Kotor Bay of Kotor

Kotor Bay of Kotor, also known as Boca Kotor – The largest bay on the Adriatic Sea, surrounded by the territories of Montenegro and Croatia. Sometimes the bay is called the most southern fjord of Europe, however this statement is incorrect – the bay is the river canyon plunged into the sea.

The territory around the Gulf has been populated from the time of antiquity and retained many medieval cities. Many of them, such as Kotor, Perast, Risan, Herceg Novi, are important tourist centers.

The terrain has a huge cultural and historical importance for the Montenegrin and Croatian peoples. The religious value of the region is also large: on the shores of the Gulf there are many vintage Orthodox and Catholic churches, some of which are places of pilgrimage.

Kotorsky Bay consists of several spacious bays connected by non-stroke channels and forming one of the best natural harbors of Europe.

For a long time, there was a conviction that the bay was a fjord, thanks to which the Bokoi was fixed and was still used, first of all in the tourist sphere, naming «Southern Fjord in Europe». However, according to modern scientific research, it is believed that the Boca Kotherski represents the remains of the once river canyon that existed here. Strong tectonic and karst processes led to its gradual destruction.

Directly as part of Boki, it is customary to allocate several components of its bays. All bays are named by the name of the largest settlements located on their shores. So, if you move from the sea, you will open the entrance to the side of Herceg-Novsky Bay, then, after passing a narrow strait, the Tivat bay is located on the right. After passing the last, narrow, the strait right before the eye appears the bay, on the left – More compact rice.

In the bay bay missing flows. Existing are inconsistent in nature and depend on the time of tides and sings. By the summer, their strength becomes a little stronger. On the south side of the entrance to the bay there is a stream moving to the north-west at a speed of 1 km / h. A strong course capable of reaching the speed of 4 km / h is formed, first of all, after severe rainfall and moves from the inside of the bay in the direction of the western shore in the bay.

The very first settlement on the shores of the Gulf appeared on the site of modern rizan; In 229 BC. NS. Illyrian city Ryon (Rhizon) gave his name Bay – Rhizonicus Sinus. Ryon was captured by Rome in 168 BC. NS., And in the same year asking was first mentioned (Lat. Ascrivium or Ascrvium), current.

In the following years, exactly became the center of Boki. The city was reinforced in early Middle Ages, when Emperor Justinian in 535 built a fortress over ascohivium. Since then, the city, known under the Italian name Catatar (ITAL. Cattaro), for many years has become a significant Dalmatian city-state. In 1002, Kattaro was occupied by the first Bulgarian kingdom, but a year later he was defended by the king Samuel Serbia. Under Serbian dominion, the city became a semi-independent republic specializing in maritime trade. After the fall of Serbia in 1389, the city with adjacent lands was captured first by the Bosnian kingdom, then the Hungarian kingdom, and in 1420 he fell under the authority of Venice.

In 1538 and 1657, Kattaro was deposited by the Ottoman Empire, the region also suffered a lot to earthquakes of 1563 and 1667. Possessing a powerful fleet consisting of the XVIII century about 300 ships, the Boc of Kotherschi was a serious rival of Dubrovnik and Venice.

According to the Campo-Formary Treaty of 1797, the Boc of Kotorcho moved to the Habsburgs, and in 1805, in the presenter agreement, it was attributed to the Italian kingdom, depending on Napoleonic France, despite the actual seizure of the Russian squadron of the Second Archipelago Expedition of Dmitry Seyhanin. In 1810, after the Russians retreated, the Boc of Kotherski was attached to the Illyrian provinces of France. In 1815, according to the final act of the Vienna Congress, the region departed to the Austrian Empire (from 1867 – Austria-Hungary), where there was part of the Dalmatian kingdom.

Since 1918, the region has entered the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians (since 1929 – the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), where until 1922 was an independent district. In 1922, the Boc of Kotherschi became part of the Zeta region, and in 1929 – Zeta Banovina, where he remained up to 1941 – the year of the decay of the first Yugoslavia.

During World War II, the region was occupied by the fascist Italy, and at the end of the war, as part of Montenegro, became part of the second Yugoslavia.