Kozica, Croatia

Kozica (Italian: Cozizza) is a small village in the Split-Dalmatia County of Croatia. It is in the jurisdiction of Vrgorac, 80 km (50 mi) southeast of Split. It lies just below Sveti Mihovil mountain, which is 1,247 m (4,091 ft) high.

History

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

Ottoman Empire

When Vrgorac capitulated to the Ottoman Empire, Kozica probably fell with the rest of the area. The spread of Islam into the region that came with the arrival of the Ottoman army concerned the occupants of the monastery in Makarska, who 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 the populace to the northern regions of Croatia. The Venetian Republic repopulated the area with Herzegovinian people from the east.

The withdrawal of the Ottomans saw the region come under the jurisdiction of the Venetian Republic, then under the rule of Napoleon. A short and prosperous period followed, which included the construction of the "napoleonsku cestu" (Napoleon's road), encouraging travel to the area. With the failure of Napoleon's campaign in Dalmatia, Kozica fell under the rule of Austria-Hungary, and remained so until the end of the First World War.