Venice started to take control of the small southern Dalmatian villages around the 10th century, assimilating quickly the neolatin "Dalmatian language" of the coastal areas into the Venetian language. But only in the 14th century was the Republic of Venice able to create a territorial continuity around the Bay of Kotor. These Venetian dominions around Cattaro (Kotor) lasted from 1420 to 1797 and were called "Albania Veneta", a historical province of the Republic of Venice.