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- This article is about geographical region in Serbia and Hungary. For other uses, see Bačka (disambiguation).
Bačka (Serbian: Бачка or Bačka, Hungarian: Bácska, Croatian: Bačka, Slovak: Báčka, Rusyn: Бачка, German: Batschka) is an area of the Pannonian plain lying between the rivers Danube and Tisa. It is mostly divided between Serbia and Hungary, with a small uninhabited pockets of land on the left bank of Danube which belong to Croatia.
Most of this area currently forms part of the Vojvodina region of Serbia. Novi Sad, the capital city of Vojvodina, stands on the border between Bačka and Syrmia. According to the 2002 census in Serbia, the population of the Serbian part of Bačka (in geographical borders) is composed of: Serbs (54.74%), Hungarians (21.70%), Slovaks, Croats, Bunjevci, Šokci, Rusyns, Montenegrins, Yugoslavs, Roma, Germans, etc. Total population of the Serbian part of Bačka is 1,022,524 (2002 census). The smaller northern part of Bačka is now located in Bács-Kiskun County in Hungary.
History
Through history Bačka has been a part of Dacia, the Hun Empire, the Avar Khanate, the Gepid Kingdom, the First Bulgarian Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, and since 2006, it is part of an independent Serbia. The smaller northern part of the region is part of the independent Hungary since 1920.
The name Bačka is Slavic by origin. In Slavic languages, Bačka means land which belongs to the city of Bač. Hungarians have also adopted this Slavic name for the region.
People have inhabited the region of Bačka for over 4,000 years, since Neolithic times. The earliest historical inhabitants of the region were probably Illyrian tribes.
Slavs (including Serbs) settled today's Bačka in the 6th and 7th centuries. In the 9th century the territory of Bačka was part of Bulgaria. Salan, a Bulgarian voivod (duke), was a ruler in this territory and his capital city was Titel. In the early 10th century, Hungarians defeated Salan, and his duchy came under Hungarian rule.
In the 11th century, Bač (Bács) County was formed, with city of Bač as its administrative centre. First known prefect of Bač County was recorded in 1074 and his name was Vid, which is a Slavic name by origin.
During the rule of the Hungarian king Coloman (1095-1116), the local Serb nobles in Bačka were Uroš, Vukan and Pavle. An record from 1309 speak about "Schismatics" (Orthodox Christians), who lived in Bačka.
In 1526 and 1527, Bačka was the central region of an ephemeral independent Serbian state, which existed in the territory of present-day Vojvodina. The ruler of this state was the so-called "Emperor" Jovan Nenad and his capital city was Subotica.
During the Ottoman rule (16th-17th centuries), Bačka was part of the Sanjak of Segedin (Szeged), and the region was mainly populated with Serbs. In 1699 the Bačka came into the possession of the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria. A Bač County was established in the western parts of the region, while the eastern parts of Bačka were incorporated into Tisa-Mureş section of Habsburg Military Frontier. After this part of the Military Frontier was abolished in 1751, the eastern parts of Bačka were also included into Bács county. The only part of Bačka which remained within the Military Frontier was Šajkaška, but it also came under civil administration in 1873.
According to the Austrian census from 1715, Serbs, Bunjevci, and Šokci comprised 97.6% of the region's population. During the 18th century, the Habsburgs carried out an intensive colonisation of the area, which had low population density after the last Ottoman Wars, as much of the Serbian population had been decimated through warfare. The new settlers were primarily Serbs, Hungarians, and Germans. Because many of the Germans came from Swabia, they were known as Donauschwaben, or Danube Swabians. Some Germans also came from Austria, and some from Bavaria and Alsace. Lutheran Slovaks, Rusins, and others were also colonized but to a much smaller extent.
There was also an emigration of Serbs from the eastern parts of the region, which belonged to Military Frontier until 1751. After the abolishment of the Tisa-Mureş section of Military Frontier, many Serbs emigrated from north-eastern parts of Bačka. They moved either to Russia (notably to Nova Serbia and Slavo-Serbia) or to Banat, where the Military Frontier was still needed.
In 1848 and 1849, Bačka was part of the Serbian Voivodship, a Serbian autonomous region within Austrian Empire, while between 1849 and 1860 it was part of the Voivodship of Serbia and Tamiš Banat, a separate Austrian crown land, the successor of the Serbian Voivodship. After 1860, when Voivodship of Serbia and Tamiš Banat was abolished, the Bačka- Bodrog County was formed in the territory of Bačka. The county was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, which became one of two autonomous parts of Austria-Hungary in 1867.
The territory of Bačka (as part of Vojvodina) united with the Kingdom of Serbia in 1918. By the Treaty of Trianon (4 June 1920), the original territory of Bačka was divided between the newly independent Hungary and the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was later renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The northern part of region was later incorporated into Bács-Kiskun County of Hungary. The southern part of the region was a county of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes between 1918 and 1922, then a province (oblast) of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes between 1922 and 1929, and in 1929 it was incorporated into Danube Banovina, which was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
In 1941 Yugoslav Bačka was occupied by the Axis powers and attached to Hungary. The Trianon frontier was restored in 1945 with the end of the Second World War and Yugoslav Bačka became part of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (later the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). Together with Syrmia and Banat, Bačka is part of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina since 1945. Since 1992, Yugoslav Bačka has been part of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (renamed to Serbia and Montenegro in 2003), and since 2006 it is part of an independent Serbia.
Geography
The districts of Serbia in Bačka are:
Cities and towns in the Serbian part of Bačka (with city population numbers):- Novi Sad (190,602)
- Subotica (99,471)
- Sombor (50,950)
- Bačka Palanka (29,431)
- Vrbas (25,887)
- Bečej (25,703)
- Senta (20,363)
- Kula (19,293)
- Apatin (19,289)
- Temerin (19,143)
- Futog (18,492)
- Bačka Topola (16,154)
- Srbobran (13,049)
- Ada (10,546)
- Kanjiža (10,193)
- Crvenka (10,153)
- Odžaci (9,832)
- Žabalj (9,582)
- Palić (7,668)
- Mol (6,780)
- Bački Petrovac (6,731)
- Bač (6,046)
- Bački Jarak (6,042)
- Titel (5,831)
Also see: List of inhabited places of Vojvodina
Gallery
See also
External links
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