The new Peljesac Bridge removes the need to pass through Neum in Bosnia on the drive from Split to Dubrovnik. But the 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz explains why Bosnia has a tiny coastal strip in the first place.
The Neum corridor
I am a sucker for oddities on maps, and one of my favourites is the tiny strip of coastline belonging to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
For those unaware of it, Bosnia has a 20km stretch of coastline around the town of Neum. This separates central and southern Dalmatia in Croatia, and creates a bizarre interruption in the Croatian coastline.
Border checks on either side of Neum
When both Bosnia and Croatia were part of Yugoslavia, this wasn’t an issue. Now they are separate countries, it is. Especially given that Croatia is part of the EU and Schengen Agreement, while Bosnia isn’t.
That means border checks on the drive from Split to Dubrovnik. Most of the time, these are pretty perfunctory. But in summer, the sheer number of cars passing between Split and Dubrovnik can lead to bottlenecks at either side of the Neum corridor.
The opening of the Peljesac Bridge
The solution has been to build the 2.4km-long Peljesac Bridge, which opened after long delays in 2022. This links the village of Komarna on the northern side of the Neum corridor with the Peljesac Peninsula.
As the Peljesac Peninsula belongs to Croatia, this bridge essentially bypasses the Bosnian coast. It has not been without its controversies, and it adds extra distance to the journey between Split and Dubrovnik, but it cuts out the quickfire succession of entry and exit checks at the borders.
Ragusa and the Treaty of Karlowitz
But why does this weird chunk of Bosnian coastline exist in the first place?
Well, before Dubrovnik was conquered by Napoleon in 1806, it was the independent Republic of Ragusa. Its great rival was the Venetian Republic. There was a constant fear of attack, so Dubrovnik built the city walls and coastal defences that make the city such a draw card for tourists today.
But after the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, there was the threat of attack by land.
Venice takes Dalmatia
The Treaty of Karlowitz ended the Great Turkish War, which was really a series of wars between the Ottoman Empire and several major European powers. These included the Holy Roman Empire, Russia, the Kingdom of Hungary and, crucially for Ragusa, Venice.
In the settlement, Venice ended up taking control of most of Dalmatia. For Ragusa, this was a big problem. Venice could now march through Dalmatia and attack by land.
Ragusa and the Ottoman Empire
Ragusa came up with a novel solution to stop this. The Dalmatian coastal strip is very narrow, and it is bordered to the east by Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1699, Bosnia and Herzegovina was still part of the Ottoman Empire – Ragusa’s major trading partner.
Ragusa was effectively a subordinate state to the Ottoman Empire, paying hefty “tributes” to the Ottomans every year to ward off any thoughts of conquest.
Ceding the Neum strip for protection
Another gift was the solution to holding off the Venetians. Ragus decided to give a fairly useless strip of coast to the Ottomans. The logic was that while the Venetians would happily march through Dubrovnik’s land, they wouldn’t dare do so through Ottoman territory. By giving away what is now Neum, Dubrovnik had given itself a handy buffer and a highly effective guard dog.
More Dubrovnik travel
Other Dubrovnik travel articles on Planet Whitley include:
