Fiume (Illyrian, Rjeka; Lat. Vitopolis, afterward Fanum Sancti Viti ad Flumen; Germ. St. Veit am Flaum), a royal Hungarian city and free port, situated in a valley on the gulf of Quarnero, at the mouth of the Fiumara, 38 m. S. E. of Trieste; pop. in 18G9, 18,809, of whom 14,039 belong to the city proper. The old part of the town, on the slope of the hill, is poor-looking and gloomy; the new part, which stretches along the coast, is well built, cheerful, and neatly paved. It has a provincial and district court, a chamber of commerce and industry, two gymnasia, a naval academy, and many remarkable buildings, including churches, the government house, the city hall, a market hall with colonnades, a nunnery, a hospital, and the casino, which contains concert and ball rooms, and a theatre. In the vicinity is an ancient castle. The harbor admits only small vessels, larger ones anchoring in the gulf at a distance of 3 m. The products consist chiefly of linen, woollens, leather, earthenware, sugar, wax, beer, and rosoglio; the exports, mostly the produce of Hungary, are wheat, wine, tobacco, hemp, timber, rags, etc. There are extensive sugar refineries, mills, tanneries, and paper manufactories; but the principal industry is ship building, from 20 to 30 sailing vessels being annually built.

It is connected with the interior by two railways. Fiume became a free port in 1722, and is now one of the most important seaports of the Austro-Hunga-rian empire. In 1869 the entrances were 2,739 vessels of 135,484 tons.-Vitopolis is mentioned as a flourishing town of Liburnia under the Roman emperors. Subsequently the town several times changed its rulers, until in 1471 it was incorporated with the dominions of the house of Hapsburg. Maria Theresa in 1776 united it with Hungary as a corpus separatum. From 1809 to 1814 it was occupied by the French. In 1814 it fell again to Austria, and in 1822 it was once more united with Hungary. In consequence of the revolution of 1848-'9 it was united with the crownland of Croatia, but in 1870 it was made an independent district, with a royal governor of its own, directly under the central government of Hungary.