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Abstract: The paper discusses intelligence activities of the Venetian Republic and their significance and range in the Adriatic region during the year 1499. The main source used were the notes in the Diaries (I Diarii) by the Venetian councillor Marino Sanudo, perhaps representing the single most important source covering this topic in this time period. Apart from this document and relevant scientific literature some other published and unpublished documents were used. The year 1499 was chosen due to the general significance of events taking place during this year in the region discussed. That was the time of the last Ottoman invasion of Friuli in the heart of the Venetian mainland, taking place during the first year of the Venetian-Ottoman War (1499-1502). This very military combat was the last one wherein both sides engaged in intensive warfare throughout the entire Adriatic region as well as the Venetian mainland. At the same time it represented an acknowledgement of the Ottoman military success in the Balkans by the Venetians and a confirmation of the Venetian abatement politics with occasional straining of relations with the Ottoman empire, characterizing the Venetian foreign policy in the following centuries and lasting until the decline of both superpowers. During the year 1499 the Venetian Republic closely monitored the events taking place in the Adriatic estates through a wide network of intelligence operatives, established in this important region, which represented a transition zone for large-scale Ottoman invasions towards Friuli in the immediate hinterland of Venice. The reports of intelligence operatives provided detailed and timely information concerning Ottoman military and political maneuvers, including the invasion of Friuli. Croatian noble families, which were coerced into constant combat with the Ottoman army or were even forced from their territories, played a considerable role within this intelligence network. Venetian authorities established centres for gathering the information of intelligence operatives from the Adriatic in Friuli in the Udine and Cividale, where information from nearby as well as more distant Venetian estates in Istria and particularly in Dalmatia was accumulated. In the Adriatic region, the two main centres for gathering intelligence were established in Zadar and Koper, which were regarded as the capitols of Dalmatia and of Istria, respectively. Venetian officials from small settlements would send their intelligence reports to superintendents of Zadar and Koper and in turn this information was sent on to Venice. As was the case in the Hapsburg realm, in the Venetian Republic a very important role in the intelligence network was played by military officers, regional superintendents and field officials, though normally the highest authorities were made aware of intelligence reports in all cases as well.
Keywords: obveščevalna dejavnost, Beneška republika, vzhodni Jadran, plemiške rodbine, Hrvaška, osmanski vpadi
Published in RUP: 10.07.2015; Views: 3688; Downloads: 10
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Abstract: When considering the Upper Adriatic, the meeting point of three countries: Italy, Slovenia and Croatia at this point in time, an important fact needs to be acknowledged - the historic fate of this area has basically been determined by the relationship between the ethnical and political border. In this particular area the two borders normally do not coincide and had been perpendicular or parallel to one another in different historical periods. Several contradictory tendencies towards the adapting of social structure and social systems to the current political organization of space can be discerned in the process of politically-geographical transformations in the area discussed. On one hand, particularly on the local scale, there are tendencies to normalize and functionally organize the trans-border communication and socially-cultural and socially-economic structures. On the other hand, particularly on the scale of state relations, there are tendencies to preserve the state of tension and the air of restriction around the border. This has lead to a considerable discrepancy between the intensity of functional trans-border connections, which have gradually developed between the two sides, and the scarcity and reservedness of institutional trans-border associations, which have only started to develop after the Treaty of Osimo was signed in 1975. The fact that "the spirit of Osimo" did not develop and strengthen after the proclamation of independence of Slovenia in 1991, its entry into the EU in 2004 and the acceptance among the Schengen countries in 2007 is rather unusual. Despite the existence of intensive and functional trans-border associations of the population residing near the border, the neighboring countries in the area of Upper Adriatic did not manage to devise any new initiatives concerning institutional integration. Furthermore, along with the break in communication between Slovenia and Italy, a deterioration of relations between Slovenia and Croatia occurred because of unresolved petty disputes concerning the border. However, the rather unfavorable state of relations between the states is not reflected in the actual situation in the field. The research performed so far indicates that there is a quite distinct trans-border interdependence of the population residing near the border. Nevertheless, the current politically-geographical transformations have generated certain differences between the Slovene-Italian border and the Slovene-Croatian border, particularly in the scope of lowering expectations with respect to further development of trans-border relations and lower level of functional trans-border association characterizing the western border sector of the Slovene-Croatian border when compared to the Istrian-Karstic border section of the Slovene-Italian border. This fact reflects the negative effects of transformations in this formerly unified or correlated socially-geographical area and the consequential differentiation of border sectors regardless of the relatively high level of socially-cultural affinity, which still characteriyes both border regions. This provides grounds for understanding the simultaneous occurrence of tendencies towards social and spatial divergence, characteriying the relationship of past and present-day state-oriented politicians in relation to their neighboring countries, and tendencies towards social and spatial convergence, originating primarily from the socially-cultural affinity and socially-economic interdependence of the population residing near the border. The above demonstrates that border regions should be granted an institutional and legal status that will enable the population of these regions to successfully resolve their own developmental problems while considering the complex social structure of the Upper Adriatic in the perspective of renewing or improving the spatial integration or reducing the level of potential conflict. Developmental history and the current social structure suggest that this region is indeed much easier to interconnect than to divide
Keywords: Jadran (regija), politična geografija, obmejne regije, Slovenija, Italija, Hrvaška
Published in RUP: 10.07.2015; Views: 3509; Downloads: 27
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Abstract: Borders have been subject to various types of inquiry in the social sciences and humanities, spanning the fields of the political geographical, social anthropological, sociological, as well as political and cultural history. This paper focuses on the theoretical aspects of investigating borderness and outlines the development of the area which has emerged in the last decades in the field of social studies and the humanities, the so-called "border studies", with a special emphasis on historiography. Border studies open new questions of identity and cultural policy. The aim of the paper is to apply the theoretical findings of political geographers, anthropologists and sociologists to historiographical exploration of border areas, including the Upper Adriatic. In the case of the Upper Adriatic, it is possible to fully appreciate how dramatically the changing borders can affect the lives of the local population. The new political border set after World War II not only divided the territory between two states but also sharply delineated identities. Therefore, in our opinion, the investigation of borders not only deals with the political aspect of their creation and change but necessitates that historians expand their focus to investigating the social and cultural aspects of borderness which manifest the multi-faceted nature of this phenomenon
Keywords: meje, obmejnost, identitete, zgornji Jadran
Published in RUP: 10.07.2015; Views: 2861; Downloads: 22
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Keywords: osmanska historiografija, zgodnji novi vek, vzhodni Jadran
Published in RUP: 10.07.2015; Views: 3743; Downloads: 19
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Keywords: portulanske karte, majorška kartografija, beneška kartografija, kompasna mreža, Jadran, Sredozemsko morje, zgodovina, diplomska dela
Published in RUP: 15.10.2013; Views: 3193; Downloads: 25
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