Iapydes

The Iapydes were an ancient people who dwelt north of and inland from the Liburnians, off the Adriatic coast and eastwards of the Istrian peninsula. They occupied the interior of the country between the Colapis and Oeneus rivers, and the Velebit mountain range which separated them from the coastal Liburnians. Their territory covered the central inlands of modern Croatia and Una River Valley in today's Bosnia and Herzegovina. Archaeological documentation confirms their presence in these countries at least from 9th century BC, and they persisted in their area longer than a millennium. The ancient written documentation on inland Iapydes is scarcer than on the adjacent coastal peoples that had more frequent maritime contacts with ancient Greeks and Romans.

The Iapydes had their maximal development and territorial expansion from the 8th to 4th centuries BC. They settled mostly in inland mountain valleys between Pannonia and the coastal Adriatic basin, but in disputation with southern Liburni they periodically reached also the northern Adriatic coast at Vinodol valley .

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