BaÄka
BaÄka (Serbian: BaÄka or Бачка, pronounced [bâËt͡ʃkaË]]; Hungarian: Bácska, pronounced [ˈbaËt͡ʃkÉ’]) is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hungary. Most of the area is located within the Vojvodina region in Serbia and Novi Sad, the capital of Vojvodina, lies on the border between BaÄka and Syrmia. The smaller northern part of the geographical area is located within Bács-Kiskun County, in Hungary.
Name
The name of the region in Serbian is BaÄka or Бачка and in Hungarian is Bácska. In other languages of the region, the name is similar: BaÄka in Croatian and Bunjevac, BáÄka in Slovak, Бачка (BaÄka) in Rusyn, and Batschka in German.
According to Serbian historians, BaÄka is a typical Slavic[1] name form, created from "BaÄ" (name of historical town in BaÄka) and suffix "ka" (which designating "the land that belong to BaÄ"). There are many other similar name forms used in Serbian and other Slavic languages, for example Å ajkaÅ¡ka, Srpska, Hrvatska (Croatia), TimoÄka Krajina, Bugarska (Bulgaria), Polska (Poland), etc.
The name of "BaÄ" (Bács) town itself is of uncertain origin and its existence was recorded among Vlachs, Slavs and Hungarians in the Middle Ages. The origin of the name could be Paleo-Balkanic,[2] Romanian, Slavic,[3] or Old Turkic.[4]
According to Hungarian historians, the denominator of the landscape may have been the first bailiff of BaÄ (Bács) castle, and the name one which can be rendered probable it Old Turkic baya derives from a dignity name.[5][6]
In the 17th and 18th century because of the large number of Serbs who lived in BaÄka, this region was called »Raczorszag« (Hungarian name, which means "the Serb country" in English).[7][8] Sometimes, the Hungarians used name Délvidék ("the southern or lower country") for an wider imprecisely defined geographical area, which, according to 19th century view also included BaÄka. However, according to other Hungarian sources, BaÄka was rather seen as part of Alföld.[9]
History
Through history, BaÄka has been a part of Dacia, the Kingdom of the Iazyges, the Hun Empire, the Gepid Kingdom, the Avar Khanate, the First Bulgarian Empire, the Great Moravia, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Serb realm of Jovan Nenad, the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Serbia, 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 has been part of an independent Republic of Serbia. The smaller northern part of the region was part of the short-lived Serb-Hungarian Baranya-Baja Republic (in 1921) and part of independent Hungary since 1921.
People have inhabited the region of BaÄka since Neolithic times. Indo-European peoples settled in this region in three migration waves dated in 4200 BC, 3300 BC, and 2800 BC respectively. The earliest historical inhabitants of the region were probably Illyrian tribes. Later, other Indo-European peoples, including Dacians, Celts, Sarmatians (Iazyges) and Gepids were recorded as inhabitants of BaÄka.
Slavs, the ancestors of contemporary Serbs,[10][11][12] settled today's BaÄka in the 6th and 7th centuries, before part of them subsequently migrated to the Balkans. In the 9th century the territory of BaÄka was part of Bulgarian Empire. 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, during the administration of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary, Bacsensis (Bács, BaÄ) County was formed, with city of Bache (Bács, BaÄ) as its administrative centre. According to Serbian sources, Ilija Vid, the first known prefect of Bacsensis County was recorded in 1068 and he was an ethnic Serb.[13] In this time, the region was populated by both, Slavs and Hungarians. Serbian historian Dr. Milenko Palić also mentions that prefect Vid was an ethnic Serb and that he, together with two other ethnic Serbs whose names were Ilija and Radovan, participated in dynastic struggles in the Kingdom of Hungary, in the end of the 11th century.[14] According to Hungarian authors, prefect Vid belonged to the Gutkeled genus,[15][16] but there is a possibility that he was a fictitious person.[16]
After the Kingdom of Hungary was defeated by the Ottoman Empire (in 1526), BaÄka became (from 1526 to 1527) the central region of an independent Serbian state,[17] which existed in the territory of present-day Vojvodina. The ruler of this state was Emperor Jovan Nenad and his capital city was Subotica. After Jovan Nenad was killed, his state collapsed and BaÄka, for a short time, came again under Hungarian administration. Soon, the region became part of the Ottoman Empire.
