Labinština

Labinština (Labinšćina / Labinština, L'Albonese / Agro Albonese) is the geographical and historical name of the eastern part of Istria county in Croatia. It covers an area of approximately 220 km2 that is 25 km long and 13 km wide. Geographical borders in the west are the Raša river, and the bay of the same name, in the south and east the sea, and in the north Plomin Bay, the southern part of the Učka massif and Kvarner Bay, and, until the beginning of the 20th century, Lake Čepić (Čepić basin). The center is Labin after which it is named. Labin was the head township of the Labinština or Agro Albonese under the Roman Empire, during the Venice Republic between 1365 and 1797, the Austrian rule between 1814-1918 and many other occupations by foreign armies. In ancient times it was the western border of the Liburnians, and the major settlements were Alvona (Labin) and Flanona (Plomin). The ancient Greeks founded many colonies in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean Sea coasts. They built small colony settlements by the coasts, one of which is known as Rabac or Old Albona. Later they started to built small castles on hills. One of these was Labin. The Greeks called it Aloun. In the Tabula Peutingeriana, Plinio and Tolomeo called it Alvona. In 250 AD the Arab geographer Edrisi called it Albunh which means populated city. The Greek word "acropolis" means city on a hill. Labin is 315 meters high from the sea level and was called hill fort or "castors" or "castrum" in Latin. Before the Romans conquered it in 2nd century BC, Albona was a Liburnian castle. In the first half of the XIV century the Patriarch of Aquileia ordered a statute for the city of Albona, published in 1341, including in it was the description of the borders of its territory. The Signore Tommasso Luciani, a native from Albona, contributed a copy of the book to the magazine L'Istria. After translating from Latin to Italian, It was noted in the weekly L'Istria the Latin word "Insulae" means Island. Since there were no islands in the territory they started to research.