The object of research in this dissertation was Ravni Kotari landscape, a central part of Littoral Croatia. Since there is no clear definition of Ravni Kotari region, regionalization was performed first, and four smaller regional units comprising Kotari were detected. The land use and formation of Ravni Kotari landscape in the past, since prehistory until today, was discussed from the viewpoint of historical geography. A total of six main cultural periods were determined during which Ravni Kotari landscape was formed: prehistory, Roman period, the Medieval period, the period of the Venetian-Ottoman supremacy, the 19th and the first half of the 20th century and the second half of the 20th century. In addition, unfavourable socio-political and economic factors that caused the interruptions i.e. discontinuities in the development of Ravni Kotari landscape were identified. They correspond to the period of the early Middle Ages, the 16th and 17th century and the Homeland War. The second part of the research included the analysis of land use change from the 18th until the 21st century. A comparison of spatial distribution and shares of each category of land was performed based on approximately 80 Ravni Kotari cadastral municipalities. Plough-fields, pastures and forests underwent the largest share changes in total surface of cadastral municipalities as well as entire Ravni Kotari area. On the other hand, shares of gardens and meadows remained mostly the same. Today, approximately one third of Ravni Kotari land is cultivated, one third is covered with bush/macchia and forest, and the rest is either used as pasture or is infertile (including built-up areas). The development of landscape i.e. land use was comprehensively researched using landscape metrics on a case study – Nadin cadastral municipality.