[edit]
For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Bari.
Ancient[edit]
Bari itself known in antiquity as Barium, was a harbour of the Iapygian Peuceti. The authors of the Etymologicum Magnum have preserved an etymology by authors of antiquity about Barium, which they explain as the word "house" in Messapic. The city had strong Greek influences before the Roman era. In Ancient Greek, it was known as Βάριον. In the 3rd century BC, it became part of the Roman Republic and was subsequently Romanized. The city developed strategic significance as the point of junction between the coast road and the Via Traiana and as a port for eastward trade; a branch road to Tarentum led from Barium. Its harbour, mentioned as early as 181 BC, was probably the principal one of the districts in ancient times, as it is at present, and was the centre of a fishery. The first historical bishop of Bari was Gervasius who was noted at the Council of Sardica in 347.
Middle Ages[edit]
With the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, Bari was invaded by Barbarians and occupied by the Ostrogoths. It was taken from them by the Byzantine Empire during the Gothic wars and disputed for the following two centuries with the Lombards of the Duchy of Benevento, who made it a steward.
Throughout this period, and indeed throughout the Middle Ages, Bari served as one of the major slave depots of the Mediterranean, providing a central location for the trade in Slavic slaves. The slaves were mostly captured by Venice from Dalmatia, by the Holy Roman Empire from what is now Eastern Germany and Poland, and by the Byzantines from elsewhere in the Balkans, and were generally destined for other parts of the Byzantine Empire and (most frequently) the Muslim states surrounding the Mediterranean: the Abbasid Caliphate, the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba, the Emirate of Sicily, and the Fatimid Caliphate (which relied on Slavs purchased at the Bari market for its legions of Sakalaba Mamluks).
For 20 years, Bari was the centre of the Emirate of Bari; the city was captured by its first emirs Kalfun in 847, who had been part of the mercenary garrison installed there by Radelchis I of Benevento. The city was conquered and the emirate extinguished in 871 following five-year campaign by Frankish Emperor Louis II, assisted by a Byzantine fleet. Chris Wickham states Louis spent five years campaigning to reduce then occupy Bari, "and then only to a Byzantine/Slav naval blockade"; "Louis took the credit" for the success, adding "at least in Frankish eyes", then concludes by noting that by remaining in southern Italy long after this success, he "achieved the near-impossible: an alliance against him of the Beneventans, Salernitans, Neapolitans and Spoletans; later sources include Sawadān as well." In 885, Bari became the residence of the local Byzantine catapan, or governor. The failed revolt (1009–1011) of the Lombard nobles Melus of Bari and his brother-in-law Dattus, against the Byzantine governorate, though it was firmly repressed at the Battle of Cannae (1018), offered their Norman adventurer allies a first foothold in the region.[citation needed] In 1025, under the Archbishop Byzantius, Bari became attached to the see of Rome and was granted "provincial" status.
In 1071, Bari was captured by Robert Guiscard, following a three-year siege, ending what remained of the Byzantine power in the region. Following this, Bari's physical and political landscapes were changed: the praetorium which had functioned as a political centre was converted into the Basilica of Saint Nicholas. Relics of Saint Nicholas were brought to Bari in 1087 and installed in the basilica.
In 1095, Peter the Hermit preached the First Crusade there. In October 1098, Urban II, who had consecrated the Basilica in 1089, convened the Council of Bari, one of a series of synods convoked with the intention of reconciling the Eastern and Western Church on the question of the filioque clause in the Creed, which Anselm ably defended, seated at the pope's side.
In 1136 the Holy Roman Emperor, Lothair, captured Bari. A Byzantine army took control of Bari from William I of Sicily in 1155. William recaptured the city the following year, and on finding that his house had been destroyed began a campaign of reprisals causing widespread destruction across the city. The city walls were destroyed, an act which archaeologist Giulia Bellato suggests was a symbolic downgrading of Bari's status and that of its inhabitants. The events are chronicled by Hugo Falcandus.
During Joanna I of Naples' conflict with Hungary, Bari was besieged in 1349 and captured by a combined Germany and Hungarian army.
Early modern period[edit]
Main article: Duchy of Bari
19th-century image of the port of Bari
A long period of decline characterized the city under the dominations of Aldoino Filangieri di Candida, and those of the Kings of Naples, which held the control of the entire mainland southern Italy from 1282 to 1806. This decline was interrupted, however, by the splendor under the Sforzas, who ruled the city as Dukes of Bari, a title given by the Neapolitan crown, in particular under the rule of the dukes Ludovico and Beatrice d'Este, then of the duchesses Isabella of Aragon and Bona Sforza. Bari also underwent Venetian domination, which led to the expansion of the port and a very prosperous period, also favored by the trade of inland products, which were in great demand on foreign markets.
