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Apulia

Region of Italy

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In ancient times, more precisely at the beginning of the first millennium BC, the region of Apulia was inhabited by the Iapygians, while during the 8th century BC its coastal areas were populated by ancient Greeks. Later, the region was conquered by the ancient Romans. It was then conquered by the Byzantines, followed by the Normans, the Aragonese and the Spanish. Subsequently, it became part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, to then be annexed to the unified Kingdom of Italy after the Expedition of the Thousand.

History

Antiquity

Human settlement in Apulia dates back to at least 250,000 years ago, as evidenced by the fossil remains of the Altamura Man, an archaic form of Neanderthal. There are numerous finds from the prehistoric era, including several menhir and dolmen.

Around the 1st millennium BC, the Iapygians settled in the territory with the tribes of the Daunians, the Peucetians and the Messapians, as well as the populations of the Calabri and the Sallentini (both settled in Salento); later, in the Hellenic era, the Magna Graecia colonies were quite numerous, especially in the southern part of the region, including the city of Taras, now Taranto.

During the second Samnite war (326–304 BC), the Roman army, in an attempt to provide relief to Lucera, besieged by the Samnites, suffered a serious defeat in the Battle of the Caudine Forks, in 321 BC. Rome soon understood the strategic importance of Apulia (corresponding only to the central-northern part of present-day Apulia, while the Salento Peninsula was known as Calabria in that period), but the occupation of the region, in the third century BC, was not easy, especially for the resistance of Tarentum and Brundisium. In 216 BC in Cannae the Roman army suffered its worst defeat against Hannibal's Carthage.

Around 7 BC, emperor Augustus divided Roman Italy into regions, one of them being Regio II Apulia et Calabria. Later on, emperor Diocletian (284–305) reorganized Italian regions into provinces, and the newly created Province of Apulia and Calabria was placed under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Suburbicarian Italy. With the construction of the Appian Way and, in the imperial era, of the Via Traiana along which cities such as Troia, Ordona, Gravina, Canosa, Ruvo and Bitonto prospered. The region occupied leading positions in the production of grain and oil, becoming the largest exporter of olive oil in the East.

Middle Ages and Renaissance period

At the Fall of the Western Roman Empire (476), Apulia also went through a prolonged period of unrest and political changes. Under the Ostrogothic rule, the old Roman Province of Apulia and Calabria continued to exist within administrative structures of the Ostrogothic realm. In 535, Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (527-565) launched the re-conquest of Italy, thus initiating the Gothic War, that ended with Byzantine victory (554). Under imperial rule, the Praetorian prefecture of Italy also included the province of Apulia and Calabria (modern Apulia with Salento). Since 569, the invading Lombards tried and partially succeeded to conquer much of the region. Responding to those threats, remaining Byzantine territories in Italy were regrouped into several regions, or eparchies in 580, one of them being Calabria, that was encompassing not only ancient Roman Calabria (Salento), but also remaining parts of Apulia, Lucania and Bruttium, thus laying foundation for the expansion of the term. Already by 584, the entire Italian Prefecture was reorganized into the Exarchate of Ravenna, that was encompassing the enlarged Calabria, but in time much of southern Italy, including parts of Apulia, fell under the rule of Lombard Duchy of Benevento.

During the 9th century, coastal regions of Apulia were briefly occupied by Saracens who established the Emirate of Bari. Saracens were driven out of Apulia during 870s, and the Byzantine rule was imposed again throughout Apulia, with Bari becoming the capital of a distinctive Byzantine province (theme) known as Langobardia (in reference to regions recaptured from Beneventan Lombards), that was by the middle of the 10th century placed under jurisdiction of the newly created Catepanate of Italy.

With the advent of the Normans in the 11th century, Taranto became the capital of the Principality of Taranto, which extended across the entire Terra di Otranto.

In 1043, the Norman adventurer William of Hauteville founded the county of Apulia, which in 1057 merged into the vast County of Apulia and Calabria, under the rule of his younger brother, Robert Guiscard. This territory, which became the Duchy of Apulia and Calabria, progressively extended up to the Principality of Salerno. From 1130 it became part of the Kingdom of Sicily under the rule of Roger II of Sicily, yet another Hauteville (their father, Tancred sired an astonishing thirteen sons) and Robert Guiscard's younger brother. In the 13th century the name Apulia was used by some authors to indicate the southern part of the Italian peninsula. During the Sicilian domination Apulia achieved great material and civil progress, which reached its peak with Frederick II, who was responsible for the construction of a series of secular and religious buildings, some of high artistic value, including Castel del Monte, near Andria. During this period Foggia became one of his residences. From 1282, following the separation of the island of Sicily from the rest of the south of the peninsula, Apulia was under the rule of the Kingdom of Naples, from that moment the power of the landowners began to take root in the territory.

Early modern period

From the middle of the 18th century the region of Apulia experienced a period of strong economic prosperity and excellent development of trade and agriculture. Between 1806 and 1815, during the Napoleonic era, provided the modernization of Apulia with the abolition of feudalism and judicial reforms until the return of the Bourbons and the birth of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Liberal movements were formed throughout the region in 1820 with the spread of Freemasonry and Carbonari.

With the Kingdom of Italy established in 1861, Apulia was administratively divided into the provinces of Foggia, Bari and Lecce; to these were added in the twentieth century the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto. In the period following the unification of Italy, various brigand gangs arose, especially in Capitanata and Terra di Bari; among the major exponents are Michele Caruso, Antonio Angelo Del Sambro and Giuseppe Schiavone, the latter a faithful lieutenant of the Lucanian brigand leader Carmine Crocco.

Modern period

With the progressive decline of the latifundium, the ancient Apulian farms, properties of medium agricultural size, also decayed. During fascism, Apulia was affected by numerous land reclamations in vast areas and, following the post-war agrarian reform, the region enjoyed strong agricultural development. In the 1970s and 1980s the economy of the region moved from the primary sector to the tertiary one, with notable development coming from the tourism sector.

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