Bačka

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This article is about geographical region in Serbia and Hungary. For other uses, see Bačka (disambiguation).

Bačka (Serbian: Бачка or Bačka, Hungarian: Bácska, Croatian: Bačka, Slovak: Báčka, Rusyn: Бачка, German: Batschka) is an area of the Pannonian plain lying between the rivers Danube and Tisa. It is divided between Serbia and Hungary, with small uninhabited pockets of land on the left bank of Danube which belong to Croatia, but it`s under Serbian control from 1991 (see disputes of Croatia and Serbia).

Most of this area currently forms part of the Vojvodina region of Serbia. Novi Sad, the capital city of Vojvodina, stands on the border between Bačka and Syrmia. The smaller northern part of Bačka is now located in Bács-Kiskun County in Hungary.

Contents 1 Name 2 History 3 Geography 3.1 Serbian Bačka 3.2 Hungarian Bácska 4 Demographics 4.1 Overview 4.2 1715 4.3 1720 4.4 1820 4.5 1910 4.6 1921 4.7 1931 4.8 1941 4.9 1948 4.10 1953 4.11 1961 4.12 1971 4.13 1981 4.14 1991 4.15 2002 5 Gallery 6 Notes 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Name

The name Bačka is Slavic by origin. In Slavic languages, Bačka means "land which belongs to the city of Bač". Hungarians have also adopted this Slavic name for the region.

[edit] History

Through history Bačka has been a part of Dacia, the Hun Empire, the Avar Khanate, the Gepid Kingdom, the First Bulgarian Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary, 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 is part of an independent Serbia. The smaller northern part of the region is part of the independent Hungary since 1920.

People have inhabited the region of Bačka for over 4,000 years, since Neolithic times. The earliest historical inhabitants of the region were probably Illyrian tribes.

Slavs (including Serbs) settled today's Bačka in the 6th and 7th centuries. In the 9th century the territory of Bačka 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, Bacsensis (Bač, Bács) County was formed, with city of Bač as its administrative centre. First known prefect of Bacsensis County was recorded in 1074 and his name was Vid, which is a Slavic name by origin.

During the rule of the Hungarian king Coloman (1095-1116), the local Serb nobles in Bačka were Uroš, Vukan and Pavle. An record from 1309 speak about "Schismatics" (Orthodox Christians), who lived in Bačka.

In 1526 and 1527, Bačka was the central region of an ephemeral independent Serbian state, which existed in the territory of present-day Vojvodina. The ruler of this state was the so-called "Emperor" Jovan Nenad and his capital city was Subotica.

During the Ottoman rule (16th-17th centuries), Bačka was part of the Sanjak of Segedin (Szeged), and the region was mainly populated with Serbs. In 1699 the Bačka came into the possession of the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria. A Bacsensis County was established in the western parts of the region, while the eastern parts of Bačka were incorporated into Tisa-Mureş section of Habsburg Military Frontier. After this part of the Military Frontier was abolished in 1751, the eastern parts of Bačka were also included into Bacsensis county. The only part of Bačka which remained within the Military Frontier was Šajkaška, but it also came under civil administration in 1873.

According to the Austrian census from 1715, Serbs, Bunjevci, and Šokci comprised most of the region's population. 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. The new settlers were primarily Serbs, 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 abolishment of the Tisa-Mureş section of Military Frontier, many Serbs emigrated from north-eastern parts of Bačka. They moved either to Russia (notably to New Serbia and Slavo-Serbia) or to Banat, where the Military Frontier was still needed.

In 1848 and 1849, Bačka 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 Tamiš Banat, a separate Austrian crown land, the successor of the Serbian Voivodship. After 1860, when Voivodship of Serbia and Tamiš Banat was abolished, the Bačka-Bodrog County was formed in the territory of Bačka. The county was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, which became one of two autonomous parts of Austria-Hungary in 1867.

