It was returned to Austria after Napoleon's fall and remained an Austrian crownland until 1918. This treaty embittered negotiations for a peace settlement. The Palagruza islands, in the mid-Adriatic, also passed to Italy. The region's economy is mainly agricultural. The soil is unsuitable for the cultivation of cereal grains but favours olive trees, vegetables, and, above all, vines.
Dalmatian vineyards are rich in wine production.
There are deposits of bauxite that are exploited by the aluminum refinery near Sibenik. Abundant reserves of limestone coming from the neighbourhood of Split account for much of Croatia's cement output. There are also chemical factories as well as food-processing plants. Major shipbuilding yards are at Split. The rivers, except for a few miles on the Krka and on the Neretva, are unsuitable for navigation, but their precipitous fall makes them a natural source of hydroelectric power.