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Syrmia (EkavianSerbo-Croatian:Srem /Срем orIjekavianSrijem /Сријем) is a region of the southernPannonian Plain, which lies between theDanube andSava rivers. It is divided betweenSerbia andCroatia. Most of the region is flat, with the exception of the lowFruška gora mountain stretching along the Danube in its northern part.
The word "Syrmia" is derived from the ancient city ofSirmium (nowSremska Mitrovica).[1][2] Sirmium was aCeltic orIllyrian town founded in the third century BC.
Srem (Serbian Cyrillic:Срем) andSrijem (Сријем) are used to designate the region in Serbia and Croatia respectively.[3] Other names for the region include:
Between 3000 BC and 2400 BC, Syrmia was at the centre ofIndo-EuropeanVučedol culture.[4]
Sirmium was conquered by Romans in the first century BC and became the economic and political capital ofPannonia.[5] In 6 AD, there was an uprising of the indigenous peoples against Roman rule. However, ten laterRoman Emperors were born in Sirmium or nearby. They includedHerennius Etruscus (227–251),Hostilian (230?–251),Decius Traian (249–251),Claudius II (268–270),Quintillus (270),Aurelian (270–275),Probus (276–282),Maximianus Herculius (285–310),Constantius II (337–361) andGratian (367–383).[citation needed]
In the 6th century, Syrmia was part of theByzantine province ofPannonia. During that time, Byzantine rule was challenged byOstrogoths andGepids. In 567, Byzantine rule was fully restored, although it later collapsed during theSiege of Sirmium byAvars andSlavs (582). It remained under Avar rule up to c. 800, when it came under the control of theFrankish Empire. In 827,Bulgars invaded Syrmia and continued to rule after a peace treaty in 845 AD. The region was later incorporated into thePrincipality of Lower Pannonia, but during the 10th century it became a battleground betweenHungarians,Bulgarians, andSerbs.[6]
At the beginning of the 11th century, the ruler of Syrmia was DukeSermon, vassal of theBulgarian emperorSamuil. There had been Bulgar resistance to Byzantine rule. This collapsed and Sermon, who refused to capitulate was captured and killed byConstantine Diogenes. A new but ultimately short lived area of governance named theThema ofSirmium was established. It included the region of Syrmia and what is nowMačva. In 1071, Hungarians took over the region of Syrmia, but the Byzantine Empire reconquered the province after the victory over the Hungarians in theBattle of Syrmia (1167). Byzantine rule ended in 1180, when Syrmia was taken again by the Hungarians.
In the 13th century, the region was controlled by theKingdom of Hungary. On 3 March 1229, the acquisition of Syrmia was confirmed byPapal bull.Pope Gregory IX wrote, "[Margaretha] soror…regis Ungarie [acquired] terram…ulterior Sirmia". In 1231, The Duke of Syrmia wasGiletus. In the 1200s, the territory around Syrmia was divided into two counties: Syrmia in the east and Valkó (Vukovar) in the west.
In the 13th century, between 1282 and 1316, Syrmia was ruled byStefan Dragutin of Serbia.[7][8][unreliable source?] Initially, Dragutin was a vassal of Hungary but later ruled independently. Dragutin died in 1316, and was succeeded by his son,Stefan Vladislav II (1316–1325). In 1324, Vladislav II was defeated byStefan Uroš III Dečanski ofRascia. Lower Syrmia became the subject of dispute between the Kingdoms of Rascia and Hungary.
In 1404,Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor ceded part of Syrmia toStefan Lazarević of Serbia.[9]
From 1459, the Hungarian kings endorsed theHouse of Branković and later, theBerislavići Grabarski family as the titular heads of theSerbian Despotate of which Syrmia was a part. They resided inKupinik (modern Kupinovo). The local rulers includedVuk Grgurević (1471 to 1485);Đorđe Branković (1486 to 1496),Jovan Branković (1496 to 1502),Ivaniš Berislavić (1504 to 1514), andStjepan Berislavić (1520 to 1535). In 1522, the last of the titular Serbian despots in Syrmia,Stjepan Berislavić, moved toSlavonia, ahead of invadingOttoman forces. Another important local governor wasLaurence of Ilok, Duke of Syrmia (1477 to 1524), who reigned over large parts of the region fromIlok.
In 1521, parts of Syrmia fell to theOttomans and by 1538, the entire region was under Ottoman control. Between 1527 and 1530,Radoslav Čelnik ruled Syrmia as an Ottoman vassal. The area ofOttoman administration in Syrmia was known as theSanjak of Syrmia.
In 1699, theHabsburg monarchy took western Syrmia from the Ottomans as part of theTreaty of Karlowitz.[10] Until theTreaty of Passarowitz at the end of theAustro-Turkish War of 1716-18, remainder of Syrmia was part of the HabsburgMilitary Frontier.[11]
At the end of the Austro-Russian-Turkish War of 1735–1739, there was a migration of Albanians from the Kelmendi tribe to Syrmia, who were recorded as speaking Albanian as late as 1921.[12]
In 1745, theCounty of Syrmia was established as part of the Habsburgs'Kingdom of Slavonia.[13] During theAustro-Turkish War (1788-1791), there were émigrés from Serbia who settled in Syrmia.[14]
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In 1807, theTican's Rebellion, a Syrmian peasant uprising, occurred onRuma estate and in the village ofVoganj inIlok estate.
