Venice and the Slavs : the discovery of Dalmatia in the Age of Enlightenment
"This book studies the nature of Venetian rule over the Slavs of Dalmatia during the eighteenth century, focusing on the cultural elaboration of an ideology of empire that was based on a civilizing mission toward the Slavs. The book argues that the Enlightenment within the "Adriatic Empire" of Venice was deeply concerned with exploring the economic and social dimensions of backwardness in Dalmatia, in accordance with the evolving distinction between "Western Europe" and "Eastern Europe" across the continent. It further argues that the primitivism attributed to Dalmatians by the Venetian Enlightenment was fundamental to the European intellectual discovery of the Slavs."--Jacket
History
1 online resource (x, 408 pages) : illustrations
70770625
Introduction 1. The drama of the Adriatic empire: Dalmatian loyalty and the Venetian lion 2. The useful or curious products of Dalmatia: from natural history to national economy 3. The character and customs of the Morlacchi: from provincial administration to enlightened anthropology 4. The Morlacchi and the discovery of the Slavs: from national classification to sentimental imagination 5. Public debate after Fortis: Dalmatian dissent and Venetian controversy 6. The end of the Adriatic empire: epidemic, economic, and discursive crises Conclusion and continuities: the legacy of the Venetian enlightenment in Napoleonic Illyria Habsburg Dalmatia, and Yugoslavia.