Slavo-Serbia

Slavo-Serbia
Славеносрбија
Славяносербия
Слов’яносе́рбія
territory of Russian Empire
1753–1764 →
Capital Bakhmut (Bahmut)
History
 • Established 1753
 • Abolished 1764

Slavo-Serbia (Ukrainian: Слов’яносе́рбія; Russian: Славяносербия (Slavyanoserbiya); Serbian: Славеносрбија or Slavenosrbija; archaic Serbian name: Славено-Сербія) was a territory of Imperial Russia between 1753 and 1764. It was located by the right bank of the Donets River between the Bakhmut (Бахмут) and Luhan (Лугань) rivers. This area today constitutes the territories of present-day Luhansk Oblast and Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine. The administrative centre of Slavo-Serbia was Bakhmut (Bahmut).

History

By the decree of the Senate of May 29, 1753, the free lands of this area were offered for settlement to Serbs, Vlachs (Romanians), Hungarians, Bulgarians, Greeks and other Balkan peoples of Orthodox Christian denomination in order to ensure frontier protection and development of this part of Southern steppes.[1]

Slavo-Serbia was directly governed by Russia's Governing Senate and College of War. The settlers eventually formed the Bakhmut hussar regiment in 1764. Also in 1764, Slavo-Serbia was transformed into the Donets uyezd of Yekaterinoslav Governorate (now in Dnipropetrovs'ka oblast', Ukraine).

Commandants of Slavo-Serbia were Colonels Rajko Preradović and Jovan Šević. These Serbian colonels led their soldiers in various Russian military campaigns; in peacetime they kept the borderlands, along with the Cossacks, free from incursions by other states.

Notable people

Based the most important data from the biography of Semyon Zorich, whose father was Gavrilo Nerandžić and his mother was Stefanija, the daughter of Jovan Zorić, a military officer from the Potisje region (Tisa river basin), in the province of Vojvodina located in Serbia. The river Tisa flows between Banat and Bačka regions and was a strategic military frontier where the famed Šajkaši in their armed vessels patrolled the major rivers (Danube, Tisa, Drava, Sava) keeping the Ottomans at bay.

Semyon had a brother, David Nerandžić, who later on served in the Imperial Russian army with him. Both the Nerandžić and Zorić families were close and lived in the Potisje military frontier of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before settling in Russia. Jovan Zorić's wealthy nephew Maksim Zorić had no male heir (only a daughter named Juliana) and in this customary way Semyon was adopted by his older cousin.

When Semyon was twelve he was registered in the hussar regiment in Slavo-Serbia. As a very young officer he participated in Russian military campaigns in the second half of the 18th century. He earned fame in the Russian-Turkish war and became the adjutant of duke Potemkin in the rank of lieutenant colonel. He became an adjutant to the Empress of Russia and got the rank of a general. After the love affair with the empress, he lived on the estate in Shklov that the empress donated him earlier. There he founded a cadet school that he maintained mostly by himself. He led an extravagant life and received his Serbian relatives, comrades and friends from Austria and Russia, but also many Russians and adventurers. He left heavy debts behind. Apart from Dositej Obradović, Simeon Piščević, Gerasim Zelić and Sava Tekelija mentioned him in their autobiographies and memoirs. He was also remembered in a special way, in poems published in Vienna and Buda, by Aleksije Vezilić.

Demographics

The province had ethnically diverse population that included Serbs, Vlachs (Romanians), Hungarians and others. In 1755, the population of Slavo-Serbia numbered 1,513 inhabitants (of both genders).

In 1756, in the regiment of Jovan Šević, there were 38% Serbs, 23% Vlachs, 9% Hungarians and 22% others.[2] In 1763, the population of Slavo-Serbia numbered 3,992 male inhabitants, of whom only 378 were Serbs.

Places of Slavo-Serbia

Serbian name (mid-18th century)(1) Ukrainian name (mid-18th century)(2) Later or current Ukrainian (Russian) name(2)
Bakhmut (Bahmut) Bahmut — Бахмут Bahmut — Бахмут
Serebrjanka Serebrjanka — Серебрянка Serebrjanka — Серебрянка (Серебрянка)
Privoljno Pryvol'ne — Привольне Pryvillja — Привілля (Приволье)
Verhnja Verxnje — Верхнє -
Nižnje Nyžnje — Нижнє Nyžnje — Нижнє (Нижнее)
Lugansko Luhans'ke — Луганське Luhans'ke — Луганське (Луганское)
Trojicka Troïc'ke — Троїцьке Troïc'ke — Троїцьке (Троицкое)
Kalinovo Kalynovs'ke — Калиновське Kalinove — Калинове (Калиново)
Krimsko Kryms'ke — Кримське Kryms'ke — Кримське (Крымское)
Podgorno Pidgorne — Підгорне Slov"janoserbs'k — Слов'яносербськ (Славяносербск)
Horoše Xoroše — Хороше Xoroše — Хороше
Čerkasko Čerkas'ke — Черкаське Cherkaski Brod — Черкаський Брід (Черкасский Брод) /
Zymohir"ja — Зимогір'я (Зимогорье)
Žovta Žovte — Жовте Žovte — Жовте
Krasni Jar Krasnyj Jar — Красний Яр Krasnyj Jar — Красний Яр (Красный Яр)
Kamjani Brod Kam"janyj Brid — Кам'яний Врід Kam"janyj Brid — Кам'яний Брід (Каменный Брод)
Vergunci Vergunka — Вергунка Vergunka — Вергунка
Notes: (1)Serbian names given in the Serbian Latin alphabet. (2)Ukrainian names are given in Latin transliterations and native Cyrillic forms.

Notes

  1. ↑ Historical Dictionary of Ukraine, Ivan Katchanovski, Zenon E. Kohut, Bohdan Y. Nebesio, Myroslav Yurkevich, vol. 2, Scarecrow Press, 2013, ISBN 081087847X, pp. 392-393, p. 584.
  2. ↑ Posunjko 2002, p. 36

See also

References

Mita Kostić (2001). "Nova Srbija i Slavenosrbija" (PDF). Novi Sad. 

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