Makarsko Primorje region is situated in the central Dalmatia¸ and covers a coastal area that is 53 km long and 4 to 7 km wide. It spreads from the Velika Vrulja Bay near the Dubci pass in the north-west over Biokovo Mountain and the adjacent RilićMountain , all the way to Kokuljica Cape in the south-east. Throughout the history, Makarsko Primorje has been divided into Lower Primorje and Upper Primorje, where Lower Primorje included Brela, Bast, Baška Voda, Veliko Brdo, Makar, Kotišina, Makarska, and Tučepi, Podgora, Drašnice, Igrane, Živogošće, Drvenik, Zaostrog, Podaca, Brist, Gradac, belonged to the Upper Primorje. There are remains of the material culture which is an evidence that the area been inhabited since the prehistoric times. Administrative, cultural and economic centre of the Primorje has, always been the town of Makarska. In the later periods, some other towns, such as Baška Voda, Gradac, Podgora, gained importance, however, their population and ecomony could not outmatch Makarska. The dynamics of population of the littoral and the foothill of Biokovo Mt. have changed throughout history depending on the political and economic situation. The oldest population of the Makarska Littoral has, in search of a safe haven from the dangers threatening from the sea (pirates, Venetian and Ottoman attacks), made a retreat to a safe distance, beneath the limestone slopes, in a kind of natural refuges. They would return to the coastal area to fish, and they probably had some fishing huts to store their fishing equipment in. By the end of the 17th, and during the 18th century, towns gained in population and developed significantly with the end of the Ottoman-Venetian Wars, and also with a halt of emigration caused by difficult political situation. The descend of the population from the Biokovo foothills would increase during the 1960s, as the continued population growth is noted in the towns by the sea, while in the other towns negative natural population growth occured. The Biokovo foothill towns and villages were increasingly losing its population, as the coastal ones, especially Brela Gornja, Bast, Veliko Brdo, Podgora – Selo, Gornje Igrane grew. The depopulation was due to severe earthquake of 1962, which destroyed, or badly damaged the old stone houses; as well as due to the building of Adriatic Highway in 1964, the beginning of the industrialisation, deagrarization, and finally due to the location itself. The building of the tourist accommodation caused the rapid development of the tourism trade as well as the economical reorientation of the population. Various historical and geographical factors which caused the retreat of the population to safer areas were no longer active. Contemporary economical processes, with tourism in the first place, were bringing the population closer to the shore, especially due to the rapid growth of the land's market value and the opportunity to utilise the land near the sea. The main branches of economy, typical for the littoral area, have, from the beginning, been agriculture, livestock farming (sheep, goat) and fishing. Limited opportunities for agriculture (olive tree, vine, fruit, etc.) in already barren areas have caused the population to have slender means and destitution, and consequently later more often engaging in non-agricultural trades and overseas migrations. Fishing was not developed equally everywhere. Even today the largest fishing fleet can be found only in the town of Podgora. The second half of the 19th, and the beginning of the 20th century was very significant for the whole Littoral. Austro-Hungarian monarchy began building the docks and harbour facilities. Utility services were gaining importance, water supply line was constructed, the Municipality building and schools were being built, old parish churches were being restored, and new ones, along with parish houses in Drašnice, Živogošće, Tučepi, Igrane, Brela and Podgora, were being built. There was also an onset of afforestation of the public areas, roads and parks were being restored, the St. Peter's lighthouse was constructed (1884.), lanterns and harbour lights were installed to ensure safe sailing. In the period between two world wars, with the growing number of foreign, as well as domestic tourists, tourism was significantly developing, with the building of accommodation facilities (hotels and restaurants), town utility services being set up, founding of numerous societies and offices for the towns' and villages' enhancement which were in charge of the tourist propaganda, town adornment, and relations with tourists. During that period roads were completed, and, tourist facilities were built owing to the mostly private initiative. Labour force found, directly and indirectly, jobs and income, due to the harbour and increasing traffic, and bigger towns, such as Makarska, Baška Voda and Podgora, were becoming more urban. As for harbours' improvements, little was done, as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia didn't invest much in harbour and port development and maintenance. Harbours didn't have ships for coastal navigation or for ocean navigation. Their fleet consisted of vessels for costal navigation, fishing vessels, motor ships and sailing boats. Further development and growth was again halted by war. Even though the Primorje was a part of the demilitarised zone, and formally under NDH regime, the real ruler was Italy. With its politics and policies, Italian authorities were making fishing hard with all the boat seizures and equipment destruction, as well as with putting a stop to the sea traffic. The war damaged or completely destroyed numerous private, as well as state buildings. In October 1944, German troops left, and immediately after started the removing of the ruins, and pulling ashore of the sunken ships, since in some littoral towns more than 90 per cent of the ships were destroyed. During that period, there was intensive building, especially of the Makarska harbour, which was completely destroyed due to the Ally bombing as well as German mining. The full-scale works would lasted all the way to 1954. The Littoral had few completely built inland roads until the 1930s, so the harbours were extremely significant for the transport. However, newly built roads and sea routes bypassed the Makarsko Primorje after the World War II. The disappearance of the old crafts and discontinuance of the wagon trails caused the lack of exported goods in the period between two world wars. After the Adriatic Highway was built in 1960s Makarska's sea trade completely lost its importance, and tourism became the main trade. The lack of sources was making the overview of the whole shipbuilding history impossible. The residents ordered larger ships from other shipbuilding centres, while they were doing the repairs themselves. They usually found some shallow waters of the harbour, or some beach for that. Anđelo Katalinić, shipbuilder, came to live in Makarska from Split in the 19th century, and by the end of the century Ivan Dužević from Trpanj arrived as well. Dužević family tradition of shipbuilding and repairing of the wooden ones (bracera, leut, stela, gajeta, kaić, jola, batelin and guc) was continued by his sons, Klement and Tomažin until 1956, when the shipyard stopped working. After the World War II, there were shipbuilders Toma Puharić and Jure Bilas, Ivandić brothers (Josip – Joze and Dominik – Berto Ivandić) in Promajna, and, in Brist Rajko Marušić founded ''Marušić d.o.o.'' shipyard, which is still in shipbuilding and repairing business. In former Yugoslavia, up until 1970's, little attention was given to the harbour and port building and maintenance. There were usually only some refurbishments and aesthetic repairs of the existing infrastructure. Since the 1980s, and especially since 1990s, except for the Croatian War of Independence, there have been intensive works on the harbour infrastructure to protect the ships from the waves, harbour lights as well as water and power supply, have been installed, and docks have been widened to ensure more berths. Special attention has been given given to the nautical tourism capacities building, which has been growing in its importance nationwide. These were the areas where they have been the most significant factor for the development of the town, and the demand for those marines has been on the growth in the last couple of years. Makarska breakwater is a capital project. The concept development of the nautical harbours is one of the priorities for the development of tourism in Croatia. The Makarsko Primorje has all the necessary preconditions: nature, climate, and already built accommodation facilities. Today, the ports of the Makarsko Primorje can be divided in the local ports open for the public traffic (Brela – Soline, Baška Voda, Makarska, Podgora – Stari Porat, Živogošće, Drvenik, Zaostrog, Gradac), county ferry ports (Drvenik, Makarska), sport and recreational ports (Brela – Stomarica, Makarska – Arbun, Podgora – Čaklje, Drašnice, Živogošće), and nautical ports (Baška Voda, Krvavica, Tučepi, Makarska).