Page 7 · Chapter 1
The Pelješac Peninsula
This Croatian peninsula, which is located in southern Dalmatia, 55 km north of world-famous Dubrovnik, is the second largest Adriatic peninsula after Istria. The peninsula is bordered to the north by the bay of the Neretva River, to the east by Mali Ston Bay and to the south by the Mljetski Channel.
It is 65 km long and its total area is 348 km². In the distant past, Pelješac was probably an island and its link with the mainland came about through the sedimentation of the sea sand in the area named Ston Prevlaka. The terrain of the peninsula is of a rocky nature with fertile valleys. The highest summit is St. Ilija that towers over the town of Orebič to a height of 961 m above sea level.
The climate is temperate Mediterranean, with a typical rainy winter season and dry hot summers. The climate is significantly affected by the typical winds, which are referred to as Bura and Jugo. The average temperature in January is 7 °C, while in July it is 26 °C. On average there are 2589 sunshine hours annually.
About 9,000 inhabitants live permanently on the peninsula that constitutes part of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. The towns of Ston, Orebič, Trpanj and Janjina can be considered as being the local centres. Pelješac is not affected by industrial production; the traditional livelihood of the population is based on processing olives and wine, for centuries also on fishing and - today - also on an important and developing sector of tourism.
Historically the Pelješac Peninsula comprised part of the Republic of Dubrovnik, which constituted an aristocratic city-state from the 14th Century until 1808. This Republic gradually replaced its original vassal relationship to Byzantium, the Venetian Republic, Hungary, the Habsburg Empire and the Ottoman Empire to become a major maritime city-state competing with the Venetian Republic. Its demise occurred on the 31st January 1808, when the French Marshal, Auguste Marmont, who was in command of the French troops, which had been occupying the territory of this Republic since 1806, declared it as having been abolished.
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