Sremska Mitrovica

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Сремска Митровица
Sremska Mitrovica
Location in Serbia
Image:Mitrovica coat.png

General Information
District	Srem
Land area	762 km²
Population (2002 census)	39,041 (town) 85,605 (municipality)
Settlements	26
Coordinates	44°59′N, 19°37′E
Area code	+381 22
Car plates	SM
Time zone	CET (UTC+1) CEST (UTC+2)
Website	http://www.sremskamitrovica.org.yu

Politics
Mayor	Zoran Miščević

Sremska Mitrovica (Сремска Митровица) is a town located in the Vojvodina province of Serbia at 44.98° North, 19.61° East on the left bank of the Sava river. As of 2002 the city had a total population of 39,041, while Sremska Mitrovica municipality had a population of 85,605. It is the administrative centre of the Srem District of Serbia.

1 Name
2 History
3 Inhabited places
4 Demographics (2002 census)
5 Archeological trivia
6 Sport
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Name

In Serbian, the town is known as Сремска Митровица or Sremska Mitrovica, in Rusin as Сримска Митровица, in Croatian as Srijemska Mitrovica, in Hungarian as Szávaszentdemeter, in German as Syrmisch Mitrowitz, and in Latin as Sirmium.

"Sremska Mitrovica" means "Mitrovica of Srem" (Mitrovica of Kosovo and Mitrovica of Mačva also exists), while "Mitrovica" itself stems from the name "Saint Demetrius" or "Свети Димитрије" ("Sveti Dimitrije") in the Serbian language.

The name of the city during the reign of the Roman Empire was Sirmium. Beginning in 1180 A.D. the name changed from "Civitas Sancti Demetrii" to "Dmitrovica", "Mitrovica", and finally to the present form - "Sremska Mitrovica".

[edit] History

[edit] Ancient Sirmium

Main article: Sirmium

Sirmium was one of the oldest cities in Europe. Archaeologists have found a trace of organized human life dating from the 5000 BC. When the Romans conquered the city in the 1st century BC, Sirmium already was a settlement with a long tradition.

In the 1st century, Sirmium gained a status of a colony of the citizens of Rome, and became a very important military and strategic location in Pannonia province. The war expeditions of Roman emperors Traian, Marcus Aurelius, and Claudius II, were prepared in Sirmium.

In 103, Pannonia was split into two provinces: Upper Pannonia and Lower Pannonia, and Sirmium became the capital city of Lower Pannonia. In 296, Diocletian operated a new territorial division of Pannonia. Instead of previous two provinces, there were four new provinces established in former territory of original Pannonia: Pannonia Prima, Pannonia Valeria, Pannonia Savia and Pannonia Secunda. Capital city of Pannonia Secunda was Sirmium.

In 293, with the establishment of tetrarchy, the Roman Empire was split into four parts; Sirmium became one of the four capital cities of Roman Empire, the other three being Trier, Mediolanum, and Nicomedia. During the tetrarchy, Sirmium was the capital of emperor Galerius. With the establishment of praetorian prefectures in 318, the capital of the prefecture of Illyricum was Sirmium.

Since the 4th century, the city was an important Christian centre, and was a seat of the Episcopate of Sirmium. Four Christian councils were held in Sirmium.

At the end of the 4th century, Sirmium was brought under the sway of the Goths, and later, was again annexed to the Eastern Roman Empire. In 441, Sirmium was conquered by the Huns, and after this conquest, it remained for more than a century in the hands of various Barbarian tribes, such were Eastern Goths and Gepids. For a short time, Sirmium was the center of the Gepide State and the king Cunimund minted golden coins in it. After 567, Sirmium was again included into Eastern Roman Empire. The city was finally conquered and destroyed by Avars in 582. This event marked the end of the period of late Antiquity in the history of Sirmium.

[edit] After the Avar conquest

For more than two centuries the fate of Sirmium was unknown. At the end of the 8th century, Sirmium belonged to the Frankish State. The historical role of Sirmium increased again in the 9th century, when it was part of Bulgaria. After having adopted Christianity, the Bulgarians restored in Sirmium the Christian Episcopate, having in mind old Christian traditions and the reputation this city had in the ancient world.

In the 11th century, Sirmium was a residence of Sermon, a duke of Srem, who was a vassal of the Bulgarian emperor Samuil. After 1018, the city was again included into the Byzantine Empire, and since the end of the 11th century, Sirmium was a subject of a dispute between the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, until 1180 when the Byzantine Empire gave up Sirmium, surrendering it to the Hungarian Kingdom.

For a while, about 1451, the city was in possession of the Serbian despot Đurađ Branković. In 1521 the city came into Ottoman hands and it remained under the Ottoman rule for almost two centuries.

According to the 1545/1548 data, the city was mainly populated by ethnic Serbs, while the name of the mayor of the city was Dimitar. Since the middle of the 16th century, the city was mostly populated with Muslims. According to the 1566/69 data, the population of the city was composed of 592 Muslim and 30 Christian houses, while according to the 1572 data, it was composed of 598 Muslim and 18 Christian houses. According to the 1573 data, the city had 17 mosques and no Christian church. The Christians who lived in the city were mostly ethnic Serbs. During the Ottoman rule, Sremska Mitrovica was the largest settlement in Srem, and was the administrative center of the Ottoman sanjak of Srem.

