Liburnia
Domination of the Liburnian thalassocracy in the Adriatic Sea was confirmed by several Antique writers,[2][3] but the archeologists have defined a region of their material culture to be more precisely in northern Dalmatia, eastern Istria, and Kvarner.
[9] Alexandria's librarian Apollonius of Rhodes (295 – 215 BC) yet described the islands, Issa (Vis), Diskelados (Brač) and Pitiea (Hvar) as Liburnian.
They lost their trade colonies in the Western Adriatic coast due to invasion of the Umbri and the Gauls, caused by expansion of the Etruscan union in the basin of Po river.
The Liburnians took the opportunity to spread their territory to the Kvarner archipelago and the eastern coast of Istria to the river Raša,[12] previously held by Iapodes, thus making the Histri their new neighbors to the west.
[16][17][18] They surely broke to Kvarner in the 20s of the 3rd century BC and the border between Iapodia and Liburnia was the river Telavius (Žrnovnica, Velebit Channel).
[19] Borders of Liburnia didn’t change until its conflict with Dalmatae in 51 BC, when the Liburnians lost their city Promona (Tepljuh, Drniš) in the south and probably some lands around Krka river.
However Liburnian seamanship tradition was never wiped out, but became primarily trade-oriented under the new circumstances, a shift which contributed to the economic and cultural flourishing of its ports and cities, as well as to those of the province in general.
Pliny the Elder (1st century AD) gave a detailed geography of Liburnia, noting their tetradekapolis political-regional organization, 14 Liburnian municipalities subject to Scardona (Skradin).
He listed the cities along the coast from north to the south: Alvona (Labin), Flanona (Plomin), Tarsatica (Rijeka), Senia (Senj), Lopsica (Sv.
Juraj, south from Senj), Ortoplinia (probably Stinica, in Velebit), Vegium (Karlobag), Argyruntum (Starigrad), Corinium (Karin Donji), Aenona (Nin), civitas Pasini (in Ražanac – Vinjerac – Posedarje range), important island cities Absortium (Apsorus – Osor), Arba (Rab), Crexi (Cres), Gissa (Cissa, Caska near Novalja, Pag), Portunata (Novalja, older was Gissa portu nota – Cissa known by its port Novalja), by the coast colonia Iader (Zadar with status of Roman colony), Colentum insula (Murter, city and island).
[26] This "military-naval" region, protected by heavy fleet, became a barrier to the Byzantine army step to Lika and Gorski Kotar, keeping safe continental road route over Tarsatica to Aquileia and northern Italy.
[27][28] From 550 and 551 AD, the Slavs (Sclabenoi) started to break into Illyria and Dalmatia, as recorded by Procopius; by some thinking it was beginning of Slavic colonization there, which lasted during the next few centuries.
Initial ethnic nucleus under Croatian name originated in Liburnian inland from where it soon spread to all Liburnia and from there to the other regions of former Illyricum province.
In later phases of the Middle Ages, the name Liburnia was used periodically to refer to the eastern coast of Istria and northern Dalmatia around the plain of Zadar.
