The Republic of Ragusa: Dubrovnik, Konavle, Mljet and Lastovo
Dubrovnik, Cavtat, Lopud, Koločep, Mljet, Lastovo. Which empire held this ground in which years — and, the part that matters, which archive that means.
Whose archive this ground was
| Years | Who held it | Whose archive that means |
|---|---|---|
| 1358–1808 | Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) | Državni arhiv u Dubrovniku · Arhiv Dubrovačke biskupije (Biskupski ordinarijat) · FamilySearch Venice gave up its Dalmatian claims in the Treaty of Zadar (1358). Ragusa took in the Primorje in 1399 and Konavle in 1419-26, and held Pelješac, Mljet, Lastovo (which joined in 1252) and the smaller islands. It paid tribute to the Ottoman sultan from 1458 and accepted Habsburg sovereignty in 1684 while still recognising the Ottomans. |
| 1808–1814 | Kingdom of Italy, then the Illyrian Provinces | Državni arhiv u Dubrovniku · FamilySearch Marshal Marmont abolished the republic in 1808 and merged it into the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy; in 1810 it became part of the Illyrian Provinces. British forces captured Lastovo in January-February 1813, and a popular uprising backed by the British navy removed the French garrison from Ragusa in early 1814. |
| 1814–1918 | Austria: Kingdom of Dalmatia, Dubrovnik county | Državni arhiv u Dubrovniku · Archivinformationssystem (Österreichisches Staatsarchiv) · ANNO — Austrian Newspapers Online · FamilySearch Austrian troops took control in 1814 and the Congress of Vienna placed the former republic in the Kingdom of Dalmatia; Lastovo became part of Dubrovnik county in 1815. Italian troops took possession of Lastovo on 11 November 1918. |
| 1918–1945 | Yugoslavia; Italy held Lastovo (Lagosta) | Državni arhiv u Dubrovniku · Archivio di Stato di Trieste · FamilySearch The Treaty of Rapallo (12 November 1920) gave Lastovo to Italy, which held it until the Partisans took the island on 8 September 1943, while Dubrovnik and Konavle were in Yugoslavia. |
| 1945–1991 | Yugoslavia, SR Croatia | Državni arhiv u Dubrovniku · HR-HDA-883 — Zbirka matičnih knjiga (Hrvatski državni arhiv) Lastovo became part of the People's Republic of Croatia in 1945, and foreign tourists were barred from it until 1988. |
| 1991–2026 | Croatia, Dubrovnik-Neretva County | Državni arhiv u Dubrovniku Yugoslav Army forces occupied Konavle from October 1991 to May 1992, and the last army bases on Lastovo closed in July 1992. The State Archives in Dubrovnik has branches at Metković and Žrnovo (Korčula). |
The rings are approximate — deliberately. They exist to shade which filing system a place fell under, not to adjudicate a border. A place near a ring's edge should be checked against both neighbours.
See the whole span, 1358–2026, on the map →
The map takes a range, and a range that crosses one of the rows above is where records get lost: the family never moved, and the archive on the far side of the handover will tell you it holds nothing.
21 places on this ground
2 FamilySearch collections reach this ground
Ranked with the regional ones first — a collection for a province is usually a better lead than a national index, though the national index is often where a name is actually written down. A free account opens the images.
- Croatia, Church Books, 1516-1994 ↗ 1515–1994 7,007,772 records
- Croatia, Delnice Deanery Catholic Church Books, 1571-1926 ↗ 1570–1926 233,088 records