During the Ottoman rule (in the 16th-17th centuries), BaÄka was part of the Sanjak of Segedin (Szeged), and the region was mainly populated with Serbs (who were in an absolute majority[18]) and Muslims. In 1699, the BaÄka became a possession of the Habsburg Monarchy. A Bacsensis County was established in the western parts of the region, while some other (mostly eastern) parts of the BaÄka were incorporated into the Tisa-MureÅŸ section of Habsburg Military Frontier. After this part of the Military Frontier was abolished in 1751, these parts of BaÄka were also included into Bacsensis county. The only part of BaÄka which remained within the Military Frontier was Å ajkaÅ¡ka, but it also came under civil administration in 1873.
According to the Austrian censuses from 1715 and 1720, Serbs, Bunjevci, and Å okci comprised most of the region's population (97.6% of population according to 1715-1720 census data[19][20]). There were only 530 or 1.9% Hungarians and 0.5% Germans.[19] 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. Muslim population had almost entirely left or was expelled from the region and some of the Muslim refugees from this area settled in Ottoman Bosnia.[20] The new settlers in BaÄka were primarily Serbs who moved from Ottoman Balkans, 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, Rusyns, 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 abolition of the Tisa-MureÅŸ section of Military Frontier, many Serbs emigrated from north-eastern parts of BaÄka. They moved either to Russia (notably to New Serbia and Slavo-Serbia) or to Banat, where the Military Frontier was still needed.
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Ancient Indo-European peoples in BaÄka
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Slavs in BaÄka in the 6th century
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Voivodeship (Duchy) of Bulgarian duke Salan, 9th century
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Bach and Bodrogh counties in the 14th century
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Serbian empire of Jovan Nenad, 1526–1527
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BaÄka as part of the Ottoman Sanjak of Segedin in 1568–1571
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Military Frontier in BaÄka in 1699
In 1848 and 1849, BaÄka 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 TamiÅ¡ Banat, a separate Austrian crown land (the official languages of the voivodship were German and Illyrian, i.e. Serbo-Croatian), the successor of the Serbian Voivodship. After 1860, when Voivodship of Serbia and TamiÅ¡ Banat was abolished, the Bács-Bodrog County was again formed in the territory of BaÄka. The county was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, which became one of two autonomous parts of Austria-Hungary in 1867.
According to the 1910 census, the population of BaÄka numbered 704,563 people and was composed of: 43.2% speakers of Hungarian (310,490), 28.1% speakers of South Slavic (Serbo-Croatian) language and 22.5% speakers of German. Linguistic composition of the region is partially different from ethnic composition since some ethnic Jews and bilingual South Slavs were in this census recorded as speakers of Hungarian language.
At the end of October 1918, Austria-Hungary gradually dissolved and, with the Armistice of Villa Giusti of 3 November, officially capitulated to the Triple Entente. Following this capitulation, Slavs from Banat, BaÄka and Baranja organized a new civil administration in these regions as well as their own military units known as People's Guard (Serbian: Narodna straža). The new civil administration was composed of local People's Boards (Serbian: Narodni odbori), which were subordinated to Serb People's Board (Serbian: Srpski narodni odbor) in Novi Sad. Military units of Serb People's Board also possessed aircraft from the Novi Sad Airport. After elections, which were organized between 18 and 24 November, Great People's Assembly of Serbs, Bunjevci and other Slavs of Banat, BaÄka and Baranja (held on 25 November 1918) proclaimed unification of these regions with the Kingdom of Serbia. New administrative bodies of Banat, BaÄka and Baranja (government and parliament) were also formed. Although, government in Belgrade accepted decision of unification with Serbia, it never recognized new provincial government. The provincial administration, however, was active until 12 March 1919, when it held its last session.[21]
On 1 December 1918, the Kingdom of Serbia united with the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to form new country named the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Sovereignty of new kingdom was internationally recognized by the Treaty of Saint Germain in 1919. The Treaty of Trianon of 4 June 1920 defined the exact borders between the newly independent Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which was later renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and original territory of BaÄka was divided between these two countries. The northern part of the region was a separate county of Hungary (Bács-Bodrog) with seat in Baja, which was later incorporated into Bács-Kiskun county. The southern part of the region was within the District of Novi Sad of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes between 1918 and 1922, then was divided between BaÄka Oblast and Belgrade Oblast, provinces (oblasts) of the kingdom, between 1922 and 1929. In 1929, it was incorporated into Danube Banovina, which was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Between 1820 and 1910, Hungarian speaking population in BaÄka increased from 121,688 (31.5%) to 363,518 (44.75%). In the same time, percentage of South Slavs decreased from 44% in 1820 to 27% in 1910. 1921 census showed about 40,000 Hungarian speakers less than in census of 1910. This was especially case in Subotica where 1910 census recorded 55.587 speakers of Hungarian and 33,247 speakers of Bunjevac, while census of 1921 recorded 60,700 speakers of Serbo-Croatian and 26,750 speakers of Hungarian. This is explained by the fact that ethnic Bunjevci from Subotica who had knowledge of Hungarian language were listed as speakers of Hungarian by 1910 census. Between 1921 and 1931 census, number of Hungarian speakers in BaÄka increased from 260,998 to 268,711. Slavic population increased by 91,800 inhabitants.
