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Knin (knîːn, Serbian Cyrillic: Книн, Tenin, Hungarian: Tinin) is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagreb and Split. Knin rose to prominence twice in history, as the capital of both the medieval Kingdom of Croatia and briefly of the self-proclaimed quasi-state Republic of Serbian Krajina within the newly independent Republic of Croatia for the duration of Croatian War of Independence from 1991 to 1995. The name is likely derived from the Illyrian Ninia. According to an alternative explanation, offered by Franz Miklosich and Petar Skok, the name - derived from a Slavic root *tьn- ("to cut", "to chop") - has a meaning of "cleared forest". The medieval names of Knin include Tinin; Tenin; Tinum. The Latin name is still used as a titular episcopal see, the Diocese of Tinum. The area consisting of today's Knin, or more specifically, the Spas hill, was inhabited since the stone age. In the vicinity of today's Knin was once a town called Burnum, which served as a Roman military camp in the 1st century BC. The original settlement grew atop the Spas hill in the earliest history and which later formed the castle of Knin. The first church, a monastery dedicated to Saint Bartholomew, was built during the time of Trpimir I in the 9th century in Kapitul (south-east from Knin Castle, where the later bishopric was located). It was later expanded or rebuilt by a certain Duke of Croatia, probably Svetoslav, during the reign of king Stephen Držislav of Croatia in the 10th century. Knin is first mentioned in the 10th-century work De Administrando Imperio as the centre of the Knin county (županija), and as one of the populated towns in Croatia. Around 1040, at the behest of the Croatian kings, a seat of the royal bishop was established in the nearby royal village of Biskupija (Kosovo), in the church of Saint Mary.

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The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat operations in Croatia by 1992. In Croatia, the war is primarily referred to as the "Homeland War" (Domovinski rat) and also as the "Greater-Serbian Aggression" (Velikosrpska agresija).

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