Bačka | |
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.svg) Coat of arms | |
 Map of Bačka | |
| Coordinates:46°00′N19°20′E / 46.000°N 19.333°E /46.000; 19.333 | |
| Country |  Serbia Hungary |
| Largest city | Novi Sad |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
Bačka (Serbian:Бачка,pronounced[bâːtʃkaː]) orBácska (pronounced[ˈbaːtʃkɒ]), is a geographical andhistorical area within thePannonian Plain bordered by the riverDanube to the west and south, and by the riverTisza to the east. It is divided betweenSerbia andHungary. Most of the area is located within theVojvodina region in Serbia andNovi Sad, the administrative center of Vojvodina, lies on the border between Bačka andSyrmia. The smaller northern part of the geographical area is located withinBács-Kiskun County in Hungary.
According to Serbian historians, Bačka is a typical Slavic[1] name form, created from "Bač" (name of historical town in Bačka) and suffix "ka" (which designates "the land that belongs to Bač").
The name of "Bač" (Bács) town is of uncertain origin and its existence was recorded amongVlachs,Slavs andHungarians in theMiddle Ages. The origin of the name could bePaleo-Balkanic,[2]Romanian[citation needed],Slavic,[3] orOld Turkic.[4]
According to Hungarian historians, the denominator of the landscape may have been the first bailiff of Bač (Bács) castle, and the name which can be rendered probably Old Turkicbaya derives from a dignity name.[5][6]
In the 17th and 18th century, due to the large number ofSerbs who lived in Bačka, this region was called »Ráczország« (Hungarian for "the Serb country").[7][8][better source needed] Sometimes, the Hungarians used nameDélvidék ("the southern or lower country") for a wider imprecisely defined geographical area, which, according to 19th century view also included Bačka. However, according to other Hungarian sources, Bačka was rather seen as part ofAlföld.[9]
Through history, Bačka has been a part ofDacia, the Kingdom of theIazyges, theHun Empire, theGepid Kingdom, theAvar Khanate, theFirst Bulgarian Empire, theGreat Moravia, theKingdom of Hungary, the Serb realm ofJovan Nenad, theOttoman Empire, theHabsburg monarchy, theAustrian Empire,Austria-Hungary, theKingdom of Serbia, theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, theKingdom of Yugoslavia, theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia,Serbia and Montenegro, and since 2006, it has been part of an independentRepublic of Serbia. The smaller northern part of the region was part of the short-lived Serb-HungarianBaranya-Baja Republic (in 1921) and part of Hungary since 1921.
People have inhabited the region of Bačka sinceNeolithic times.Indo-European peoples settled in this region in three migration waves dated in 4200 BC, 3300 BC, and 2800 BC respectively. The earliest historical inhabitants of the region were probablyIllyrian tribes. Later, other Indo-European peoples, includingDacians,Celts,Sarmatians, orIazyges were recorded as inhabitants of Bačka. The region was never directly incorporated into theRoman Empire, but some outposts of theDanubian Limes were established on the left banks of Danube, in Bačka.
Since the end of the 5th century, the region was dominated by theGepids, but their kingdom was destroyed in 567, and the entireGreat Danubian Plain was overrun byAvars andSlavs. Thus, from the middle of the 6th century, and up to the end of the 8th century, the region was politically dominated by Avars, and also inhabited bySlavs. In the 790s, during theAvar Wars, declining Avar state was destroyed by theFranks, who imposed their dominance as far as Danube, occasionally crossing the river during military operations, and destroying theAvar Ring, a fortified capital city of Avar rulers, believed to be situated somewhere in the Bačka region. On the eastern banks of Danube, there livedDanubian Obodrites, also known asPraedenecenti, aSlavic tribe. In 822, they sent envoys to the Frankish emperorLouis the Pious, and again in 824, asking forFrankish assistance against the loomingBulgarian threat from the southeast.[10][11]
In 827-829, dominance of theBulgarian Khanate was expanded towards various Pannonian regions, including Bačka.Salan, a Bulgarian voivod (duke), was a ruler in this territory and his capital city wasTitel. In the early 10th century, Hungarians defeated Salan, and his duchy came under Hungarian rule.[citation needed]
