Istria - hundred years after Norbert KREBS

In 1907 the Austrian geographer N. KREBS published the first comprehensive regional geography of the peninsula of Istria. This book is taken as a basis for comparison with present day Istria considering some selected aspects of social and economic structure. Special emphasis is given to the development of the territory itself, the question of ethnicity, the spatial and temporal changes of population, and the take-off of tourism in the last few decades. The paper shows that Istria was characterised by fundamental changes in the investigated century resembling developments which took place in many European regions. Due to the promotion of industry and tourism as well as the current political orientation of the entire peninsula towards the EU Istria is no longer part of the European periphery. Nevertheless a new internal periphery has come into existence in areas of considerable distances from the coast.