A long time ago, in the deep past, the island of Pašman was settled in the ring of islands, islets and rocks of the Zadar archipelago. He shared with them through the centuries all the privileges and hardships that carry the sea, wind and sun – parents who give each islander pure love and life inspiration in exchange for eternal loyalty and respect. At every historical juncture, the life of the people on the island of Pašman was “bread with seven crusts”, from ancient prehistoric times, through the ancient Liburnians, Romans and Croats until today.
The name of the island
The name of the island has changed throughout history. The earliest mention dates from the 10th and 11th centuries. The Croatian version of the name, which we still use today, was first mentioned in the 14th century, and since the 15th century the name Pašman has become permanent.
Despite the very late first documented mention, the island of Pašman bears testimonies of human presence since early prehistory, when Pašman was not even an island. Today’s island landscape began to form about 12,000 years ago in the Middle Stone Age.
Pašman enters the new era as part of the Roman Empire. Prior to Roman times, the island and its population were an integral part of the Liburnian cultural group. When the Romans conquered the Jadasins (the Liburnian community in the Zadar area) in the 1st century BC, the Pasman Jadasins came under their rule. The island then, along with the neighboring island of Ugljan, became an integral part of the ager that belonged to the Roman city of Iader (present-day Zadar).
In the Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages times were all but peaceful. Pašman, along with Dalmatia, lived through political changes. In a narrow time strait, Byzantine, Croat, Croat-Hungarian and Venetian rule changed.
The island finally sailed the more peaceful sea in the new century under the auspices of the Venetian Republic, whose galleys often gave the most powerful sailors. After the global turbulence in Europe during the Napoleonic wars, the island found new peace in the Habsburg Monarchy until World War I.
Although surrounded by the sea on all four sides, the inhabitants of the island were not spared by global turbulence during the 20th century. The war, the underdevelopment of the island and the attractiveness of economically developed areas brought the torrents of young people from the island “belly to bread” across the sea into cities and overseas countries. Neither the Kingdom of Yugoslavia before World War II nor the communist SFR Yugoslavia managed to stem the outflow of youth from the island.
The island still managed to overcome the difficult 20th century, which ended with the final realization of an independent and sovereign Republic of Croatia. As its proud member, Pašman has stepped into the new millennium with modernization efforts, through the transition from a predominantly agricultural island to an island of tourist and hospitality character, ready to embrace any individual who wants a holiday in the crystal clear sea and untouched nature.
Source: pasman.hr