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The ancient Istrians, known to the Romans as a fierce tribe of Illyrian pirates, protected by the difficult navigation of their rocky coasts, were only subdued by the Romans in 177 BCE after two military campaigns.
The region has traditionally been rather ethnically mixed. Under Austrian rule in the 19th century, it included a large population of Italians, Croats, Slovenes and some Istro-Romanians. In 1910, the ethnic composition was completely mixed with 170,000 Croats (43%), 150,000 Italians (38%) and 55,000 Slovenes (14%). After World War I, Istria passed from Habsburg to Italian rule, under which the Slavs complained of being forced to Italianize their names. Some Croats allege further that the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini colonized Istria with up to 50,000 more Italians (from Calabria, Sicily).
Following the Second World War, Istria became part of Yugoslavia and around two to three hundred thousand Italians and others reportedly fearing the Communist oppression were evicted from Istria (300,000 according to a speech made by Tito). Following the expulsions which ended by 1954, the areas were settled with Croats, Slovenes and a minute number of other Yugoslav nationalities like Serbs or Montenegrins.
Although most Istrians are ethnic Croats, a strong regional identity has developed over the years. The Italian minority is small, but the Istrian county is bilingual. Since the first multi-party elections in 1990, the regional party Istrian Democratic Assembly (Istarski Demokratski Sabor or Dieta Democratica Istriana) has consistently recieved an absolute majority of the vote and maintained a position often contrary to the government in Zagreb with regards to their regional autonomy.