Central Serbia Централна Србија (Serbian) | |
|---|---|
 Map of Central Serbia withinSerbia | |
| Largest city | Belgrade |
| Area | |
• Total | 55,968 km2 (21,609 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2022 census | 4,906,773 |
• Density | 87.6/km2 (226.9/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
Central Serbia (Serbian:централна Србија,romanized: centralna Srbija), also referred to asSerbia proper (Serbian:ужа Србија,romanized: uža Srbija),[a] is theregion ofSerbia lying outside the autonomous province ofVojvodina to the north and the disputed Kosovo region to the south. Central Serbia is a term of convenience, not anadministrative division of Serbia as such, and does not have any form of separate administration.
Broadly speaking, Central Serbia is the historical core ofmodern Serbia, which emerged from theSerbian Revolution and subsequent wars against theOttoman Empire. In the following period, Serbia gradually expanded south, acquiringSouthern Serbia, Kosovo,Sandžak, andVardar Macedonia, and in 1918 – following the unification and annexation ofMontenegro and unification ofAustro-Hungarian areas left of theDanube andSava (Vojvodina) – it merged with other South Slavic territories into theKingdom of Yugoslavia. The current borders of Central Serbia were defined after World War II, when Serbia became arepublic within theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with Kosovo and Vojvodina as its autonomous provinces.
Central Serbia takes up, roughly, the territory of Serbia between the natural borders consisting of theDanube andSava (in the north), theDrina (in the west), and the "unnatural" border to the southwest withMontenegro, south withKosovo andNorth Macedonia, and to the east withBulgaria, with a small strip of the Danube with Romania in the northeast. The Danube and Sava divides Central Serbia from Vojvodina, while the Drina divides Serbia fromBosnia and Herzegovina. TheGreat Morava, a major river, goes through Central Serbia. Extensions of three major mountain chains are located within Serbia proper:Dinaric Alps in the west and south, and theCarpathians andBalkan Mountains in the east.
Some notable geographical regions located in central Serbia are:Šumadija,Southern Serbia,Mačva, theTimok Valley (including theNegotin Valley),Pomoravlje,Podunavlje,Posavina,Podrinje,Zlatibor, andRaška.
In theRoman period, "Moesia" was the name for a region that included Serbia proper.Viminacium (present-dayKostolac) was the capital of the province ofMoesia Superior. Slavs (Sclaveni) overwhelmed the Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries. The Serbs, a Slavic tribe, were known to have held the area of what is today southwest Serbia in the Early Middle Ages, while theRoyal Frankish Annals mention theBraničevci andTimočani, in the eastern parts, in the 9th century.Raška, situated in the southwest, was the core of the medieval Serbian state;Stari Ras has been identified as a capital of theGrand Principality of Serbia. Serbia eventually expanded its borders to the east. The area of most of Serbia proper, as well as areas in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, northern Montenegro, Kosovo, and northern Macedonia were called "the Serbian lands", included in the styles of medieval Serbian rulers. KingStefan Dragutin of Syrmia (r. 1282–1316) had two capitals,Debrc andBelgrade. After thefall of the Serbian Empire, the "Moravian Serbia" underLazar (r. 1373–89) andStefan Lazarević (r. 1389–1402) corresponded roughly to Serbia proper.Kruševac was the capital of Moravian Serbia, until the Ottoman conquests in the 15th century, and the establishment of theSerbian Despotate, with the capital in Belgrade. After the Ottoman conquest of the Serbian Despotate, theSanjak of Smederevo was established, initially seated inSmederevo, and eventually, in Belgrade afterits fall in 1521 (hence called the "Pashaluk of Belgrade").
Between 1718 and 1739, the Sanjak of Smederevo was occupied by theHabsburg monarchy, which administered the area as theKingdom of Serbia. TheSerbian Militia operated throughout Serbia proper during the1737–39 war. The war ended in Ottoman victory, and returning of the sanjak. The northern half of Serbia proper was briefly underHabsburg occupation during the1787–91 war, then returned. With theFirst Serbian Uprising (1804–13), the sanjak became ade facto Serbian state, known in historiography as "Revolutionary Serbia". It was retaken by the Ottomans in 1813, however, theSecond Serbian Uprising (1815–17) saw Serbia recognized as an autonomous principality within the Ottoman Empire. In 1878, Serbia became a fully independent state, also enlarging its territory to the south-east. The 1878 borders correspond to present-day Central Serbia save for small parts in the south-west.
In theBalkan Wars (1912–13), Serbia further expanded its borders to the south, taking control of much of present-dayKosovo andNorth Macedonia. Further territorial gains were made in the north (today'sVojvodina) and south-west (Sandžak region) in 1918, afterWorld War I. Serbia became part of the newKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on December 1, 1918. Serbia proper did not have a separate political status within the Kingdom; in 1929, when new provinces of the Kingdom were formed, Serbia proper was divided between fivebanovine, one of which (Morava Banovina) was established in the east with its capital inNiš.
