1358Jun, 27
The Republic of Ragusa is founded.
The Republic of Ragusa (Dalmatian: Republica de Ragusa; Latin: Respublica Ragusina; Italian: Repubblica di Ragusa; Croatian: Dubrovačka Republika, lit. 'Dubrovnik Republic'; Venetian: Repùblega de Raguxa) was an aristocratic maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik (Ragusa in Italian, German and Latin; Raguxa in Venetian) in Dalmatia (today in southernmost Croatia) that carried that name from 1358 until 1808. It reached its commercial peak in the 15th and the 16th centuries, before being conquered by Napoleon's French Empire and formally annexed by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1808. It had a population of about 30,000 people, of whom 5,000 lived within the city walls. Its motto was "Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro", which means "Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world".