ). This idea of Italia irredenta is not to be confused with the Risorgimento , the historical events that led to irredentism, nor with nationalism or Imperial Italy , the political philosophy that took the idea further under fascism . The term

15642-733: The liberation of Lombardy . On the basis of the Plombières Agreement , the Kingdom of Sardinia ceded Savoy and Nice to France, an event that caused the Niçard exodus , that was the emigration of a quarter of the Niçard Italians to Italy. Giuseppe Garibaldi was elected in 1871 in Nice at the National Assembly where he tried to promote the annexation of his hometown to the newborn Italian unitary state , but he

15800-480: The local Venetian dialect (known as Triestine ) was widely spoken, although it was the native language of only about half the city's population. In Rijeka-Fiume, a form of Venetian known as Fiumano emerged during the late 18th and early 19th centuries and became the native language of about half the city's population. In addition to these two large language groups, two smaller Romance communities existed in Istria. In

15958-747: The major ranges bordering Southern Europe. Total annual precipitation is significantly higher on the European part of the Mediterranean basin, especially near the Alps (the 'water tower of Europe') and other high mountain ranges. As a consequence, the river discharges of the Rhône and Po are similar to that of the Nile, despite the latter having a much larger basin. These are the only three rivers with an average discharge of over 1,000 m /s (35,000 cu ft/s). Among large natural fresh bodies of water are Lake Victoria (Nile basin), Lake Geneva (Rhône), and

16116-474: The meeting of the Council of Ministers of 12 November 1866, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria outlined a wide-ranging project aimed at the Germanization or Slavization of the areas of the empire with an Italian presence: His Majesty expressed the precise order that action be taken decisively against the influence of the Italian elements still present in some regions of the Crown and, appropriately occupying

16274-521: The migrants and arrest the traffickers of immigrants. In 2015, more than one million migrants crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Europe. Italy was particularly affected by the European migrant crisis . Since 2013, over 700,000 migrants have landed in Italy, mainly sub-Saharan Africans. The Mediterranean Sea connects: The 163 km (101 mi) long artificial Suez Canal in the southeast connects

16432-588: The municipality of Kastav , which had formerly been part of the Austrian Littoral, became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929). Rijeka-Fiume , which had enjoyed special status within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen (the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary), became an independent city-state in the Treaty of Rapallo: the Free State of Fiume . It

16590-585: The natural result of war heroism against a " betrayed Italy " that had not been awarded all it "deserved", as well as appropriating the image of Arditi soldiers. In this vein, irredentist claims were expanded and often used in Fascist Italy's desire to control the Mediterranean basin. To the east of Italy, the Fascists claimed that Dalmatia was a land of Italian culture whose Italians had been driven out of Dalmatia and into exile in Italy, and supported

16748-490: The naval battles of Abukir (1799, Battle of the Nile ) and Trafalgar (1805), the British had for a long time strengthened their dominance in the Mediterranean. Wars included Naval warfare in the Mediterranean during World War I and Mediterranean theatre of World War II . With the opening of the lockless Suez Canal in 1869, the flow of trade between Europe and Asia changed fundamentally. The fastest route now led through

16906-542: The north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Europe , on the south by North Africa , and on the west almost by the Morocco–Spain border . The Mediterranean has played a central role in the history of Western civilization . Geological evidence indicates that around 5.9 million years ago, the Mediterranean was cut off from the Atlantic and was partly or completely desiccated over a period of some 600,000 years during

17064-428: The number of drowned refugees in the region as a direct result of the policies. An Azerbaijani official described the sea as "a burial ground ... where people die". Following the 2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck , the Italian government decided to strengthen the national system for the patrolling of the Mediterranean Sea by authorising " Operation Mare Nostrum ", a military and humanitarian mission in order to rescue

17222-714: The others being ethnic Slovenians, ethnic Croatians, and ethnic Istro-Romanians , choosing to maintain Italian citizenship. The Istrian-Dalmatian exodus started in 1943 and ended completely only in 1960. According to the census organized in Croatia in 2001 and that organized in Slovenia in 2002, the Italians who remained in the former Yugoslavia amounted to 21,894 people (2,258 in Slovenia and 19,636 in Croatia). After World War II, Italian irredentism disappeared along with

