 Many of these refugees settled permanently in Istria.The settlements were politically motivated, to "strengthen the Croatian stock" in Istria, because during the decade 1981–1991 the number of Italians in Istria statistically had increased more than 80% as a result of the new political conditions in Croatia.Evidence of Italic people living alongside those from other ethnic groups on the eastern side of the Adriatic as far north as the Alps goes back at least to the Bronze Age, and the populations have been mixed ever since.