In 1848, most of Syrmia was part of the temporarySerbian Voivodship, a Serb autonomous region within the Austrian Empire. By a 1849 decree of theEmperor Franz Joseph, theVoivodship of Serbia and Tamiš Banat was created, comprising Northern Syrmia, including Ilok and Ruma.[15][16]
After 1860, theCounty of Syrmia was re-established and returned to theKingdom of Slavonia. In 1868, the Kingdom of Slavonia became part ofCroatia-Slavonia in the Kingdom of Hungary.
On 29 October 1918, Syrmia became a part of the newly independentState of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. On 24 November 1918, the Assembly of Syrmia proclaimed the unification of Serb-populated parts of Syrmia with the Kingdom ofSerbia. However, from 1 December 1918, all of Syrmia was made a part of theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
From 1918 to 1922, Syrmia remained within the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and from 1922 to 1929, Syrmia was a province (oblast). In 1929, after a new territorial division, Syrmia was divided betweenDanube Banovina andDrina Banovina, in theKingdom of Yugoslavia and in 1931, it was divided between Danube Banovina andSava Banovina. In 1939, the western part of Syrmia was included into the newly formedBanovina of Croatia.
In 1941, Syrmia was occupied by theWorld War IIAxis powers and its entire territory was ceded to theIndependent State of Croatia, a Nazipuppet state. The fascistUstashe regime systematically murderedSerbs (as part of theGenocide of the Serbs),Jews (The Holocaust),Roma (The Porajmos), and some political dissidents. Nowhere in occupied Europe were more church-historical monuments destroyed than in the Independent State of Croatia. The greatest destruction took place in Srem. The Ustashe occupiers targeted parish churches and the monasteries of Fruška Gora, which housed rich treasuries and libraries. Their goal was the eradication of historical traces of the Serb presence in these areas.[17]
In August 1942, following the joint military anti-partisan operation in the Syrmia by the Ustashe and GermanWehrmacht, it turned into amassacre by the Ustasha militia that left up to 7,000 Serbs dead.[18] Among those killed was the prominent painterSava Šumanović, who was arrested along with 150 residents ofŠid.[19] In 1945, with the creation of new borders, eastern Syrmia became part of thePeople's Republic of Serbia, while western Syrmia became part of thePeople's Republic of Croatia.
In 1991, Croatia declaredits independence fromSFR Yugoslavia, and theCroatian War of Independence ensued shortly thereafter. The Serbs self-proclaimed in one part western Syrmia an autonomous region called the "Serbian Autonomous Region ofEastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia". This region was one of the two Serbian autonomous regions that formed the self-declared and unrecognizedRepublic of Serbian Krajina. The region was ethnically cleansed of its Croat and some other non-Serb population leading to some of the most serious violation of human rights including theLovas killings, theTovarnik massacre, theVukovar massacre andother crimes. The autonomous regions lasted until 1995, when it wasreintegrated in Croatia. After the war, a number of towns and municipalities in the Croatian part of Syrmia were designatedAreas of Special State Concern.
In 2002, the population of Syrmia inSerbia was 790,697.[20] 668,745 (84.58%) wereSerb. In 2001, the population of the Croatian Vukovar-Srijem county was 204,768.[21] The census showed thatCroats made up 78.3% of total population,Serbs 15.5%,Hungarians 1%,Rusyns 0.9% and others.
The majority of Syrmia is located in theSrem district of the Autonomous Province ofVojvodina inSerbia. A smaller area around Novi Sad is part of theSouth Bačka district, and another smaller area aroundNovi Beograd,Zemun, andSurčin belongs to theCity of Belgrade. The remaining part of Syrmia is part of theVukovar-Syrmia County in Croatia.
The present international border of the region of Syrmia was drawn in 1945 by theĐilas commission. It divided theYugoslav constituent republic ofCroatia and the Autonomous Province ofVojvodina, itself part ofSerbia, withinYugoslavia.
Milovan Đilas, aMontenegrin and then a confidant ofJosip Broz Tito, drew the border according to demographic criteria, which explains why the town ofIlok on theDanube, with a Croat majority, lies east ofŠid in Serbia, with a Serb majority. The border drawn in 1945 was very similar to the 1931-1939 border between theDanube Banovina and theSava Banovina within theKingdom of Yugoslavia.
List of cities in Syrmia (with population):
Petrovaradin, Sremska Kamenica, Sremski Karlovci and Beočin are geographically located in Syrmia, but they are part ofSouth Bačka District.
Municipalities in Serbian Syrmia:
The Syrmian villages ofNeštin andVizić are part of the municipality ofBačka Palanka, the main part of which is inBačka. Several settlements that are part of the municipality of Sremska Mitrovica are located in Syrmia inMačva.
Municipalities and villages in Croatian Syrmia:
Syrmia's principal mountain isFruška Gora. Its highest peak isCrveni Čot at 539 m.
The empress Maria Theresa renewed in 1745 three Slavonian counties: the Virovitica county with the centre in Osijek, the Požega county with the centre in Požega and the Syrmia county with the centre in Vukovar.
..die Einverleibung der seit dem 18.11.1849 zur [Serbisch] Vojvodschaft gehörenden syrmischen Bezirke Ruma und Ilok
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