Free Territory of Trieste
| Free Territory of Trieste | ||||||||||||
| Territorio Libero di Trieste Svobodno tržaško ozemlje Slobodni teritorij Trsta |
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| Independent territory under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council | ||||||||||||
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| Capital | Trieste | |||||||||||
| Languages | Italian · Slovene · Serbo-Croatian · English (only for administrative purposes) | |||||||||||
| Religion | Catholicism, Serbian Orthodox, Judaism | |||||||||||
| Demonym | Triestine | |||||||||||
| Government | UN Security Council-controlled temporary military government |
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| President | ||||||||||||
| • | 1947–51 |
Terence Sydney Airey Mirko Lenac |
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| • | 1951–54 |
Thomas Winterton Miloš Stamatović |
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| Legislature | Council of Government (never designated) | |||||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | |||||||||||
| • | Established | 1947 | ||||||||||
| • | UN Security Council Resolution 16 | 10 January 1947 | ||||||||||
| • | Treaty of Paris | 10 February 1947 | ||||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 1954 | ||||||||||
| Currency |
Italian lira (Zone A) Triestine lira (Zone B) |
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| Today part of |
 Croatia Italy Slovenia
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The Free Territory of Trieste (Italian: Territorio libero di Trieste, Slovene: Svobodno tržaško ozemlje; Serbo-Croatian: Slobodni teritorij Trsta) was an independent territory situated in Central Europe between northern Italy and Yugoslavia, facing the north part of the Adriatic Sea, under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath of World War II.
The Free Territory was established on 10 February 1947 by a protocol of the Treaty of Peace with Italy in order to accommodate an ethnically and culturally mixed population in a neutral independent country. The intention was also to cool down territorial claims between Italy and Yugoslavia, due to its strategic importance for trade with Central Europe. It came into existence on 15 September 1947. Its administration was divided into two areas: one being the port city of Trieste with a narrow coastal strip to the north west (Zone A); the other, larger (Zone B) was formed by a small portion of the north-western part of the Istrian peninsula.
The Free Territory was de facto taken over by its two neighbours in 1954 and this was formalized much later by the bilateral Treaty of Osimo of 1975, ratified in 1977.
The Free Territory of Trieste comprised an area of 738 km² around the Bay of Trieste from Duino/Devin in the north to Novigrad/Cittanova in the south, and had approximately 330,000 inhabitants. It bordered the new Italian Republic to the north, and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the south and to the east. The rivers of the territory included the Rižana/Risano, the Dragonja/Dragogna, the Timavo/Timava, the Val Rosandra/Glinščica and the Mirna/Quieto. The Territory's highest point was at Monte Cocusso/Kokoš (668 m). Its most extreme points were near Medeazza/Medjavas at 45° 48’ in the north, at Tarski Zaliv/Porto Quieto at 45° 18’ in the south, Savudrija/Punta Salvore at 13° 29’ in the west and Gročana/Grozzana at 13° 55’ in the east.
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Wikipedia