THE ISLAND OF KORCULA

KORCULA, southernmost island in the central Dalmatian group; total area 279.03 square km. Highest peaks Klupca (568 m) and Kom (510 m). The island has a much indented coast and a mild climate. Mean temperature in January (in the town of Korcula) 9.8°C, in July 26.9°C. Annual average of sunshine is 2,671 hours (Vela Luka). In the summer months the island enjoys a cooling breeze blowing in from the sea (maestral). Mediterranean vegetation, with pine­woods in several places. Most of the inhabitants are farmers (wine production and fruit growing) and fishermen; a smaller proportion work in industry (shipbuilding, fish processing, stone-working, plastics). The summer tourist trade has a long tradition on the island. Along the coast the settlements Korcula, Lumbarda, Racisce and Vela Luka, and in the interior Zrnovo, Pupnat, Cara, Smokvica and Blato, the largest settlement on the island. The road linking the larger settlements has an asphalt surface.

The island was already inhabited in the Neolithic (the caves Vela Spilja near Vela Luka and Jakasova Spilja above Rasohatica Cove, graves at Zrnovo) and Bronze Ages. Ruins from Illyrian times near Smokvica, Vela Luka. A Greek colony existed on the island in the 4th c. B. C. when the island was called Korkyra Melaina (remains of Greek settlements at Lumbarda and round Blato and Potirna). From 35 B. C. Korcula was part of the Roman State; remains of Roman settlements have been discovered in the surroundings of Lumbarda, Vela Luka (at the site known as Beneficij), Blato, and on the islet of Pelegrin. With the fall of the Western Empire the island came under the control of the Ostrogothic state (493 A. D.) and then of Byzantium (555). In the 9th c., it was captured by Slavs from the Neretva valley, and in 1000 by Venice. In 1180 it beca­me part of the Hungaro - Croat kingdom (a statute for the town and the island was adopted in 1214). From 1221 to 1420 it changed hands several times, belonging in succession to the feudal lords of Zahumlje, to Venice (defeat of Venetian fleet by the Genovese fleet off Korcula in 1298 in which Marco Polo and the commander of the Venetian fleet, Andrea Dandolo fell into Genoese captivity), the Hungaro-Croat King Ludovic I of Anjou (1358), Bosnian rulers (1390) and the Dubrovnik Republic (1413-17). From 1420 to 1797 the island was under Venetian rule but retained its autonomy; it was during this period that certain exposed parts of the island (especially the town of Korcula) were fortified because of the recurring attacks by the Turkish fleet and pirate ships (up to the early 18th c.). After the fall of Venice the island again changed hands several times (1797 - 1805 Austria, 1805 - 13 France, 1813 - 15 Britain, 1815 - 1918 Austria). From 1918 to 1921 Korcula was under Italian military occupation before becoming part of Yugoslavia. In April 1941 the island again came under military occupation, first that of Italy (1941-43) and then of Germany; it was liberated on September 14, 1944. For many centuries important local industries on the island have been shipbuilding (town of Korcula, Vela Luka) and stone carving (quarries of white marble on the east coast of the island, and some also on the west coast). In the first half of the 20th c. a strong economic emigration from the island took place.