Turkish Croatia[1][2] or Ottoman Croatia (Croatian: Turska Hrvatska, German: Türkisch Kroatien, Italian: Croazia turca, French: Croatie turque, Dutch: Kroatië osmaanse) ) was a part of the territory[3] of the Croatian Kingdom occupied by the Ottoman Empire during the 15th and 16th century. In the 19th century, after it became clear that the Croatian population,[4] owing to that occupation, permanently perished or was displaced, the new name Bosanska Krajina (Bosnian Frontier) got through and replaced the old term of Turkish Croatia. It remained so until today.
The territory of Turkish Croatia[5] roughly comprised the land area between three rivers – Vrbas in the east, Sava in the northeast, Una in the northwest – as well as Dinara mountain in the south, and including the Cazinska krajina pocket in the far west. This area is a part of the present-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Parts of Lika, Banovina and northern Dalmatia were also parts of Turkish Croatia, when its borders went further west.
History
During the Middle Ages and the very beginning of the Early modern period, the territory of Turkish Croatia was situated in the central and eastern part of the independent medieval Croatian state (from 925 known as Kingdom of Croatia), which lasted until the beginning of the 12th century, when the country, following the Pacta conventa agreement, entered into a personal union with Hungary in 1102. At that time the term „Bosnia“ was used for a relatively small area alongside the upper part of the Bosna river that barely reached the Drina, which constituded eastern border of Croatia-Hungary state. It was only in the 14th century, at the time of civil war in Croatia and Hungary, that the Ban and proclaimed King Stjepan Tvrtko I which had most of his estates in central Bosnia grew in both, size and power, attracting local nobels as Hrvatinići on his side trying to take the title of King in Croatia and Dalmatia. These events made the borders more flexible (after his death there were numerous civil wars in Bosnia), and made the local nobility more important as Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić, duke of Split and vice king of Bosnia became "real" king of Bosnia in everything, but in its name.
The fall of Bosnia to the Ottomans in 1463 resulted in increasing pressure on Croatian borders and continual losses of the territory, little by little moving the border line to the west. Permanent warfare during the Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War (1493-1593) drastically reduced Croatian population in affected southeastern regions. Until the end of the 16th century the whole area of Turkish Croatia was occupied by the mighty sultanate. The remaining Croats were either murdered or captured, converted to Islam and recruited as devsirme (blood tax). A part of the Croatian population managed to flee though, settling down in the northwestern regions of the country or abroad, in the neighbouring Hungary or Austria. Catholic churches were destroyed by the Ottoman soldiers or reconstructed into mosques; some priests and bishops were killed, some of them succeeded in escaping. Parts of the region were firstly organized as "Vilayet Croat", but later divided in sanjaks Krka, Klis and Bihać.
From the 16th to 19th century Turkish Croatia bordered Croatian Military Frontier[6] (Croatian: Hrvatska vojna Krajina, German: Kroatische Militärgrenze), a Habsburg Empire-controlled part of Croatia, which was administered directly from Vienna's military headquarters. In the 19th century, following the Habsburg-Ottoman war in 1878 and the fall of the Bosnia Vilayet, Turkish Croatia remained within the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina[7], who 1908 became a new Crown land of the Habsburg Monarchy. Although the (recently renamed) old Croatian territory was liberated, there were very few Croatian population left, i.e. population who actually lived in it registered as Catholics and Croats.
Maps
 Map of Croatia during the reign |
 on an 1813 map of the Illyrian provinces |
 Turkish Croatia (yellow in the |
 Turkish Croatia on a 1870 map |
See also
References
- ^ "Feldzug des k. k. kroatischen Armeekorps gegen die Türken im Jahre 1788". Österreichische militärische Zeitschrift (1823). J. B. Schels. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
Türkisch Kroatien, Türkisch Dubitza
- ^ "Türkisch-Kroatien". Pierer's Universal Lexikon (1863). Eugen Pierer. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
Türkisch-Kroatien, Türkisch-Brod, Türkisch-Gradisca
- ^ Jayne, Kingsley Garland (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 279–286.
Donji Kraj, the later Krajina, Kraina or Turkish Croatia, in the north-west
- ^ "Ein Wort an Iliriens hochherzige Töchter über die ältere Geschichte und neueste litararische Regeneration ihres Vaterlandes". Janko Drašković (1838). Emil Hirschfeld. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
Türkisch Kroatien, Königreiche Kroatien und Slawonien
- ^ Borna Fuerst-Bjeliš, Ivan Zupanc (2007). "Images of the Croatian Borderlands: Selected Examples of Early Modern Cartography". Hrvatski geografski glasnik (69/1): 16. Retrieved 2010-06-25.
Schimek's Map of the Turkish Croatia, 1788. (Facsimile from Marković 1998). "Turkisch Croatien"
- ^ "Ottoman Croatia". Global security (2013). GlobalSecurity. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
Austria established a military border across Croatia
- ^ Magaš, Branka; Žanić, Ivo (2001). The War in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina 1991-1995. Taylor & Francis. p. 11. ISBN 0-7146-8201-2.
External links
- Turkish Croatia – loss of southeastern Croatia to the Turks
- Fortresses in Turkish Croatia /page 56/ (in German)
- Geology books on Turkish Croatia from the 19th century (in Croatian)
- Cover of the August Kaznačić book „Bosnia, Herzegovina and Turkish Croatia“ from 1862 (in Italian)
- Map of Ottoman Croatia from 1854