The territory of Bačka (as part of Banat, Bačka and Baranja region) united with the Kingdom of Serbia in 1918. By the Treaty of Trianon (4 June 1920), the original territory of Bačka was divided between the newly independent Hungary and the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was later renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The northern part of region was later incorporated into Bács-Kiskun County of Hungary. The southern part of the region was a county of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes between 1918 and 1922, then a province (oblast) of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes between 1922 and 1929, and in 1929 it was incorporated into Danube Banovina, which was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

In 1941 Yugoslav Bačka was occupied by the Axis powers and attached to Horthy's Hungary. During the occupation, Hungarian troops killed 19,573 civilians in Yugoslav Bačka, mostly of Serb, Jewish and Roma ethnicity, while many more civilians were arrested, violated or tortured. The occupation ended in 1944 with the end of the Second World War and Yugoslav Bačka 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 from the region together with German army. The smaller part of the German population that did not leave the area was sent to prison camps by the new Yugoslav authorities. Members of the Yugoslav partisan army also killed a certain number of inhabitants of Hungarian and German ethnic origin after the war, mainly as a revenge for genocide and ethnic cleansing that Hungarian troops committed against Yugoslav peoples during the war.

Together with Syrmia and Banat, Yugoslav Bačka is part of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina since 1945. Since 1992, Yugoslav Bačka has been part of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (renamed to Serbia and Montenegro in 2003), and since 2006 it is part of an independent Serbia.

[edit] Geography

[edit] Serbian Bačka

The districts of Serbia in Bačka are:

• West Bačka
• North Bačka
• South Bačka

Note that municipalities of Sremski Karlovci, Petrovaradin, and Beočin and southern part of municipality of Bačka Palanka that belong to South Bačka District are geographically not located in Bačka, but in Syrmia, while municipalities of Ada, Senta and Kanjiža which are geographically located in Bačka are part of North Banat District.

Cities and towns in the Serbian part of Bačka (with city population numbers):

• Novi Sad (190,602)
• Subotica (99,471)
• Sombor (50,950)
• Bačka Palanka (29,431)
• Vrbas (25,887)
• Bečej (25,703)
• Senta (20,363)
• Kula (19,293)
• Apatin (19,289)
• Temerin (19,143)
• Futog (18,492)
• Bačka Topola (16,154)
• Srbobran (13,049)
• Ada (10,546)
• Kanjiža (10,193)
• Crvenka (10,153)
• Odžaci (9,832)
• Žabalj (9,582)
• Palić (7,668)
• Mol (6,780)
• Bački Petrovac (6,731)
• Bač (6,046)
• Bački Jarak (6,042)
• Titel (5,831)

Note: Senta, Kanjiža, Ada and Mol are geographically located in Bačka, but they are part of the North Banat District.

Also see: List of inhabited places of Vojvodina

[edit] 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.

Municipalities 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 municipalities of Kiskunhalasi and Mohácsi, although the main parts of those municipalities are not located in Bácska.

Cities and towns in Hungarian Bácska (with population numbers):

• Baja (38,143)
• Jánoshalma (9,866)
• Bácsalmás (7,694)

[edit] Demographics

[edit] Overview

Before the Hungarian conquest in the 10th century, Bačka was mainly populated by Slavs. ^[1] In the 11th century, the region had mixed Slavic-Hungarian population. The native Slavic population was mostly magyarized during Hungarian rule. In the outset of the 16th century, before the Ottoman conquest, the largest part of population of Bačka were Hungarians, and the smaller part of population were Slavs. After the Ottoman conquest, most of the Hungarian population fled from the area, and since then, the region was mainly populated by Serbs. During the Habsburg rule, in the 18th and 19th century, many Hungarian, German, and other (Slovak, Rusyn, etc) colonists came to the area, which thus became ethnically mixed with population composed mostly of Serbs, Hungarians, and Germans. Until the middle of the 19th century, the largest ethnic group in the area were Serbs, and since the second half of the century, the largest group were Hungarians, although the population of the region remained ethnically mixed. After World War I, the region was divided between Yugoslav and Hungarian state. The Yugoslav part of Bačka was ethnically mixed through the entire 20th century. Census from 1931 recorded in Yugoslav Bačka larger percent of South Slavs (Serbs and Croats) than that of the Hungarians. However, if Serbs and Croats are counted separatelly, then Hungarians were single largest ethnic group in the area until census from 1953, which recorded larger percent of Serbs than that of the Hungarians. Serbs remained relative majority in Yugoslav Bačka until census from 2002, which recorded absolute Serb majority in the area.

