Lika

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Lika is a mountainous region in central Croatia, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. Today most of the territory of Lika is part of Lika-Senj county and some parts part of Karlovac county and Zadar county.

Map of Croatia with Lika highlighted
Map of Croatia with Lika highlighted

Major towns include Gospić, Otočac, Gračac, Korenica, most of which are located in the karst fields of rivers Ličina, Gacka and others.

The Plitvice Lakes National Park is also in Lika.

Nikola Tesla, the Serbian-American physicist famous for his developments in electrical technology, was born in Lika.

Lika's population is a mix of Croats and Serbs.

History

Medieval

White Croats have migrated from White Croatia to Lika in the first half of the 7th century. Lika was seperated between two political entities: the majority lay in the Principality of Dalmatia, while the eastern-most part at the river of Una was in one of two Surbian principalities, Bosnia. Lika was inhabited by a people known as Guduscans, ruled by such Princes of Dalmatia as Borna. The Guduscans abandoned Borna at the Battle of Kupa in 819, and crossed to the side of Prince Ljudevit Posavski of Pannonia. Liudevit fled to the Serbs in 822, possibly to the stronghold of Srb. The first appearances of Serbs in Lika was in the 9th century. Lika had special status in early Croatian state and was ruled by a Ban.

Lika became a part of the Duchy of Croats in 852, when Prince Trpimir, founder of the Trpimirović dynasty proclaimed himself as Duke of Croats.

Lika then became a part of the Kingdom of Croatia in 925, when Duke Tomislav of the Croats received the crown and became King of Croatia.

In 1102, after numerious intrusions of Hungarians into Croatia, the Croatian nobility recognized King Coloman of Hungary as their King.

Industrial

The end of the 15th century brought some migrations of Serbs, particularely from Dalmatia and Bosnia which fell to the Ottomans. Ogulin was inhabited by Serbs between 1493-1500. Lika, together with whole of Croatia became a part of the Habsburg Monarchy when the Croatian Parliament recognized Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg as as their King in 1527. The Ottomans have conquered the region in 1528 and it became Sandžak Lika, a part of Viyalet Bosnia; causing migrations of the region's Serbs and Croats into the Croatian Frontier, Carinthia and Styria; the Serbs from there inhabited Žumberak in the 1630s. After the Second Great Migration of Serbs in 1690, the migrations of Serbs to Lika were increased. After the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 which ended the War of the Holy League (1683-1699) the region was incorporated into the Karlovac generalat of the Austrian Military Frontier.

The Serbian Orthodox episcopal center at Medak was re-established after 1557, prior to the re-establishbent of the Peć Patriarchate.

Lika housed many Uskoks (Uprisers), who would invade the Ottoman border territories and then return to Austria. They were citizens who wanted to help liberate their fellowmen in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina from Ottoman domination. Some of the more important were in Ravni Kotari; and the most famous were from Senj (most popular being Stojan Janković and Ilija Smiljanić). The Uskoks had an imporant role in the War of the Holy League in which was re-conquered most of the Ottoman-held Habsburg lands.

The Croatian Bans and nobility desired that the control over the regions of the Military Frontier be restored to the Croatian Parliament and the Catholic Church worked hard to turn the local Orthodox populace into Uniates. The conversions were not very succsessful in Lika. The region went through a process of de-militarization since 1869 after numerious pleas by the Croatian Parliament and officially ended on August 8, 1873 under Franz Joseph. On July 15, 1881 the Military Frontier was abolished, and Lika incorporated into civil Croatia and Slavonia, a part of Transleithania (the Hungarian part of the Dual Dual Monarchy of Austro-Hungary).

Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest scientists in the worls

The Eparchy in Plaški (from the 19th century known as the the Eparchy of Upper Karlovac) was the ecclesiastical center of the Serb Orthodox Church grasping Lika, Banija and Kordun. The important Serbian Orthodox Christian monasteries in the region were Gomirje near Ogulin and Komogovina between Glina and Kostajnica.