With the establishment of the Habsburg rule in 1718, the Muslim population fled from the city and was replaced with Serb, Croat, and German settlers. According to the 1765 data, the population of the city numbered 809 people, of whom 514 were Serbs and 290 Catholics.

Sremska Mitrovica was part of the Habsburg Military Frontier (Slavonian Krajina). In 1848/1849, it was part of the Serbian Voivodship, a Serb autonomous region within Austrian Empire, but in 1849, it was returned under administration of the Military Frontier.

With the abolition of the Slavonian Military Frontier in 1881, Sremska Mitrovica was included into Srem County, which was part of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and Kingdom of Hungary within Austria-Hungary. According to the 1910 census, the population of the city numbered 12,909 people, of which 4,878 spoke Serbian language, 3,915 Croatian, and 2,341 German. The municipal area of the city had 32,012 inhabitants, of which 27,022 spoke Serbian, 2,324 German, and 1,071 Croatian.

[edit] After the First World War

In 1918, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy collapsed and the Srem region first became a part of the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, and then, on November 24, 1918, the assembly of Srem in Ruma decided that entire Srem (including Mitrovica) join to the Kingdom of Serbia. Subsequently, on December 1, 1918, Kingdom of Serbia united with the Kingdom of Montenegro and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929). Between 1918 and 1922, Sremska Mitrovica was part of the Srem County, between 1922 and 1929 part of the Srem Oblast, between 1929 and 1931 part of the Drina Banovina, and between 1931 and 1941 part of the Danube Banovina.

During World War II, the city was occupied by the Axis troops and was attached to the Independent State of Croatia. During that time its name was changed to Hrvatska Mitrovica (meaning Croatian Mitrovica). Beginning in 1945, it was part of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina within the new Socialist Yugoslavia and the Socialist Republic of Serbia, and from 1992 to 2003 it was part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which was then transformed into the state union of Serbia and Montenegro. Since the 2006 independence of Montenegro, Sremska Mitrovica is part of an independent Serbia.

[edit] Inhabited places

Sremska Mitrovica municipality includes the city of Sremska Mitrovica, the town of Mačvanska Mitrovica, and several villages.

Villages on the northern bank of the river Sava, in the region of Srem:

Bešenovački Prnjavor
Bešenovo
Bosut
Veliki Radinci
Grgurevci
Divoš
Jarak
Kuzmin
Laćarak
Ležimir
Manđelos
Martinci (in the Roman times known as Budalia)
Sremska Rača
Stara Bingula
Čalma
Šašinci
Šišatovac
Šuljam

Villages on the southern bank of the river Sava, in the region of Mačva:

[edit] Demographics (2002 census)

[edit] Ethnic groups in the municipality

The population of the Sremska Mitrovica municipality is composed of:

Serbs = 75,003 (87.31%)
Croats = 2,547 (2.96%)
Yugoslavs = 1,212 (1.41%)
Others (Hungarians, Rusyns, Ukrainians, Roma, etc).

[edit] Settlements by ethnic majority

Most of the settlements in the municipality have an ethnic Serb majority. Ethnically mixed settlement with relative Serb majority is Stara Bingula. The main concentration of ethnic minorities is in the town.

[edit] Ethnic groups in the town

The population of the Sremska Mitrovica town is composed of:

Serbs = 31,127 (79.64%)
Croats = 2,130 (5.45%)
Others.

Ethnically mixed families are also very common in this town. Up to 1991 many of them declared themselves as Yugoslavs.

[edit] Archeological trivia

In early 1970s American archeologists sponsored by the US Government made an offer to the citizens of Sremska Mitrovica to completely rebuild the town on another location so that the town could be excavated. The town government refused the request immediately, under pressure from the then hard-socialist Yugoslav government.

During work on the new Sremska Mitrovica trade center in 1972, a worker accidentally broke into an old Roman pot, about 2m deep, over the site of an old Sirmium settlement. 33 gold Roman coins enclosed in a leather pouch were found inside a Roman house wall, probably the hidden savings of a wealthy Roman family stashed centuries ago. Of this extraordinary rare find of Sirmium minted coins were 4 Constantius II era coins, considered the most valuable examples from the late Roman empire of the fourth century AD. The young worker whose shovel brought this significant discovery to light was never rewarded.

The only known unexcavated Roman horse racing arena in the world is in Sirmium. A colossal building about 150m wide and 450m long lays directly under the Sremska Mitrovica town center and just beside the old Sirmium Emperor's Palace (one of just a few Sirmium publicly accessible archeological sights). The presence of the arena has clearly affected the layout of the present town (Sremska Mitrovica is today about 2-4m above ground line of former Sirmium settlement). Recently announced cultural and archeological projects for preserving and popularising Sirmium sights haven't included any activity dealing with the arena, probably due to the extent of the large arena - the entire present town center might have to be excavated.