Colonisation of the Middle Soča region

[Colonisation of the Middle Soča region] The author discusses the history of settlement of the
Middle Soča region between Gorica/Gorizia and Tolmin. He gives an overview of the previous historiography,
which is fully confirmed by the discussion of hitherto unused historical sources. In
the period after the Hungarian invasions, the earlier Slavic settlement was promoted mainly by
the Patriarchate of Aquileia, which formed two major estates in the territory in question, Gorica/
Gorizia and Tolmin. Until the end of the 12th century, the areas of Goriška brda, the Soča valley, the
southern part of the Banjška plateau and the lower valleys of Bača and Idrijca with the southern part
of the Šentviška plateau were mostly inhabited. In the late Middle Ages, colonization was directed
to the northern part of the Kambreško hills and to forested areas that stretched eastwards to the
borders of the Freising Škofja Loka estate.
Keywords: Soča region, colonization, settlement, Middle Ages, Gorica estate, Tolmin estate