At the turn of the first millennium, during the administration of the medievalKingdom of Hungary byStephen I of Hungary, two counties (comitatus) were formed in this land.Bács County in the south, with city of Bács (nowBač) as its administrative centre andBodrog County in the western and central territories with the historical city ofBodrogvár as capital (near the present-day village ofBački Monoštor). The two countries were later united to formBács-Bodrog County. There were also territories ofCsongrád County in the northeastern parts of Bačka. In 1085King Ladislaus I made Bács the seat of theArchbishopric of Kalocsa-Bács. The first archbishop, Fabian (1085–1103) helped the king in the course of the campaign againstCroatia and was rewarded with the title.[12] According to Serbian sources, Ilija Vid, the first known prefect of Bacsensis County was recorded in 1068 and he was an ethnic Serb.[13]
In this time, the region was populated by both,Slavs andHungarians. Serbian historian Dr. Milenko Palić also mentions that prefect Vid was an ethnic Serb and that he, together with two other ethnic Serbs whose names were Ilija and Radovan, participated in dynastic struggles in the Kingdom of Hungary, in the end of the 11th century.[14][verification needed] According to Hungarian authors, prefect Vid belonged to theGutkeled genus,[15][16] but there is a possibility that he was a fictitious person.[16] In 1169, canons from the knighthoodOrder of the Holy Sepulchre built a small church in Bács in the Romanesque style. They used some building materials from much older previous edifices. Franciscans took over the church in 1300. In the second half of the 14th century, the Franciscans expanded it, forming a monastery. Today theFanciscian monastery of Bács is the oldest church building in present-day Vojvodina. In the early 13th centuryUgrin Csák, Archbishop of Kalocsa, founded a hospital in Bács, as the first such facility in this part of Europe. Pope Gregory IX wrote about the "Bačka hospital" in 1234, as being open for the sick and poor. At the beginning of the fourteenth century the town ofBács prospered during the rule of kingCharles Robert I, who started building the modernfortress in 1338–42 at the site of the earlierhillfort. From the 15th century, it became the most important Hungarian defense point against the invading Ottoman forces.
In 1526 the Kingdom of Hungary was defeated in theBattle of Mohács by the Ottoman Empire, KingLouis II fell in the battle. After the victorious campaign the Ottoman army led bySuleiman I withdrew from Hungary through theDanube–Tisza Interfluve, leaving only smaller garrisons in the fortifications. Within two to three weeks the retreating army killed approximately 400.000 men, burned down almost all the settlements, desolating the whole region.[17] In this chaotic period took place the revolt of theRascians and Bačka became (from 1526 to 1527) the central region of an independent, short-lived Serbian pseudostate,[18] which existed in the territory of present-dayVojvodina. The ruler of this state was the self-appointedEmperor Jovan Nenad (previously the stableman of the kingJohn Zápolya) and his capital city wasSubotica. After Jovan Nenad was defeated and killed, his state collapsed and Bačka, for a short time, came again under Hungarian administration. Soon, the region became part of the Ottoman Empire.
After theOttoman conquest, most of the previously decisive Hungarian majority population have fled (in the 16th–17th centuries). The relatively dense populated and prosperous southern counties of the Kingdom were devastated and became mostly abandoned and depopulated.During the Ottoman period, and later in the 17th and 18th century begun the intensesettlement of the Serbs and other South Slavs from the Ottoman ruled centralBalkans. They were military engaged in the borderlands by both sides. This resulted in radical changes of the population structure. Hungarian, Serb andBunjevci peasants, and Serb andVlach peasant soldiers lived (in ever-decreasing number) in the area, who had an impact on the landscape with their farming. In the Ottoman towns there was a Muslim population, and outside the city wall there were communities of various Christian denominations and occupations. Bačka was part of theSanjak of Segedin (Szeged), the region was sparsely populated withSerbs (who were in an absolute majority[19]) and Muslims.
