engleski

The Croats on both sides of the Adriatic

Numerous historical sources bear witness to well-established maritime roads that have been connecting East- and West- Adriatic coast for more then a thousand years. Slavic, respectively Croatian colonies on Apennine peninsula which used to be numerous in the past are however today represented by only three more or less compact ethno-linguistic settlements, with less then 3000 inhabitants living in the central Italian region of Molise. In the 16th century, there were, however, at least ten Croatian settlements only in Molise, all of them situated on the peaks of rather inaccessible hills. This isolation indisputably contributed to the fact that the Croatian language has survived in those language islands until today. Although the present inhabitants of those settlements trace their origin to the last wave of Croatian migrations across the Adriatic before the invading Turkish army in the16th century, numerous historic and onomastic records bear witness to many earlier migratory waves of Croats in the areas of central and southern Italy, mostly in today's provinces of Abruzzo, Marche, Molise and Puglia.

onomastics; proper names; place-names; language contacts; Croats in Molise

nije evidentirano