Morlachia
Morlachia(Latin:Morlachia;Italian:Morlacchia;Croatian:Morlakija;Romanian:Morlachia) was a vaguely defined region, named after theMorlachs,used on European maps between the 16th and the 19th centuries. Morlachia was located in modern-dayCroatiabetweenIstriaandDalmatia,[1]being opposite to the island ofKrk.[2]The Morlachs were originally a Romance people related to modernRomaniansbefore theirSlavicisation.[3]
Overview
[edit]In oldtopography,the toponym Morlachia was given great importance on maps, sometimes being placed at the same "level" or at a superior one than regions such asBosniaorCroatia.This can be explained by the important geographical position Morlachia had, being located between theOttoman Empire,theRepublic of Veniceand theHabsburg monarchyand its realms from the 16th to the 19th century. However, following the demise of Ottoman power in the region and thefall of the Republic of Venicein the latter century, Morlachia lost relevance and theMorlachsof the region became impoverished and eventuallyassimilatedinto the local Slavic populations.[4]
Alberto Fortis's 1774travel bookViaggio in Dalmazia( "Journey to Dalmatia" ) described Morlachia and the Morlachs, who as he stated, called themselves "Vlachs".This book achieved great popularity in Western Europe and started a whole literary movement known asMorlachism,based on the depiction of the Morlachs by foreign writers.[5]
Other regions in the area were also known as Morlachia. One example was the Istrian Morlachia (Italian:Morlacchia istriana), a name given to a region ofIstriaformerly populated by Morlachs during the 16th century as a consequence of a colonization program by the Republic of Venice. Another example is a region aroundImotskiidentified as Morlachia during the 15th century.[6]
References
[edit]- ^Sajkowski, Wojciech (2018)."Morlachs, or Slavs from Dalmatia in French encyclopedias and dictionaries of the 18th and 19th century".Poznańskie Studia Slawistyczne(15): 207–218.doi:10.14746/bp.2015.22.5.ISSN2084-3011.
- ^Kozličić, Mithad; Uglešić, Sanda (2013)."Senj u peljarima Jadrana od kraja 18. do kraja 19. stoljeća".Senjski zbornik(in Croatian).40(1): 547–582.
- ^Ružica, Miroslav (2006). "The Balkan Vlachs/Aromanians awakening, national policies, assimilation".Proceedings of the Globalization, Nationalism and Ethnic Conflicts in the Balkans and Its Regional Context:28–30.S2CID52448884.
- ^Fuerst Bjeliš, Borna (2014)."Territorialisation and de-territorialisation of the borderlands communities in the multicultural environment: Morlachia and Little Wallachia".Acta geographica Bosniae et Herzegovinae.1(2): 45–54.
- ^Milić Brett, Branislava (2014).Imagining the Morlacchi in Fortis and Goldoni(PhD).University of Alberta.pp. 1–213.doi:10.7939/R3MM45.
- ^Caciur, Dana (2015)."Considerations regarding the Morlachs migrations from Dalmatia to Istria and the Venetian settlement policy during the 16th century".Balcanica Posnaniensia Acta et Studia.22(1): 57–70.doi:10.14746/bp.2015.22.5.
| Principal historical regions |  | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smaller regions |
| ||||||||