Between 1941 and 1944, most of the territory was part of the area governed by theMilitary Administration in Serbia underGerman Wehrmacht occupation with a Serbian puppet government. The southwestern region ofSandžak was occupied byItaly and annexed to the neighbouringItalian governorate of Montenegro; southern Kosovo was annexed toAlbania while southeastern parts annexed byBulgaria.
The Axis occupation ended in 1944 with the liberation of Yugoslavia by theYugoslav Partisans; Serbia was formed as one of the republics of the new socialistYugoslavia. In 1945, Vojvodina and Kosovo became autonomous provinces within Serbia, thus the part of Serbia that was outside these two regions became known asuža Srbija ("Serbia proper"). At the beginning of the 1990s, the termuža Srbija was replaced with the new termCentralna Srbija ("Central Serbia") which was used in all official publications of the Serbian government that referred to the region.
With the formation ofstatistical regions of Serbia in 2009–10, three statistical regions:Belgrade,Šumadija and Western Serbia, andSouthern and Eastern Serbia are located within Central Serbia.[1]
Central Serbia encompasses 17administrative districts andCity of Belgrade, as well as threestatistical regions: Belgrade,Šumadija and Western Serbia, andSouthern and Eastern Serbia.
| District | Area (km2) | Population (2022) | Seat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belgrade | |||
| 3,227 | 1,681,405 | ||
| Belgrade | 3,227 | 1,681,405 | Belgrade |
| Šumadija and Western Serbia | |||
| 26,483 | 1,819,318 | ||
| Kolubara | 2,474 | 154,497 | Valjevo |
| Mačva | 3,264 | 265,377 | Šabac |
| Moravica | 3,016 | 189,281 | Čačak |
| Pomoravlje | 2,614 | 182,047 | Jagodina |
| Rasina | 2,664 | 207,197 | Kruševac |
| Raška | 3,922 | 296,532 | Kraljevo |
| Šumadija | 2,387 | 269,728 | Kragujevac |
| Zlatibor | 6,142 | 254,659 | Užice |
| Southern and Eastern Serbia | |||
| 26,255 | 1,406,050 | ||
| Bor | 3,510 | 101,100 | Bor |
| Braničevo | 3,865 | 156,367 | Požarevac |
| Jablanica | 2,770 | 184,502 | Leskovac |
| Nišava | 2,727 | 343,950 | Niš |
| Pčinja | 3,520 | 193,802 | Vranje |
| Pirot | 2,761 | 76,700 | Pirot |
| Podunavlje | 1,250 | 175,573 | Smederevo |
| Toplica | 2,229 | 77,341 | Prokuplje |
| Zaječar | 3,623 | 96,715 | Zaječar |
| 55,965 | 4,906,773 | ||
The following list include cities and towns with over 20,000 inhabitants.
| City or town | Population (2022)[2] |
|---|---|
| Belgrade | 1,298,661 |
| Niš | 182,797 |
| Kragujevac | 146,315 |
| Novi Pazar | 71,462 |
| Čačak | 69,598 |
| Smederevo | 59,261 |
| Leskovac | 58,338 |
| Kraljevo | 57,432 |
| Valjevo | 56,059 |
| Kruševac | 53,746 |
| Šabac | 51,163 |
| Vranje | 50,954 |
| Užice | 48,539 |
| Požarevac | 42,530 |
| Pirot | 34,942 |
| Jagodina | 34,892 |
| Zaječar | 32,448 |
| Bor | 28,822 |
| Lazarevac | 27,635 |
| Obrenovac | 25,380 |
| Prokuplje | 24,627 |
| Gornji Milanovac | 23,109 |
| Aranđelovac | 22,881 |
| Paraćin | 22,349 |
| Mladenovac | 22,346 |
| Smederevska Palanka | 20,345 |
| Ethnicity | Population (2022)[3] | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Serbs | 4,169,454 | 85% |
| Bosniaks | 153,083 | 3.1% |
| Roma | 90,998 | 1.8% |
| Albanians | 59,752 | 1.2% |
| Others | 119,047 | 2.4% |
| Undeclared | 65,859 | 1.3% |
| Unknown | 248,580 | 5% |
Most of the municipalities of Central Serbia had an ethnic Serb majority, three municipalities (Novi Pazar,Tutin, andSjenica) had a Bosniak majority, two municipalities (Bujanovac andPreševo) had an Albanian majority and two municipalities (Bosilegrad andDimitrovgrad) had a Bulgarian majority.[3]Ethnic groups of Central Serbia according to the 2022 census:
