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Split

[split]

Split, Ital. Spalato, city (1991 pop. 189,388), S Croatia, on the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea. It is a major seaport, a regional transportation hub, and a leading commercial center. Shipbuilding and the production of plastics, chemicals, and cement are the leading industries. The city's scenic location and historic monuments make it an important tourist and seaside resort.

Split grew around the palace of Diocletian (who died there), built between 295 and 305. In the 7th cent. the inhabitants of nearby Salona took refuge from the Avars in the palace, which became the nucleus of the city. Split soon was made an episcopal, later an archiepiscopal, see of the Roman Catholic Church and became a flourishing port of medieval Dalmatia. It passed to Venice in 1420, but the Treaty of Campo Formio (1797) gave it to Austria, to which it was restored (1815) after the Napoleonic Wars. It was included in Yugoslavia in 1918. The city was the site of much fighting after the breakup of Yugoslavia.

The city has an archaeological museum, an oceanographic institute, and a university. The palace of Diocletian is the most remarkable among the Roman remains in Split. Its other ancient buildings include the cathedral and the baptistery, both originally Roman temples; parts of its ancient walls and gates; and the town hall.

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dissociative identity disorder

formerly multiple personality disorder

Rare condition indicated by the absence of a clear and comprehensive identity. In most cases two or more independent and distinct personality systems develop in the same individual. Each personality may alternately inhabit the person's conscious awareness to the exclusion of the others, but one is usually dominant. The various personalities typically differ from one another in outlook, temperament, and body language and might assume different first names. The condition is generally viewed as resulting from dissociative mental processes—that is, the splitting off from conscious awareness and control of thoughts, feelings, memories, and other mental components in response to situations that are painful, disturbing, or somehow unacceptable to the person experiencing them. Treatment is aimed at integrating the disparate personalities back into a single and unified personality.

Learn more about dissociative identity disorder with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Split

ancient Spalatum

Seaport (pop., 2001: 188,694), Dalmatia, Croatia. The Romans established the colony of Salonae nearby in 78 BC, and the emperor Diocletian lived at Split until his death in AD 313. After the Avars sacked the town in 615, the inhabitants built a new town within Diocletian's 7-acre (3-hectare) palace compound; this “old town” has been continuously inhabited since that time. Split came under Byzantine rule in the 9th century, shifted to Venetian control in 1420, and was held by Austria in the 18th and 19th centuries. It came under Yugoslavian rule in 1918, finally becoming part of independent Croatia in 1992. The port facilities were destroyed in World War II, but the old city was little-damaged, and repairs were subsequently made. Split is a commercial, educational, and tourist centre. Collectively with the historic royal residences, fortifications, and churches in the city, the palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.

Learn more about Split with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Split-Dalmatia County

Split-Dalmatia County (Splitsko-dalmatinska županija) is the central-southern Dalmatian county in Croatia. Its center is Split. Population of the county is 463,676 (2001). Land area is 4534 km².

Physically, county is divided into three main parts: elevated hinterland (Dalmatinska zagora) with numerous karst fields; narrow coastal strip with high population density; and the islands. Parts of the Dinaric Alps, including Dinara itself form the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina while Kozjak, Mosor and Biokovo mountains separate the coastal strip from the hinterland.

The most important economic activity is tourism. Manufacturing and agriculture are in decline.

The county is linked to the rest of Croatia by the newly built four-lane Split-Zadar-Karlovac-Zagreb highway and the Lika railway. Split-Kaštela international airport is used mostly by tourist charter flights in the summer. There is also a smaller paved airfield on the island of Brač.

In the hinterland, larger towns are Sinj (pop. 11,500 town, 25,373 with villages), Imotski (4,350) and Vrgorac (2,200).
Besides the largest city, Split (189,000 city proper, 240,000 including Kaštela and Solin), towns on the coast are Trogir (11,000), Omiš (6,500) and Makarska (13,400).
On the islands, settlements are smaller due to high emigration, but mostly urban in character. Among them are Supetar (3,000) on the island of Brač, Hvar (3,700) and Stari Grad (1,900) on Hvar and Vis (1,800) and Komiža (1,500) on Vis.

Population

According to the 2001 census, Split-Dalmatia County has population of 463,676. Croats make up an absolute majority with 96.30% of the population.

History

The name Dalmatia comes from an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae who inhabited in the area of the eastern Adriatic coast in the 1st millennium BC. It was part of the Illyrian kingdom between the 4th century BC until the Illyrian Wars in the 220s BC and 168 BC when the Roman Republic established its protectorate south of the river Neretva. Dalmatia as geographical name was in usage probably from the second half of the 2nd century BC for the area in the eastern Adriatic coast between Krka and Neretva rivers. It was slowly incorporated into Roman possessions until the province of Illyricum was formally established c. 32-27 BC.

Dalmatia became part of the Roman province of Illyricum. In 9 AD the Dalmatians raised the final of a series of revolts together with the Pannonians, but it was finally crushed, and in 10 AD, Illyricum was split into two provinces, Pannonia and Dalmatia which spread into larger area inland to cover all of the Dinaric Alps and most of the eastern Adriatic coast. Dalmatia was the birthplace of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who constructed Diocletian's Palace in the core of what is now present day Split.