Srbac ( sr-cyr, Србац) is a town in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, located about north of Banja Luka. As of 2013, it has a population of 17,587 inhabitants, while the town of Srbac has a population of 2,707 inhabitants.

Geography

Physical geography

The municipality of Srbac is situated at the coordinates of on the right bank of the Sava, across Davor, at the confluence of the Vrbas into Sava, and about downstream from Gradiška. The area around Srbac is mountainous woodland to the south-east (40% of the total area) and farmland to the south-west (60% of total area). The city itself is built in the Pannonian plain, which is located on the transition between low mountain areas and flat farmlands. The mountain ranges to the south-east are called

Motajica Motajica is a mountain of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a mountain island, because a few thousand years ago, when it was the Pannonian Sea, it and several other mountains in the Pannonian region were the islands. See also *List of mountains in ...

and the highest peak is called Gradina at 652m above sea level. The lowest point is 89m in the small village of Vlaknica along the Sava river.

Political geography

The Municipality of Srbac is located in the northeastern part of Bosnia and Hercegovina's entity Republika Srpska and borders the municipalities of Derventa,

Prnjavor Prnjavor is a common South Slavic placename, meaning "village on a monastery's property". It can refer to the following places: Bosnia and Herzegovina * Prnjavor, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a town and municipality in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina * ...

, Laktaši and Gradiška and has a 42km long border with Croatia. The Municipality of Srbac covers an area of 453 km² (174.9 mi²) and consists of 39 villages.

Climate

Srbac has a

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in the middle latitudes (40 to 55 north), within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing som ...

, with harsh winters and warm summers. The warmest month of the year is July, with an average temperature of 25

°C The degree Celsius is the unit of temperature on the Celsius scale (originally known as the centigrade scale outside Sweden), one of two temperature scales used in the International System of Units (SI), the other being the Kelvin scale. The ...

(77

°F The Fahrenheit scale () is a temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). It uses the degree Fahrenheit (symbol: °F) as the unit. Several accounts of how he originally defined his ...

). The coldest month of the year is January, when temperatures average -5

(23

). Annual precipitation for Srbac is about 875 mm. Due to the city's high latitude; it snows in Srbac almost every year as well. Strong winds come from the north and northeast bringing much snow.

History

Archaeological evidence points to an Iron Age settlement existing in the region (Cagan grad). Before the collapse of the Western Roman Empire the town was mentioned in this area. As throughout in the Balkans during Ottoman occupation, towns were constantly burnt and destroyed. In the cadastral area of modern Srbac the historical town of Svinjar existed (meaning "swine stable").

Ottoman era

At the time of the

Long War (1591–1606) The Long Turkish War or Thirteen Years' War was an indecisive land war between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire, primarily over the Principalities of Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia. It was waged from 1593 to 1606 but in Europ ...

, Ahmet Hafiz-pasha transported his huge army from Ottoman-held Slavonia across the Sava at Svinjar further into Bosnia (1596). During Ottoman occupation the region was part of the Sanjak of Bosnia. Svinjar was one of the important rebel sites in Bosnia during the Herzegovina Uprising (1875–78) against the Ottoman Empire; one of the battles took place here on 21 November 1875 at a place called Srbac where

hajduks A hajduk ( hu, hajdúk, plural of ) is a type of irregular infantry found in Central and parts of Southeast Europe from the late 16th to mid 19th centuries. They have reputations ranging from bandits to freedom fighters depending on time, p ...

burnt down and destroyed an Ottoman military camp.

Austria-Hungary

In the late 19th century Svinjar was under

Austro-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. In 1888 a primary school was opened in Svinjar. Between the years of 1899 to 1921 around 7,000 Poles and around 5,000 Ukrainians migrated and settled in the area. Towards the end of 1929 a medical centre was also opened in Svinjar. On 2 November 1933 the minister of internal affairs of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia changed the town name into Srbac.

Yugoslavia

During World War II these parts were frequently invaded by all the warring sides. During the 1970s Srbac saw rapid growth with the opening of a new textile factory and a packaging material factory. However, economic growth stopped during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

. Srbac was bombarded 3 times during the war by Croatian forces in the summer of 1992 only. No one was killed in these 3 incidents and Srbac suffered only minor structural damage.

Demographics

Population

According to the 2013 census results, the municipality has 17,587, while the town of Srbac had the population of 2,707 inhabitants.

Ethnic composition

References

External links

Official website
{{Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina Populated places in Srbac Cities and towns in Republika Srpska Srbac Bosnia and Herzegovina–Croatia border crossings