In 1941, Yugoslav BaÄka was occupied by the Axis powers and attached to Horthy's Hungary (but was still internationally recognized as part of Yugoslavia). Before this occupation, according to 1931 census, Yugoslav BaÄka had 784,896 inhabitants, of whom there were 284,865 Yugoslavs (Serbs, Croats, Bunjevci, Å okci), 268,711 Hungarians and 169,858 Germans. Hungarian occupation authorities expelled several thousands of Serbs from the region and settled ethnic Hungarians from other parts of Central Europe in their place, so that the Hungarian census of 1941 recorded different a demographic composition in the region. According to this census, the territory of BaÄka had 789,705 inhabitants, of which 45.4% or 47.2% were speakers of Hungarian language (not all of them native, however).[22] During the occupation, Hungarian troops killed about 20,000 Serbs, Jews and Roma.[23] The occupation ended in 1944 and Yugoslav BaÄka became part of the new Democratic Federal Yugoslavia (later the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). Following the defeat of the Axis troops, most of the German population that lived in the area left the region together with German army. The smaller part of the German population (several thousands of people) that did not leave the area (mostly women, children and the elderly) were sent to prison camps, where many of them died of malnutrition and disease. After the war, members of the Yugoslav Partisan army also killed several tens of thousands of inhabitants of German, Hungarian and Serb ethnic origin (in whole of Vojvodina). Estimates about numbers of victims of the Partisans (in whole of Vojvodina) are between 17,000[24] and 56,000[25] killed Germans, between 4,000[23] and 40,000 Hungarians killed, and about 23,000-24,000 Serbs killed.[24]
Together with eastern Syrmia, western Banat, and northern MaÄva, Yugoslav BaÄka has been part of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina since 1945. After 1992, Yugoslav BaÄka was part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (renamed Serbia and Montenegro in 2003), and since 2006 it has been part of the independent Republic of Serbia.
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District of Potisje and Schajkasch Battalion, 18th-19th century
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BaÄka within the proclaimed borders of Serbian Voivodship in 1848
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Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar (1849-1860)
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Banat, BaÄka and Syrmia after 1881, the five counties, which were formed in the territory of the former Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar
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Detailed map of Bács-Bodrog County
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Banat, BaÄka and Baranja in 1918
Geography
BaÄka is a flat, fertile agricultural area within the larger Pannonian Plain, which was once the ancient Pannonian Sea. In Hungary, it is seen as a southern extension of the Great Alfold (itself part of the Pannonian Plain), while this designation is not used in Serbia where region is simply seen as a part of the Pannonian Plain. It lies between the River Danube to the west and south, and by the River Tisa (Tisza) to the east of which confluence is located near Titel in the South BaÄka District of Serbia. The region is crisscrossed by parts of the Danube–Tisa–Danube Canal system which serves a variety of economic purposes.
Almost all of BaÄka is divided between Serbia and Hungary. However, there are small uninhabited pockets of the area on the left bank of the Danube which are de jure parts of Croatia according to the Badinter Commission. Nonetheless, the disputed areas have been under de facto Serbian control since 1991 (see disputes of Croatia and Serbia).
