Knin

Etymology

The name is likely derived from the Illyrian Ninia. According to an alternative explanation, offered by Franz Miklosich and Petar Skok, the name - derived from a Slavic root *tьn- ("to cut", "to chop") - means "cleared forest". The medieval names of Knin include Hungarian: Tinin; Italian: Tenin; Latin: Tinum. The Latin name is still used as a titular episcopal see, the Diocese of Tinum.

History

Ancient

The area consisting of today's Knin, or more specifically, the Spas hill, has been inhabited since the Stone Age.

In the vicinity of today's Knin was once a town called Burnum, which served as a Roman military camp in the 1st century BC.

Middle Ages

The original settlement grew atop the Spas hill in the earliest history and which later formed the castle of Knin. The first church, a monastery dedicated to Saint Bartholomew, was built during the time of Trpimir I in the 9th century in Kapitul (south-east from Knin Castle, where the later bishopric was located). It was later expanded or rebuilt by a certain Duke of Croatia, probably Svetoslav, during the reign of king Stephen Držislav of Croatia in the 10th century.

Knin is first mentioned in the 10th-century work De Administrando Imperio as the centre of the Knin county (županija), and as one of the populated towns in Croatia. Around 1040, at the behest of the Croatian kings, a seat of the royal bishop was established in the nearby royal village of Biskupija (Kosovo), in the church of Saint Mary. The first "bishop of the Croats" is named Marko Giudice, and he and his successors were attached to the royal court as preachers and king's "special bishops" until 1102.

Knin became a more permanent royal residence of king Demetrius Zvonimir around 1080. Because of this, it has led to Knin being known as the "City of Croatian Kings" or "Zvonimir's City" (Zvonimirov grad) in recent times. In the following decade, during the succession crisis, the city was the permanent residence of a local lord Petar Snačić, who contested the crown of Croatia until his defeat by king Coloman of Hungary in 1096. At that point, it came into possession of the Hungarian Arpad dynasty, and since then, it ceased to be a permanent royal residence but remained as a political and administrative center of the kingdom. The parish church dedicated to king Saint Stephen is thought to have been built during this period.

In 1178, it is for the first time mentioned as "civitates" (city) in a contemporary local source. Due to the extinction of the local ruling dynasty, the Croatian bishop moved his see to Knin itself, after which he started calling himself the Bishop of Knin. This precipitated the construction of a new cathedral, which was initiated in 1203 by the son of the Duke of Knin, Dobroslav in Kapitul.

The city was visited by Queen Maria Laskarina, the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor and wife of king Béla IV of Hungary, together with her retinue of nobles and a great number of soldiers in 1261 in order to introduce her son to the Croatian nobility and to negotiate their oath in recognizing him as the designated duke (herceg). In 1264, the first case of judicial function in the city was mentioned and during this time, Knin was the seat of both the Croatian ban, and the duke, who acted as a semi-independent ruler with close connection to the king and whose chancellor had been the bishop of Knin. Between 1270 and 1272, the new cathedral was consecrated on the orders of the Knin bishop Nicholas. The cathedral is described as being "magnificent" and "solemn" by subsequent documents. By this point, a new town had already developed outside the castle complex. A market square (forum) was for the first time mentioned in the second half of 13th century.

Ottoman and Venetian period

The bishops who held the title no longer resided in Knin after it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1522. It was initially part of the Sanjak of Kilis, later the centre of the Sanjak of Kırka, was founded in 1574. By 1540, Ottomans massively populated area between Skradin and Knin with Vlachs.

It was briefly occupied by the Venetian Republic in 1648 during the Cretan War, and then taken again in 1688. The Croatian population partially returned and the Franciscans built a monastery and a church there in 1708. Ottomans aimed to retake Knin in 1715 during their last war with Venice, but their siege was repulsed.

After Venice captured the district, the Bishop of Šibenik was appointed to administer the diocese, which was united in 1828 to Šibenik. The bishopric is today the titular see of Tinum.

Habsburg era

Knin passed on to the Habsburgs together with Dalmatia in 1797 according to the Treaty of Campo Formio. After the Peace of Pressburg in 1805, the French Empire gained the city and incorporated it into the Illyrian Provinces in 1809. By 1813, the Austrians regained control over the town. By the end of the 19th century, as a part of the Habsburg domain of Dalmatia, Knin grew steadily, becoming an important commercial as well as road and railway center. In 1867, Knin became a part of Dalmatia – a territorial entity within Cisleithania.

Modern

After the First World War, Knin became a part of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs in 1918, which after a brief Italian military occupation subsequently became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (named Kingdom of Yugoslavia after 1929). Previously only connected with rail to Šibenik and Split (with narrow gauge to Drvar and Prijedor as well), in 1925 Lika railway connected Knin with Zagreb and north in general. It gradually became a busy rail hub; already in 1927 a total of 58,000 passengers departed Knin rail station. After the assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia in 1934, Momčilo Đujić joined the Chetnik Association of Kosta Pećanac, forming several bands in the Knin region of Dalmatia.

