Srbac
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Srbac (Cyrillic: Србац), formerly known as Svinjar (Свињар), is a town and municipality on the northern border of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Croatia. Srbac is located in the Republika Srpska entity at the entry of river Vrbas into river Sava.
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[edit] Name
Srbac got its name from the government of Yugoslavia on November 2, 1933. Srbac is about 400km away from Serbias capital Belgrade and 250km away from Croatias capital Zagreb. It is situated on the mouth of the river Vrbas which then flows into Sava River which is the longets river in former Yugoslavia.
[edit] Geography and Climate
[edit] Geography
Srbac covers some 453 km² (174.9 mi²) of land in northern Bosnia situated at the entry of river Vrbas into river Sava. The city is located at 45.06° N 17.31° E.
The source of the river Vrbas is some 140 km. to the south, and the tributary rivers Suturlija, Crkvena, and Vrbanja flow into the Vrbas at the city of Banja Luka.
The area around Srbac is mountainous woodland to the south-east (40% of the total area) and farmland to the south-west (60% of total area). The city itself is built in the Pannonia valley, which is located on the transition between low mountain areas and flat farmlands. The mountain ranges to the south-east are called Motajica and the highest peak is called Gradina at 652m above sea level. The lowest point is 89m in the Vlaknica (small village) farmlands along the Sava river. Northern border of the municipality with Republic of Croatia (Republika Hrvatska) is 42km long.
[edit] Climate
Srbac has a continental climate, with harsh winters and warm summers. The warmest month of the year is July, with an average temperature of 25°C (77°F). The coldest month of the year is January, when temperatures average -5°C (23 °F). Annual precipitation for Srbac is about 875 mm. Due to the city's high latitude; it snows in Srbac almost every year as well. Strong winds come from the north and northeast bringing in lots of snow.
[edit] History
A town existed in this region even during the Iron Age, a town named Cagan city (Cagan Grad). To this day a small area near Srbac is called Cagani. Before the collapse of the western Roman empire a town is mentioned in this area also. After that in this region a town named Svinjar is mentioned. However a town or city in this location could never grow and develop. The sad fact is that through the past centuries this region was trampled over by various invading forces, burning and destroying everything.
In the written documents from 1596 at the time of the great war, Ahmet Hafiz-pasha in the same year transported his huge army across river Sava from Turkish Slavonija at Svinjar into Bosnia. Literal translation of Svinjar meaning swine stable.German map dating back to 1621 calls it Svinjar as well. During this time Ottoman Turks ruled the region and Srbac was part of the Bosnian pashaluk. During the uprising against the Ottoman Empire in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the years of 1875 to 1878 Svinjar is mentioned as an important place in the history of the uprising. One of the battles against the Turks took place here on the 21st of November 1875 at a place called Srbac where Motajički haiduks destroyed a Turkish military camp and burned everything.
In 1888 a primary school is opened in Svinjar. Towards the end of 1929 a medical centre was also opened in Svinjar. In the late 19th century Svinjar was under the Austrian-Hungary rule. Between the years of 1899 to 1921 around 7000 Poles and around 5000 Ukrainians migrated and settled in the area. On the 2nd of November 1933 the minister of internal affairs of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia changed the towns name from Bosanski Svinjar to Srbac.
During World War II these parts were frequently invaded by all the waring sides. During the 70s Srbac saw rapid growth with the opening of a new textile factory and a packaging material factory. However all the economic growth stopped during the latest Bosnian war. Srbac was only bombarded 3 times during the war by the Croatian forces in the summer of 1992. No one was killed in these 3 incidents and Srbac suffered only minor structural damage.
[edit] Demographics
[edit] 1991
In 1991, the population of the Srbac municipality numbered 21,660 inhabitants, including:
- 19,291 Serbs (See: Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- 940 Muslims by nationality
- 754 Yugoslavs
- 145 Croats (See: Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- 530 others
[edit] 2006
In 2006, the majority of inhabitants of municipality were ethnic Serbs. [2]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
![[2]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:DemoBIH2006.PNG){kind=link}