Sardegna (Sardinia) Region, Italy

In Sardinia there are 8 provinces, 4 of which were established in 2005: Carbonia-Iglesias, Medio Campidano, Ogliastra and Olbia-Tempio while Oristano was established in 1974. The population is mostly concentrated in the provinces of Cagliari and Sassari. Until very recent times the population inhabited the inner lands away from the sea, and the economy was based on sheep-raising and connected activities.

Then a wonderful tourist development took place in the coastal areas, so that today Sardinia, with its clear waters, unspoiled landscape and ideal climate in the summer, is a favorite holiday destinations for Italians and foreigners, who reach by ferry or plane the celebrated localities in the Costa Smeralda, Maddalena, Alghero and Costa Rei. Still today, however, the region is the first in Italy for sheep and goat raising, and the production of cheeses. Another important resource is the extraction of lead and zinc.

Inhabited since very early pre-historic times - the earliest trace of man on the island goes back to 150,000 years ago -, in the 9th century BC the island was occupied by the Phoenicians, later on by Cartage and, after this city was defeated and destroyed in the Third Punic War, by Rome, and under the Roman Empire enjoyed a remarkable prosperity.

Raided by the Vandals in 456 AD, it was later reclaimed by the Eastern Roman Empire. After that, for many centuries Sardinia suffered raids by the Saracens from Spain, Africa and Sicily.

In the 12th century, under the influence of the republic of Pisa, the island was divided into four local districts - Gallura, Logudoro, Arborea, and Caralis - called "Iudicati", each ruled by a iudex, whose power little by little became hereditary. In 1241 the King of Sicily, Swabian Frederick II, appointed his son Enzo, born out of wedlock, king of Sardinia.

In 1323, the Kingdom of Aragon began a campaign to conquer Sardinia; the giudicato of Arborea resisted and for a time came to control nearly the entire island, but its last ruler Eleanor of Arborea was eventually defeated in the Battle of Sanluri on June 30, 1409. The population of Alghero was expelled and the city repopulated by the Catalan invaders, whose descendants spoke Catalan till quite recently.

After the merge of the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, Sardinia was incorporated into the newly created national entity, Spain. Sardinians were regularly employed on the royal Spanish fleet and on October 7, 1571, at the Battle of Lepanto, Sardinian mariners lef the defeat of the Turkishfleet. On 2 September 1720 Sardinia passed to Vittorio Amedeo II Savoy. That was the beginning of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which in the following century would become the Kingdom of Italy.

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