Most of the territory and a vast majority of the population of BaÄka is part of Serbia's Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. This area within Serbia is officially divided into the districts of Southern BaÄka, Western BaÄka, and Northern BaÄka. Novi Sad, the capital of Vojvodina, lies on the border between BaÄka and Syrmia, on both banks of the river Danube. In some sources, Serbian part of BaÄka is referred to as Central and Southern BaÄka (Serbian: Средња и јужна Бачка / Srednja i južna BaÄka; Hungarian: Közép- és Dél-Bácska) or simply Southern BaÄka (Јужна Бачка / Južna BaÄka; Dél-Bácska). The smaller part of the region in Hungary's Bács-Kiskun County is, by the same sources, described as Northern BaÄka (Hungarian: Észak-Bácska; Serbian: Северна Бачка / Severna BaÄka).
Serbian BaÄka
The districts of Serbia in BaÄka are:
Note that municipalities of Sremski Karlovci, Petrovaradin, and BeoÄin and southern part of municipality of BaÄka Palanka that belong to South BaÄka District are geographically not located in BaÄka, but in Syrmia, while municipalities of Ada, Senta and Kanjiža which are geographically located in BaÄka are part of North Banat District.
Geographic or traditional subregions or regions overlapping with Serbian BaÄka include Gornji Breg, Podunavlje, Potisje, Å ajkaÅ¡ka, TeleÄka and Paorija.
Cities, towns and villages in the Serbian part of BaÄka with more than 10,000 inhabitants (with population numbers from 2011 census):
- Novi Sad (250,439)
- Subotica (97,910)
- Sombor (47,623)
- BaÄka Palanka (28,239)
- Vrbas (24,112)
- BeÄej (23,895)
- Temerin (19,661)
- Senta (18,704)
- Futog (18,641)
- Kula (17,866)
- Veternik (17,454)
- Apatin (17,411)
- BaÄka Topola (14,573)
- Srbobran (12,009)
- Kać (11,740)
Towns and villages in the Serbian part of BaÄka with population between 5,000 and 10,000 inhabitants (with population numbers from 2011 census):
- Kanjiža (9,871)
- Ada (9,564)
- Žabalj (9,161)
- Crvenka (9,001)
- Odžaci (8,811)
- ÄŒurug (8,166)
- Sivac (7,895)
- Palić (7,771)
- Bajmok (7,414)
- ÄŒantavir (6,591)
- Rumenka (6,495)
- BaÄko Petrovo Selo (6,350)
- BaÄki Petrovac (6,155)
- Mol (6,009)
- Horgoš (5,709)
- BaÄki Jarak (5,687)
- Kovilj (5,414)
- BaÄ (5,399)
- Titel (5,294)
- BaÄko GradiÅ¡te (5,110)
- ÄurÄ‘evo (5,092)
- KisaÄ (5,091)
- Stara Moravica (5,051)
- Kljajićevo (5,045)
Note: Senta, Kanjiža, Ada, Mol and HorgoÅ¡ are geographically located in BaÄka, but they are part of the North Banat District.
Also see: List of inhabited places of Vojvodina
Hungarian Bácska
The Hungarian Bácska is mostly located in the Bács-Kiskun county of Hungary, while one small part of the region is located in the Baranya county.
Subregions in the Hungarian Bácska include (with population numbers):
- Bajai (76,906)
- Bácsalmási (18,578)
- Jánoshalmai (17,885)
Note that parts of Hungarian Bácska also belong to the subregions of Kiskunhalasi and Mohácsi, although the main parts of those subregions are not located in Bácska.
Most important towns in Hungarian Bácska (with population numbers):
- Baja (38,143)
- Jánoshalma (9,866)
- Bácsalmás (7,694)
Demographics
Serbia
According to the 2002 Serbian census, the population of the Serbian part of BaÄka (in geographical borders) numbers 1,022,524 people and is composed of:[26]
- 559,700 (54.74%) Serbs
- 221,882 (21.70%) Hungarians
- others (including Slovaks, Croats, Bunjevci, Å okci, Rusyns, Montenegrins, Yugoslavs, Romani, Germans, etc.).