17380-668: The port of Trieste (with Duino ), Gradisca and Gorizia (with its county in Friuli ). The region was relatively stable from the 16th century to the 1797 fall of the Republic of Venice , which was marked by the Treaty of Campo Formio between Austria and France. The Habsburgs gained Venetian lands on the Istrian Peninsula and the Quarnero (Kvarner) islands, expanded their holdings in 1813 with Napoleon 's defeats and

17538-483: The posts of public, judicial, masters employees as well as with the influence of the press, work in South Tyrol , Dalmatia and Littoral for the Germanization and Slavization of these territories according to the circumstances, with energy and without any regard. His Majesty calls the central offices to the strong duty to proceed in this way to what has been established. Istrian Italians were more than 50% of

17696-576: The public and administrative sphere. The Italian population in Dalmatia was concentrated in the major coastal cities. In the city of Split in 1890 there were 1,969 Dalmatian Italians (12.5% of the population), in Zadar 7,423 (64.6%), in Šibenik 1,018 (14.5%), in Kotor 623 (18.7%) and in Dubrovnik 331 (4.6%). In other Dalmatian localities, according to Austrian censuses, Dalmatian Italians experienced

17854-559: The qualification of Slovenia and Croatia as heirs of Yugoslavia was not a given and that the division of Istria between Slovenia and Croatia contradicted the clauses of the peace treaties which guaranteed the unity of the surviving Italian component in Istria ( Istrian Italians ), assigned to Yugoslavia after World War II, proposing the creation of an Istrian Euro-region also including the city of Rijeka . These claims, which also concerned Dalmatia (including islands such as Pag , Ugljan , Vis , Lastovo , Hvar , Korčula and Mljet ) and

18012-665: The region when the Battle of Lepanto (1571) checked the power of the Ottoman Navy . This was the last naval battle to be fought primarily between galleys . The Barbary pirates of Northwest Africa preyed on Christian shipping and coastlines in the Western Mediterranean Sea. According to Robert Davis, from the 16th to 19th centuries, pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans as slaves. The development of oceanic shipping began to affect

18170-408: The region's Latin and Venetian roots and the importance of the Italian linguistic element. The term "Venezia Giulia" did not catch on immediately, and began to be used widely only in the first decade of the 20th century. It was used in official administrative acts by the Italian government in 1922–1923 and after 1946, when it was included in the name of the new region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia . At

18328-561: The return of Italians of Dalmatian heritage. Mussolini identified Dalmatia as having strong Italian cultural roots for centuries via the Roman Empire and the Republic of Venice . The Fascists especially focused their claims based on the Venetian cultural heritage of Dalmatia, claiming that Venetian rule had been beneficial for all Dalmatians and had been accepted by the Dalmatian population. The Fascists were outraged after World War I, when

18486-468: The sea for centuries and is the only state to have ever controlled all of its coast. The countries surrounding the Mediterranean and its marginal seas in clockwise order are Spain , France , Monaco , Italy , Slovenia , Croatia , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Montenegro , Albania , Greece , Turkey , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine ( Gaza Strip ), Egypt , Libya , Tunisia , Algeria , and Morocco ; Cyprus and Malta are island countries in

18644-667: The sea. In addition, Northern Cyprus ( de facto state ) and two overseas territories of the United Kingdom ( Akrotiri and Dhekelia , and Gibraltar ) also have coastlines along the Mediterranean Sea. The drainage basin encompasses a large number of other countries, the Nile being the longest river ending in the Mediterranean Sea. The Ancient Egyptians called the Mediterranean Wadj-wr/Wadj-Wer/Wadj-Ur. This term (literally "great green")

18802-538: The shortest shipping route between the multinational Gulf of Trieste and the Libyan coastline of the Gulf of Sidra is about 1,900 kilometres (1,200 mi). The water temperatures are mild in winter and warm in summer and give name to the Mediterranean climate type due to the majority of precipitation falling in the cooler months. Its southern and eastern coastlines are lined with hot deserts not far inland, but

