The two most important of these Slav States were, firstly, that one,
the predecessor of our modern Croatia, which extended from the mouth
of the Ra[vs]a (Ar[vs]a) in Istria to the mouth of the Cetina in
central Dalmatia, and, secondly, to the south-east a principality,
afterwards called Ra[vs]ka, in what is now western Serbia. In a little
time the Slavs began to have relations with the towns of the Dalmatian
coast and with the islands which were nominally under the sway of
Byzantium, but in consequence of their remoteness and their exposed
position had succeeded in becoming almost independent republics.