Baranya (region)

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Map of the Baranya region

Baranya (Hungarian: Baranya, Croatian: Baranja, Serbian: Baranja or Барања, German: Branau) is a geographical region between the Danube and the Drava rivers. Its territory is mostly divided between Hungary and Croatia, with a small uninhabited pocket of land on the right bank of Danube which belong to Serbia, but it`s under Croatian control from 1997 (see disputes of Croatia and Serbia). In Hungary, the region is included into Baranya county, while in Croatia, it is included into Osijek-Baranja county.

[edit] Name

The name of the region come from the Slavic word 'bara', which means 'swamp', thus the name of Baranya means 'a swamp land'. Even today large parts of the region are swamps, such as the natural reservation Kopački Rit in its southeast. Another theory states that the name of the region come from the Hungarian word 'bárány', which means 'lamb'.

[edit] History

During the history, the region of Baranya was part of the Roman Empire, the Hunnic Empire, the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths, the Kingdom of the Lombards, the Avar Kingdom, the Frankish Empire, the Balaton Principality, the Bulgarian Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire and the Austria-Hungary. Since 1918/1921, the region was divided between Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as Yugoslavia).

The region of Baranya was settled by the Slavs in the 6th century, and in the 9th century, it was part of the Slavic Balaton Principality.

Hungarians arrived to the area in the 9th century, and Baranya county arose as one of the first comitatus of the Kingdom of Hungary, in the 11th century.

In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire conquered Baranya, and included it into the sanjak of Mohács, an Ottoman administrative unit, with the seat in the city of Mohács.

In the end of the 17th century, Baranya was captured by Habsburg Monarchy, and was included into Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary.

In 1848, the proclaimed borders of Serbian Vojvodina included Baranya, but the Serbian troops did not manage to take control of the region.

In 1918, the entire Baranya region was captured by Serbian troops and was administered by the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

By the Treaty of Trianon (part of the Versailles peace) in 1920, the Baranya region was formally divided between Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, but de facto remained under the administration of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the later Yugoslavia) until 1921.

On August 14, 1921, the Serb-Hungarian Baranya-Baja Republic was proclaimed. It included Baranya and northern part of Bačka region, and was led by the President of the Executive Committee (14 August 1921 - 25 August 1921 Petar Dobrović, born 1890 - died 1942). On August 21-25, 1921, the territory of the Republic was divided between Hungary (represented by Hungarian Commissioner Károly Soós Bádoki) and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, as was previously decided by the Treaty of Trianon (June 4, 1920, one of the Versailles peace treaties after World War I, concerning former lands of the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary).

The northern part of Baranya in Hungary was included into Baranya county. The southern part of the region was part of Bačka county between 1918 and 1922, part of Bačka oblast between 1922 and 1929, and in 1929 it was included into the Danube Banovina, a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1941, the Yugoslav Baranya was occupied by Hungary, but it was returned to Yugoslavia in 1944.

Since 1945, Yugoslav Baranya was part of the Socialist Republic of Croatia. In 1991 it became a part of the SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem. Between 1991 and 1995, the region was part of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, between 1995 and 1997 was part of Srem-Baranja Oblast under the administration of the United Nations, while in 1997 it was included into Croatia. Today, it is part of that republic's Osijek-Baranja county.

[edit] Geography

[edit] Hungarian Baranya

Baranya county within Hungary

Some of the important cities and towns in the Hungarian Baranya (with population figures from 2001 census):

Pécs (158,942)
Komló (27,462)
Mohács (19,085)
Szigetvár (11,492)
Siklós (10,384)
Szentlőrinc (7,265)
Pécsvárad (4,104)
Bóly (3,715)
Sásd (3,570)
Harkány (3,519)
Sellye (3,248)
Villány (2,793)

[edit] Croatian Baranja

Osijek-Baranja county within Croatia

Municipalities in Croatian Baranja (with population figures from 2001 census): [1]

Beli Manastir (10,986)
Darda (7,062)
Bilje (5,480)
Kneževi Vinogradi (5,186)
Draž (3,356)
Čeminac (2,856)
Petlovac (2,743)
Jagodnjak (2,537)
Popovac (2,427)

The main settlement in the Croatian Baranja is Beli Manastir with a population of 8,671 (2001 census). Most of the municipalities in Croatian Baranja has a Croat ethnic majority. The municipality of Jagodnjak has a Serb ethnic majority and the municipality of Kneževi Vinogradi has a Hungarian relative majority.

[edit] Demographics

[edit] 1711-1713

In 1711-1713, in the southern (Croatian) Baranja, ethnic composition was:

Serbs (39%) (*)
Hungarians (37%)
Croats (Šokci) (22%) (*)

(*) Total percent of South Slavs (Serbs and Croats/Šokci) in the area was 61%.

[edit] 1721-1723

In 1721-1723, in the southern (Croatian) Baranja, ethnic composition was:

Hungarians (36%)
Croats (31%) (*)
Serbs (23%) (*)

(*) Total percent of South Slavs (Croats and Serbs) in the area was 54%.

[edit] 1900

According to Revai Lexicon (Volume II, p. 587) 1900, in the district of Branjin Vrh (southern Baranja, Croatian Baranja) there were 47,470 inhabitants. They include: [2]

Hungarians = 17,325 (36.50%)
Germans = 12,324 (25.96%)
Croats = 11,198 (23.59%) (*)
Serbs = 5,873 (12.37%) (*)
Others = 750 (1.58%)

(*) Total number of South Slavs (Croats and Serbs) in the area was 17,071 (35.96%).