In the middle of the 19th century the Serbs comprised the majority of Lika; up to 70% of the Lika Regimental Area of the Military Frontier. According to the 1910 Austro-Hugarian census, the Lika-Krbava county had some 204,710 inhabitants, of those, 104,041 Orthodox (51%), 100,620 Roman Catholics, 14 Greek Catholics, 12 Jews, 6 Lutherans and 2 Calvinists. The Serbian population lived predominantly in the eastern and central parts of the region.

Modern

Lika together with whole of Croatia and Slavonia seceded from Austro-Hungary, forming the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs on October 29, 1918 with the other ethnic Slovene, Croatian and Serbian territories of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy which joined the Kingdom of Serbia on December 1, 1918 forming the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Lika remained inside Croatia and Slavonia, which became one of the constituent states of the Kingdom. The majority of Lika was the Županija Lika-Krbava with the capital in Senj (instead of in Gospić previously). The new constitution abolished the lesser states (like Croatia and Slavonia) and Lika became a part of the Primorsko-krajiška Oblast with the captial in Karlovac. In 1929, the region became a part of the Sava Banate (Savska banovina) of the newly formed Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the in 1939 of the Croatian Banate (Hrvatska banovina). Yugoslavia was invaded and split by the Axis forces in 1941 and Lika became a part of nazi-fascist German-Italian controlled puppet state Independent State of Croatia. During World War II the region's Serbs and others were decimated by the horrific Croatian Ustasha regime.

In 1991, what is today the Lika-Senj county had a population of 85,135. Throughout 1989, 1990 and 1991, Lika was the center of many civil disorders, ethnic tensions, growth of Serbian nationalism and oppression of its ethnic Serbian population by Croatian authorities and military. Between 6 June and 27 June 1990, the SO Knin founded the Community of North Dalmatia and Lika. On 25 July 1990 a Council was headed in Srb, to which 200,000 Serbs travelled from all over Croatia to attend the gathering. It was organised by the President of the Serbian Democratic Party, Jovan Rašković. The subject was the future of Croatian Serbs. The Council proclaimed the Declaration of Independence and Autonomy of the Serbian people, calling for the right of self-determination and Serbian cultural and linguistic autonomy within Croatia. The members of the Serbian National Assembly were elected as well. After the sucessful refferendum for Serbian autonomy withing Croatia (19 august - 2 september 1990), Lika became a part of the Serbian Autonomous Area of Frontier together with North Dalmatia on 21 december 1990 when the Serbian National Assembly and the Transitional presedency of the Community of North Dalmatia and Lika proclaimed the Constitution of SAO Krajina in Knin. The new Constitution of Croatia proclaimed on 22 december 1990 degrated the status of Serbs from a constitutional nation to an ethnic minority, which was followed by the Resolution of distancing SAO Krajina from Croatia adopted on 28 february 1991 which ratified the Croatian laws and customs as illegal on the soil of SAO Krajina, stating that only federal and SAO Krajina laws will be accepted. A referendum was held in the Assemblies of the municipalities of Lika which accepted this Resolution. The Executive Council of SAA Frontier declared a union with the Socialist Republic of Serbia on 2 april 1991. And called for a referendum on 12 may 1991 to ratify that decision.

After the Croatian declaration of independence, the Serb majority settlements of eastern Lika joined other Krajina Serbs in the Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK). Most of the Croatian inhabitants of the region were expelled in as a result of ethnic cleansing. It left the region almost entirely populated by Serbs.

Lika came to international prominence in 1993, after a September 9 offensive by the Croatian Army on a Serb salient known as the "Medak pocket" in the south of the region. Canadian United Nations forces were caught up in the fighting, which lasted - on and off - for about a week. The ICTY raised war crime indictments against several Croatian officers afterwards.

In 1995, the Croatian Army overran the region in Operation Storm, ending the RSK. Some 30,000 Serbs fled Lika, although some have since returned. Most of the Croats previously expelled have now returned. A large number of Croats moved in to lands previously occupied by Serbs. A great deal of damage was done during the fighting, prompting a major post-war reconstruction programme in the region.

The 2001 census data for the Lika-Senj county shows 53,677 inhabitants (almost 37% less than ten years before), as well as being 86.15% Croat and 11.54% Serb.

See also

External link