Rijeka

Rijeka or Fiume , city (1991 pop. 167,964), W Croatia, on the Adriatic Sea and the Gulf of Quarnero. Croatia's largest seaport, the city's industries include shipbuilding, oil refining, paper milling, and engine building. Dating from Roman times, Rijeka was later held by the Franks. From the 9th to the 14th cent., Croatian dukes ruled the city. It passed to Austria in 1466. Rijeka, which became a free port in 1723, was united with Croatia in 1776, but three years later Austria transferred it to Hungary. It flourished as a major Hungarian port. The French held it briefly during the Napoleonic Wars, but in 1814 it was restored to Austria, which transferred it to Hungary in 1822. After World War I, Rijeka became an object of dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia. The secret Treaty of London (1915) promised it to Yugoslavia, but at the Paris Peace Conference Italy claimed it on the grounds that Italian-speaking inhabitants formed a majority of the population. While negotiations continued, the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio at the head of an Italian free corps seized the city in Sept., 1919. By the Treaty of Rapallo (1920), Italy and Yugoslavia agreed to establish Rijeka as a free state. In 1922, however, a Fascist coup overthrew the local government, and Italian troops occupied Rijeka. The Treaty of Rome (1924) eased tensions by leaving Rijeka in Italian hands but awarding its eastern suburb, Susak (Ital. Porto Barros ), to Yugoslavia. Susak was developed into a leading Yugoslav seaport. In 1945 Rijeka passed under Yugoslav administration, and in 1947 the Allied peace treaty with Italy formally transferred it to Yugoslavia, which reunited it with Susak as a single city.

Fiume (Rijeka) A port on the Adriatic which was claimed both by Yugoslavia and Italy. After World War I the formerly Austrian port was given to Yugoslavia, despite vociferous Italian protests. In defiance of the Treaty of St Germain, the adventurist D'Annunzio and his followers occupied the city, transformed it into a city-state and established an authoritarian government, 1919–21. In 1924 it was acquired by Italy in an agreement with Yugoslavia, though after World War II it became part of Yugoslavia once again. As part of Croatia, it became part of an independent Croatian state in 1991.

Rijeka, Croatia Tarsatica, Trsat, Rika, Fiume The Italian Fiume and Croatian Rijeka both mean ‘River’, a reference to the Riječina (known as the Fiumara or Eneo in Italian). In 1920, under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Fiume became a free state linked to Italy by a strip of land and in 1924 Benito Mussolini (1883–1945), Italian prime minister (1922–43), annexed it to Italy. Only in 1945 did the entire city pass to the Croats as part of Yugoslavia.