[edit] 1910

According to the census of 1910, the whole Baranya region (Baranya county) had 352,478 inhabitants. Population by language (1910 census): [3]

Hungarian = 199,659 (56.64%)
German = 112,297 (31.86%)
Serbian = 13,048 (3.70%)
Croatian = 10,159 (2.88%)

In 1910, the population of southern (present-day Croatian) part of Baranja numbered 50,797 people, of whom: [4]

20,134 (39.64%) spoke Hungarian language
13,908 (27.38%) spoke German language
7,913 (15.58%) spoke Serbian and Croatian language (*)
some 7,400 (14.57%) spoke Šokac language (*)

(*) Total number of speakers of South Slavic languages (Serbian, Croatian, and Šokac) in Croatian Baranja was 15,313 (30.15%).

[edit] 1920

In 1920, in Yugoslav (now Croatian) Baranja, ethnic composition was:

Germans = 16,253 (32.9%)
Hungarians = 14,636 (29.6%)
Šokci, Bunjevci, and Croats = 8,822 (17.8%) (*)
Serbs = 6,782 (13.7%) (*)

(*) Total number of South Slavs (Šokci, Bunjevci, Croats, Serbs) in the area was 15,604 (31.5%).

[edit] 1921

In 1921, there was a population of 49,694 in Yugoslav (now Croatian) Baranja, including: [5]

Hungarians = 16,639 (33.5%)
Germans = 15,955 (32.1%)
Croats = 9,965 (20.0%) (*)
Serbs = 6,782 (13.6%) (*)
Other = 363 (0.7%)

(*) Total number of South Slavs (Croats and Serbs) in the area was 16,747 (33.7%).

According to another source, in 1921, the population of Yugoslav (now Croatian) Baranja numbered 49,452 people, of whom: [6]

16,638 (33.65%) spoke Hungarian language
16,253 (32.87%) spoke German language
15,604 (31.55%) spoke Serbo-Croatian language

[edit] 1931

In 1931, in the Yugoslav (now Croatian) Baranja, ethnic composition was:

Germans (29.8%)
Hungarians (26.4%)
Serbs (21.4%) (*)
Croats (19.7%) (*)

(*) Total percent of South Slavs (Serbs and Croats) in the area was 40.7%.

[edit] 1944-1945

In 1944-1945, the population of the Yugoslav/Croatian Baranja numbered 34,610 people, including:

Hungarians = 12,666 (36.60%)
Serbs = 9,750 (28.17%) (*)
Croats (Šokci) = 7,788 (22.50%) (*)
Germans = 3,673 (10.61%)
Roma = 760 (2.20%)
Slovenians = 249 (0.72%) (*)
Slovaks = 60 (0.17%) (*)
other Slavs = 72 (0.21%) (*)

(*) Total number of South Slavs (Serbs, Croats, Slovenians) in the area was 17,787 (51.39%), while total number of all Slavs was 17,919 (51.77%).

[edit] 1961

In 1961, the population of Yugoslav/Croatian Baranja numbered 56,087 inhabitants, including: [7]

23,514 (41.9%) Croats
15,303 (27.2%) Hungarians
13,698 (24.4%) Serbs

[edit] 1991

In 1991, the population of Yugoslav/Croatian Baranja had 54,265 inhabitants, including: [8]

22,740 (41.91%) Croats
13,851 (25.52%) Serbs
8,956 (16.50%) Hungarians
4,265 (7.86%) Yugoslavs
4,453 (8.21%) others

According to another source, in 1991, the population of Yugoslav/Croatian Baranja included: [9]

19,310 Croats
12,857 Serbs
9,920 Hungarians
about 12,000 others (including Slovenes, Albanians, Germans, etc).

[edit] 1992

In 1992 (during the war in Croatia), the population of Croatian Baranja (in that time administered by Republic of Serbian Krajina) numbered 39,482 inhabitants, including: [10]

23,485 (59.41%) Serbs
7,689 (19.48%) Croats
6,926 (17.54%) Hungarians
490 (1.24%) Yugoslavs
919 (2.33%) others

[edit] 2001

In 2001, the population of Croatian Baranja numbered 42,633 inhabitants, including: [11]

Croats = 23,693 (55.57%)
Serbs = 8,592 (20.15%)
Hungarians = 7,114 (16.69%)
others.

In 2001, the population of Hungarian Baranya (Baranya county) numbered 407,448 inhabitants, including: [12]

Hungarians = 375,611 (92.19%)
Germans = 22,720 (5.58%)
Roma = 10,623 (2.61%)
Croats = 7,294 (1.79%)
others.

[edit] Gallery

Aerial photography: Pécs, Hungary	Pécs, Hungary, Main Square	Batina, Croatia	Aerial Photography: Szigetvár, Hungary - Castle
Castle of Siklós, Hungary	Szentlőrinc, Hungary - Palace from above	Aerial photography: Pécsvárad, Hungary	Aerial photography: Bóly, Hungary - Palace
A scene in Villány Mountains, Hungary	Turkish Monument of Pécs, Hungary (Jakovali Hassan mosque)