Vojvodina
Bordering with Hungary, Romania, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serb northernmost Autonomous Province of Vojvodina represents the most developed region of the Republic of Serbia. Vojvodina lies on the Pannonian Plain, and covers the area of 21.506 sq km with the population of about two million inhabitants. Serbs make the absolute majority in the Vojvodina Province with a population of 1,143,723, followed by Hungarians, Croats, Slovaks, Montenegrins, Romanians and smaller ethnic groups who live in 466 inhabited settlements registered in Vojvodina, which have shaped their habitus through long history of multigenerational (co)existence.
It has been long known that the name “Syrmia” in the Middle Ages meant not only the area between the rivers Sava and Danube, but also the territory on the right bank of the Sava, today’s Mačva, which was called in the sources “Further Syrmia” (Sirmia Ulterior). The Byzantine and Hungarian Syrmia in the 10th-13th centuries, Predrag Komatina
The old house of Vojvodina was built from materials found in the surroundings – soil, wood, straw, reed, and used to be organized in favor of peasants needs who lived there. The first overground houses in Vojvodina were constructed from soil with a single unit, without windows. After arrival of the Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th century there were applied rules and regulations on building of villages, creation of streets and appearance of houses, which was called the “ušoravanje naselja” /formation of settlements/. That is how the houses of Vojvodina emerged, called ‘dužne kuće’ /longitute houses/. The main features of this type of the Vojvodina houses are the rectangular plots on which houses were erected along the streets. Similar to organization of yards, developed house space itself was also characterized by an elongated rectangle with three-partial organization of the inner space and featuring the narrower facade turned towards the street.
During the Roman Empire, the present areas of Bosnia, Slavonia, Baranya and Srem was commonly called Pannonia. One of the larger towns of Pannonia was the town of Serbinum, before the fake “Slavic” settlement/immigration. In medieval time the space of Slavonia, Baranya, Srem, Backa and Banat was known as Raška – Rascia, Racszag, Ráczország, Ratzenland, Rezenland, after the Serbs Rascians. In Serbia there is still existing the Stara Raska, Raška oblast, which is nowadays the Raški okrug /Raska county. If we go deeper in the past, it is known that the ancient Etruscans called themselves the Rasenes – Rasenna, Rasna/Raśna.
In the 15th and the 16th century the Serb despotes possessed estates and properties in Srem, Banat, Bačka, Baranya and Slavonia. Among famous Serbian despotes who possessed lands and estates there are Vuk Grgurević Branković – Zmaj Ognjeni Vuk, Đorđe Branković, Jovan Branković, Ivaniš Berislavić, Stefan Berislavić, Radić Božić – commander of the Serbian sajkasi troops – river flotilla guardians, Pavle Bakić – commander of the Serbian Sajkasi – river flotilla guardians, Stefan Štiljanović. Residence of the Serb despotes was located in the town of Kupiniku, today Kupinovo in Srem district, and despotes also had their estates in other places like Morović, Berkasovo, Apatin, Vukovar, Borovo, Slankamen, Bečej, Vršac, Lipovo, etc…
There was the Serbian Tsardom of Jovan Nenad Crnojevic in the area of the south Pannonian plane. The supreme commander of tsar Jovan Nenad Crnojevic was the Srem duke of Radoslav Čelnik. The most famous Serbian vice-duke and all the Serbian territories within the Habsburg Monarchy was Jovan Monasterliija, who also was the military commander and the commander of the Serbian police – 1686-1704. Among other most famous commanders of the Serbian police (Rascianica militia) was Jovan Popović Tekelija.
During the history there was the Serbian Voivodship – Dutchy and later the Dutchy of Serbia and the Timis Banat. In 1918 the areas of Srem, Baranya, Bačka and were unified with the Serbian mainstream entity of Kingdom of Serbia, by the decision of the Great Assembly of the Serbs, the Bunyevci people – catholic Serbs, the Sokci people – catholic Rascians/Rašani/Srbs and other national minorities, held in Novi Sad on 25 November 1918. On the day before, the 24th November 1918 the Assembly in Ruma decided that Srem district should join the Kingdom of Serbia, to its foundation concept which promotes national culture. The seat of the Matica srpska institution is since 1864 located in Novi Sad.
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Due to its vast fertile land, Vojvodina has long been called the “granary of Europe”, and because of its multinational population, the “little Europe”. Its administrative capital, town of Novi Sad, is the center of cultural activity in the region, and was poetically referred to as the “Serbian Athens”.
Vojvodina is a predominantly a lowland region, situated in the south-east of the vast Pannonian Plain. After the ancient Panonnian Sea had drained this plain away, two former islands were left out as the only elevations: Vršačke Mountains in the south-eastern Banat and Fruška Gora Mountain in the northern Srem. Vojvodina is intersected by three big navigable rivers: Danube, Tisa and Sava. They divide territory of Vojvodina into three clearly visible units – official districts of Vojvodina : Banat in the East, Bačka in the North-West and Srem in the South-West. All three regions are characterized by fertile arable land, overall economic and cultural development, high population density and demographic variety.
Vojvodina features a moderate continental climate, with cold winters, hot, humid summers with well distributed rainfall and short transitional seasons. The territory of Vojvodina is also intersected by rich and well-organized network of canals, roads and railways that link the Central and Western Europe with Balkans and the Near East. The most important routes are Corridor X for road traffic and Danube-European Corridor VII for water traffic. Danube is navigable along its whole flow through Serbia (588 km), as well as its three tributaries: Sava (206 km), Tisa (168 km) and Begej (75 km).
The oldest institutions in Vojvodina, which have traditionally been the cultural bastions of the Serbian people, are: Matica Srpska, founded in 1826, and the Serbian National Theatre, founded in 1861. The University of Novi Sad, as an autonomous institution, was founded in 1960, and represents an educational, scientific and art center of the region.
Vojvodina is one of the most ethnically diversified regions of Europe, with more than 25 various ethnic groups and communities. According to the last official census from 2002, in the Province of Vojvodina live over 2 million of inhabitants of the following ethnic structures : 65 % Serbs, 14,3 % Hungarians, 2,79% Slovaks, 2,78% Croats, 2,71% indeterminate, 2,45% Yugoslavs, 1,75% Montenegrin, 1,50% Romanians-Rusyns, 1,43% Roma, 0,97% Bunjevac people, 0,77% Ruthenians, 0,58% Macedonians, 0,50% regional representatives, 0,23% Ukrainians, other /Albanians, Slovenians, Germans, Poles, Chinese etc/.