During theGreat Turkish War (1683–1699) on 11 September 1697, nearSenta in the eastern Bačka took place one of the most decisive defeats in Ottoman history, theBattle of Zenta. Christian forces of theHoly League (1684) led byPrince Eugene of Savoy in a surprise attack destroyed the Ottoman army crossing the riverTisza. The battle resulted in a spectacular victory for Austria. As a result, in 1699 theTreaty of Karlowitz was signed, ending the Ottoman control in much of Central Europe. All the lands of theKingdom of Hungary (except forBanat and a small chunk ofEastern Slavonia) conquered by the Ottomans in theprevious 150 years were returned. Under the rule ofLeopold I the Bačka became a possession of theHabsburg monarchy.Bács-Bodrog County was established in the western parts of the region and it was re-integrated into the county system of the Kingdom of Hungary, while some other (mostly eastern) parts of the Bačka were incorporated into theTisza-Maros section of HabsburgMilitary Frontier, which was directly administered by the Imperial Habsburg court in Vienna. There were significant differences in the status of the inhabitants of the feudal county and the privileged newcome settlers of the Military Frontier, who composed mostly of ethnic Serbs. TheGrenz infantry of the Military Frontier was primarily formed to defend Austria against the Ottoman Turks, but impliedly it was intended to offset and control the Hungarian population. This position was several times used by the Habsburg rulers as a political and tactical instrument in the following centuries.[20]
In theRákóczi's War of Independence heavy fightings took place also in Bačka. In 1704Francis II Rákóczi led a victorious campaign in this parts. The Serbs fought on the Emperor's side since the beginning of the war. They were used as the light cavalry in the Austrian army and as tax collectors. During the eight years of war Hungarian villages and towns of the Great Hungarian Plain and Transdanubia were burnt and robbed by the Serbs, while in Bácska Serb villages were burnt. However, there were some Serbs who fought on Rakóczi's side against the Habsburgs – the Frontiersmen of Semlak. The leader of the Kuruc Serb troops was Frontier Captain Obrad Lalić from Senta.Later, some parts of the Military Frontier were abolished in 1751, these parts of Bačka were also included intoBács-Bodrog County. The only part of Bačka which remained within the Military Frontier wasŠajkaška, but it also came under civil administration in 1873.
According to the Austrian censuses from 1715 to 1720,Serbs,Bunjevci, andŠokci comprised most of the region's population (97.6% of population according to 1715–1720 census data[21][22]). There were only 530 or 1.9% Hungarians and 0.5% Germans.[21] During the 18th century, the Habsburgs carried out an intensive colonisation of the area, which had low population density after the lastOttoman Wars, as much of the Serbian population had been decimated through warfare. Muslim population had almost entirely left or was expelled from the region and some of the Muslim refugees from this area settled in Ottoman Bosnia.[22] The new settlers in Bačka were primarilySerbs who moved from Ottoman Balkans,Hungarians – returning to Bačka from all parts of theHabsburg Hungary, andGermans. Because many of the Germans came fromSwabia, they were known asDonauschwaben, orDanube Swabians. Some Germans also came from Austria, and some fromBavaria andAlsace.LutheranSlovaks,Rusyns, and others were also colonized but to a much smaller extent.[citation needed]
There was also an emigration of Serbs from the eastern parts of the region, which belonged to Military Frontier until 1751. After the abolition of the Tisa-Mureş section of Military Frontier, many Serbs emigrated from north-eastern parts of Bačka. They moved either to Russia (notably toNew Serbia andSlavo-Serbia) or toBanat, where the Military Frontier was still needed.[citation needed]
In 1848 and 1849, in the course of theHungarian Revolution and War of Independence broke out theSerb uprising in theDélvidék. The rebels fought on the side of the Habsburg army (together with the German and Romanian regiments from Banat and numerous voluntiers from thePrincipality of Serbia) against the legitimate Hungarian government and theHungarian Revolutionary Army. The fightings were characterized by largely ethnically motivated, bloody atrocities on the civilians, mostly executed by the irregular Serb forces.[23] One of the most illustrative events was the "Bloody Candlemas" of 1849 in Senta (Hungarian:véres gyertyaszentelő). On 2 February the Serb forces overrun and conquered the city, resulting mass looting, arson and massacre of the Hungarian inhabitants. In the following weeks of the occupation 2000–2800 civilians were killed partially with the assistance of the local Serbs.[24][25]As the result of the uprising Bačka was proclaimed as part of theSerbian Voivodship, meant as a Serbian autonomous region withinAustrian Empire, while between 1849 and 1860 it was part of theVoivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar, a separate Austriancrown land (the official languages of the voivodship were German and Illyrian, i.e. Serbo-Croatian). After 1860, when the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar was abolished,Bács-Bodrog County was again formed in the territory of Bačka. The county was part of theKingdom of Hungary, which became one of two constitutient parts of Austria-Hungary in 1867. According to the 1910 census, the population of Bačka numbered 704,563 people and was composed of: 43.2% speakers ofHungarian (310,490), 28.1% speakers ofSouth Slavic (Serbo-Croatian) language and 22.5% speakers of German. Linguistic composition of the region is partially different from ethnic composition since some ethnic Jews and bilingual South Slavs were in this census recorded as speakers of Hungarian language.[26][27]