In 1556, Princess Bona Sforza of Aragon, second wife of the King of Poland Sigismund I, left Poland and settled in Bari, whose principality she had inherited from her parents. During her reign, she fortified the city's castle, as evidenced by an inscription in bronze letters on the cornice around the courtyard, as well as building several churches, a monastery, two water cisterns and made many donations to the monks of the Basilica of San Nicola. Bona Sforza died in the city in 1557. Following her death, the city of Bari came under the direct rule of the kings of Naples.
In 1813, Joachim Murat, King of Naples in the Napoleonic era, began a new urbanization, changing the face of the city and setting a new "chessboard" growth model, which continued for many years to come. The village built at the time on the outskirts of the old city still retains its name.
Modern plumbing arrived in the city of Bari on 24 April 1915: it was the first completed leg of the nascent Apulian Aqueduct. During the 1930s, Araldo di Crollalanza, the mayor and minister of Bari, oversaw the development of its modern waterfront.
World War II[edit]
On 11 September 1943, in connection with the Armistice of Cassibile, Bari was taken without resistance by the British 1st Airborne Division,[citation needed] then during October and November 1943, New Zealand troops from the 2nd New Zealand Division assembled in Bari.
The 1943 chemical warfare disaster[edit]
See also: Air raid on Bari
The SS John Harvey on fireon 2 December 1943, at Bari
A fleet of German Luftwaffe bombers attacked Allied forces and shipping in Bari on 2 December 1943. An American ship, the SS John Harvey, carrying a secret cargo of 2,000 mustard gas bombs, was destroyed causing release of the gas into the air and sea, resulting in death, chemical burns, and blindness among sailors and the civilian population of the city.[citation needed]
A member of U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower's medical staff, Stewart F. Alexander, was dispatched to Bari following the raid. Alexander had trained at the Army's Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland,[citation needed] and was familiar with some of the effects of mustard gas. Although he was not informed of the cargo carried by the John Harvey, and most victims suffered atypical symptoms caused by exposure to mustard gas diluted in water and oil (as opposed to airborne), Alexander rapidly concluded that mustard gas was present. Although he could not get any acknowledgement of this from the chain of command, Alexander convinced medical staff to treat patients for mustard gas exposure and saved many lives as a result. He also preserved many tissue samples from autopsied victims at Bari. After World War II, these samples would result in the development of an early form of chemotherapy based on mustard gas, Mustine.
On the orders of Allied leaders Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Eisenhower, records were destroyed and the whole affair was kept secret for many years after the war. The U.S. records of the attack were declassified in 1959, but the episode remained obscure until 1967, when writer Glenn B. Infield exposed the story in his book Disaster at Bari. Additionally, there is considerable dispute as to the exact number of fatalities. In one account: "[S]ixty-nine deaths were attributed in whole or in part to the mustard gas, most of them American merchant seamen." Others put the count as high as "more than one thousand Allied servicemen and more than one thousand Italian civilians".
The affair is the subject of two books: the aforementioned Disaster at Bari, by Glenn B. Infield, and Nightmare in Bari: The World War II Liberty Ship Poison Gas Disaster and Coverup, by Gerald Reminick.[citation needed]
In 1988, through the efforts of Nick T. Spark, U.S. Senators Dennis DeConcini and Bill Bradley, Stewart Alexander received recognition from the Surgeon General of the United States Army for his actions during the Bari disaster.
Charles Henderson explosion[edit]
The port of Bari was again struck by disaster on 9 April 1945 when the Liberty ship Charles Henderson exploded in the harbour while offloading 2,000 tons of aerial bombs (half of that amount had been offloaded when the explosion occurred). Three hundred and sixty people were killed and 1,730 were wounded. The harbour was again rendered non-operational, this time for a month.
9 April 1945 – view from the barracks. Photo by WOJG Hubert Platt Henderson who was stationed at Bari as the Director of the 773rd Band.
9 April 1945 – photo by WOJG Hubert Platt Henderson who was stationed at Bari as the Director of the 773rd Band
9 April 1945 – photo by WOJG Hubert Platt Henderson who was stationed at Bari as the Director of the 773rd Band