18960-532: The situation of the claimed lands was as follows: Mediterranean Sea For other countries, click here . The Mediterranean Sea ( / ˌ m ɛ d ɪ t ə ˈ r eɪ n i ən / MED -ih-tə- RAY -nee-ən ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean , surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia , on

19118-453: The son of Giuseppe Garibaldi, as chairman of the forum and a clamour was raised for the formation of volunteer battalions to conquer the Trentino. Benedetto Cairoli , then Prime Minister of Italy , treated the agitation with tolerance. However, it was mainly superficial, as most Italians did not wish a dangerous policy against Austria or against Britain for Malta. Many Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians looked with sympathy towards

19276-400: The south side of the Taurus Mountains . In Europe, the largest basins are those of the Rhône , Ebro , Po , and Maritsa . The basin of the Rhône is the largest and extends up as far north as the Jura Mountains , encompassing areas even on the north side of the Alps . The basins of the Ebro, Po, and Maritsa, are respectively south of the Pyrenees , Alps, and Balkan Mountains , which are

19434-491: The south-west, on the coastal strip between Pula and Rovinj , the archaic Istriot language was spoken. In some villages of eastern Istria, north of Labin , the Istro-Romanian language was spoken by about 3,000 people. Slovene was spoken in the north-eastern and southern parts of Gorizia and Gradisca (by about 60 percent of the population), in northern Istria and in the Inner Carniolan areas annexed by Italy in 1920 ( Postojna , Vipava , Ilirska Bistrica and Idrija ). It

19592-421: The southern ports through European integration, the activation of the Silk Road and free world trade. In 2013, the Maltese president described the Mediterranean Sea as a "cemetery" due to the large number of migrants who drowned there after their boats capsized. European Parliament president Martin Schulz said in 2014 that Europe's migration policy "turned the Mediterranean into a graveyard", referring to

19750-599: The southernmost point is on the coast of the Gulf of Sidra near the Libyan town of El Agheila . Large islands in the Mediterranean include: The Alpine arc , which also has a great meteorological impact on the Mediterranean area, touches the Mediterranean in the west in the area around Nice . The typical Mediterranean climate has hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. Crops of the region include olives , grapes , oranges , tangerines , carobs and cork . The Mediterranean Sea includes 15 marginal seas : Note 1: The International Hydrographic Organization defines

19908-477: The successes of liberal Italy in the aftermath of World War I. The city of Fiume in the Kvarner was the subject of claim and counter-claim because it had an Italian majority, but Fiume had not been promised to Italy in the London Pact, though it was to become Italian by 1924 (see Italian Regency of Carnaro , Treaty of Rapallo, 1920 and Treaty of Rome, 1924 ). The stand taken by the irredentist Gabriele D'Annunzio , which briefly led him to become an enemy of

20066-508: The sun of liberty Paoli's Corsican Constitution of 1755 was written in Italian and the short-lived university he founded in the city of Corte in 1765 used Italian as the official language. Paoli was sympathetic to Italian culture and regarded his own native language as an Italian dialect (Corsican is an Italo-Dalmatian tongue closely related to Tuscan ). After the Italian unification and Third Italian War of Independence in 1866, there were areas with Italian-speaking communities within

20224-440: The term was later extended to the whole Mediterranean, it was also called Baḥr al-Maghrib ( بحر المغرب ) ("the Sea of the West"). A name that was used mainly for the western basin. In Turkish , it is the Akdeniz 'the White Sea'; in Ottoman, ﺁق دڭيز , which sometimes means only the Aegean Sea . The origin of the name is not clear, as it is not known in earlier Greek, Byzantine or Islamic sources. It may be to contrast with

20382-462: The territories housed 421,444 Italians, and about 327,000 ethnic Slovenes. A contemporary Italian autonomous region, bordering on Slovenia , is named Friuli-Venezia Giulia (" Friuli and Julian Venetia"). The term "Julian March" is a partial translation of the Italian name "Venezia Giulia" (or "Julian Venetia"), coined by the Italian Jewish historical linguist Graziadio Ascoli , who was born in Gorizia. The term " March " in "Julian March" refers to

