Gorski Kotar

The majority of the region lies in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County including the cities of Delnice, Čabar, Vrbovsko; and the municipalities of Mrkopalj, Ravna Gora, Skrad, Brod na Kupi, Fužine and Lokve.

Begovo Razdolje, the highest town in Croatia, is located in Gorski Kotar at an altitude of 1,076 m. Geomorphically Gorski Kotar is on the karstic plateau about 35 km and has an average altitude of 800 m. The highest point is Bjelolasica at 1534 m followed by Risnjak at 1528 m. The plateau is a climatic barrier between the littoral and continental parts of the country.

The first known inhabitants of the Gorski Kotar was the Illyrian tribe of the Iapodes, who lived in the area from the 9th century BC on.

The Frankopans initiated the first wave of settlement in the 14th century, first colonizing the eastern part of the Gorski Kotar, making their stronghold at Bosiljevo.

After a short period of insecurity, settlement renewed at the end of the 16th century, when many Ottoman exiles and refugees (mostly Shtokavian-speaking, and many Vlach Orthodox Christians) came to this region.

They settled along the border with the Ottoman Empire: in Gomirje, Vrbovsko, Dobra, Moravice, Stari Laz, Sušica, Mrkopalj, and Lič.

After the failed Zrinski-Frankopan plot their properties were confiscated and shared among many other nobles, whereupon the local population was exploited with increased severity.

The most intense period of settlement began in the 18th century with the 1732 opening of the Karolina road, which linked Karlovac and Bakar.

It linked Rijeka with Karlovac through Grobničko polje, Kamenjak, Gornje Jelenje, Lokve, Delnice, Skrad, Stubica, Severin na Kupi, and Netretić.

On 21 July 1921 Alija Alijagić, a member of the communist organization Crvena Pravda, shot the Minister of the Interior Milorad Drašković in Delnice.