Neum

Features

Neum has steep hills, sandy beaches, and several large tourist hotels. Prices tend to be lower than in neighboring Croatia, making it popular with shoppers. Tourism, and the commerce it brings, is the leading contributor to the economy of the area. Border formalities with Croatia are relaxed at peak times.

Neum has around 5,000 beds for tourists, 1,810 in hotels with the remaining capacity in motels, villas, and in private accommodation. Tourism in Neum is active only in the coastal region. The inland area behind Neum has a rich archeological history and untouched wilderness and is starting to develop agricultural tourism.

Overview

Neum is 60 kilometers (37 mi) from Dubrovnik (80 km or 50 mi from the Dubrovnik Airport), 70 km (43 mi) from Mostar and Međugorje and 30 km (19 mi) from Ploče and Metković, both of which have railway stations.

The Neum region cuts Croatia into two non-contiguous parts. This is a result of the Treaty of Karlowitz of 1699.

The fact that the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina must be crossed twice in order to reach the southernmost region of Croatia has caused the Croatian Government to plan a bridge from Klek to Pelješac to circumvent the area. Since this could potentially violate Bosnia-Herzegovinian rights under the International Law of the Sea, these plans have been put on hold until a mutually satisfactory solution can be reached.

Neum is planned to be a freight port. There are plans to build a real seaport, rail and a motorway and thus the Croatian bridge must have a high clearance according to the view of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The main freight port for Bosnia and Herzegovina today is Ploče (in Croatia) further north, which has a railway to Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Subdivision

The municipality includes the town of Neum (municipal seat) and several villages:

Babin Do, Borut, Brestica, Broćanac, Brštanica, Cerovica, Cerovo, Crnoglav, Dobri Do, Dobrovo, Donji Drijen, Donji Zelenikovac, Dubravica, Duži, Glumina, Gornje Hrasno, Gradac, Hotanj Hutovski, Hutovo, Kiševo, Moševići, Prapratnica, Previš, Rabrani, Vinine and Žukovica.

Border crossings

Neum has two border crossing checkpoints with Croatia on the European route E65 or Adriatic Highway which connects the two parts of Croatia's Dalmatian coast. Neum 1 is located to the northwest of the city, with the Klek border checkpoint on the Croatian side. Neum 2 is located to the southeast, with the Croatian border checkpoint at Zaton Doli.

History

The Neum corridor dates back to the Treaty of Sremski Karlovci of 1699, whereby the Republic of Ragusa was separated from the Dalmatian possessions of its rival Venice by two buffer strips ceded by Venice to the Ottoman empire: north of its territory Neum and the bay of Klek, and south of its territory Sutorina with the port of Herceg-Novi on the Bay of Kotor, now part of Montenegro since 1947.

The Karlovci borders were reaffirmed in 1718 by the Treaty of Požarevac, but then the Ottomans, tired of negotiating in vain with Venice for a widening of their maritime access, simply usurped from the Republic of Ragusa the territory of Gornji Klek and most of the Klek peninsula, which it had bought from King Stjepan of Bosnia at the end of the 14th century. After the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797 and the Vienna Congress in 1815, the Austrian Empire, which had annexed both the Dalmatian possessions of Venice and the territory of Dubrovnik, tried to buy back the Neum and Sutorina enclaves from the Ottomans, but in vain; instead, it stationed a warship to block access to the port of Neum until the Treaty of Berlin, which gave Vienna the whole of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1878; Neum had been under Ottoman control for 179 years.

In 1918, as a consequence of Vienna's defeat, Neum joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes which would start being called "Yugoslavia" in 1929. Under the Karađorđevićes, the Yugoslav Government ignored the borders inherited from history twice: in 1929, when the Neum Region was included in a Banovina of the Coast, and in 1939 when, following the Serbian-Croatian Sporazum, it was included in the Banovina of Croatia. Tito's federal Yugoslavia was founded on the principle, declared at the 1943 AVNOJ in Jajce and comparatively well-respected by the Đilas commission in 1945, of establishing the federated Republics in their borders of 1878 which is why the Neum enclave is now part of the independent Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, including most of the Klek peninsula (Ponta Kleka, Rep Kleka), the two islets Veliki and Mali Školj and the rock of Lopata in the Bay of Klek.

Climate

Neum has warm summers and mild winters.

The average sea temperature ranges from 13 °C (55 °F) in January to 28 °C (82 °F) in July and August. Popular activities include swimming and sun bathing, beach-going, boating, and various other water-sports.

Demographics

The municipality of Neum shrank in size from 1971 to 1991; it had 4,781 residents in 1971, and decreased to 4,268 twenty years later. According to the 1991 census, 87.6% of the residents were Croats, 4.9% Serbs, 4.39% Bosniaks and other nationalities. The actual town of Neum had 1,993 residents in 1991, with a higher (91%) proportion of Croats.

Culture

Neum celebrates the feast of Our Lady of Good Health as its municipal day. As part of the celebrations, Neum hosts the Music Festival Etnofest Neum. The town also hosts the Neum Animated Film Festival.

The linđo is traditionally danced in the Neum region.

Neum is home to local branches of the cultural organizations Matica hrvatska and HKD Napredak.

Sport

Neum has a water polo club VK Jadran Neum, which is a member of the Croatian Water Polo Federation.