20540-696: The total population of Istria for centuries, while making up about a third of the population in 1900. The Kingdom of Italy annexed the region after World War I according to the Treaty of London and later Treaty of Rapallo , comprising most of the former Austrian Littoral ( Gorizia and Gradisca , Trieste and Istria ), south-western portions of the former Duchy of Carniola , and the current Italian municipalities of Tarvisio , Pontebba and Malborghetto Valbruna which had been Carinthian (aside from Fusine in Valromana in eastern Tarvisio, which had been part of Carniola). The annexed areas included many partially or fully Slovene or Croat areas. The island of Krk and

20698-508: The trade in western Europe and brought it to a halt. However, the Norsemen developed the trade from Norway to the White Sea , while also trading in luxury goods from Spain and the Mediterranean. The Byzantines in the mid-8th century retook control of the area around the north-eastern part of the Mediterranean. Venetian ships from the 9th century armed themselves to counter the harassment by Arabs while concentrating trade of Asian goods in Venice. The Fatimids maintained trade relations with

20856-487: The trade relations between Western and Eastern Europe while disrupting trade routes with Eastern Asian Empires. This, however, had the indirect effect of promoting trade across the Caspian Sea . The export of grains from Egypt was re-routed towards the Eastern world . Products from East Asian empires, like silk and spices, were carried from Egypt under the Arab rule to ports like Venice and Constantinople by sailors and Jewish merchants. The Viking raids further disrupted

21014-412: The trade with the Orient, it however continued. Europe started to revive, however, as more organized and centralized states began to form in the later Middle Ages after the Renaissance of the 12th century . Ottoman power based in Anatolia continued to grow, and in 1453 extinguished the Byzantine Empire with the Conquest of Constantinople . Ottomans gained control of much of the eastern part sea in

21172-420: The treaty, rejected Italian requests on other Dalmatian territories, so this outcome was denounced as a " Mutilated victory ". The rhetoric of "Mutilated victory" was adopted by Benito Mussolini and led to the rise of Italian fascism , becoming a key point in the propaganda of Fascist Italy . Historians regard "Mutilated victory" as a "political myth", used by fascists to fuel Italian imperialism and obscure

21330-430: The unification of the Julian March , Kvarner and Dalmatia with Italy. The Italians in Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia supported the Italian Risorgimento : as a consequence, the Austrians saw the Italians as enemies and favored the Slav communities of Istria, Kvarner and Dalmatia. During the meeting of the Council of Ministers of 12 November 1866, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria outlined a wide-ranging project aimed at

21488-442: The valleys of the Natisone , Torre and Judrio Rivers in Friuli , has been part of Italy since 1866. A variety of Slovene dialects were spoken throughout the region. The Slovene linguistic community in the Julian March was divided into as many as 11 dialects (seven larger and four smaller dialects), belonging to three of the seven dialect groups into which Slovene is divided. Most Slovenes were fluent in standard Slovene, with

21646-448: The vast majority of Slovene speakers had little (or no) knowledge of Italian; German was the predominant second language of the Slovene rural population. Croatian was spoken in the central and eastern Istrian peninsula, on the Cres - Lošinj archipelago; it was the second-most-spoken language (after Venetian) in the town of Rijeka . The Kajkavian dialect of Serbo-Croatian was spoken around Buzet in north-central Istria; Čakavian

21804-540: The west to the entrances to the Dardanelles and the Suez Canal in the east, the Mediterranean Sea is bounded by the coasts of Europe, Africa, and Asia and is divided into two deep basins: The drainage basin of the Mediterranean Sea is particularly heterogeneous and extends much further than the Mediterranean region. Its size has been estimated between 4,000,000 and 5,500,000 km (1,500,000 and 2,100,000 sq mi), depending on whether non-active parts (deserts) are included or not. The longest river ending in

