Podunavlje


Podunavlje is the name of the Danube river basin parts located in Serbia and Croatia. Podunavlje is located on the southern edge of Pannonian Basin. In its wider meaning, the Serbo-Croatian term refers to the area around the entire flow of the river Danube.

Naming history

In the first half of the 18th century, Sava-Danube section of the Habsburg Military Frontier existed in the area. Podunavlje segment of the Frontier comprised parts of southern Bačka and northern Syrmia including towns of Petrovaradin, Šid, Bačka Palanka, Bački Petrovac, Petrovaradinski Šanac, and Titel.
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Between 1922 and 1929, Podunavlje Oblast was one of the administrative units of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It included parts of Šumadija and Banat regions and its seat was in Smederevo. Between 1929 and 1941, one of the provinces of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was known as the Danube Banovina. The province consisted of the geographical regions of Syrmia, Bačka, Banat, Baranja, Šumadija, and Braničevo. The capital city of the Danube Banovina was Novi Sad. In 1941, the World War II Axis Powers occupied the province. Bačka and Baranja regions were attached to Miklós Horthy's Hungary, while Syrmia was attached to the Independent State of Croatia. The remaining rump Danube Banovina existed as part of German-occupied Serbia until the end of 1941 with its capital at Smederevo. Today, Smederevo is seat of the Podunavlje District of Serbia.
Between 1980 and 1989, Podunavlje was a name of one of the former seven municipalities of Novi Sad City in Serbia.
Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, the eastern portion of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, was sometimes called 'Podunavska Krajina' by Serbs or 'Croatian Podunavlje' by Croats.

Cities and towns in Podunavlje

List of cities and towns located on the river Danube in Podunavlje.
Cities and towns in Serbia:
City / townStatusLocationPopulation
Apatincenter of municipalityVojvodina17,352
Bačka Palankacenter of municipalityVojvodina27,924
Beočincenter of municipalityVojvodina7,800
FutogtownVojvodina18,269
Veterniksuburban settlementVojvodina16,895
Novi Sadthe capital of
Vojvodina		Vojvodina221,854
Sremska KamenicatownVojvodina11,967
Petrovaradincenter of municipalityVojvodina14,298
Sremski Karlovcicenter of municipalityVojvodina8,722
Zemun
center of municipalityBelgrade151,811
Belgrade
the capital of
Serbia		Belgrade1,135,502
Pančevothe center of
South Banat District		Vojvodina73,992
Smederevothe center of
Podunavlje District		Southern and Eastern Serbia63,028
Kovincenter of municipalityVojvodina13,499
Kostolaccenter of municipalitySouthern and Eastern Serbia9,264
Veliko Gradištecenter of municipalitySouthern and Eastern Serbia5,868
Kladovocenter of municipalitySouthern and Eastern Serbia8,913

Cities and towns in Croatia:
City / townStatusLocationPopulation
Beli ManastirtownOsijek-Baranja County10,068
Vukovarcity, center of
Vukovar-Srijem County		Vukovar-Syrmia County27,683
IloktownVukovar-Syrmia County6,767

Municipalities in Podunavlje

List of municipal areas connected to the river Danube in Podunavlje.
Municipalities in Serbia:
Municipality / CityLocationPopulation
City of SomborVojvodina85,569
Municipality of ApatinVojvodina28,654
Municipality of OdžaciVojvodina30,196
Municipality of BačVojvodina14,150
Municipality of Bačka PalankaVojvodina55,361
Municipality of Bački PetrovacVojvodina13,302
Municipality of BeočinVojvodina15,630
City of Novi Sad
  • Urban municipality of Novi Sad
  • Urban municipality of Petrovaradin
Vojvodina335,701301,968
33,733
Municipality of Sremski KarlovciVojvodina8,722
Municipality of InđijaVojvodina47,204
Municipality of TitelVojvodina15,554
City of ZrenjaninVojvodina122,714
Municipality of Stara PazovaVojvodina65,508
City of Belgrade
  • Municipality of Zemun
  • Municipality of Palilula
  • Municipality of Stari Grad
  • Municipality of Grocka
Belgrade1,639,121166,292
170,593
48,061
83,398
City of PančevoVojvodina122,252
City of SmederevoSouthern and Eastern Serbia107,528
Municipality of KovinVojvodina33,725
City of Požarevac
  • Urban municipality of Požarevac
  • Urban municipality of Kostolac
Southern and Eastern Serbia74,07060,466
13,604
Municipality of Bela CrkvaVojvodina17,285
Municipality of Veliko GradišteSouthern and Eastern Serbia17,559
Municipality of GolubacSouthern and Eastern Serbia8,161
Municipality of MajdanpekSouthern and Eastern Serbia18,179
Municipality of KladovoSouthern and Eastern Serbia20,635
Municipality of NegotinSouthern and Eastern Serbia36,879

