HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Raša ( la, Arsia, Italian: ) in Croatian Istria is a major river of Croatia's
Istria County Istria County (; hr, Istarska županija; it, Regione istriana, "Istrian Region") is the westernmost county of Croatia which includes the biggest part of the Istrian peninsula ( out of , or 89%). Administrative centers in the county are Paz ...
. It is long, and its basin covers an area of . Its mouth is in the long
ria A ria (; gl, ría) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Definitions Typically rias have a dendritic, treelike outline although they c ...
of Raški zaljev/Porto d'Arsia, which is a drowned river valley scoured out when world sea levels were lowered, then drowned by the rising waters of the post glacial era. The Raša rises in springs near Pićan and flows south through a steep-sided valley before opening into the head of the
Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to the ...
. The river, although short in length, has an ancient history as a border.


Border river

By Roman times, the Arsia, as it was called in Latin, constituted the border between the
Histri The Histri were an ancient people inhabiting the Istrian peninsula, to which they gave the name. Their territory stretched to the neighbouring Gulf of Trieste and bordered the Iapydes in the hinterland of Tarsatica. The Histri formed a kingdom. D ...
, who lived west of its banks, and the
Liburni The Liburnians or Liburni ( grc, Λιβυρνοὶ) were an ancient tribe inhabiting the district called Liburnia, a coastal region of the northeastern Adriatic between the rivers ''Arsia'' ( Raša) and ''Titius'' ( Krka) in what is now Croatia ...
on the coast to the east, with the
Iapydes The Iapydes (or Iapodes, Japodes; el, Ἰάποδες) were an ancient people who dwelt north of and inland from the Liburnians, off the Adriatic coast and eastwards of the Istrian peninsula. They occupied the interior of the country between the ...
in the upcountry valley behind them. After the Romans conquered the fierce and piratical Histri in 177 BC, the Arsia formed the ''
limes Limes may refer to: * the plural form of lime (disambiguation) * the Latin word for ''limit'' which refers to: ** Limes (Roman Empire) (Latin, singular; plural: ) is a modern term used primarily for the Germanic border defence or delimiting ...
'' of Roman territory in coastal Istria for a generation, until the gap between the Arsia and the northernmost Roman outposts in illyria was closed in 129; for long afterwards it divided
Italia Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
and its ''regio X'', from Illyricum, according to the divisions ratified by
Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...
. The 8th-century Irish monk and geographer
Dicuil Dicuilus (or the more vernacular version of the name Dícuil) was an Irish monk and geographer, born during the second half of the 8th century. Background The exact dates of Dicuil's birth and death are unknown. Of his life nothing is known exce ...
, following his late Latin sources for the geographical summary ''De mensura Orbis terrae'', gives the northeastern boundary of Italia as ''flumen Arsia''. The
Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
Via Flavia The Via Flavia was an ancient Roman road which connected Trieste (ancient ''Tergeste'') to Dalmatia, running across the Istrian coast. It was built during the reign of emperor Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 2 ...
, reaching from Tergeste (Trieste) into Istria came to an end at the crossing of the Arsia; beyond, it continued into
Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, str ...
as a local road that linked to Via Gemina. In the early 10th century
Tomislav of Croatia Tomislav (, la, Tamisclaus) was the first king of Croatia. He became Duke of Croatia and was crowned king in 925, reigning until 928. During Tomislav's rule, Croatia forged an alliance with the Byzantine Empire against Bulgaria. Croatia's strug ...
ruled a state that ran from the Adriatic to the
Drava The Drava or Drave''Utrata Fachwörterbuch ...
, and from the Raša, as it was now being called, to the
Drina The Drina ( sr-Cyrl, Дрина, ) is a long Balkans river, which forms a large portion of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps wh ...
. In the 13th century, the territory on the east bank was administered by the
counts of Gorizia The County of Gorizia ( it, Contea di Gorizia, german: Grafschaft Görz, sl, Goriška grofija, fur, Contee di Gurize), from 1365 Princely County of Gorizia, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire. Originally mediate ''Vogts'' of the Patriarchs ...
, while that on the west was ruled by the
patriarchs of Aquileia The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certain ...
. After centuries of Venetian rule over all of Istria to the Raša, the Raša became the border between Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy and the
Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
;Shepherd, William. ''Historical Atlas''. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1911: "Germany and Italy in 1806"
following Napoleon's downfall, Austria gained all of Istria and the river became the border between two Austrian provinces. The planned city of Raša ( it, Arsia), on the tributary Krapanski Potok of the river in the inner part of the Raška Inlet, was constructed in 1936–1937 as ''Arsia'' on drained
wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free ( anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
to gain arable land for farming and to serve expanding coal mining operations, as part of Mussolini's urban colonization and Italianization of Istria. The village of
Barban Barban ( it, Barbana, Čakavian ''Barbon,'' or ''Brban'') is a small town and municipality in the southern part of eastern Istria, Croatia. The municipality of Barban covers an area of around 100 km2 and contains 72 villages with a total o ...
is the other major settlement near the river.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rasa (River) Rivers of Croatia Landforms of Istria County Roman frontiers