The names for the sea in the languages of the surrounding countries include Albanian: Deti Adriatik; Emilian: Mèr Adriatic; Friulian: Mâr Adriatic; Greek: Αδριατική θάλασσα, romanized: Adriatikí thálassa; Istro Romanian: Marea Adriatică; Italian: Mare Adriatico; Serbo-Croatian: Jadransko more, Јадранско море; Slovene: Jadransko morje; Venetian: Mar Adriàtico.

[13][14] In the late 19th century, Austria-Hungary established a geodetic network with an elevation benchmark using the average Adriatic Sea level at the Sartorio pier in Trieste, Italy.

[23] The Croatian islands include the largest—Cres and Krk, each covering about the same area of 405.78 square kilometres (156.67 sq mi)—and the tallest—Brač, whose peak reaches 780 metres (2,560 ft) above sea level.

[19] The North Adriatic basin, extending between Venice and Trieste towards a line connecting Ancona and Zadar, is only 15 metres (49 ft) deep at its northwestern end; it gradually deepens towards the southeast.

[40] Such unusually high tides resulting in flooding have also been observed elsewhere in the Adriatic Sea, and have been recorded in recent years in the towns of Koper, Zadar and Šibenik as well.

The bora is significantly conditioned by wind gaps in the Dinaric Alps bringing cold and dry continental air; it reaches peak speeds in the areas of Trieste, Senj, and Split, with gusts of up to 180 kilometres per hour (97 kn; 110 mph).

Among the largest are (counterclockwise) Trieste, Venice, Rimini, Ancona, Pescara and Bari in Italy; Vlorë and Durrës in Albania; Split, Zadar and Rijeka in Croatia; Koper in Slovenia.

In May 2003, then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi inaugurated the MOSE project (Italian: Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico), an experimental model for evaluating the performance of inflatable gates.

[73] In the Northern Adriatic, the coast of the Gulf of Trieste and western Istria is gradually subsiding, having sunk about 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) in the past two thousand years.

The Northern Adriatic's comparatively shallow seabed is characterised by relict sand (from times when the water level was lower and the area was a sandy beach), while a muddy bed is typical at depths below 100 metres (330 ft).

Sediments deposited in the Adriatic Sea today generally come from the northwest coast, being carried by the Po, Reno, Adige, Brenta, Tagliamento, Piave and Soča rivers.

[117] There are seven marine protected areas in Croatia: Brijuni and the Lim Canal off the Istria peninsula's coast, near Pula and Rovinj respectively; Kornati and Telašćica in the Middle Adriatic basin, near Zadar; and Lastovo, Bay of Mali Ston (Croatian: Malostonski zaljev) and Mljet in southern Dalmatia.

[158] Roman economic and military influence in the region began to grow with the creation by 246 BC of a major naval base at Brundisium (now Brindisi), which was established to bar Carthaginian ships from the Adriatic during the Punic Wars.

[161] However, resistance to Roman rule continued sporadically and Rome did not completely consolidate control of the region until Augustus's general Tiberius put down the Great Illyrian Revolt, a bitter struggle waged from 6 to 9 AD.

[163][164] This made the sea passage across the Adriatic between Brundisium and Dyrrachium (or Apollonia) a link in the primary route for travelers, trade, and troop movements, between Rome and the East.

[166] Marc Antony and Octavian (later Augustus) crossed the Adriatic to Dyrrachium with their armies in their campaign against two of Caesar's assassins, Brutus and Cassius, that culminated in the Battle of Philippi.

[167] Brundisium and Dyrrachium remained important ports well after the Roman period, but an earthquake in the 3rd century AD changed the path of a river causing Apollonia's harbor to silt up, and the city to decline.

[169] During the 4th century AD the emperors of the Western Roman Empire had moved their official residence north from Rome to Mediolanum (now Milan) in order to be better able to control the military frontier with the Germanic tribes.

In 402 AD, during a period of repeated Germanic invasions of Italy, the capital was shifted to Ravenna because nearby marshes made it more defensible, and the Adriatic provided an easy escape path by sea.

[202] The campaign reached its climax in the 1811 Battle of Lissa,[citation needed] and ended with British and Austrian troops seizing the coastal cities on the eastern Adriatic coast from the French.

[210] The World War I Adriatic Campaign was largely limited to blockade attempts by the Allies and the effort of the Central Powers to thwart the British, French and Italian moves.

[215] The treaty was largely disregarded by Britain and France because of conflicting promises made to Serbia and a perceived lack of Italian contribution to the war effort outside Italy itself.

[218] After sixteen months of the Regency's existence, the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo redefined the Italian–Yugoslav borders, among other things transferring Zadar and the islands of Cres, Lastovo and Palagruža to Italy, securing the island of Krk for Yugoslavia and establishing the Free State of Fiume; this new state was abolished in 1924 by the Treaty of Rome that awarded Fiume (modern Rijeka) to Italy and Sušak to Yugoslavia.

The treaty reversed all wartime annexations, guaranteed the independence of Albania, created the Free Territory of Trieste (FTT) as a city-state, and gave communist Yugoslavia most of the Slovenian Littoral, as well as Istria, the islands of Cres, Lastovo and Palagruža, and the cities of Zadar and Rijeka.

[222] During the Cold War, the Adriatic Sea became the southernmost flank of the Iron Curtain as Italy joined NATO,[223] while the Warsaw Pact established bases in Albania.

[230][231] Italy and Yugoslavia defined their Adriatic continental shelf delimitation in 1968,[232] with an additional agreement signed in 1975 on the Gulf of Trieste boundary, following the Treaty of Osimo.

The Adriatic Euroregion consists of 23 members: the Apulia, Molise, Abruzzo, the Marches, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions of Italy; the municipality of Izola in Slovenia; the Istria, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Lika-Senj, Zadar, Šibenik-Knin, Split-Dalmatia and Dubrovnik-Neretva counties of Croatia; the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of Bosnia–Herzegovina; the municipalities of Kotor and Tivat in Montenegro; the Fier, Vlorë, Tirana, Shkodër, Durrës and Lezhë counties of Albania; and the Greek prefectures of Thesprotia and Corfu.

[233] These disputes with Slovenia were eventually settled with an agreement to accept the decision of an international arbitration commission set up via the UN, enabling Croatia to progress towards EU membership.

The depleted fish stock, and Croatia's Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone (ZERP) contributed to accusations of overfishing exchanged between Italian and Croatian fishermen.

At the same time, Slovenian fisheries produced a total of 2,500 tonnes (2,460 long tons) with 55% of the production volume originating in aquaculture, representing the highest ratio in the Adriatic.