Municipalities in Croatia:
Municipality / CityLocationPopulation
Municipality of BiljeOsijek-Baranja County5,480
Municipality of BorovoVukovar-Syrmia County5,360
Municipality of BogdanovciVukovar-Syrmia County1,960
Municipality of MarkušicaVukovar-Syrmia County2,576
Municipality of NegoslavciVukovar-Syrmia County1.463
Municipality of NuštarVukovar-Syrmia County3,639
Municipality of Stari JankovciVukovar-Syrmia County1,769
Municipality of TordinciVukovar-Syrmia County2.032
Municipality of TovarnikVukovar-Srijem County2,775
Municipality of TrpinjaVukovar-Syrmia County5,572
Municipality of DražOsijek-Baranja County3,356
Municipality of ErdutOsijek-Baranja County8,417
Municipality of Kneževi VinogradiOsijek-Baranja County5,186
Municipality of ŠodolovciOsijek-Baranja County1,653
Municipality of PetlovacOsijek-Baranja County2,405
Municipality of PopovacOsijek-Baranja County2,084
Municipality of ČeminacOsijek-Baranja County2,856
Municipality of DardaOsijek-Baranja County7,062
City of IlokVukovar-Syrmia County8,351
Municipality of LovasVukovar-Syrmia County1,579
City of VukovarVukovar-Syrmia County31,670

Podunavlje in Serbia

Geography and demographics

Northern part of Serbian Podunavlje is mostly flat, while southern part is mostly mountainous. Important rivers in Serbian Podunavlje that flowing into Danube are Tisa, Sava, Tamiš, and Morava. Two largest cities of Serbia, Belgrade and Novi Sad, are located in Podunavlje. Podunavlje includes parts of several traditional geographical regions in Serbia, such are Bačka, Banat, Syrmia, Šumadija, Braničevo, and Timočka Krajina.
Serbian Podunavlje is mainly populated by Serbs, while other smaller ethnic groups in the area are Slovaks, Hungarians, Croats, Rusyns, Romanians, Vlachs, Roma people, etc. Slovaks forming the majority of population in the municipality of Bački Petrovac, which is located near the Danube, in Bačka. Main religion in the area is Orthodox Christianity, while other smaller religious groups are Catholic Christians, Protestant Christians and Muslims.

History

Podunavlje region in Serbia was area where several important prehistoric cultures flourished, notably the Lepenski Vir culture, the Starčevo culture, the Vinča culture, the Kostolac culture, the Vatin culture, the Belegiš culture, etc. It was also a core of the Tribal State of Celtic Scordisci, which had its capital in Singidunum. Serbian Podunavlje was also a border region of Roman Empire and there are archaeological remnants of Roman civilization in the area.
In the Migration Period and the Middle Ages, the region was part of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Hunnic Empire, the Ostrogothic Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Gepids, the Lombard State, the Avar Khaganate, the Frankish Empire, the Bulgarian Empire, the Principality of Pannonian Croatia, the Principality of Lower Pannonia, the Great Moravia, and the Kingdom of Hungary.
Although, Serbo-Croatian speaking South Slavs settled in Serbian Podunavlje in the 6th century, Serbian state did not reached the river Danube before 13th century. Kingdom of Syrmia ruled by Serb king Stefan Dragutin included southern Podunavlje and had its capitals in Debrc and Belgrade. The southern Podunavlje was subsequently included into other medieval Serbian states, notably the Serbian Empire, the Moravian Serbia and the Serbian Despotate. The Serbian Despotate had its capitals in Podunavlje, notably in Belgrade and Smederevo. After the Ottoman conquest of Serbian Despotate in 1459, Serbian statehood was temporarily restored in northern Podunavlje between 1526 and 1530, during the reigns of emperor Jovan Nenad and duke Radoslav Čelnik.
In the 16th century, the whole region was included into the Ottoman Empire. Subsequently, it became an area disputed between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy. After the Treaty of Belgrade from 1739 which defined the Habsburg-Ottoman border in Podunavlje, the region, as well as the local Serb people, became divided between the two empires. In both these areas, Serb people fought for their autonomy and independence. After the First and Second Serbian Uprising, an autonomous Ottoman Principality of Serbia was created in the south, while after the Serbian Uprising in Vojvodina, an autonomous Austrian Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar was created in the north. The two autonomous areas, however, did not had the same fate; while the northern voivodeship was abolished in 1860, the southern principality gained full independence in 1878 and was transformed into the Kingdom of Serbia in 1882. In 1918, after the Habsburg defeat in the First World War, the northern Podunavlje was also included into the Kingdom of Serbia, which subsequently became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Since 2006, the whole region is part of an independent Republic of Serbia.