In World War II, Knin was in the so-called second Italian occupation zone, administered by the civilian authorities of the collaborationist Independent State of Croatia led by the fascist Ustaša regime, but with heavy fascist Italian military presence. The Ustaša regime declared Knin the county seat of Bribir and Sidraga. The entire area was the scene of the Ustashe genocide campaign against the local Serb population. After the Italian surrender in September 1943, German forces became the main factor in the region.

The Italians relied heavily on local ethnic Serb militias (Chetniks) to maintain order and suppress partisan resistance. In 1941 Đujić's Chetniks began killing and mutilating Croat civilians. In April 1943, Đujić's Chetniks set up a prison and execution site in the village of Kosovo (today Biskupija), near Knin. Thousands of local civilians (both Croats and even Serb Anti-Fascists) including women and children, as well as captured Partisans, were held and mistreated at this prison, while hundreds of prisoners (as many as over 1,000) were tortured and killed at an execution site near a ravine close to the camp. Recruiting for Chetnik formations in the region was assisted by the so-called leftist errors of the Yugoslav Partisans, which drove undecided Serbs to join the Chetniks.

The Battle of Knin was the culmination of the "Offensive for the Liberation of Dalmatia" carried out by the 8th Dalmatian Corps. On 25 November 1944, the Yugoslav Partisans attacked the town of Knin, which was defended by 14,000 German troops, 4,500 of Đujić's Chetniks, and around 1,500 Ustaše. Under the walls of the Knin Fortress, the Wehrmacht suffered what was probably the greatest single defeat in this region in the entire war. With around 50,000 troops involved and more than 7,000 casualties on all sides, the Partisans liberated Knin on 9 December.

Geography

Knin is located in the northern Dalmatian region of Croatia, 56 kilometres east of the coastal town of Šibenik, at 44°02′18″N 16°11′59″E.

The original Roman settlement developed on the foothills of the Dinaric Alps. It was on these foothills that the Knin Fortress was built. The source of the Krka river begins on the outskirts of the town.

Climate

Knin has a modified Mediterranean climate (Cfa, nearing the border with Csa) with hot dry summers and cool winters. Although the city is only some 50 km (31 mi) from the Adriatic Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean, the proximity of the Dinaric Alps to the north alters its climate. Knin is particularly known for its hot summers: temperatures reaching 40 °C (104 °F) are not uncommon in July and August. The January average temperature is about 4 °C and in August is about 24 °C

Since records began in 1949, the highest temperature recorded at the local weather station at an elevation of 255 metres (837 ft) was 42.3 °C (108.1 °F), on 10 August 2017. The coldest temperature was −18.4 °C (−1.1 °F), on 17 February 1956.

Demographics

According to 2021 census data, the population in Knin municipality was 11,755 and in town proper 8,317. 29.8% of population is of the age of 60 or older, while 18.6% of population is 20 or younger. Croatian Bureau of Statistics estimated the population of Knin municipality on 31 December 2020 to stand at 11,286. This represents a steep decline: ten years earlier, in the 2011 census, Knin municipality had a population of 15,388, while Knin (town, proper) had a population of 10,493. In the 2001 census, the population of Knin was 15,190 (whole municipality) with 11,128 in town proper. Ethnically, Croats formed the majority with 76.45% while the population share of Serbs stood at 20.8%.

Knin has recently seen a steep population decline, not least due to high emigration rates, especially since Croatia joined the EU in 2013 and its citizens consequently face few to no work and immigration restrictions. Elementary school student population in Knin (ages 6 to 14) has sharply declined by 29% between 2013 and 2019. Knin's population is also in more flux than that of other Croatian cities given that it has a major refugee problem: both with a large number of Croats from neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina who immigrated there post-1995 and Serbs from Knin who are still refugees in Bosnia-Herzegovina or Serbia. Immigrant Croats form the majority in the city with only a scattered Serb presence in the surrounding villages.

Demographic history

Before the Croatian War of Independence 87% of the population of the municipality and 79% of the city were Serbs. During the war, most of the non-Serb population was displaced from Knin, while in the last days of the war most of the Serbs left Knin, fearing incoming Croatian forces. In February 2015, during the Croatia–Serbia genocide case, the judgment of the International Court of Justice stated that it is not disputed that a substantial part of the Serb population fled that region as a direct consequence of the military actions. The Croatian authorities were aware that the operation would provoke a mass exodus; they even to some extent predicated their military planning on such an exodus, which they considered not only probable, but desirable. As a consequence of the war and population displacement, Knin municipality population has nearly halved between 1991 and 2001 (from 23 to 15 thousand).

