History

First recorded events in Gorski kotar area

Avar and Slovene tribes first started breaking into the Balkans at the end of 6th and the beginning of the 7th century.
After the first conquests and the defeat at Constantinople, the Croats also arrived into their new fatherland. We do not know whether they inhabited Gorski kotar at the time of the first migration wave. The archeological evidence from this period is scarce, mainly from the borderline areas of this Croatian mountain region.
Croatian and other Slovene tribes, breaking into this territory along the lines of roman roads, inhabit the areas in the vicinity of roman civilization centers. During this earliest settling period, the new inhabitants probably by-passed Gorski kotar.
Historical sources dealing with Byzantium Dalmatia and Croatia in the 8th and 9th century can be linked only to areas on the borders of what is today Gorski kotar. It hasn't been confirmed that Gorski kotar area of that period, along with other Croatian principalities and parishes, took part in the constitution of the ancient Croatian state.
While developing the political individuality of the country, Croatian kings and princes had to overcome its geographical division. Today's Gorski kotar was one of the most impervious and impassable areas, therefore separating the Croatian lands geographically and politically.
In the 11th century, during the reign of Croatian ban (civil governor of the provinces Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia) and consequently king Zvonimir, Gorski kotar was a region where the interests of the Hungarian nobles, the Croatian governor and the Karantans collided.
Gorski kotar entered the historical period of developed feudalism somewhat behind the other Croatian lands. Unfortunately, until today there are few known sources that could provide information on free Croatian tribal communities, ancient district centers and their distinguished, wealthy superiors. Feudal lords of Gorski kotar, nobles of Krk, arrived from the island of Krk and took possession of both Vinodol and Gorski kotar. Even if the area of Gorski kotar was inhabited at the time, it is quite certain that, given the economy sources, it didn't provide opportunities for varied social differentiation of its residents.

Very little is known about the population of Gorski kotar. There is no information about settlements, or economical and administrative junctions in this area. It is only recorded that Gorski kotar was part of the administrative junctions situated at its eastern, western or north-western border. In the church administration of the 12th and 13th century, Gorski kotar falls under the jurisdiction of Krbava bishop's diocese since its founding in 1185 and remains part of it till the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century, when Turkish armies conquered most of its territory. Subsequently a new Modruško-krbavska bishop's diocese was formed, and later on the Modruško-senjsko-krbavska bishop's diocese followed, again including Gorski kotar. Civil feudal lords of Gorski kotar and Vinodol and Modruša parishes, the Frankopan and the Zrinski, their administrative officers and clerks all used the Croatian language in economical, administrative and judicial matters.
The Frankopan, Gorski kotar feudal lords of 100 years, formed and organized the political, economical and social aspects of life in these parts. In the 16th and 17th centuries they developed lively commercial connections with Primorje and with Venice.
In the 15th, and especially the 16th century, following several great victories over the Croatian and Hungarian armies, the Turks were invading, robbing and enslaving the Croatian lands. Although the Turkish forces never managed to conquer Gorski kotar completely, they robbed and burnt many settlements and forced the residents into slavery.
In the 16th century, the Frankopan family tree began to diminish. Many of their towns and feudal properties were destroyed by the Turks, and many members of the family died in battles. The feudal lord of Gorski kotar at the time was Stjepan Frankopan of Ozalj. Due to many misfortunes that fell upon him and the Turkish invasion the threatened his lands, he made a contract with his brother-in-law Nikola Zrinski of Siget - the contract of mutual aid and inheritance, thus uniting the two feudal properties.

