# Palagruža

Palagruža (pronounced; Italian: Pelagosa) is a small Croatian archipelago in the middle of the Adriatic Sea. It is uninhabited, except by lighthouse staff and occasional summer tourists. Palagruža can be reached only by a chartered motorboat, requiring a journey of several hours from nearby islands like Lastovo, Korčula, or Vis. It is administratively part of the municipality of Komiža.

## Etymology

The place is known in Italian as Pelagosa, derived from Ancient Greek Pelagousae (Πελαγούσαι, 'sea'). This is the source of the current Croatian name, as well as of the name of pelagosite. Gruž also means 'ballast' in Croatian, and the term is therefore well known in two ways to seafarers. The islands are also associated with the Greek mythology Diomedia or Islands of Diomedes.

## Lighthouse

On the highest point of the main island is a lighthouse. Palagruža is surrounded by dangerous waters, and landing can be difficult. It is uninhabited, except by lighthouse staff and by summer tourists who occupy two units of residential accommodation. There is one beach of golden sand. The lighthouse is also the site of a meteorological station. Other important islands in this archipelago are Mala Palagruža (Italian: Pelagosa Piccola), Galijula (Italian: Caiola) and Kamik od Tramuntane (Italian: Sasso di Tramontana)

## Geography

Palagruža consists of one larger island, called Vela or Velika ('Great') Palagruža, and a smaller one, Mala ('Little') Palagruža, as well as a dozen nearby rocks and reefs composed of dolomite. All the main islets are in the form of steep ridges. Vela Palagruža is some 1,400 metres (4,600 feet) long and 330 metres (1,080 feet) wide. The highest point of the archipelago, on Vela Palagruža (Italian: Pelagosa Grande), is about 90 metres (300 feet) above sea level.
The archipelago is 123 km (76 mi; 66 nmi) south of Split on the Croatian mainland, 60 km (37 mi; 32 nmi) south-west of Lastovo, Croatia, and 53 km (33 mi; 29 nmi) north-north-east of the Gargano peninsula in Italy. It is visible from land only from other remote islands of Italy and Croatia. Palagruža is further south than the mainland peninsula of Prevlaka, making it the southernmost point of Croatia.

### Geology

Velika Palagruža is an apical part of subsurface geological complex, composed of carbonate, siliciclastic and evaporite rocks of different ages, ranging from Triassic (c. 220 million years ago), through the Miocene (c. 10 million years ago), to Quaternary (recent deposition).

### Climate

Palagruža has a weather station, established in 1894, which represents a major indicator of weather, especially wind, waves and precipitation on the open Adriatic. Weather conditions on the central Adriatic are dictated by movements of low-pressure area, which causes frequent changes of bora and scirocco (jugo) winds. Annually, Palagruža Island has 104 days with strong (6-7 Bf), and 21 days with stormy winds (>8 Bf).
The coldest temperature was −4.3 °C (24.3 °F), on 25 January 1954.

## Climate

Since records began in 1949, the highest temperature recorded at the local weather station was 36.4 °C (97.5 °F), on 9 August 2017.
Due to its remote position in the middle of the sea, Palagruža exhibits more Mediterranean climate features than the Croatian coast. Summers are sunny and dry, while most of the rain falls in winter months. There are 2620 sunshine hours annually (1961–1990 average). Annual precipitation level of 304 mm (12.0 in) is the lowest of all Croatia. Maritime winds temper air temperatures compared with the mainland, with average summer daily highs of 26.5 °C (79.7 °F); on the other extreme, winter average daily lows are 8.4 °C (47.1 °F).

