Ivan Nepomuk Cratey i njegov plan reforme poštanske službe u Dalmaciji 1804. godine

Abstract

he plan to reform the postal service in Dalmatia, introduced by Ivan Nepomuk Cratey, the first administrator and director of the Post of Dalmatia and Albania, has survived in its integral form and is today housed at the Allgemeines Verwaltungs Archiv in Vienna. This project was the fruit of Cratey’s two-year travels through Dalmatia and is presented in the form of a report and a detailed development proposal, and as such represented the basis on which a regular postal service from Vienna across Dalmatia to the post office in the Dubrovnik Republic as far as Albania was established in 1804. The analysis of its contents is invaluable for the study of the history of Dalmatia during the First Austrian rule (1797-1806) mostly because it elu-cidates and provides answers to many questions closely connected to the history of postal service in Dalmatia, but also to the political and economic issues of Dalmatia at the turn of the eighteenth century. Cratey’s plan draws attention to a poorly developed communication network, low trade activity of the province, lack of motivation on behalf of the underpaid clerks, etc.This article examines Cratey’s reform project by throwing more light on the circumstances in which it was produced, as well as on its financial con-struction founded on sustainability and feasibility. It also seeks to provide the answer as to how the First Austrian rule in Dalmatia, in this aspect too, spurred the process of economic and administrative reform of Dalmatia.

Keywords

• Ivan Nepomuk Cratey
• postal service
• postal route
• reforms
• Austria