Dubrovnik, in Italian Ragusa, port of Dalmatia, in South-Eastern Croatia. Situated on the Southern Adriatic Sea coast, it is usually regarded as the most picturesque city on the Dalmatian coast and is referred to as the "Pearl of the Adriatic".
Dubrovnik (derived from dubrava in Serbian/Croatian, meaning "grove") occupies a promontory jutting into the sea under the bare limestone mass of Mount Srdj. The port's sea fortifications rise directly from the water's edge, and the massive round tower (completed 1464) of the Minc̆eta Fortress dominates the city on the landward side. The old city of Dubrovnik was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.
The city was founded about 614 as Rausa, or Ragusium, by Roman refugees fleeing the Slav and Avar sack of Epidaurus, just to the South-East. A colony of Slavs soon joined the Romans there, and from an early date the city formed a link between two great civilisations. After the fall of Rome, Dubrovnik was ruled by the Byzantine Empire. From the 9th to the 12th century Dubrovnik defended itself against foreign powers, and in the period 1205 to 1358 it acknowledged Venetian suzerainty, though it retained much of its independence. The city-republic was liberal in character, affording asylum to refugees of all nations. In 1272 the city received a statute that incorporated Roman and local practices. Situated at the seaward end of overland trade routes to Byzantium and the Danube region, it became a great mercantile power. Ragusan land trade flourished throughout the Balkans.
In 1420, when Dalmatia was sold to Venice, Dubrovnik remained a free city in all but name. For centuries the people of Dubrovnik were able to preserve their city-republic by skillful maneuvering between East and West. A strategic treaty with Turkey protracted Dubrovnik’s liberty and maintained the opportunity for a major trading role between the Ottoman Empire and Europe.
In 1667 an earthquake destroyed parts of the city, including the cathedral and many monasteries and palaces, and killed as many as 5,000 residents. The republic did not regain its prosperity until the Napoleonic Wars. From 1800 to 1805, as the only neutral Mediterranean state, it secured a large share of the carrying trade. Napoleon I (reigned 1804-1815) subjugated Dubrovnik in 1808, and the Congress of Vienna (1815) gave Dubrovnik to Austria; in 1918 it was incorporated into Yugoslavia.
(FR D., 401 - urbs Rausium; AA I, 60, nap. 2 (16) - civitate Labusedi (!), archiepiscopus appellatur Ragusinus; FŠ LPD., 320 - Ragusium appellata est. Sclavi vero(eam) Dubrovnich appellaverunt; SN ZSp., 586 - prědь Dubrovьnikomь).