Kozica

Kozica is a small village in the Split-Dalmatia County of Croatia. It is in the jurisdiction of the town Vrgorac,Croatia and its 80 km south east of Split. Kozica is divided into numerous hamlets: Begovići, Gornji Ravlići, Donji Ravlići, Rudeži, G. Antunovići, Pucari, Vuletići, Rotni Dolac, Bušelići and Štulići.

History

Kozica was first mentioned in documents of the Kreševskoj era in the year 1434.

Ottoman Empire

While Vrgorac capitulated to the Ottoman Empire Kozica probably fell with the rest of the county. With the spread of the Islamic religion into the region that came with the arrival of the Ottoman army, the monastery in Makarska began to worry about the residents in Kozica and the surrounding region fearing that many would convert to Islam.

Post-Ottoman occupation

After the liberation of inner Dalmatia from the Ottoman Empire most of Kozica and the surrounding villages had been deserted because of the exodus of villages to the northern regions of Croatia to escape the wrath of the Ottoman army. Due to this factor the Venetian Republic repopulated the area with Herzegovinian people from the east. Kozica once had a land mass of a much greater area than today, covering the present day villages of Rašćana and up to Silvna.

After the Ottomans left the area, it became under the jurisdiction of the republic of Venice and then under the laws of Napoleon for a short and prosperous period were the famous "napoleonsku cestu" (Napoleon's road) was built, encouraging transport to travel to the area. With the fall of Napoleon's campaign in Dalmatia, Kozica again was under the laws of Venice and it remained so until the First World War.

Kingdom of Serbs Croats and slovens (1918-1941)

Within this period of time Kozica prospered greatly become a big and important village. Many of its populace started to buy land in the fields of Vrgorac, where they grew their own produce including olives and grapes and the area soon grew a reputation for good wine produce in this era. The Second World War changed this for the worse.

World War II

As Hitler invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941 he carved up Yugoslavia with different armies of the Axis occupying various parts and with this Kozica and the surrounding region was occupied by the Italian army. With the Italians operating a garrison in Kozica it was able to keep the village and surrounding area under its watchful eye, but with this there was a rapid growing force, Tito's partisans were operating in the area.

Kozica became known as a partisan village as many opposed Hitler's ideology and the occupation of foreign forces on there land. With the growing reputation the Italians became infuriated and decided to take action in Operation Albia, where the Italian army was given an objective to wipe out all partisans off Biokovo but this brought great damage to the civilians in the area. In August 1942, the Italian army brought Četnik forces to the area in trucks to destroy everything and "clean" Biokovo from partisans, disregarding NDH wishes to keep Četnicks out of Croatia which brought controversy implying the Italians were looking in only their interests. With the ongoing Četnik rampage in the region on the 29th of August 1942, Četnicks rounded up all the people in the villages and put them in a house and set it alight killing 270 civilians, 66 of them from Kozica. After the Četnik rampage, nearly all of Kozica's infrastructure and housing was completely destroyed. .

Climate

Kozica has a mediterranean climate but due to its high evelation it is exposed to more winds in the winter and much more sunlight and exposure to high temperatures in summer, temperatures in the summer have been recorded 44°C in the shade. Kozica is situated in its own Microclimate , the mountain of biokovo shields it from the sea which normally radiates heat onto the coast but in Kozicas case stops it and you will find that Kozica is always a few degreas higher than the coast in summer and a few less in winter.

Tourism

Tourism has started up in Kozica and is becoming popular to cyclists who tour the region and like the idea of a challenge because of its rockey landscape. Kozica's natural beauty also attracts all types of tourists including thoose who would like to take a break from the coastal cities and cramped resorts in the summer, Kozica's charm of a little Mediterranean mountain village gives tourists peace and quite while only being 20 minutes by car from the nearest beach on the other side of the mountain. Kozica is also home to various palm trees which are slowly being introduced and many types of flora. Tourism in Kozica is expected to increase from the construction of the A1 Highway from split to Dubrovnik which is expected to be up for completion up to Ploče in December 2008. The nearest exit off the motorway for Kozica is expected to be near the village of ravča which is 6km south of Kozica, this brings hope to the village's economy and hopefully will revive Kozica to what it once was.

Demographics

According to the 2001 census Kozica has 111 citizens. This was a dramatic drop from the previous censuses recorded , 1869. (666), 1880. (779), 1890. (904), 1900. (1026), 1910. (1109), 1921. (1139).1953. (756), 1961. (701), 1971. (481), 1981. (258), 1991. (196),2001. (111). There was an increase in population from the 1800s until the secound world war which brought great dismay in the area , after 1945 there is a decrease in population because of the exodus of people to find a better life in the cities. Many people from Kozica from 1945 either moved into the cities or migrated to South America ,Australia and New zealand were there descendants are still living today and are slowly but surely returning.

References

((1)) http://vrgorac.blog.hr/2007/07/index.2.html