Lastovo is an island, town and municipality in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Croatia. The island has an area of 46 km² and a population, of 835 of which 93% are ethnic Croats. The municipality is slightly larger, as it includes another 46 islands and islets, covering a total area of approximately 56 km². The island is rich in architecture, featuring many buildings from the 15th and 16th centuries. There are a large number of churches for the island's size, a testament to the island's long-standing Roman Catholic tradition. Lastovo's major cultural event, aside from the normal celebrations on the Catholic calendar, is the event known as the Poklad. The island relies primarily on its natural beauty and preservation to attract a reasonable number of tourists each season. Lastovo, like the rest of Roman Dalmatia, was settled by Illyrians. Around the year 1000, the Venetians attacked the island due to the its participation in piracy along the Adriatic, destroying the settlement. In the 13th century, Lastovo joined the Dubrovnik Republic, where it mostly enjoyed a certain level of autonomy until the republic's conquest by the French under Napoleon. Austria then ruled the island for the next two centuries until it finally became a part of Croatia.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lastovo

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1847: Brigham Young led the first group of Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, then part of Mexico. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Young)

1911: In the Peruvian Andes, Hiram Bingham re-discovered Machu Picchu (pictured), "the Lost City of the Incas". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu)

1927: The Menin Gate war memorial in Ypres, Belgium was unveiled. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menin_Gate)

1943: World War II: RAF Bomber Command started Operation Gomorrah, the strategic bombing of Hamburg, Germany. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Hamburg_in_World_War_II)

2001: Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the last Tsar of Bulgaria when he was a child, was sworn in as Prime Minister of Bulgaria, becaming the only monarch in history to regain political power through democratic election to a different office. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simeon_II_of_Bulgaria)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

There is one story and one story only. Dwell on her graciousness, dwell on her smiling, Do not forget what flowers The great boar trampled down in ivy time. Her brow was creamy as the long ninth wave, Her sea-blue eyes were wild. But nothing promised that is not performed. -- Robert Graves (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Graves)