Vis (island)

Vis is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, the furthest one from the coast that is also inhabited.

There are two towns and municipalities on the island, Vis (1,960 inhabitants in the municipality) and Komiža (1,677).

The island was inhabited since ancient Greece, as Issa.

During Venetian domination, the name was Lissa.

The sea around the island was the stage of two battles:

• on March 13 1812, the small Royal Navy fleet, under the command of capitain William Hoste, succeded to defeat the outnumbering Franco-Venetian fleet;
• on July 20 1866, the Austrian fleet, under admiral Tegetthoff command, attacked the Italian fleet, under admiral Persano command, sinking the battleship Re d'Italia (see Battle of Lissa (1866)).

During World War II, Vis was at one point the main hideout of Josip Broz Tito, the leader of the Yugoslav resistance movement. After the war, the Yugoslav People's Army used the island as one of its main naval bases. After Croatia became independent, its navy did not reclaim most of the facilities, and the many abandoned buildings are being used for civilian purposes, including modern happennings like 320x240.

External link

• Adriatic Islands Project: Contact, commerce and colonisation 6000 BC - AD 600