Novi Sad

Citadel over Danube

Novi Sad (Нови Сад, Slovak Nový Sad, Hungarian Újvidék, German Neusatz, Latin Neoplanta) is a city in northern Serbia, located at 45.25° North, 19.85° East on the banks of Danube river, capital of the province Vojvodina and a large industrial and cultural center. Its name means "New Planting" (noun) in Serbian language.
City population is 215,659 and some 298,139 in the municipality in 2002. Unofficial estimation of the city population put the number of inhabitants of Novi Sad at 240-250,000.

Novi Sad city comprises Novi Sad, Petrovaradin and Sremska Kamenica settlements. The metropolitan area of Novi Sad also comprises Futog, Veternik, Bukovac and Ledinci. There are also several other settlements in Novi Sad municipality, but these settlements are physically separated from the city.

Novi Sad is second largest city in Serbia-Montenegro (after Belgrade) and it is also administrative center of the South Backa District of Serbia. According to 2002 census, the population of Novi Sad is composed of Serbs (75,50%), Hungarians (5,24%), Yugoslavs (3,17%), Slovaks (2,41%), Croats (2,09%), Montenegrins (1,68%) and others.

History

Even in the Stone Age (about 4500 BC) there was human settlement in the territory of present day Novi Sad. This settlement was located on the right side of the river Danube in the territory of present day Petrovaradin. Latter, this region was conquered by Celts (in the 4th century BC) and Romans (in the 1st century BC).

First fortress on the right bank of river Danube was founded by Celts. Latter, during the Roman rule, new larger fortress was built in the 1st century and was known under name Cusum. The fortress was included into Roman Pannonia. Huns devastated Cusum in the 5th century.

In the end of the 5th century Byzantines reconstructed the city and during Byzantine rule it was known under two names: Cusum and Petrikon. City was then conquered by Eastern Goths, Gepids, Avars, Franks, Bulgarians and, again, by Byzantines.

In the 12th century city was conquered by Hungary and since then it was under Hungarian, Ottoman and Austrian rule. City was first time mentioned under name Petrovaradin in the historical documents in 1237. During the Ottoman rule, city was known under name Varadin.

Settlement on the left side of the river Danube was founded in 1694 and first name of this settlement was: Serbian City (Ratzen Statt), which was latter renamed to Novi Sad. In 1748 Novi Sad became "free royal city". Present day name of the city was also introduced in this year.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Novi Sad was largest Serbian city, cultural centre of Serbian nation, which didn’t have its own state in that time. That is the reason why Novi Sad is known as Serbian Athens, in Serbian Srpska Atina. In 1820 Novi Sad had 20,000 inhabitants, of which 2/3 were Serbs.
In revolution 1848-1849, Hungarian army devastated the city, which lost most of its population. Serbian troops liberated the city in November 1918, and since then, Novi Sad is part of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Since 1929, Novi Sad is capital city of Dunavska banovina, which was province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Hungary and the Axis Powers occupied the city in 1941, but it was liberated again in 1944. Since 1945, Novi Sad is capital city of Vojvodina.

Devastated by the NATO bombardment during the Kosovo War of 1999, Novi Sad was left without all of its three Danube bridges, communications, water and electricity. Residental areas were cluster bombed several times while its oil refinery was bombarded daily, causing severe pollution and widespread ecological damage.

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