Podunavlje () is the name of the Danube river basin parts located in Croatia (Slavonia, Syrmia, and Baranya) and Serbia (Vojvodina, Belgrade and Eastern Serbia). Podunavlje is located on the southern edge of Pannonian Basin. In its wider meaning, the Croatian term refers to the area around the entire flow of the river Danube.Podunavlje, Enciklopedija Novog Sada, knjiga 20, Novi Sad, 2002, page 287.
Naming history
In the first half of the 18th century, Sava-Danube (Posavina-Podunavlje) 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 (Novi Sad), and Titel.
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, Baranya, 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 Baranya regions were attached to Miklós Horthy's Hungary, while Syrmia was attached to the Independent State of Croatia. The remaining rump Danube Banovina (including Banat, Šumadija, and Braničevo) 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, Baranya and Western Syrmia (1991–1998), 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 / town Status Location Population (2011)Apatinmunicipality seatWest Bačka District17,352Bačka Palankamunicipality seatSouth Bačka District27,924Beočincenter of municipalitySouth Bačka District7,800Novi Sadadministrative center ofSouth Bačka DistrictSouth Bačka District221,854Sremska KamenicatownSouth Bačka District11,967Petrovaradinmunicipality seatSouth Bačka District14,298Sremski Karlovcimunicipality seatSrem District8,722Zemun(part of Belgrade)municipality seatCity of Belgrade151,811Belgrade(including Zemun)capital of SerbiaCity of Belgrade1,135,502Pančevoadministrative center ofSouth Banat DistrictSouth Banat District73,992Smederevoadministrative center ofPodunavlje DistrictPodunavlje District63,028Kovinmunicipality seatSouth Banat District13,499Kostolacmunicipality seatBraničevo District9,264Veliko Gradištemunicipality seatBraničevo District5,868Kladovomunicipality seatBor District8,913
Cities and towns in Croatia:
City / town Status Location Population (2021)Beli ManastirtownOsijek-Baranja County7,973Vukovarcity, center ofVukovar-Srijem CountyVukovar-Syrmia County23,175IloktownVukovar-Syrmia County5,045
Municipalities in Podunavlje
List of municipal areas connected to the river Danube in Podunavlje.
Municipalities in Serbia:
Municipality / City Location Population (2011)City of SomborWest Bačka District85,569Municipality of ApatinWest Bačka District28,654Municipality of OdžaciWest Bačka District30,196Municipality of BačSouth Bačka District14,150Municipality of Bačka PalankaSouth Bačka District55,361Municipality of Bački PetrovacSouth Bačka District13,302Municipality of BeočinSouth Bačka District15,630City of Novi SadSouth Bačka District335,701301,96833,733Municipality of Sremski KarlovciSrem District8,722Municipality of InđijaSrem District47,204Municipality of TitelSouth Bačka District15,554City of ZrenjaninCentral Banat District122,714Municipality of Stara PazovaSrem District65,508City of Belgrade*Municipality of Zemun*Municipality of Palilula*Municipality of Stari Grad*Municipality of GrockaBelgrade1,639,121166,292170,59348,06183,398City of PančevoSouth Banat District122,252City of SmederevoPodunavlje District107,528Municipality of KovinSouth Banat District33,725City of Požarevac*Municipality of Požarevac*Municipality of KostolacBraničevo District74,07060,46613,604Municipality of Bela CrkvaSouth Banat District17,285Municipality of Veliko GradišteBraničevo District17,559Municipality of GolubacBraničevo District8,161Municipality of MajdanpekBor District18,179Municipality of KladovoBor District20,635Municipality of NegotinZaječar District36,879
Municipalities in Croatia:
Municipality / City Location Population (2021)Municipality of AntunovacOsijek-Baranja County3,411Municipality of BiljeOsijek-Baranja County4,772Municipality of BorovoVukovar-Syrmia County3,555Municipality of BogdanovciVukovar-Syrmia County1,545Municipality of MarkušicaVukovar-Syrmia County1,773Municipality of NegoslavciVukovar-Syrmia County983Municipality of NuštarVukovar-Syrmia County4,861Municipality of Stari JankovciVukovar-Syrmia County3,271Municipality of TordinciVukovar-Syrmia County1,657Municipality of TovarnikVukovar-Srijem County2,067Municipality of TrpinjaVukovar-Syrmia County4,167Municipality of DražOsijek-Baranja County1,949Municipality of ErdutOsijek-Baranja County5,436Municipality of ErnestinovoOsijek-Baranja County1,948Municipality of Kneževi VinogradiOsijek-Baranja County3,357Municipality of ŠodolovciOsijek-Baranja County1,217Municipality of PetlovacOsijek-Baranja County1,874Municipality of PopovacOsijek-Baranja County1,446Municipality of ČeminacOsijek-Baranja County2,484Municipality of DardaOsijek-Baranja County5,427Municipality of LovasVukovar-Syrmia County980
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 the Timok Valley.
Serbian Podunavlje is mainly populated by Serbs, while other smaller ethnic groups in the area are Slovaks, Hungarians, Croats, Rusyns, Romanians and 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 an 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 (present-day Belgrade). 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 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 reach the river Danube before the 13th century. Kingdom of Syrmia ruled by Serb king Stefan Dragutin (1284–1316) 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 (in present-day Vojvodina) 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 (in 1804 and 1815), an autonomous Ottoman Principality of Serbia was created in the south, while after the Serbian Uprising in Vojvodina (in 1848–1849), an autonomous Austrian Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar was created in the north. The two autonomous areas, however, did not have 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 (later renamed to Yugoslavia). 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 Baranya 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 (12,5% of total population of Croatia at that time).
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 Baranya. Pannonian Rusyns live mainly in Petrovci and Mikluševci. More than one-fifth of total number of Slovaks in country live in Ilok.
History