| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Rijeka is the center of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county. The city's economy largely depends on sea transport, shipbuilding ( shipyards "3. Maj" and "Viktor Lenac") and tourism.
Rijeka hosts the Croatian National Theatre " Ivan pl. Zajc ", first built in 1765, as well as the University of Rijeka, founded in 1632. The local football (soccer) club is called NK Rijeka.
Founded during or before the time of the Roman Empire, the town came under successive Frankish, Croatian and Hungarian rule before coming under the control of the Austrian Habsburgs during the 15th century14th century 15th century 16th century other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. Events Renaissance affects philosophy, science and art. The New Monarchs come to power i.
Created a free portA free port porto franco is a port with relaxed jurisdiction with respect to the country of location. Most commonly this means being free of customs or being a special customs zone with favorable customs regulations. Earlier in the history some free ports in 1723Events February 16 Louis XV of France attains his majority Births February 24 John Burgoyne, British general. March 31 King Frederick V of Denmark April 30 Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French zoologist and natural philosopher (died 1806) June 5 Adam Smith, S, Fiume passed during the 18th and 19th centuries between the Habsburgs' Austrian, Croatian, (rijeka=river in Croatian languageThe Croatian language is a language of the western group of South Slavic languages which is used primarily by the Croats. It is one of the standard versions of the Central-South Slavic diasystem, formerly (and still frequently) called Serbo-Croatian.) and Hungarian possessions until its attachment to the latter kingdom for the third and last time in 1870Events January 6 The inauguration of the Musikverein ( Vienna). January 10 John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil January 15 A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the United States Democratic Party with a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking. Although Croatia had a constitutional autonomy within Hungary, City of Fiume was independent, governed directly from Budapest (by an appointed governor), as Hungary's only international port. There was a competition between Austria's Port of Trieste and Hungary's Port of Fiume.
Major port development, the general expansion of international trade and the city's connection ( 1873Events The United Kingdom declares war against Ghana's King Kofi KariKari, who was involved in the trading of slaves. The war ended by July and the British established the Gold Coast Colony. January 17 Indian Wars: First Battle of the Stronghold during th) to the Hungarian and Austrian railway networks contributed to rapid population growth from 21,000 in 1880Events January 1 Construction of the Panama Canal begins February 2 The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana February 13 Thomas Edison becomes the second person to observe the Edison Effect. February 17 Bomb explodes in Winter Palace to 50,000 in 1910. Lot of major building of the city was built at that time, including the Governor's Palace by the Hungarian architect Alajos Hauszmann. The future mayor of New York City, Fiorello La Guardia, lived in the city at the turn of the 20th century, and reportedly even played football for the local sports club.
Habsburg-ruled Austria-Hungary's defeat and disintegration in the closing weeks of World War I led to the establishment of rival Italian and Croatian administrations in the city as both Italy and the founders of the new Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) claimed sovereignty over it.
After a brief Italian occupation, an international force of French, British and United States troops occupied the city (November 1918) while its future was discussed at the Paris Peace Conference during the course of 1919.
Italy based her claim on the fact that Italians were the largest single nationality within the city, though they remained a minority. Croats made up most of the remainder, and were also a majority in the surrounding area, including the neighbouring town of Sušak . Negotiations were rudely interrupted by the city's seizure on September 12, 1919 by a force of Italian nationalist irregulars led by the writer Gabriele d'Annunzio, who established a state (the "Italian Regency of Carnaro") foreshadowing much of the later Italian Fascist system. This happened just two days after the Treaty of Saint-Germain was signed that declared the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy dissolved.
The resumption of Italy's premiership by the Liberal Giovanni Giolitti in June 1920 signalled a hardening of official attitudes to d'Annunzio's coup. On November 12, Italy and Yugoslavia concluded the Treaty of Rapallo, under which Fiume was to be an independent state under a regime acceptable to both.
D'Annunzio's response was characteristically flamboyant and of doubtful judgment: his declaration of war against Italy invited the bombardment by Italian royal forces which led to his surrender of the city at the end of the year. Italian troops took over in January 1921. The election of an autonomist-led constituent assembly for the territory did not put an end to strife: a brief Italian nationalist seizure of power was ended by the intervention of an Italian royal commissioner, and a short-lived local Fascist takeover in March 1922 ended in a third Italian military occupation. Seven months later Italy herself fell under Fascist rule.
A period of diplomatic acrimony closed with the Treaty of Rome ( January 27, 1924), which assigned Fiume to Italy and Sušak to Yugoslavia, with joint port administration. Formal Italian annexation ( March 16, 1924) inaugurated twenty years of Fascist rule, followed by twenty months of German military occupation.
The aftermath of World War II saw the city's fate again resolved by a combination of force and diplomacy. This time, Yugoslav troops advanced (early May 1945) as far west as Trieste in their campaign against the German occupiers of both countries: Fiume finally became the Croatian (and until June 1991, Yugoslav) city of Rijeka, a situation formalised by the Paris peace treaty between Italy and the wartime Allies on February 10, 1947.
See also: