Dubrovnik (Latin Ragusa), population 43,770 in 2001, 49,728 in 1991 is a port and one of the most prominent tourist resorts on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Croatia, and the center of the Dubrovnik-Neretva county. It has the nickname "Pearl of the Adriatic". The city of Ragusa/Dubrovnik was based on maritime trade, and in the Middle Ages it became the only eastern Adriatic city-state to rival Venice. Supported by its wealth and skilled diplomacy, the Latin/Slavic Ragusa/Dubrovnik achieved a remarkable level of development during the 15th and 16th century. Dubrovnik was one of the centers of the development of the Croatian language and literature, home to many notable poets, playwrights, painters, mathematicians, physicists and other scholars.