## History

Authentic archaeological finds of the Neolithic period have been found on Palagruža - a small number of early Neolithic Impressed Ware pottery dated to 6th to 4th millennium BCE as well as a larger amount of Ljubljana-Adriatic culture (first half of the 3rd millennium BC) and Cetina culture finds (latter half of the 3rd millennium BC).
Human presence artifacts on Palagruža from the 2nd millennium BC are more rare, but then there are large finds from ancient Greek seafarers, including Late Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Early Roman periods. There are also recorded archaeological finds from Late Roman and early medieval periods.
Palagruža is associated with the Island of Diomedes, a location named after the Homeric hero Diomedes, who is reputed to be buried there. Speculation is fueled by the discovery of a painted 6th-century BC Greek potsherd with the name Diomed[es] on it, making a shrine by the Cult of Diomedes on Palagruža seem plausible.
It is recorded that the galley fleet of Pope Alexander III landed on Palagruža on 9 March 1177.
The archipelago is found on maps from the start of the 14th century, as Pelagosa, Pellegoxa, and Pelogosa.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, there was a rise in fishing in the area, making the island the centre of a traditional fishing-ground of the community of Komiža, island of Vis, Croatia.
Following the end of the Republic of Venice, sanctioned by the Treaty of Campo Formio of 1797 between Napoleon and Austria, all the formerly Venetian islands in the Adriatic also went to the latter. In 1806 these islands became part of the Kingdom of Italy, and the Pelagosa, in particular, were the subject of an article in the decree issued by the General Superintendent of Dalmatia, Vincenzo Dandolo, to allow the fishermen of Comisa to use sardellare nets, or "voighe", in the surrounding waters. From 1809 to 1815 the islands were formally part of the Illyrian Provinces of the French Empire, to then return, with the Congress of Vienna in 1815, under the dominion of Austria, resulting in their being registered in the district of Lissa, circle of Spalato, of the Kingdom of Dalmatia. In some geographical texts of the time the islands of Pelagosa were considered "Neapolitan", while others considered them Austrian.
There is no evidence that the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ever took concrete action to establish its sovereignty over the Pelagose, while the Austrian authorities continued to exercise it, sending ships and missions aimed at building a lighthouse, in particular in the year 1858 (Pietro Acerboni, embarked on the Austrian ship “Curtatone” and in charge of the lighthouses of the Deputation of the Stock Exchange of Trieste). In this period the archipelago was not inhabited, except temporarily; reason why - just like nearby Pianos - there are no traces in the civil registry of the district of Serracapriola, to which the Tremiti islands belonged, while it was recorded in the registers of the parish of Comisa, on the island of Lissa, whose inhabitants had built a chapel dedicated to San Michele in the 18th century, later reconstructing it in the first half of the 19th century. The new Kingdom of Italy claimed possession of the islands, planning the construction of a lighthouse, clashing with the opposition of Vienna. After an examination of the documentation, within the framework of the work of a joint Italian and Austro-Hungarian hydrographic commission for the Adriatic, it was recognized that sovereignty belonged to Vienna, as testified by the British consul in Trieste, Richard Francis Burton, who explicitly cited how the Comisani had produced documentation
After Italy's entry into the World War I in May 1915, the country's armed forces occupied the islands on 11 July 1915. Italy's Regia Marina submarine Nereide was sunk there on the 5 August 1915 by Austria-Hungary's Imperial and Royal Navy submarine U-5.
The archipelago reverted to Italy between the two World Wars, as part of the Province of Zara (now Zadar, Croatia), and was ceded to Yugoslavia in 1947. Since the break-up of Yugoslavia, it has formed part of the sovereign country of Croatia.

## Flora and fauna

Palagruža sits in the heart of fish-rich seas, including spawning grounds of sardines. It is a nature reserve, and the small amount of vegetation is of the Mediterranean type, for instance oleander (Nerium oleander) and tree spurge (Euphorbia dendroides). There are endemic plant species including a type of knapweed, Centaurea friderici Vis. (Palagruška zečina). The algae, and their role in the production of the local mineral pelagosite, have been the subject of academic study (Montanari et al. 2007).
The distinctive local fauna, including the black lizard now classed as Podarcis melisellenis ssp. fiumana and the related Podarcis sicula ssp. pelagosana (primorska gušterica in Croatian), was mentioned first by Babić and Rössler (1912). There are not many types of creatures on this island but the ones that do live there are bright and colourful. Some snakes are venomous but are mostly harmless.

### Birds

The Palagruža archipelago, along with the islands of Vis, Sveti Andrija and its neighbouring islet of Kamnik, Brusnik, Biševo and Jabuka, forms part of the Croatian Offshore Islands Important Bird Area (IBA). This was designated as such by BirdLife International because it supports significant breeding populations of Scopoli's and Yelkouan shearwaters, as well as of Eleonora's falcons.