FIUME (Slav. Rieka, German St Veit-am-Flaum), a royal free town and port of Hungary situated at the northern extremity of the Gulf of Quarnero, on the Recina (Fiumara), 46 miles by road S.E. of Trieste, 45° 19' 19'' N. lat., 14° 26' 43" E. long. It consists of an old and a new town, the former standing on a hill, the latter extending along the shore. The population in 1869 amounted to 14,039 for the town, and 4770 for the territory of Fiume; of these the greatest number were Roman Catholics. Among the many important buildings are the old chapter or cathedral church of the Assumption of the Virgin, and the church of St Veit, built in imitation of Sta. Maria della Salute at Venice, the theatre, capable of holding 1600 persons, the palace of Gorup, the barracks, and the elegant marine academy founded in 1856. In the old town is an ancient Roman triumphal arch, said to have been erected in honour of the emperor Claudius IL Fiume possesses several educational establishments, among which are a realgymnasium, two municipal high schools, and a Croatian gymnasium. The consuls of several states reside in the town, which is the seat of a high court of justice for commerce and marine, and of a chamber of industry and commerce. Among the benevolent institutions are asylums for lunatics and decayed citizens, and an industrial home for boys. Notwithstanding the revival of trade at Trieste, commercial enterprise and industry have considerably increased at Fiume, and the town has now two railways, opened in 1873—one a branch of the southern railway from Vienna to Trieste, the other of the Hungarian state railway from Carlstadt. Fiume is the immediate outlet by sea for the produce of Hungary, with which country it is connected by the Louisen-strasse opened in 1809. It has two ...harbours—Porto Canale Fiumara, suitable only for coasting vessels and small craft, and Porto Nuovo, affording good accommodation for large ships. The latter port, commenced in 1847, is now (1878) being much enlarged and extended to meet the increasing requirements of trade, and when completed will occupy an area of 57∣ acres, and afford quay accommodation for 100 large vessels. The chief exports are wheat, wine, tobacco, timber, rags, salt, rape-seed, hemp, and paper, of which last the annual exports amount to upwards of 30,000 cwt. Foremost among the industrial establishments are Whitehead’s torpedo factory, Messrs Smith & Meynie’s paper-mill, the royal tobacco factory (furnishing yearly more than 200 million cigars and cigarettes and employing above 3000 hands), a chemical factory where 1600 tons of sulphate of soda are annually made, and a large steam flour-mill. Besides these may be mentioned several shipbuilding yards, tanneries, and rope manufactories. The soil of the surrounding country is stony, but the climate is warm, and wine is extensively produced. The Gulf of Quarnero yields a plentiful supply of fish, and the tunny trade with Trieste and Venice is of considerable importance.
Fiume is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient Libumian town Tersatica; later it received the name of Vitopolis, and eventually that of Fanum Sancti Viti ad Flumen, from which its present name is derived. It was destroyed by Charlemagne in 799, from which time it probably long remained under the dominion of the Franks. It was held in feudal tenure from the patriarch of Aquileia by the bishop of Pola, and afterwards, in 1139, by the counts of Duino, who retained it till the end of the fourteenth century. It next passed into the hands of the counts of Wallsee, by whom it was surrendered in 1471 to the emperor Frederick 1II., who incorporated it with the dominions of the house of Austria. From this date till 1776 Fiume was ruled by imperial governors. In 1723 it was declared a free port by Charles VI., in 1776 united to Croatia by the empress Maria Theresa, and in 1779 declared a corpus separatum of the Hungarian crown. In 1809 Fiume was occupied by the French; but it was retaken by the English in 1813, and restored to Austria in the following year. It was ceded to Hungary in 1822, but after the revolution of 1848-49 was annexed to the crown lands of Croatia, under the government of which it remained for the next twenty years. Since August 1870 the town and territory of Fiume have been under the direct control of the Hungarian central Government.
See “Fiume and her New Port,” by G. L. Faber, H.B.M. Vice-Consul at Fiume, in Jour, of the Soc. of Arts, Nov. 1877.
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