In the second half of the 16th and particularly in the 17th century, the Turks ceased to invade Gorski kotar. After the construction of the Karlovac fortress in 1579 and the reorganization of Vojna Krajina (military district that was formed to act as a defensive line from the Turks), Gorski kotar became more peaceful. Deserted settlements and ravaged Zrinski-Frankopan properties were inhabited again and the area economy renewed. The Frankopan resettled the new inhabitants around the Bosiljevo area, and the military captains of Vojna Krajina settled the Vlahs of the eastern-orthodox and roman-catholic religion at the Gorski kotar border towards Turkey: Gomirje, Vrbovsko, Dobra, Moravice, Stari Laz, SušicA, Mrkopalj and Lič. Zrinski mostly resettled the descendants of the run-away native residents from Kranjska.
After the military conquest, occupation, pillage and the officially executed confiscation of Zrinski-Frankopan lands, a new period in the history of Gorski kotar began. Its fate and future became part of a much larger historical scheme. Along with Primorje, Gorski kotar was included in the wide and long-sighted political and economical calculations of the Austrian court, the Hungarian feudal lords and the Croatian citizen classes. Since then, several various feudal lords self-willingly and ruthlessly increased the feudal exploitation in Gorski kotar and attempted to socially divide it and alienate it politically from the rest of the Croatian kingdom.
Other then the material profits that were to be gained from exploiting its resources and its manpower, Gorski kotar was of vital importance because of its location - it was a transit area for the commercial goods en route to the sea that were exported to various Mediterranean countries.
Hungarians and Croats disputed over Primorje and Gorski kotar as commercial routes leading to the sea because the preventing of free trade hurt both the Hungarian feudal lords and Croatian citizens. However, there were no significant changes in that conflict of so many various interests until the centralistic policy of the Austrian court grew stronger and various conflicting interests of certain ruling circles were overcome. Gorski kotar stayed under the supreme administration of the Austrian court through the period of political and economical changes between years 1671 and 1767 and the court conducted its policy in this area through various feudal, political and military administrative structures.
When heir to the Austrian throne Joseph II traveled through this area in 1775, he realized that the division between Gorski kotar and Primorje halted the economical progress of both regions. He then suggested to his mother and queen Mary Theresa that the two regions should be united. In her 1776 ruling, the queen declared that the Severin district includes also the part of Gorski kotar which is located west of the Karolina road. By 1777, the settlements on the Karolina road itself and the properties associated with them on the road's eastern side, from Vrbovsko to Mrkopalj, were also attached to the Severin district. Now the Severin district included all the former Zrinski-Frankopan lands in today's Gorski Kotar and Primorje. In the north and in the west its boundaries ran along Kupa and Čabranka rivers, in the north-east along the Kupa river bordering with the Zagreb district, in the east it bordered with the Karlovac military district, and in the south its border was the Adriatic, between the cities of Senj and Rijeka.
Life on the Gorski kotar nobeles' estates in 18th and the first half of the 19th century is characterized, much like elsewhere in that period, by conflicts between the land-owners and bondmen.
In revolutionary 1848, residents of Gorski kotar showed great determination in their demands for thorough changes of existing social and economical norms. Great social, political and economical turmoil's unfolded. The new feudal-civic society that was forming offered somewhat better possibilities for the peasantry to achieve more favorable economical positions and win personal freedoms.
During Bach absolutism, Croatia was divided into five districts which included a newly-established district of Rijeka with 8 circuits, 6 of which were outer circuits: Rijeka, Bakar, Crikvenica, Delnice, Vrbovsko and Čabar; and 2 city circuits : Rijeka and Bakar.
The districts were reorganized for the last time in 1886, when Croatia and Slavonia were divided into 7 districts. Gorski kotar, including Bosiljevo and Severin, became part of the Modruško-riječka district. The inner highland area was divided into three circuits: Delnice, Vrbovsko and Čabar. The Čabar circuit included the municipalities of Čabar, Prezid and Gerovo, with the area of 284.615 km2 and the population of. 6109. The Delnice circuit included the municipalities of Delnice, Mrkopalj, Fužine, Lič, Lokve, Brod and Skrad with the area of 563.327 km2 and the population of 20 617. The Vrbovsko district included the municipalities of Vrbovsko, Ravna Gora, Komorske Moravice, Severin and Bosiljevo with the are of 413,689 km2 and the population of 19 385.
In the period of Ivan Mažuranića civil government, laws were passed dealing with freedom of the press, scholastic system was put in order - Croatia gained a modern bureaucratic state apparatus. This stimulated the forming of the first citizen associations in Gorski kotar - reading-clubs were formed, and after them singing-clubs and firemen associations. According to the records, the first reading-club was established in Čabar in 1870.

The reading-club in Delnice was established in 1874, one was established in Vrbovsko 1875, then in Fužine in 1876, in Lokve and Mrkopolje in 1878, and reading - clubs in Vrata, Bosiljevo, Ravna Gora, and Gerovo were established some time later on. In the Mažuranića period, first singing-clubs and tamburica (stringed instrument resembling a guitar, but smaller) clubs were also formed in Gorski kotar. In the academic year 1874/75 there were 19 elementary schools operating in the Delnice area with 20 teachers, and by 1878 there were 25 schools with 34 teachers. It is evident from these records that the Mažuranića period provided for great progress in cultural and educational areas which set the base for further school improvement in Gorski kotar.
The most significant development for the economical growth of Gorski kotar was the construction of roads. When construction of Karolina road began in 1726, the future orientation of not only Gorski kotar, but Croatia as a whole, was established. Karolina road, which was named after Charles III, ran through difficult and uninhabited terrain, desolate gorges and valleys, climbed tall mountains and mountain-passes where winters were long and severe. Maintaining such a road was impossible. But although the Karolina road didn't fulfill its primary objective, it brought new incentive for the economical growth of Gorski kotar and gradually transformed it into one of the most important traffic routes of Croatia. The construction of Lousiana road began in 1803, and to this day without notable changes the Lousiana road is used for traffic, connecting the towns Karlovac - Netretia - Vukova Gorica - Severin - Vrbovsko - Moravice - Skrad - Delnice - Mrzle Vodice -Jelenje to Rijeka and it has been of the greatest value for Gorski kotar and Primorje.