[edit] 1715

According to the Austrian census from 1715, Serbs, Bunjevci, and Šokci comprised 97.6% of the Bačka region's (Bacsensis county) population. Percent of Hungarians who lived in the area was 1.9%, and percent of Germans was 0.5%. ^[2]

[edit] 1720

The 1720 census recorded 104,569 citizens in the Bačka region (Bacsensis county). Of those, there were 98,000 Serbs (divided into 76,000 Orthodox and 22,000 Roman Catholics or Bunjevci and Šokci), 5,019 Magyars and 750 Germans. The Serbs (73%) and Bunjevci and Šokci (21%) had an overwhelming majority in the region which seems to have been inhabited solely by them.

[edit] 1820

By 1820 the population of the Bačka region (Bacsensis county) had grown to 387,914 in total population. The Serb (including Bunjevci and Šokci) share had dropped to 44% or 170,942 with the number of Hungarians plummeting at 121,688 and Germans at 91,016 or 31% and 23% respectively.

[edit] 1910

The 19th century saw the rize of nationalism, particularly Hungarian and Magyarization. The policy of massive Hungarian colonization, mostly in the north of the Bačka region (Bačka-Bodrog county) finally gave a Magyar relative majority in the area, but still with a mixed population, as recorded by the 1910 census.

According to the census of 1910, the Bačka region (Bačka-Bodrog county) had 812,385 inhabitants. Population by language (1910 census): ^[3]

• Hungarian = 363,518 (44.75%)
• German = 190,697 (23.47%)
• Serbian = 145,063 (17.86%) (*)
• Slovak = 30,137
• Russniak = 10,760
• Croatian = 1,279 (*)
• Romanian = 386
• other languages = 70,545 (for the most part Bunjevac and Šokac) (*)

(*) Total number of speakers of South Slavic languages (Serbian, Croatian, Bunjevac, Šokac) was about 216,887 or about 26.70%.

As for the geographical distribution of the three largest ethnic groups in 1910, Hungarians mainly lived in northern parts of the region, Germans in western, and Serbs in the southern parts. Novi Sad, city in the southern part of the region, was the cultural and political centre of the Serb people in the 18th and 19th century.

[edit] 1921

In 1921, Yugoslav part of Bačka had a population of 735,117, of whom: ^[4]

• 260,998 (35.50%) spoke Hungarian language
• 246,598 (33.55%) spoke Serbian and Croatian language
• 173,796 (23.64%) spoke German language
• 30,993 (4.22%) spoke Slovak language
• 10,999 (1.50%) spoke Rusyn language
• 4,850 (0.66%) spoke Slovenian language

Of the 105 communes in the Yugoslav Bačka, the Germans were in a majority in 36, the Yugoslavs in 31, the Magyars in 23, and the Slovaks in 7, while in 8 communes no one language-group predominated. Of the eleven administrative districts into which the Yugoslav Bačka was divided, the German-speaking communes were in a majority in Odžaci and Palanka, the Serb and Croat in Žabalj and Titel and the Magyar in Senta and Topola. In the remaining five districts, the communes of no single language group were in predominance.

[edit] 1931

In 1931, Yugoslav part of Bačka had a population of 784,896, of whom:

• 284,865 (36.29%) spoke Serbian and Croatian language
• 268,711 (34.24%) spoke Hungarian language
• 169,858 (21.64%) spoke German language
• 34,234 (4.36%) spoke Slovak language
• 11,414 (1.45%) spoke Rusyn language
• others.