In early September 1914, several years before the end of theAustria-Hungary, in a town in the West Vojvodina Bačka region known asZombor orSombor of some 30,000 people, including 12,000 Serbs, popular demonstrations demanded the removal of all shop signs in the Cyrillic alphabet. When an angry mob chased one Serb shopkeeper to his home for refusing to remove his Cyrillic sign, he responded by shooting at the demonstrators. The local military commander demanded the shopkeeper's immediate extradition, court martialed him and executed him on the spot. The court martial also designated twelve more affluent hostages from among the Serb population who would be "arrested and immediately executed by the military authorities" in the case of any obstruction or opposition shown by the local [Serb] population to the military authorities.".[28]
At the end of October 1918, Austria-Hungary gradually dissolved and, with theArmistice of Villa Giusti of 3 November, officially capitulated to theTriple Entente. Under theArmistice of Belgrade (signed on 13 November), armed forces of Austria-Hungary retreated from the entire territory of theBács-Bodrog county, and the region was possessed by theAllied Army of the Orient, thus allowing theSerbian Royal Army to establish effective military control south of theBaja-Szeged line.[29]
By that time, thedissolution of Austria-Hungary entered its final stages, and on 16 November theFirst Hungarian Republic was proclaimed. Slavs fromBanat, Bačka and Baranja organized a new civil administration in these regions as well as their own military units known as People's Guard (Serbian:Narodna straža). The new civil administration was composed of local People's Boards (Serbian:Narodni odbori), which were subordinated to Serb People's Board (Serbian:Srpski narodni odbor) inNovi Sad. Military units of Serb People's Board also possessed aircraft from the Novi Sad Airport. After elections, which were organized between 18 and 24 November, theGreat People's Assembly of Serbs, Bunjevci and other Slavs in Banat, Bačka and Baranja (held on 25 November 1918) proclaimed unification of these regions with theKingdom of Serbia.[30]
The assembly represented only a part of the whole population and did not met the principle of theself-determination of nations. It numbered 757 deputies, of which 578 wereSerbs, 84Bunjevci, 62Slovaks, 21Rusyn, 6Germans, 3Šokci, 2Croats and 1Hungarian, despite the fact that the absolute majority of the population of these regions was Hungarian and German. New administrative bodies of Banat, Bačka and Baranja (government and parliament) were also formed. Although, government in Belgrade accepted decision of unification with Serbia, it never recognized new provincial government. The provincial administration, however, was active until 12 March 1919, when it held its last session.[31]
On 1 December 1918, the Kingdom of Serbia united with the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to form new country named theKingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Sovereignty of new kingdom was recognized by theTreaty of Saint Germain in 1919. TheTreaty of Trianon of 4 June 1920 defined the exact borders betweenHungary and theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which was later renamed toKingdom of Yugoslavia) and original territory of Bačka was divided between these two countries. The northern part of the region was a separate county of Hungary (Bács-Bodrog) with seat in Baja, which was later incorporated intoBács-Kiskun county. The southern part of the region was within the District of Novi Sad of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes between 1918 and 1922, then was divided betweenBačka Oblast andBelgrade Oblast,provinces(oblasts) of the kingdom, between 1922 and 1929. In 1929, it was incorporated intoDanube Banovina, which was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.[32]
Between 1820 and 1910, Hungarian speaking population in Bačka increased from 121,688 (31.5%) to 363,518 (44.75%). In the same time, percentage of South Slavs decreased from 44% in 1820 to 27% in 1910. 1921 census showed about 40,000 Hungarian speakers less than in census of 1910. This was especially case in Subotica where 1910 census recorded 55.587 speakers of Hungarian and 33,247 speakers ofBunjevac, while census of 1921 recorded 60,700 speakers of Serbian or Croatian and 26,750 speakers of Hungarian. This is explained by the fact that ethnic Bunjevci from Subotica who had knowledge of Hungarian language were listed as speakers of Hungarian by 1910 census. Between 1921 and 1931 census, number of Hungarian speakers in Bačka increased from 260,998 to 268,711. Slavic population increased by 91,800 inhabitants.[citation needed]
In 1941, Yugoslav Bačka was occupied by theAxis powers and attached toHorthy'sHungary (but was still internationally recognized as part of Yugoslavia). Before this occupation, according to 1931 census, Yugoslav Bačka had 784,896 inhabitants, of whom there were 284,865 Yugoslavs (Serbs, Croats, Bunjevci, Šokci), 268,711 Hungarians and 169,858 Germans. Hungarian occupation authorities expelled several thousands of Serbs from the region and settled ethnic Hungarians from other parts of Central Europe in their place, so that the Hungarian census of 1941 recorded different a demographic composition in the region. According to this census, the territory of Bačka had 789,705 inhabitants, of which 45.4% or[clarification needed] 47.2% were speakers of Hungarian language (not all of them native, however).[33] During the occupation,Hungarian troops killed about 20,000 Serbs, Jews and Roma.[34]
The occupation ended in 1944 and Yugoslav Bačka became part of the newDemocratic 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 the region together with German army. The smaller part of the German population – round 75 thousands of people[35] – that did not leave the area (mostly women, children and the elderly) were sent to prison camps, where many of them died of malnutrition and disease. After the war, members of theYugoslav Partisan army alsokilled several tens of thousands of inhabitants of German, Hungarian and Serb ethnic origin. Estimates about numbers of victims of the Partisans (in whole of Vojvodina) are between 17,000[36] and 56,000[37] killed Germans[better source needed], between 4,000[34] and 40,000 Hungarians killed, and about 23,000–24,000 Serbs killed.[36]
After the World War II, along with easternSyrmia, westernBanat, and northernMačva, Yugoslav Bačka has been part ofSerbia and its province ofVojvodina.
