Šumadija

Šumadija ( sr-Cyrl, Шумадија, ) is a geographical region in the central part of Serbia. The area used to be heavily covered with forests, hence the name (from ''šuma'' 'forest'). The city of Kragujevac is the administrative center of the Šumadija District in the Šumadija and Western Serbia statistical region.

This very fertile region is known for its extensive fruit production (apples, grapes, plums, etc.).

Name

''Šumadija'' was named for the dense, impassable forests that covered the region. These forests were preserved until the early 19th century; they are mentioned in literature and tradition. Bertrandon de la Broquière (1400–1459) passed through Serbia; on the road from Palanka to Belgrade he "passed through very large forests." During the reign of Prince Miloš (1817–1839), it was said of the dense forests that covered Serbia, "no one could walk through (them), let alone with horse." When Alphonse de Lamartine visited Serbia in 1833, he wrote that he felt as if he were "in the middle of the North American forests." In the villages of Jasenica, a tradition was maintained "that everywhere there were empty forests, and settlers called relatives to come and occupy the land how much they want ... the forests were in need of cutting down trees and burning for years ... it was so impassable, that one could walk for days through it, without seeing the sun."

The inhabitants of this region have earned the demonym ''Šumadinci''.

Geography

To Šumadija's north are the River Danube and Kosmaj Mountain. To the region's east are the River Morava and the city of Smederevska Palanka. To the south are the Gledić Mountains, with the peaks of Crni Vrh, Kotlenik, and Rudnik southeast, south, and southwest of Šumadija, respectively. West of Šumadija are the Rivers Kolubara, Ljig, and Dičina. According to some interpretations (for example, physiologist J. Cvijić and ethnologist J. Erdeljanović), the northern border of Šumadija lies between the mountains of Avala and Kosmaj. According to that view, Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, does not belong to this region.

Central Šumadija is well known for its rich horticulture, with major products being plums, apples, pears, apricots, peaches, nuts, cherries, strawberries, and raspberries.

The geological region of Šumadija includes formations of enhanced uranium, such as the Brajkovac granitic massif, and volcanites of Medvednjak, Rudnik, and , with high average instance of uranium and thorium.

History

Prehistory

Archaeological sites of the Neolithic Starčevo culture and Vinča culture (5500–4500 BC) are widespread in Šumadija. Settlements of the late Starčevo phase are present across the entire territory of central Šumadija. Risovača Cave in Aranđelovac is one of the most important Paleolithic archaeological sites in Europe. Notable Neolithic sites include Grivac and Kusovac in the west, Divostin in the center, and Dobrovodica and Rajac in the east.

Middle Ages

Šumadija was located directly northeast of Raška, the centre of the Serbian Principality. The exact location of its border with the Bulgarian Khanate in the 10th century is unclear. Prince Zaharija is known to have united several Slavic tribes along the common border to rebel against Bulgaria in the 920s. Časlav (r. 927–960) and Constantine Bodin (r. 1081–1101) may have held parts of Šumadija. The southern half of Šumadija later came under the rule of Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja and the Nemanjić dynasty (1166–1371).

Central Šumadija's three parts— Gruža, Jasenica, and Lepenica—most likely existed as administrative divisions or '' župe'' (counties) during the Byzantine era. Gruža was mentioned in the beginning of the 11th century as a peripheral province. The province of Lepenica, with the status of ''župa'', officially entered Stefan Nemanja's realm in 1183; Nemanja later granted it as property ('' metochion'') to his endowment, the Hilandar monastery, which he confirmed in the 1198 chrysobull. The province of ''Dendra'', which was held by Serbian ruler Desa (fl. 1150–66), has been interpreted as Šumadija by some scholars, and as Toplica but it has been concluded that it was in the vicinity of Niš; Leskovac (historically Glubočica and Dubočica).

The medieval Serbian state saw its end with the Serbian Despotate's fall in Šumadija in the 15th century.

Early modern history

Until the fall of the Serbian Despotate, the region was advanced, rich, and well-populated. This fact stands out in the accounts of travellers who passed through Šumadija during that period. Many topographic names that have survived to this day confirm old settlements, churches, and monasteries (''selište'', ''crkvine'', ''manastirine'', ''kućerine'', ''podrumine'', ''varoševo'', etc.), as do old graveyards and other traces. After the fall of the Despotate, opportunities changed. The Ottoman invasion and other events that took place in Šumadija up until the early 19th century were the primary causes of depopulation. Fleeing their homes ahead of the Ottomans, the Šumadinci concealed themselves in the mountains and ravines or departed in various directions. Settlements disappeared, the churches and monasteries were destroyed, and the population constantly decreased. One traveller, Gerlach, described the path from Batočina to Palanka: "I couldn't find no trace of settlements or culture, everywhere there is wasteland, not a single piece of land has been cultivated, there is not a single village".

Pavle Bakić, who had estates on the Venčac, left between 1515 and 1522 "with a large group of people into Hungary." Schweiger, who passed through Serbia in 1577, said that he travelled from Kolar " hrougha deserted region, scarcely settled and badly processed, in three days not having seen more than five poor villages." In groups or individually, families left their homeland and went in different directions, over (''preko'') the rivers to Syrmia, Banat, Bačka, and Slavonia; to Bosnia; and to other regions. This flight lasted until the end of the 18th century, then again after 1813. During the Austro-Turkish War (1787–91), in 1788, the residents of the Šumadija villages Koraćica, Nemenikuće, and Rogače fled ''preko''. Among them were Milovan Vidaković, who wrote, "We are watching the villages through which and along which we passed, all are already covered in grass, not a living soul in them, all has gone; vineyards, gardens, flats, it's all empty and lying in weeds." More flights ensued after 1813. For example, the parents of activist Ilija Milosavljević-Kolarac fled ''preko'' with the rest of the peasants in 1813 to hide from the Ottoman army. In Orašac, they crossed the Danube and settled in Crepaja, whence they later returned to their homes.

