Josipdol

Josipdol
Municipality
The Josipdol municipality within Karlovac County
Josipdol Location in Croatia
Coordinates: 45°11′19″N 15°17′05″E / 45.188624°N 15.284755°E / 45.188624; 15.284755
Country	Croatia
County	Karlovac County
Government
• Mayor	Zlatko Mihaljević
Area
• Total	165 km2 (64 sq mi)
Population (2001)
• Total	3,987 (municipality)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)

Josipdol is a village and municipality in Karlovac County, Croatia. The municipality is part of Lika.

Josipdol is situated in the Ogulin-Plaški valley which together with Lika and Gorski Kotar forms Mountainous Croatia. The town is located at the crossroads of state roads D-23, which connects Karlovac and Senj (Jozefin road), and D-42, which connects Vrbovsko and Plitvice. Josipdol is located 10 km southeast from Ogulin, 14 km northwest from Plaški and 45 km southwest from Karlovac.

According to the 2001 census, the town had a population of 993 with a total municipality population of 3,987, of which 87.5% were Croats and 10.5% were Serbs. Serbs form the majority in the village of Trojvrh.

Scarce archaeological remains near Oštarije village show that the area was settled in the Neolithic. Remains from the Copper Age show that the area was the southernmost part of Lasinja culture. The first known inhabitants of the area were the Illyrian tribe of Japods, which lived here from the late Bronze Age. In this area the Japods had two strongholds, Tetrapones, east of today's town Josipdol and Metulum, north of the town. On the north the Japods bordered with Celts and random remains of Celtic coins were found in the area.

In the period 35-33 B.C. future Roman Emperor Octavian conquered the Japod areas and incorporated them into the Roman Empire. Although no physical remains of any Roman road has been found it is believed that through this area passed the Yantar road, which connected the Baltic with the Adriatic. During this period Metulum had municipality status which is proved by a script from Diocletian's time.

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