Humans have inhabited the Plitvice Lakes area for thousands of years. It has
been settled in turn by Illyrians, Thracians, Celts, Japods, Romans, Avars,
Slavs and Turks. In 1528 the area fell to the Ottomans before being retaken by
the Austrian Empire 150 years later. The Austrians subsequently incorporated it
into their Military Frontier and, in addition to the native Croats who already
inhabited the region, Serbs who had fled Ottoman repression settled there.
The Plitvice Lakes became a major tourist attraction in the late 19th
century. The first hotel was built there in 1896, and as early as 1893 it
already