Besides the town of Knin itself, Knin municipality today consists of following settlements: Golubić, Kninsko Polje, Kovačić, Ljubač, Oćestovo, Plavno, Polača, Potkonje, Radljevac, Strmica, Vrpolje and Žagrović. The data below and in the population graph is based on current municipality, since in the past the Knin municipality often changed its borders.

The town of Knin had a small population compared to its surroundings until the aftermath of World War II. Just 15% of population of municipality lived in Knin proper; neighbouring Plavno, Oćestovo and Polača had basically the same or even larger population than Knin. With increased urbanisation and industrialization in post-WWII socialist era (1945-1991), Knin urban population rapidly increased from 2,600 to 12,300. At that point, more than a half of municipality's population lived in the town of Knin. After 1991, due to the war and population displacement, as well as transition shock and deindustrialization, population has been steadily declining.

The 1857 data show that 75.55% of the town's population was Roman Catholic. According to the Austrian Census held in 1900, the town of Knin had 1,302 residents. In 1910 the town had 1,270 citizens. After 1945, with urbanization and modernization, Knin attracted much of the countryside population which was overwhelmingly Serbian Orthodox. As a consequence, ethnic/religious composition of town changed as well. Intermarriages and a desire to straddle the divide between the communities resulted at one point in a substantial part of the population declaring themselves as Yugoslavs rather than either Croats or Serbs (22% in 1981 census).

Archeology

The recently discovered Roman town Burnum is 18 km away from Knin in direction of Kistanje. There are the remains of the biggest amphitheater in Dalmatia built in 77 AD, during the rule of Emperor Vespasian which could host 8,000 people.

The nearby villages Biskupija and Kapitul are extremely interesting archeological sites from the 10th century where many remains of medieval Croatian culture are found including churches, graves, decorations, and epigraphs.

Sport

The most successful sports in Knin lately have been track and field and martial arts. The latter is particularly popular with two taekwondo clubs active. Matea Jelić, Knin native (*1997) started practicing taekwando in Knin and later became 2020 Olympic champion in 67 kg. Track and field club "Sv. Ante" (St. Anthony) in Knin boasts Croatian 100m and 200m sprint as well as long jump national champion, Marko Čeko, who also won the Hanžeković memorial in 2020 in men's long jump.

The main football club in Knin is NK Dinara, formed in 1913. NK Dinara's colours were black and white until 2005 when the club changed its colours to red, white and blue. NK Dinara plays in the 4th, lowest division in Croatia, Šibenik-Knin County League (1. Županijska liga Šibensko-kninska).

Knin has a sports association which was formed in 1998. Basketball is also popular in Knin with an amateur women's and men's club playing in lower tiers. The Croatian National basketball team has played a match in Knin. They played against Israel in 1999 where Croatia won the match 78:68. Other sports played in Knin are rugby, handball, volleyball, kickboxing, karate, tennis and taekwondo.

In 2007 the Croatia national rugby union team beat an Irish Barbarians side to win their first ever trophy, the St. Patrick's Day Cup organised by Alan Moore in Knin.

Transport

The most important intercity roadway in Knin is the Croatian state route D1. The route makes for easy access of Knin from the major coastal city of Split. The section of D1 from Knin to A1 highway will be upgraded to the expressway level in following years (with B1 expressway).

Knin is also an important railway junction as the railroads from the rest of Dalmatia and its cities of Zadar, Split and Šibenik pass through Knin, going north to the capital city of Croatia, Zagreb, via M604 railway. There are four lines meeting in Knin station: to Perković (and then to Split or Šibenik), to Zadar, to Ogulin (and onwards to Karlovac, Zagreb) and to Martin Brod (and Bihać, Sisak, Zagreb). Only the former three lines offer passenger transport. The latter route, Knin-Bihać-Zagreb, passes through Bosnian territory, crossing the border many times, thus it is not used for passenger transport since the beginning of the war in 1991. However, it is the shortest route between Knin and Zagreb, and as such was electrified in 1984 (the catenary being subsequently destroyed by war operations in the early 1990s). Electrification had started from Yugoslav inland towards the coast and had only reached Knin, so today the Knin station sidings are equipped with overhead catenary, but lines leaving the town are not.

Towns and villages in the municipality

In the 2021 census, the municipality contained the following settlements:

Golubić, population 654

Knin, population 8,262

Kninsko Polje, population 758

Kovačić, population 628

Ljubač, population 51

Oćestovo, population 78

Plavno, population 121

Polača, population 151

Potkonje, population 66

Radljevac, population 36

Strmica, population 160

Vrpolje, population 159

Žagrović, population 509

Twin town

Zugló, Hungary, since 2016