Island Pagf

The area of Pag covers 284.6 sq kilometers and it has about 8,000 inhabitants in 24 settlements. The south-western coast is low, and the north-eastern highland steep. The climate is Mediterranean. The most of the island is covered with bare rock and only the small part is under macchia (dense Mediterranean evergreen underbrush). In the fields and valleys people grow vegetables, vineyards, and olives. The sheep farming is especially developed (the famous cheese from Pag). The main settlements, Pag, Novalja, and Lun, are connected by the road. In the prehistory it was inhabited by the Illyrian tribe of Liburni (the remains of forts and necropolis). At the beginning of the 1st century AD, the Romans built a system of fortifications and the bigger settlements (Pagus). The Slavs inhabited the island very early, their main settlement was Keša (present Novalja). In 1071, the king Petar Krešimir iv gave the northern part of the island to the church of Rab, while the southern oart belonged to Zadar. Therefore, in the Middle Ages, the island of Pag became the place and cause of many confrontations between the citizens of Rab and Zadar. At the end of the 12th century Pag become the most important settlement of the island. Today Pag with developed tourism offers the picturesque caves and beaches, rich hunting-grounds, the famous cheese of Pag, and valuable monuments. The ornithological preserves of Povljansko and Kolansko blato are also anteresting.