About Konavle and Konavle Emigrants
Konavle is an area that occupies the southernmost tip of what is today Croatia. Cavtat (pop. 2200) is the largest town and the seat of the local government. The 2nd largest town is Gruda (pop. 900), which is approximately in the center of the region. Konavle contains 34 villages, 8 parishes, and the entire area has about 9500 inhabitants.
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The name Konavle comes from the construction of a water supply system through this area during Roman rule. A system of canals supplied Cavtat with water from near the village of Vodovađa. It is believed that the name is a remnant of the Latin name for the region, Canali.
The Republic of Ragusa (also called the Republic of Dubrovnik) purchased Konavle from two Bosnian dukes in the 1420s. It remained part of the Republic of Dubrovnik until 1806, when the French took it over during the Napoleonic Wars.
From 1815 to 1918 Konavle was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. And so all emigrants who left Konavle before 1918 travelled with Austrian passports.
After WWI, it was part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1918–1929), the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929–1941), and Yugoslavia (1941-1991). In 1991 it became part of the Republic of Croatia.
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Emigration
In the 1800s and early 1900s, many people left Konavle to earn money in various parts of the world. From 1815 to 1941, over 4200 people emigrated*. Some of these people returned to Konavle. But many stayed in the countries they emigrated to, and have descendants there today. Our organization is trying to reach these people — the diaspora of Konavle — to show them their homeland and heritage.
Also see Villages of Konavle, a Map of Konavle and Surnames of Konavle.
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* Source: Od Carigrad do El Dorada, Niko Kapetanić (2015).
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