engleski

Croatian Mediterranean as a Cultural and Political Meeting Point: Phenomenon of the Triple Frontier Area in Venetian, Habsburgs and Ottoman Maps

This paper aims to enlighten the historical period from 1527 to 1797 in which the Venetian Republic, the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire directly encounter their territories in the area of the Croatian Mediterranean (Dalmatia). This is primarily the region of the Venetian, Ottoman and Habsburg military borders (krajina/ serhat) which makes a unique historical entity designated by the term "Triplex Confinium”. The creation of the triple-frontier area, special after the Sremski Karlovci Peace Treaty (1699) left over significant and long lasting traces in the natural and cultural environment. The borderline was marked out on the ground for the very first time and therefore became “visible”. The borderland itself as well as the military-administrative organisation of the three imperial systems which met in the triple-frontier area had a great impact on the physical and socio-geographical characteristics of the environment. Frequent war conflicts and demarcation of new borders (1540, 1573, 1699, 1718 and 1791) had a crucial impact on the mobility of the population, dominant directions of migrations, and type of economy (transhumanic herding) as well on specific typology of settlements. The main source for the research of the described processes and the entire eco-historical problems concerning the triple-frontier area in this paper are cartographic sources. Among them we should point out detailed maps of the border itself and the Triplex Confinium delineated by the Frontiers Commission, maps of wider regions with visible influence of the triple-frontier and individual perceptions of this region by the imperial powers. Regarding the structure of the observed space as the clash of the three different imperial systems, it is especially interesting to compare the cartographic sources of all three sides – Habsburg, Venetian and Ottoman. Based on the comparative analysis, a special attention will be paid to the policy of individual powers towards the entire triple-frontier area and their own territory as opposed to the others (“cartographic policy as a part of imperial politics”). So, confronting maps of three imperial cartographies resenting the triple-frontier area enables us to identify the transformation of the cultural environment in the specific historical conditions, but also realising the differences in viewing the same problem ("us" vs. "them").

triple frontier area; border societies in Mediterranean; cultural exchange; imperial cartography

nije evidentirano