Hungary
According to the 2001 census in Hungary, the rough population of the Hungarian Bácska (including districts of Bajai, Bácsalmási, and Jánoshalmai) numbering 113,432 people. Note that administrative borders of the districts do not fully correspond with the geographical borders of Hungarian Bácska. Most of the inhabitants of Hungarian Bácska are ethnic Hungarians.
Gallery
See also
- FK BaÄka BaÄka Palanka
- Vojvodina
- North BaÄka District
- West BaÄka District
- South BaÄka District
- Bács-Bodrog
- Bács-Kiskun
- Eparchy of BaÄka
- BaÄka Oblast
- Banat, BaÄka and Baranja
Notes
- ↑ Dr Dušan J. Popović, Srbi u Vojvodini, knjiga 1, Novi Sad, 1990, page 40.
- ↑ Milica Grković, ReÄnik imena Banjskog, DeÄanskog i Prizrenskog vlastelinstva u XIV veku, Beograd, 1986
- ↑ Dr. Aleksa Ivić, Istorija Srba u Vojvodini, Novi Sad, 1929
- ↑ A Pallas Nagy Lexikona
- ↑ Lajos Kiss, Földrajzi nevek etimológiai szótára (Etimology Dictionary of Geographical Names), Akadémiai Kiadó, 1978, p. 71
- ↑ Bálint Ila, József Kovacsics, Veszprém megye helytörténeti lexikona (Cyclopaedia of Local History of Veszprém county), Volume 2, Volume 2, Akadémiai Kiadó, 1988, p. 169
- ↑ "U XVII i XVIII veku u BaÄkoj je već toliko Srba da putnici ovaj kraj nazivaju »Raczorszag«"
- ↑
- ↑ Bojan Aleksov, Religious Dissent Between the Modern and the National: Nazarenes in Hungary and Serbia 1850-1914, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006, p. 56
- ↑ http://www.russia-talk.com/history/slavs-VIII.jpg
- ↑ http://www.home-edu.ru/user/uatml/00000628/rumjancev/drevnieslavjane/rasselenie.jpg
- ↑ http://www.uncp.edu/home/rwb/slavs_map.jpg
- ↑
- ↑ Dr Milenko Palić, Srbi u Mađarskoj - Ugarskoj do 1918, Novi Sad, 1995, page 10.
- ↑ Lajos Horváth, Turul Es Kereszt: Kozerdeku Torteneti Irasok, Szenci Molnár Társaság, 1996, p. 41
- 1 2 Imre Dankó, Opuscula ethnographica: válogatott tanulmányok, Alföldi Ny, 1977, pp. 173-176
- ↑ Veselin P. Dželetović, Poslednji srpski car - Jovan Nenad, Beograd, 2007.
- ↑
- 1 2 http://hic.hr/books/seeurope/011e-bognar.htm
- 1 2 Ethnic Geography of the Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin - By Károly Kocsis, Eszter Kocsisné Hodosi
- ↑ Dr Drago Njegovan, Prisajedinjenje Vojvodine Srbiji, Muzej Vojvodine, Novi Sad, 2004.
- ↑ Károly Kocsis, Eszter Kocsisné Hodosi, Ethnic Geography of the Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin, Simon Publications LLC, 1998, p. 116-153
- 1 2 Dimitrije Boarov, PolitiÄka istorija Vojvodine, Novi Sad, 2001, page 183.
- 1 2 http://www.mail-archive.com/sim@antic.org/msg44296.html
- ↑ Nenad Stefanović, Jedan Svet na Dunavu, Beograd, 2003, page 133.
- ↑ Popis stanovniÅ¡tva, domaćinstava i stanova 2002. Knjiga 1: Nacionalna ili etniÄka pripadnost po naseljima. Republika Srbija, RepubliÄki zavod za statistiku Beograd 2003. ISBN 86-84433-07-6
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to BaÄka. |
- backabanat.com
- Stanko Trifunović (1997). "Slovenska naselja V-VIII veka u BaÄkoj i Banatu". Novi Sad: Muzej Vojvodine.
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Coordinates: 46°00′N 19°20′E / 46.000°N 19.333°E