[edit] 1941

According to unreliable Hungarian census from 1941 conducted during military occupation, population of Yugoslav part of Bačka numbered 789,705 inhabitants, of whom:

• 358,531 (45.4%) spoke Hungarian language
• 162,070 (20.52%) spoke German language
• 151,269 (19.15%) spoke Serbian language (*)
• 62,303 (7.89%) spoke Croatian language (*)
• 32,578 (4.12%) spoke Slovak language
• 13,829 (1.76%) spoke Rusyn language

(*) Total number of speakers of South Slavic languages (Serbian and Croatian) was 213,572 (27.05%).

[edit] 1948

In 1948, Yugoslav/Serbian part of Bačka had a population of 807,122, including:

• 307,343 (38.07%) Hungarians
• 303,664 (37.62%) Serbs (*)
• 88,491 (10.96%) Croats (*)
• 36,041 (4.44%) Slovaks
• 17,269 (2.18%) Rusyns
• 10,638 (1.32%) Germans
• others.

(*) Total number of South Slavs (Serbs and Croats) that lived in the area was 392,155 (48.59%).

[edit] 1953

In 1953, Yugoslav/Serbian part of Bačka had a population of 831,945, including:

• 317,247 (38.12%) Serbs
• 311,146 (37.38%) Hungarians
• 80,957 (9.73%) Croats
• 36,424 (4.38%) Slovaks
• 18,162 (2.18%) Rusyns
• others.

[edit] 1961

In 1961, Yugoslav/Serbian part of Bačka had a population of 920,600, including:

• 386,385 (41.08%) Serbs
• 320,566 (34.83%) Hungarians
• 101,509 (11.03%) Croats
• 37,665 (4.09%) Slovaks
• others.

[edit] 1971

In 1971, the population of Yugoslav/Serbian Bačka numbered 960,001 people, including: ^[5]

• 413,895 (43.11%) Serbs
• 311,379 (32.44%) Hungarians
• 92,207 (9.60%) Croats
• 36,508 (3.80%) Slovaks
• 31,120 (3.24%) Montenegrins
• 27,651 (2.88%) Yugoslavs
• 16,580 (1.73%) Rusyns
• others.

[edit] 1981

In 1981, the population of Yugoslav/Serbian Bačka numbered 1,012,112 people, including:

• 434,178 (40.9%) Serbs
• 287,565 (30.36%) Hungarians
• 91,757 (9.86%) Yugoslavs
• 71,793 (7.09%) Croats
• 34,997 (3.02%) Slovaks
• 16,020 (1.68%) Rusyns
• others.

[edit] 1991

In 1991, the population of Yugoslav/Serbian Bačka numbered 1,007,179 people, including:

• 463,029 (46.15%) Serbs
• 258,724 (26.63%) Hungarians
• 98,052 (10.22%) Yugoslavs
• 65,663 (6.74%) Croats
• 32,092 (3.3%) Slovaks
• 14,895 (1.11%) Rusyns
• others.

[edit] 2002

According to the 2002 census in Serbia, the population of the Yugoslav/Serbian part of Bačka (in geographical borders) is composed of:

• 559,700 (54.74%) Serbs
• 221,882 (21.70%) Hungarians
• others (including Slovaks, Croats, Bunjevci, Šokci, Rusyns, Montenegrins, Yugoslavs, Roma, Germans, etc).

Total population of the Serbian part of Bačka is 1,022,524 (2002 census).

[edit] Gallery

Novi Sad	Subotica	Srbobran	Baja
Gemenc forest near Baja	Danube-Tisa-Danube Canal near the village of Rumenka, close to Novi Sad	Titel	Kanjiža

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

• Vojvodina
• North Bačka District
• West Bačka District
• South Bačka District
• Bačka-Bodrog
• Bács-Kiskun

[edit] External links

• backabanat.com