History of Otok Mljet

lic of Ragusa. The first president of the Congregation was Mavro Vetranović, the abbot of the Mljet monastery and the famous poet. Another great poet was abbot there—Ignjat Đurđević in the 18th century. As time went by, the Benedictine monastery on Mljet lost its importance, while the seat of the Mljet Congregation moved to Sveti Jakov near Ragusa.

In 1809, during the rule of Napoleon, the Mljet monastery was disbanded. When Austria took over the island, it placed the forestry office in the building. Between the world wars, the building was owned by the Ragusa (Dubrovnik) Bishopric. In 1960 it became a hotel, and in 1998 it was returned to the bishopric.

The island has a long history of eco-damage. In order to ease their transport problems, the monks dug a channel to the south coast, from the lake Veliko Jezero, thus turning both fresh-water lakes into seawater-based ones.

The second incident involves mongooses. Small Asian mongooses were introduced onto the island in the early 20th century in order to reduce the venomous snake population (the island was apparently completely overrun). Whilst the mongooses completed this task, they also disposed of pretty much all the birdlife of the island. To this day, the island is notably short of hedgerow birds such as sparrows. Mongooses are a hazard for domestic poultry, and are also known to cause damage in vineyards and orchards