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Several studies were carried out to try to identify the geographical origin of the Slavic population established in the Molise ( Neri reference ).

• Doctor J. Smodlaka, in the reference J.S., Posiet apeniniusskin Hrvatin ZARA 1906, proposes as an origin the whole of the coast which goes from the Velebit mountains to the mouth of the river Neretva (yellow line on the card below).
• Professor M. Resetar (linguist), in reference M.R. Die Serbokroatichen Kolonien Suditaliens Vienna 1911, restricted this origin to the its mouth, the Neretva valley to the town of Mostar ( red on the card) .
• More recent studies identified an area ( blue colour on the card) delimited by the towns of Imotski , Ljubuski and Vrgorac .
• Lastly, it should be pointed out that cultural associations allot these migrants a "Croatian" origin.

 

Discussion :
Let us note that the Slavic migrants of the Molise would come from areas which at the time were under various ethnic and political influences.
According to the first study (yellow area), the population would be originating from a area under influence (control?) of the Republic of Venice, which was called at the time Dalmatia. For the other studies, the region concerned (red and blue area) is located outside the boundary of influence of Dalmatia (Venice), the Bosnian Kingdom and the republic of Ragusa. These are probably the two last areas which were to yield to the Ottoman invasion not just from an economic point of view, political but also religious. Thus Bosnia will convert mainly to the Muslim religion after the Ottoman invasion. In the Ottoman empire, if the other religions were tolerated, not to be Moslem meant it would be impossible to reach stations of responsibility in the administration, etc. Moreover the practice of the" devshrism" on the young children of the local people (in particular, the forced recruitment in the army corps of the "janissaires" after the conversion to Islam) inevitably marked the spirit of the people.

Personally, I think that the migration of people coming from the valley of Neretva and the surrounding regions is more probable according to the economic, political and religious contect of the time. This migration would be explained by more than one shift in population coming from remote Croatia for example. However, according to the chronology of the Ottoman invasion, one would be able to note that the military conquests of Bosnia and a part of the Adriatic coast finished (' 1450-1470) previous to the migrations which interest us (' 1510-1520). That is probably due to two things. Firstly, it is possible that the migrants did not settle immediately in the Molise but passed through other Italian cities and regions before they settled definitively. Secondly this new ottoman order settled gradually, which would explain the late travel by these people.

It is therefore very interesting, for locating accurately the historical context of these disturbed times, by introducing the principal actors of this region. In the following pages, I therefore recall the various phases of the Ottoman conquests, since the "crossing of the Bosphorus" until the fight against Venice for the control of the coast and trade in the Adriatic. I present also the republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) because it is very near geographically to the region of origin of the migrants. Additionally, this city maintained as from the XIII century trade with the country of Molise thanks to the port of Termoli (see Traité 1203 and the reference to San Felice in 1568 ).

Finnally, I found this pretty card on a Croatian site . One should see there only one illustration of the shifts in population which accompanied the Ottoman conquest but it is despite everything very "eloquent":

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