21962-418: Was a political movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Italy with irredentist goals which promoted the unification of geographic areas in which indigenous peoples were considered to be ethnic Italians . At the beginning, the movement promoted the annexation to Italy of territories where Italians formed the absolute majority of the population, but retained by the Austrian Empire after

22120-409: Was a huge increase in the number of Maltese magazines and newspapers in the Italian language during the 1800s and early 1900s, so as a consequence the Italian was understood (but not spoken fluently) by more than half the Maltese people before WW1 . The Kingdom of Sardinia again attacked the Austrian Empire in the Second Italian War of Independence of 1859, with the aid of France , resulting in

22278-458: Was a strategic region during World War I that both Italy and Serbia intended to seize from Austria-Hungary. Italy joined the Triple Entente Allies in 1915 upon agreeing to the Treaty of London (1915) that guaranteed Italy the right to annex a large portion of Dalmatia in exchange for Italy's participation on the Allied side. From 5–6 November 1918, Italian forces were reported to have reached Lissa , Lagosta , Sebenico , and other localities on

22436-507: Was abolished following the 1924 Treaty of Rome and divided between Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The new provinces of Gorizia (which was merged with the Province of Udine between 1924 and 1927), Trieste, Pola and Fiume (after 1924) were created. Tarvisio, Pontebba, Malborghetto Valbruna, and the westernmost part of the former Littoral around Cervignano del Friuli remained part of Udine (and so Euganean Venetia) after 1927. Italians lived primarily in cities and along

22594-428: Was also the primary language of one-fourth to one-third of the population of Trieste. Smaller Slovene-speaking communities lived in the Canale Valley ( Carinthian Slovenes ), in Rijeka and in larger towns outside the Slovene Lands (especially Pula , Monfalcone , Gradisca d'Isonzo and Cormons ). Slavia Friulana – Beneška Slovenija , the community living since the eighth century in small towns (such as Resia ) in

22752-705: Was an Italian land based on historic, ethnic and linguistic grounds. The Fascists quoted Medieval Italian scholar Petrarch who said: "The border of Italy is the Var; consequently Nice is a part of Italy". The Fascists quoted Italian national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi , a native of Nizza (now called Nice ) himself, who said: "Corsica and Nice must not belong to France; there will come the day when an Italy mindful of its true worth will reclaim its provinces now so shamefully languishing under foreign domination". Mussolini initially pursued promoting annexation of Corsica through political and diplomatic means, believing that Corsica could be annexed to Italy through Italy first encouraging

22910-399: Was common among educated people in Trieste, Gorizia , Istria and Fiume/Rijeka. In Trieste (and to a lesser extent in Istria), Italian was the predominant language in primary education. The Italian-speaking elite dominated the governments of Trieste and Istria under Austro-Hungarian rule, although they were increasingly challenged by Slovene and Croatian political movements. Before 1918, Trieste

23068-407: Was divided between Italy, which constituted the Governorate of Dalmatia , and the Independent State of Croatia , which annexed Ragusa and Morlachia . After the Italian surrender (8 September 1943) the Independent State of Croatia annexed the Governorate of Dalmatia, except for the territories that had been Italian before the start of the conflict, such as Zara. In 1943, Josip Broz Tito informed

23226-429: Was especially true for the area around Buje and Grožnjan in north-central Istria, where Venetian spread during the mid-19th century (often in the form of a Venetian-Croat pidgin ). In the county of Gorizia and Gradisca, Venetian was spoken in the area around Monfalcone and Ronchi (between the lower Isonzo River and the Karst Plateau) in an area popularly known as Bisiacaria and in the town of Grado . In Trieste

23384-407: Was established as a crown land ( Kronland ) of the Austrian Empire, consisting of three regions: the Istrian peninsula, Gorizia and Gradisca , and the city of Trieste . The Italian-Austrian war of 1866 , followed by the passage of what was then known as Veneto (the current Veneto and Friuli regions, except for the province of Gorizia ) to Italy, did not directly affect the Littoral; however,

