Iz Island

Iž lies in the Zadar archipelago between Ugljan to the northeast and Dugi Otok to the southwest, stretching 12.2 kilometers in length with an average width of 2.5 kilometers and a total area of 17.59 square kilometers. Limestone and dolomite make up most of its terrain, rising to 168 meters at its highest point, Korinjak, and more than ten small uninhabited islets — the largest called Knežak — surround its shores.

The island has two settlements: Veli Iž, on the northeastern shore, and Mali Iž on the southeast, itself made up of three hamlets — Muće, Makovac and Porovac. Together they had 615 residents at the 2011 census. Iž has been inhabited since prehistoric times; Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII referred to it as "Ez" in the 10th century, and since 1409 it has belonged to the Venetian Republic. Veli Iž preserves a restored 14th-century church of St. Peter and Paul, while Mali Iž is known for a round 11th-century church near a fortress that once belonged to Zadar's nobility. The island also has a documented Glagolitic tradition spanning roughly a thousand years, with records of more than 200 Glagolitic priests and manuscripts surviving from the 15th to 19th centuries.

Iž's other lasting trademark is pottery: islanders have long made the iški lopiž, an earthenware jug traditionally used to store olive oil, a craft still practiced and represented in local ethnographic collections. Today the island lives on olive growing, fishing, small-scale viticulture and tourism, and its calm channels on both sides mean it is best reached during a gulet cruise along the Croatia coast between Ugljan and Dugi Otok.