Podunavlje in Croatia

Geography and demographics

In Croatia, region is elongated in a north-south along the Danube which is border river between Croatia and Serbia. On the north region bordering with Hungary and on west continues to Slavonia, Syrmia and Baranja and rest of Croatia. The region is extremely flat with an average altitude of 80–110 meters. Coendures of Croatian Podunavlje are approximately overlapping with the territory of pre-War territory of Yugoslav municipalities Beli Manastir, Osijek, Vinkovci and Vukovar. Those four municipalities had a territory of 3.436 kilometres and constituted 6,1% of territory of Socialist Republic of Croatia. In 1991 mentioned municipalities had 402.152 inhabitants living in 157 settlements and they constituted 8,4% of population of Croatia at the time. After the collapse of Yugoslavia, local government system in Croatia was significantly changed and today Croatian Podunavlje in widest sense can be described as a region that is overlapping with the territory of Vukovar-Syrmia and Osijek-Baranja counties. In this sense region include the gravitation regions of towns of Našice and Županja and is significantly bigger and cover the area of 6.597 kilometres or 11,7% of territory of Croatia with 348 settlements and 598.434 inhabitants in 1991.
Climate in the region can be described as Continental climate with warm and hot summers and cold winters. Temperature ranges in Podunavlje are higher than in rest of Croatia due to the continent influence. Also level of rainfall is therefore lower than in the rest of Croatia.
It is one of the ethnically heterogeneous areas in Croatia. The largest ethnic group are Croats, after them follow Serbs and Hungarians, as well as some smaller ethnic groups such as Pannonian Rusyns, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Romani people, Germans, etc. Croats constitute an absolute majority of people in Podunavlje, while Serbs make up largest ethnic minority. Hungarians are third ethnic group by number and mostly live in area of Baranja. Pannonian Rusyns live mainly in Petrovci and Mikluševci. More than one-fifth of total number of Slovaks in country live in Ilok.

History

Some of the important archaeological cultures that appeared in this area are the Vučedol culture, the Vinča culture and the Starčevo culture. Certainly, the most famous archaeological artifact is the ritual vessel of Vučedol culture, called by the speculative attribution of her founder M. Seper – the Vučedol Dove. Made between 2800 and 2500 B.C. it became the symbol of style, culture and new arising European civilization. The Vučedol dove is a 19,5 cm high ritual vessel made from baked clay. This, as well, proves European pigeon breeding much older than we used to think. Moreover, Vučedol dove is the oldest dove figure found in Europe so far. The ritual vessel is depicted on the reverse of the Croatian 20 kuna banknote, issued in 1993 and 2001.
During the Roman period, Danube was border to barbarian world.
In period from 1991 till 1998 in Podunavlje there was self-proclaimed Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia that was reintegrated into Croatia after signing of Erdut Agreement. Region was declared by local Serbs who promoted survival of Yugoslavia, because of which they had support of Yugoslav People's Army. Local Serb population was further alarmed with comparisons of new Croatian state with World War II Independent State of Croatia and its Jasenovac concentration camp. War has left a heavy mark on both the economy and the interpersonal relationships in region. There were especially strained relations between two largest groups, Croats and Serbs.
Some of the most important events of war in eastern Croatia are Battle of Vukovar, Vukovar massacre, and Borovo Selo killings in which in first two cases was killed significant number of civilians. Large part of Croats were forced to leave their homes in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, and their property was looted and destroyed. Some have been captured and imprisoned for some time in Serbia, and some were killed there. Tens of thousands of Croats in this period left Podunavlje. At the same time in Podunavlje came tens of thousands Serbian refugees fleeing from war in the rest of Croatia. After the war ended local population get a difficult task of rebuilding coexistence in which were included a number of organizations such as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and embassies of foreign countries. However, although progress is slow at times international community has assessed this process as relatively successful.

Nature

Kopački Rit:
Nature park Kopački Rit is located northwest of the confluence of the Drava and the Danube, situated at the border with Serbia. It is one of the most important, largest and most attractive preserved intact wetlands in Europe. Around 260 various bird species nest here, and there are many other species using this area as a temporary shelter on migration from the northern, cooler regions to the southern, warmer areas and vice versa.
There are 40-odd fish species. Several various mammal species inhabit the land Rich plant life, typical of wetlands, is found also in Kopački Rit.