23542-408: Was later expanded to also include multilingual and multiethnic areas, where Italians were a relative majority or a substantial minority, within the northern Italian region encompassed by the Alps, with German , Italian , Slovene , Croatian , Ladin and Istro-Romanian population, such as South Tyrol , Istria , Gorizia and Gradisca and part of Dalmatia . The claims were further extended also to

23700-445: Was not a formal organization but rather an opinion movement, advocated by several different groups, claiming that Italy had to reach its " natural borders " or unify territories inhabited by Italians. Similar nationalistic ideas were common in Europe in the late 19th century. The term irredentism , coined from the Italian word, came into use in many countries (see List of irredentist claims or disputes ). This idea of Italia irredenta

23858-442: Was occupied by Yugoslav forces. Retaliation against real (and potential) political opponents occurred, primarily to the Italian population. The Western allies adopted the term "Julian March" as the name for the territories which were contested between Italy and the People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 1945 and 1947. The Morgan Line was drawn in June 1945, dividing the region into two militarily administered zones. Zone B

24016-417: Was one of Mussolini's plans. During World War II , large parts of Dalmatia were annexed by Italy into the Governorship of Dalmatia from 1941 to 1943. Corsica and Nice were also administratively annexed by Italy in November 1942. Malta was heavily bombed, but was not occupied due to Erwin Rommel 's request to divert to North Africa the forces that had been prepared for the invasion of the island. Dalmatia

24174-486: Was predominant in all other areas, frequently with strong Kajkavian and Venetian vocabulary influences. Italian-Croatian bilingualism was frequent in western Istria, on the Cres-Lošinj archipelago and in Rijeka, but rare elsewhere. German was the predominant language in secondary and higher education throughout the region until 1918, and the educated elite were fluent in German. Many Austrian civil servants used German in daily life, especially in larger urban centres. Most of

24332-428: Was prevented from speaking. Because of this denial, between 1871 and 1872 there were riots in Nice, promoted by the Garibaldini and called " Niçard Vespers ", which demanded the annexation of the city and its area to Italy. Fifteen Nice people who participated in the rebellion were tried and sentenced. In the spring of 1860 Savoy was annexed to France after a referendum and the administrative boundaries changed, but

24490-452: Was signed on 10 November 1975 by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Italian Republic in Osimo , Italy, to definitively divide the Free Territory of Trieste between the two states: the port city of Trieste with a narrow coastal strip to the north-west (Zone A) was given to Italy; a portion of the north-western part of the Istrian peninsula (Zone B) was given to Yugoslavia. The treaty became effective on 11 October 1977. For

24648-609: Was the name given by the Ancient Egyptians to the semi-solid, semi-aquatic region characterized by papyrus forests to the north of the cultivated Nile delta, and, by extension, the sea beyond. The Ancient Greeks called the Mediterranean simply ἡ θάλασσα ( hē thálassa ; "the Sea") or sometimes ἡ μεγάλη θάλασσα ( hē megálē thálassa ; "the Great Sea"), ἡ ἡμετέρα θάλασσα ( hē hēmetérā thálassa ; "Our Sea"), or ἡ θάλασσα ἡ καθ’ ἡμᾶς ( hē thálassa hē kath’hēmâs ; "the sea around us"). The Romans called it Mare Magnum ("Great Sea") or Mare Internum ("Internal Sea") and, starting with

24806-418: Was the only self-governing Austro-Hungarian unit in which Italian speakers were the majority of the population. Most of the Romance-speaking population did not speak standard Italian as their native language, but two other closely related Romance languages: Friulian and Venetian. There was no attempt to introduce Venetian into education and administration. Friulian was spoken in the south-western lowlands of

24964-503: Was under Yugoslav administration and excluded the cities of Pula, Gorizia, Trieste, the Soča Valley and most of the Karst Plateau, which were under joint British-American administration. During this period, many Italians left the Yugoslav-occupied area. In 1946, U.S. President Harry S. Truman ordered an increase in U.S. troops in their occupation zone (Zone A) and the reinforcement of air forces in northern Italy after Yugoslav forces shot down two U.S. Army transport planes. An agreement on

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