Cres

This article is about the island in the Adriatic Sea. For CRES steel, see stainless steel. For town, see Cres (town).
Cres

Filozići
Cres
Geography
Location Adriatic Sea
Coordinates 44°57′36″N 14°24′29″E / 44.96000°N 14.40806°E / 44.96000; 14.40806Coordinates: 44°57′36″N 14°24′29″E / 44.96000°N 14.40806°E / 44.96000; 14.40806
Area 405.78 km2 (156.67 sq mi)
Highest elevation 639 m (2,096 ft)[1]
Highest point Gorice
Administration
Croatia
County Primorje-Gorski Kotar
Largest settlement Cres (pop. 2289)
Demographics
Population 3079 (2011)[1]
Additional information
Official website www.tzg-cres.hr
An old depiction of Osor and a part of the Cres island

Cres (pronounced [t͡srɛ̂ːs]; Italian: Cherso, German: Kersch, Latin: Crepsa, Greek: Χέρσος, Chersos) is an Adriatic island in Croatia. It is one of the northern islands in the Kvarner Gulf and can be reached via ferry from Rijeka, the island Krk or from the Istrian peninsula (line Brestova-Porozina).

With an area of 405.78 km2,[2] Cres is the same size as the neighbouring island of Krk, although Krk has for many years been thought the largest of the islands. Cres has a population of 3,079 (2011).[1][3]

Cres and the neighbouring island of Lošinj once used to be one island, but were divided by a channel and connected with a bridge at the town of Osor. Cres's only fresh water source is the Lake Vrana.

History

Cres has been inhabited since the Paleolithic time period. Its name predates classical antiquity and is derived from Proto-Indo-European *(s)quer- ("cliff").[4]

Cres was later ruled by the Greeks and, since the 1st century B.C., the Roman Empire.[5] After the fall of the Roman Empire the island was taken over and became a part of the Byzantine Empire, and remained this way for centuries. In the 7th century the Croats invaded Cres and the islands around it. They returned to the islands in the early 9th century (believed to be somewhere around 812).

Then, around 866 the inhabitants saw the first conflicts with the Republic of Venice. The Venetians eventually took control of Cres and the neighboring islands in the 10th and 11th centuries.

However, the Croats regained the islands and the islands went through a change of rulers for centuries, being ruled by Croats, Hungarians, and for 400 years the Venetians took control of the islands. After Napoleon's victory over the Venetians, the island went under Austrian rule. After the defeat of Austria by Napoleon in 1809 the islands became part of the French Empire.

After the fall of Napoleon, Austria once again took control of the island for 100 years. During this time the economy developed with olive trees, sage, and other plants becoming key to the success of the island. At the end of World War I, with the Treaty of Rapallo signed in 1920, the island was once again handed over to Italy.[6] This lasted until 1947 when the Islands, along with Istrian Peninsula, were assigned to Yugoslavia.[5]

The island has gone through an agricultural downturn as many residents left the island in search of a better life on the mainland and abroad. This has resulted in many former agricultural areas becoming overgrown with local vegetation. Recently people, primarily retirees, have been returning to live on the island. Tourism has become an increasingly important industry and the population experiences significant seasonal variation.

Towns of Cres

The island has several villages, all of them connected by a road that runs down the middle of the island. On one side is the ferry from the mainland (to the city of Pula); on the other is the bridge to Lošinj (Lussino), which was once connected by land but is now separated by a waterway. Approaching the island from Pula, you will first come to Porozina.

Lubenice Beach

A list of the villages with descriptions is below:

Stivan Beach

Lake Vrana

Main article: Lake Vrana (Cres)
Lake Vrana.

Cres has its own fresh water lake, which is very highly guarded and illegal to swim or fish in. It supplies water to neighboring Lošinj (it. Lussino) as well. It is one of the deepest fresh water lakes in Eastern Europe, going down 76 meters at its deepest point (>50 m below sea-level).[7]

Flora and fauna

Cres is home to many different types of nonvenomous snakes, including Elaphe quatuorlineata,[8] Zamenis longissimus,[8] Zamenis situla,[8] and Natrix tessellata, a snake rare or absent on other Adriatic islands.[9] The island has a relatively large breeding population of the endangered Eurasian griffon vulture, which can often be seen soaring over the island.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ostroški, Ljiljana, ed. (December 2015). Statistički ljetopis Republike Hrvatske 2015 [Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia 2015] (PDF). Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Croatia (in Croatian and English). 47. Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics. p. 47. ISSN 1333-3305. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  2. ↑ Duplančić Leder, Tea; Ujević, Tin; Čala, Mendi (June 2004). "Coastline lengths and areas of islands in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea determined from the topographic maps at the scale of 1 : 25 000" (PDF). Geoadria. Zadar. 9 (1): 5–32. Retrieved 2011-01-21.
  3. ↑ "Population by Age and Sex, by Settlements, 2011 Census: Cres". Census of Population, Households and Dwellings 2011. Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics. December 2012.
  4. ↑ Šimunović 2013, p. 163–164.
  5. 1 2 Strčić, Petar (2007). "Kratki pregled povijesti Cresa do 1947. godine". In Parat, Mirko. Stotinu godina hrvatske škole u Cresu : 1907.-2007. (in Croatian). ISBN 978-953-6081-55-4. Retrieved 14 November 2014.
  6. ↑ http://www.istrapedia.hr/hrv/816/rapalski-ugovor/istra-a-z/
  7. ↑ Roland Schmidt, Jens Müller, Ruth Drescher-Schneider, Robert Krisai, Krystyna Szeroczyńska, Ante Barić; Changes in lake level and trophy at Lake Vrana, a large karstic lake on the Island of Cres (Croatia), with respect to palaeoclimate and anthropogenic impacts during the last approx. 16,000 years, J. Limnol., 59(2), 2000, 113-130.
  8. 1 2 3 "Herpetofaunal data from Cres Island, Croatia" (PDF). Herpetozoa. 19 (1/2): 27–58. 2006. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  9. ↑ "New record of the Dice Snake (Natrix tessellata) from Cres island, Croatia" (PDF). Hyla (1): 18–19. 2014. ISSN 1848-2007. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  • "Cres and Losinj: Strolling through the islands and islets" Nadir Mavrovic, Nerezine 1997. Televrina d.o.o. Nerezine

Sources

Bibliography

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