In addition to emigration, there was also immigration, more or less, depending on the circumstance of the day in Šumadija. After the Austro-Turkish War, once Koča's frontier had been established and the situation in Šumadija was more tolerable, it saw an increasing influx of settlers that peaked after the outbreak of the First Serbian Uprising (1804). In the first decades of the 19th century, Šumadija received most of its population.

During the 18th century, the forests and hills of Šumadija were a refuge for the hajduk bands (brigands, rebels, guerilla fighters) who fought against Ottoman occupation. Parts of the Sanjak of Smederevo, all within Šumadija, were liberated by the Austrian army in 1718, resulting in the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbia (1718–39). After the Austro-Russian–Turkish War (1735–39), the sanjak was re-established. In 1788, the Habsburg-organized Serbian Free Corps liberated Šumadija, which, after subsequent Austrian military involvement, was joined with the rest of the sanjak under Habsburg occupation (1788–92). The First Serbian Uprising, which broke out in 1804, saw the region liberated under self-organized Serbian rebels led by Šumadijan-born Karađorđe, the national hero of Serbia. The Second Serbian Uprising in 1815 was led by Miloš Obrenović, who successfully repelled Ottoman forces and by 1830 gained full autonomy for Serbia, leading to the independence of central Serbia after several centuries under Ottoman rule.

Contemporary period

Between 1922 and 1929, one of the administrative units in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was the Šumadijska Oblast. It roughly included territory of present-day Šumadija District with its administrative seat in Kragujevac, which is the seat of the modern district as well.

Cities and towns

Towns with a population larger than 20,000 include:

*Kragujevac (146,315)
* Gornji Milanovac (23,109)
* Aranđelovac (22,881)
* Mladenovac (22,346)
* Smederevska Palanka (20,345)

Culture

The most common folk costume of Serbia is that of Šumadija. It includes the national hat, the Šajkača, and the traditional leather footwear, '' opanci''. Older villagers still wear their traditional costumes.

The fertile region of Šumadija is particularly known for its plums and Slivovitz ('' Šljivovica''), the production of which is of great importance to Šumadija Serbs and plays a part in several of their local customs.

Anthropology

Studies by J. Cvijić

In the Šumadija regions – Kačer, Gruža, Lepenica, Kragujevačka Jasenica, Smederevsko Podunavlje and Jasenica, Kosmaj and in the villages around Belgrade, 8,894 kin families with 52,475 households were included in the study of J. Cvijić. Of these, only 464 families with 3,603 houses were "old" (''starinci'', also called "natives"), which is close to the number of families of unknown descent (470 families with 2,464 houses), with the rest of the population being settlers (7,960 families, 46,408 houses). Šumadija was settled from almost all of the regions of the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia, though most of which came from the Dinaric areas, that is, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from Raška and Sandžak, Dalmatia, Lika, and the rest of the Dinaric areas. In lesser numbers they hailed from Kosovo, from Metohija, and the rest of the Yugoslav regions.

According to the studies by J. Cvijić, almost 90% of the families of Šumadija descended from settler families of various Serb ethnographic groups. The Dinaric group was predominant, while other South Slavic regions are included in lesser percentages. This diverse population blended, mutually permeated and leveled, thus creating an ethnographic group (the ''Šumadinci''), with characteristical psychical traits.

Cvijić noted the particular striking character of the Šumadinci as "something very strong, bold, with great activeness, and healthy nerves", that many of them are capable, "it seems, they manage to succeed in any enterprise", and that "there is increasingly appearing personalities with great will", "Foreign observers would have the impression that everyone thrives with intractible persistence and tenacity", "Rigid traditionalism has almost completely disappeared. All adapt to new ways of life. There is less talk, less epic poems and epic preferences than in pure Dinaric people". Among other traits, the ''Šumadinac'' has "common sense, measures and sense of reality. They know how to assess things and events fairly and without anger, when they are fully aware of these. The peasants are often characterized by sensing measures, which is rarely held by their schooled compatriots." They were shown to be a very honest and humorous people.

In popular culture

;Songs
* Smak, ''Šumadijski blues'' (1976)
* Braća Bajić, ''Šumadijo, šumovita'', folk song (?)
**interpreted by Bora Spužić Kvaka (1981), Predrag Gojković Cune, Radiša Urošević (1990s), among others
* Miroslav Ilić, ''Šumadijo'', folk song (1982)
* Rade Petrović, ''Šumadijo ko bi tebe ostavio'', folk song (1981)
**interpreted by Era Ojdanić, ''Šumadijo, Šumadijo''
* Snežana Đurišić, ''Odakle si, sele'', folk song (1981)
* Gordana Stojićević, ''Dobro jutro Šumadijo'', folk song (1979)
* Olivera Katarina, ''Šu, Šu, Šumadijo'', pop song (1969)
* Vasilija Radojčić, ''Šumadijo, rodni kraju'', folk song (?)
**interpreted by Pavle Stefanović (1977)

See also

* Šumadija District
* Geographical regions in Serbia
* Šumadija and Western Serbia
* National Museum of Šumadija, Kragujevac

References

Sources

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumadija

Geography of Belgrade
Geographical regions of Serbia
Geography of Southern and Eastern Serbia
Geography of Šumadija and Western Serbia
Historical regions in Serbia
Wine regions of Serbia