Not much is known for sure about who first founded Dubrovnik, or even when it was founded. It could have been a stop over point for Greek sailing ships, or maybe founded by Greeks escaping a Slavic invasion. Whatever the answer, by the 8th century, it was a large settlement that was already building the famous city walls.

The city reached its peak in the 15th and 16th centuries as it’s own free city state, a wealthy maritime trading port that had the defenses and diplomacy to stand up to Venice. It abolished slavery in the fifteenth century, had a city water system and was known for its literature. In 1667 there was a devastating earthquake from which the city never really recovered. Coupled with reduced trade in the region due to the discovery of the Americas, Dubrovnik weakened enough to fall the the French under Napoleon in 1806. Those troops built the fortress at Mt. Srd that now towers over the city and also Fort Royal on the island of Lokrum in Dubrovnik’s harbor.

After Napoleon’s defeat, Dubrovnik fell under Austrian rule. When the Austrian empire fell in 1918, the area was incorporated into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which later became known as Yugoslavia. During WWII, it became part of the Nazi puppet state of the Independent State of Croatia, and then after the war, part of the Communist run Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In 1991 Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia, and the Homeland wars began. Serbia attempted to claim Dubrovnik and in 1991, laid the city under siege for 7 months. The old town took heavy shelling, with over 650 hits.

After the war, many nations joined to repair the damage. Now, Old Town Dubrovnik is a major tourist attraction. The filming of the HBO series Game of Thrones at Dubrovnik only helped its popularity.