Rajko Depreradović ( 1710 – after 1764; also spelled Rajko Preradović) was a leader of colonists who settled free lands in what is now known as

Donbas The Donbas (, ; ) or Donbass ( ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. The majority of the Donbas is occupied by Russia as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The word ''Donbas'' is a portmanteau formed fr ...

that were offered for settlement in 1752 to

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

Vlachs Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula ...

and other

Balkan people The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

of the Christian Orthodox faith to ensure frontier protection and development of the steppes. The settlement was then called

Slavo-Serbia Slavo-Serbia or Slaveno-Serbia was a territory of Imperial Russia from 1753 to 1764. It was located to the south of the Donets River, between the Bakhmutka River and Luhan River. This area today is located within present-day Luhansk Oblast a ...

and it was directly governed by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Governing Senate From 1711 to 1917, the Governing Senate was the highest legislative, judicial, and executive body subordinate to the Russian emperors. The senate was instituted by Peter the Great to replace the Boyar Duma and lasted until the very end of the R ...

and College of War. The settlers eventually formed the Bakhmut hussar regiment in 1764. Also in 1764, Slavo-Serbia was transformed into the Donets uyezd of

Yekaterinoslav Governorate Yekaterinoslav Governorate} was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Yekaterinoslav. Covering an area of , and being composed of a inhabitant of 2,113,674 by the census of 1897, it bordere ...

(now in

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in simultaneously southern, eastern and central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. It was created on February 27, 1932. Dnipropetro ...

, Ukraine). The Slavo-Serbia commanders were colonels Rajko Preradović and

Jovan Šević Jovan Šević or Ivan Šević ( sr-Cyrl, Јован Шевић, ; died ) was an 18th-century military officer of Serb origin. He reached the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Serb militia forces in the Pomorišje region, then in the Military Fro ...

, who led their soldiers in various Russian military campaigns; in peacetime, they kept the borderlands, along with the

Cossacks The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic languages, East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borde ...

, free from incursions by other states.

Biography

Rajko Preradović's ancestors first settled in an area around

Grubišno Polje Grubišno Polje (Czech: ''Hrubečné Pole,'' Hungarian'': Grobosinc,'' German'': Poglack'') is a town in Bjelovar-Bilogora County, Croatia. Demographics In the 1991 census, the settlement had equal numbers of Serbs and Croatians, but during the ...

, some 30 kilometers south-east of

Bjelovar Bjelovar (, , Czech language, Czech: ''Bělovar'' or ''Bělovár,'' Kajkavian dialect, Kajkavian: ''Belovar,'' Latin: ''Bellovarium'') is a city in central Croatia. In the Demographics of Croatia, 2021 census, its population was 36,316 . It is ...

in Habsburg

Military Frontier The Military Frontier (; sh-Cyrl-Latn, Војна крајина, Vojna krajina, sh-Cyrl-Latn, Војна граница, Vojna granica, label=none; ; ) was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and later the Austrian and Austro-Hungari ...

. Son of Grenz infantry officer Stepan Depreradović, Rajko followed his family's military tradition and joined the Military Frontier as a young man. His family was given Habsburg nobility in the seventeenth century for their military service to the crown and began using the

Nobiliary particle A nobiliary particle is a type of onomastic particle used in a surname or family name in many Western cultures to signal the nobility of a family. The particle used varies depending on the country, language and period of time. In some languages, it ...

. He became a

Pomorišje Pomorišje ( sr-Cyrl, Поморишје) is a historical geographical region on the banks of the river Mureș () that in the past has had a sizable ethnic Serb population. The region is mostly divided between Romania and Hungary, with small par ...

border, lieutenant colonel, before heading one of two convoys of colonists in

Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...

in 1752. The other convoy was headed by

. Rajko (Rodion) Stepanovich Depreradović arrived with his family and began to build and develop the homesteads in their new homeland. Three of his sons and their children and relatives, all achieved prominence in the Russian military.

Family history

The Preradovići hail from

Old Serbia Old Serbia () is a Serbian historiographical term that is used to describe the territory that according to the dominant school of Serbian historiography in the late 19th century formed the core of the Serbian Empire in 1346–71. The term does ...

, from where they settled the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. Jovan Preradović from

Bačka Bačka ( sr-Cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska (), is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hungary. ...

received Hungarian noble status in 1626. The nobility status was confirmed in 1667 for Jovan's son, Ivan. A Preradović family moved from Počitelj, Čapljina in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

to Donja Krajina (modern

Bjelovar-Križevci County The Bjelovar-Križevci County (; ) was a historic administrative subdivision of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Croatia-Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen (Transleithania), the Hungarian part of th ...

) in 1750. Lieutenant Colonel Rajko Preradović from Bačka brought the first group of Serbs from

Potisje Potisje ( sr-cyr, Потисје) is the name of the Tisa river basin parts located in Serbia, in the autonomous province of Vojvodina. The river Tisa flows between the Banat and Bačka regions. Municipalities in Potisje Municipalities in Bačka ...

to Russia in 1751. The Preradović family was one of several families that had settled

. The Preradović family in Hungary were kin to the Preradović family in the

. The Preradović family in the Tisa Military Frontier received nobility status in 1704. General and poet Petar Preradović belonged to this family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Depreradović, Rajko 18th-century Serbian people 18th-century military personnel from the Russian Empire

Biography

Family history

See also

References