Dubrovnik, nicknamed "Pearl of the Adriatic", is an old city on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Croatia.

From its establishment in the 7th century, the town was under the protection of the Byzantine Empire. After the Crusades, Ragusa/Dubrovnik came under the sovereignty of Venice (1205–1358), and by the Peace Treaty of Zadar in 1358 it became part of the Hungarian–Croatian Kingdom.

Between the 14th century and 1808 Dubrovnik ruled itself as a free state named Respublica Ragusina, the Republic of Ragusa also known as the Republic of Dubrovnik.

The city was ruled by aristocracy that formed two city Councils. They maintained a strict system of social classes, but they also abolished slave trade early in the 15th century and valued liberty highly.

The city successfully balanced its sovereignty between the interests of Venice and the Ottoman Empire for centuries.

Dubrovnik