The
Dalmatae or
Delmatae were an ancient people who inhabited the core of what would then become known as
Dalmatia after the
Roman conquest — now the eastern
Adriatic coast in
Croatia, between the rivers
Krka and
Neretva. The Delmatae are mostly classed as an
Illyrian tribe, although for most of their history they were independent of the
Illyrian kingdom which bordered to the southeast of them.