Dalmatia under Venetian rule

The Republic of Venice ruled parts of Dalmatia between 1409 and 1797, following earlier periods of Venetian control over numerous Dalmatian cities and islands dating back to around 1000 AD.

From the 7th to the 14th century, the Venetians waged wars against the Croats for dominance over the eastern Adriatic coast, acquiring their first possessions in the 11th century.

Venetian rule over the eastern Adriatic was fully consolidated in 1420, when Dalmatia was incorporated as a geographical region of the Stato da Màr (lit. State of the Sea). The administration was organised through magistrate-led cities, overseen by the Provveditore Generale in Dalmazia e Albania, who was usually based in Zadar.

Following the Ottoman conquests of the Dalmatian Hinterland, by the late 18th century, the geographical term Dalmatia had come to refer solely to the territory under Venetian rule. In 1797, Napoleon dissolved the Republic of Venice, and its Dalmatian territories were annexed by the Habsburg Monarchy.