Novi Kneževac ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Кнежевац, ; ; ) is a town and municipality located in the

North Banat District The North Banat District (, ) is one of administrative districts of Serbia. It lies in the geographical regions of Banat and Bačka. According to the 2022 census, the North Banat District has a population of 117,896 inhabitants. The administra ...

of the autonomous province of

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. The town has a population of 5,688, while the Novi Kneževac municipality has 8,627 inhabitants according to 2022 census.

Name

The Serbian name of the town originates in the Serbian word ''"knez"'' ''("prince" in English)'', and the full meaning of the name is ''"the prince's new place"'' in English. The city's name in various languages include Serbian: ''Novi Kneževac'' or Нови Кнежевац, (), , , and . The older Serbian names used for the town were ''Turska Kanjiža'' (Турска Кањижа), ''Mala Kanjiža'' (Мала Кањижа) and ''Nova Kanjiža'' (Нова Кањижа). The Serbian and Hungarian languages are officially used by the municipal authorities.

History

People inhabited this area as early as the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

era as well. Historically, the region was populated by

Sarmatians The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...

Gepids The Gepids (; ) were an East Germanic tribes, East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary, and Serbia, roughly between the Tisza, Sava, and Carpathian Mountains. They were said to share the religion and language of the G ...

Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...

, Avars and

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

. The first written record of Novi Kneževac was made in the ninth century, mentioning under the name "Kneža". In the next century, it was mentioned as "Kanjiša". Until the arrival of the

Ottomans Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

, it was under the administration of Hungarian feudal landlords. In the 16th century, during the Ottoman administration, it was populated by

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 ...

, its name became known as "Turska Kanjiža" and there were already 30-40 houses in the settlement at the beginning of the 18th century In the 18th century, it became part of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

, and in 1752, in the vicinity of Turska Kanjiža, a new settlement was built by Serbs coming from Pomorišje, who settled here after the

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 ...

had been abolished in that region. The name of the newly built settlement in the neighborhood was ''Jozefovo'' or ''Jozefsdorf'' (later known as ''Obilićevo'') and in 1945, the two settlements became one. In the 18th century, the economic and cultural life of Turska Kanjiža started thriving; Marko Servijski founded an association whose name was "Stipendarius Servijski" or "Platoneum", which was the largest stipendist foundation among Serbs and Cincars at that time. By this association, a regular allowance was allocated to the reformer of the

Serbian language Serbian (, ) is the standard language, standardized Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of ...

Lukijan Mušicki Lukijan Mušicki ( sr-cyr, Лукијан Мушицки, ; 27 January 1777 – 15 March 1837) was a Serbian Orthodox bishop, writer and poet. From 1828 he was bishop of Karlovac, now in Croatia. References Further reading * * * Jovan Sk ...

. In 1885, a pontoon bridge was opened between Turska Kanjiža and Stara Kanjiža. In the 18th century, both settlements, Turska Kanjiža and Jozefovo were populated mainly by Serbs, however, 1910 census already recorded that the Hungarian speakers exceeded in number the Serbian ones in both settlements. As for the territory of present-day Novi Kneževac municipality, 1910 census recorded 18,513 inhabitants in the area, of which 9,295 (50.21%) spoke Serbian and 8,823 (47.66%) Hungarian (Note that this data is calculated on the present-day territory of Novi Kneževac municipality, not on the territory of historical municipality, which included a much larger territory than the modern one in 1910 and in which the Hungarian speakers were more numerous than the Serbian ones). In 1918, it became part of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

(later renamed to

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

). In 1922, the name "Nova Kanjiža" was officially adopted which was altered to "Novi Kneževac" in 1935 and in 1932, it was the site of the first football match illuminated by electric lanterns in

.Source: Stevan Kovačević, Gradovi Srbije u slici i reči, Beograd, 2010. Until 1981, the largest ethnic group in the town were Hungarians but with a different demographic trend. The proportion of Serbs increased, while the proportion of Hungarians fell, and in 1981 evinced by all the following censuses, Serbs became the most numerous ethnic group. Nonetheless, there has been a permanent ethnic Serb majority in the territory of present-day Novi Kneževac municipality for several centuries.

Inhabited places

The Novi Kneževac municipality includes the town of Novi Kneževac, which is situated along the river bank of

Tisa The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa (see below) is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. It was once called "the most Hungarian river" because it used to flow entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national bo ...

, and eight villages. The villages are: * Banatsko Aranđelovo *

Đala Đala (, ) is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Novi Kneževac municipality, in the North Banat District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serbs, Serb ethnic majority (80.07%) with a present Hungarians, Hungarian (9.86%) and Roma ...

* Filić * Majdan (Hungarian: ''Magyarmajdány'') * Podlokanj * Rabe (Hungarian: ''Rábé'') * Siget * Srpski Krstur Note: The Hungarian names are also mentioned at those places where there is a Hungarian ethnic majority.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, the total population of the Novi Kneževac municipality was 11,269 inhabitants.

Ethnic groups

;Municipality The population of the Novi Kneževac municipality is composed of: *

= 6,445 (57.19%) *

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

= 3,217 (28.55%) * Romani = 923 (8.19%) *Others and undeclared = 684 (6.07%) The places where there is a Serb ethnic majority are Novi Kneževac, Banatsko Aranđelovo, Siget, Filić, Srpski Krstur, Đala, and Podlokanj and there are two villages Majdan and Rabe with a Hungarian ethnic majority. The names of the settlements where there is a Hungarian population of more than 20% are Novi Kneževac, Filić, Banatsko Aranđelovo, and Siget. ;Town The population of the Novi Kneževac town is composed of: *

= 3,990 (57.33%) *

= 2,355 (33.84%) * Romani = 142 (2.04%) *Others and undeclared = 473 (6.79%)

Notable people

* Brana Vlasic, table tennis player

Gallery

File:Novi knezevac mun.png, Map of Novi Kneževac municipality File:Saint George the Martyr Roman Catholic Church, Novi Kneževac, Vojvodina, Serbia - 20060701.jpg, The Saint George Martyr Catholic Church

References

External links

Website of the town of Novi Kneževac

Photo gallery - real time

The City of Novi Kneževac

Tisa River - Novi Kneževac, Serbia

(in Serbian)
Novi Kneževac Photo Gallery
(in English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Novi Knezevac Populated places in Serbian Banat Populated places in North Banat District Municipalities and cities of Vojvodina North Banat District Towns in Serbia