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Bačka is a flat, fertile agricultural area within the largerPannonian Plain, which was once the ancientPannonian Sea. In Hungary, it is seen as a southern extension of theGreat Alfold (itself part of the Pannonian Plain), while this designation is not used in Serbia where region is simply seen as a part of the Pannonian Plain. It lies between the RiverDanube to the west and south, and by the River Tisa (Tisza) to the east of whichconfluence is located nearTitel in theSouth Bačka District of Serbia. The region is crisscrossed by parts of theDanube–Tisa–Danube Canal system which serves a variety of economic purposes. Almost all of Bačka is divided between Serbia and Hungary. However, there are small uninhabited pockets of the area on the left bank of the Danube which arede jure parts ofCroatia according to theBadinter Commission; the disputed areas have been underde facto Serbian control since 1991.[citation needed]
Most of the territory and a vast majority of the population of Bačka is part of Serbia's Autonomous Province ofVojvodina. This area within Serbia is officially divided into the districts of Southern Bačka, Western Bačka, and Northern Bačka.Novi Sad, the capital of Vojvodina, lies on the border between Bačka andSyrmia, on both banks of the river Danube. In some sources, Serbian part of Bačka is referred to asCentral and Southern Bačka (Serbian:Средња и јужна Бачка / Srednja i južna Bačka;Hungarian:Közép- és Dél-Bácska) or simplySouthern Bačka (Serbian:Јужна Бачка /Južna Bačka; Dél-Bácska). The smaller part of the region in Hungary'sBács-Kiskun County is, by the same sources, described asNorthern Bačka (Hungarian:Észak-Bácska;Serbian:Северна Бачка /Severna Bačka).
Theadministrative districts of Serbia in Bačka are:
Note that municipalities ofSremski Karlovci,Petrovaradin, andBeočin and southern part of municipality ofBačka Palanka that belong to South Bačka District are geographically not located in Bačka, but in Syrmia, while municipalities ofAda,Senta, andKanjiža which are geographically located in Bačka are part ofNorth Banat District.
Geographic or traditional subregions or regions overlapping with Serbian Bačka includeGornji Breg,Podunavlje,Potisje,Šajkaška,Telečka, andPaorija.
The Hungarian Bácska is mostly located in theBács-Kiskun county of Hungary, while one small part of the region is located in theBaranya county.
Subregions in the Hungarian Bácska include (with population numbers):
Note that parts of Hungarian Bácska also belong to the subregions ofKiskunhalasi andMohácsi, although the main parts of those subregions are not located in Bácska.
According to the 2022 Serbian census, the population of the Serbian part of Bačka stood at 915,885.[38][39]
a contiguous urban area (excluding adjacent settlements ofPetrovaradin andSremska Kamenica that are geographically part ofSyrmia)
According to the 2001 Hungarian census, the rough population of the Hungarian Bácska (including districts ofBajai,Bácsalmási, andJánoshalmai) stood at 113,432.[2]Archived 27 September 2007 at theWayback Machine Note that administrative borders of the districts do not fully correspond with the geographical borders of Hungarian Bácska. Most of the inhabitants of Hungarian Bácska are ethnicHungarians.[3]
Towns with over 5,000 inhabitants:
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