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Borča

Borča (Борча, ) is an urban settlement of the municipality of Palilula, Belgrade, Serbia. , it has a population of 46,086 inhabitants.

Location
Borča is located just 8 km north of the downtown Belgrade, in the Banat section of the municipality of Palilula, at an altitude of 78 m. It stretches between the Zrenjaninski put road (which connects Belgrade to the town of Zrenjanin in Vojvodina) and the slow streams of Pretok, Sebeš and Vizelj, which flows through the middle of the marshy area of Pančevački Rit, the northern part of the municipality of Palilula.

As Borča developed, it stretched along the Zrenjaninski put to the south (Krnjača's neighborhood of Dunavski Venac) and to the north (suburban settlement of Padinska Skela).

Early history
Earliest remains in the vicinity of modern settlement of Borča are from the Bronze and Iron Age, but the medallions, figurines and coins from the 3rd and 4th century BC are also found. Because of the marshy area, not much is preserved, but the remains which confirm presence of the Sarmatians (including Iazyges) and Romans were found.

Kingdom of Hungary and Ottoman Empire
Borča was mentioned for the first time in 1375 under name Barcsa (or Bercse). Settlement was under administration of the Kingdom of Hungary, although its name imply possible Slavic root (Name Barcsa possibly derived from Slavic word "bara" meaning "swamp" in English, indicating the settlement's position in the swampy area of Pančevački Rit). In 1537 it was captured by the Ottomans, included into the Sanjak of Smederevo and granted the waqf status. Already in 1567 Borča was predominantly settled by the Serbs when famous Jazak Gospel was written in it. During the Habsburg-Ottoman wars, Borča became center of the Ottoman border zone and was heavily fortified (Porača fort) after the Treaty of Karlowitz but was still conquered by the Habsburgs in 1717 and by the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718 was formally handed over to the Habsburg Monarchy.

Habsburg Monarchy
After the Treaty of Belgrade in 1739 Habsburg Monarchy obliged to tear down the fortifications, but due to the outbreak of the plague in 1743 the entire village of Borča was burned to the ground. The new settlement emerged around the sentry post of Stara Borča (Alt Borcsa) in 1794 which became center of a municipality as part of the Banat Krajina, a section of the Habsburg Military Frontier.

In 1848-1849, Borča belonged to the Serbian Vojvodina, a Serb autonomous region within Habsburg Monarchy, but in 1849 it was again placed under administration of the Military Frontier. After transformation of Habsburg Monarchy into the Austria-Hungary in 1867 and abolition of the Military Frontier on 27 June 1873 Borča became part of the Hungarian half of the monarchy, as part of the Pančevo district within Torontál comitatus, seated in modern Zrenjanin. In 1910, ethnic Serbs were in an absolute majority in Borča. Other ethnic groups in the settlement included Germans, Hungarians and Romanians. Borča was shortly taken by the Serbian army during World War I (6 September - 14 October 1914).

Yugoslavia and Serbia
As Pančevački Rit is a floodplain, during extremely high levels of the Danube (especially in 1826, 1888 and 1924), entire area and settlements in it were completely flooded turning the marsh into a large lake. It was recorded that during the floods of 1924, rescue ships had to maneuver between the telephone poles and that dead were buried from the boats. In 1929-1933 an 89 kilometer-long embankment was built which protected Borča from further floodings. At the same time, road and railway connecting Borča to Belgrade were also built.

After the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918, Borča became part of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (future Yugoslavia), being taken by the Serbian army on 9 November 1918. From 1918 to 1922, it was part of the Banat county, from 1922 to 1929 part of the Belgrade oblast, and from 1929 to 1941 part of the Belgrade City Administration (the District of Pančevo). Between 1941 and 1944 it was occupied by German troops and included into German-ruled autonomous region of Banat, which was a part of Serbia.

In 1949 the municipality was disbanded and the entire area of Pančevački Rit became IX Raion of Belgrade. Borča got its own municipality again on 30 May 1952 but in 1955 with municipalities of Ovča, Krnjača and Padinska Skela merged into one named Krnjača. In turn, this municipality was annexed to the Belgrade's municipality of Palilula in 1965.

When construction of the Pupin Bridge was coming to an end in 2014, building of a massive industrial park by the Chinese investors at the Borča side of the bridge was announced. This was confirmed by the government in 2020 and 2021, when the project was called Mihajlo Pupin Industrial Park, and was labeled "European Shenzhen". In March 2023 construction of the access infrastructure to the future construction site was announced. The park will cover 483.5 ha, divided in three sections - commercial center, industrial park and high-tech park. The entire complex will be patterned after Xuzhou, near Shanghai. Estimated length of the construction is 19 years.

In December 2021, city announced restoration of the riverine public transportation, which was discontinued decades ago. One of the first two proposed lines should be Borča-Ada Huja. In the same month, construction of the pier at Ada Huja began. New mayor Aleksandar Šapić, however, stated in July 2022 that the project will not be pursued further, calling it too expensive and "pointless".

Population
In 1727, 39 households were recorded in the settlement. In 1843 it had 675 inhabitants while in 1859 there were 124 households. In 1910, by the last census in Austria-Hungary in had a population of 1,535. Since the 1960s Borča began a massive development with rapid population growth having a population of 46,086 by the official census in 2011.

Following the official data, Borča is the largest single suburb of Belgrade. However, unofficial estimates put Kaluđerica in first place. Borča is statistically classified as an urban settlement.

Ethnic structure
Ethnic structure of Borča (census 2002):
 * Serbs = 30,834 (87.72%)
 * Romani = 1,296 (3.69%)
 * Yugoslavs = 474 (1.35%)
 * Gorani = 464 (1.32%)
 * ethnic Muslims = 271 (0.77%)
 * Macedonians = 240 (0.68%)
 * Croats = 232 (0.66%)

Neighbourhoods

As one of the largest suburbs of Belgrade and a large settlement in its own right, Borča developed several sub-neighborhoods of its own. Officially, after the 1981 census, Borča is divided into three "local communities" (mesna zajednica), sub-municipal administrative units: Stara Borča (formerly Borča I, 1991-2002), Borča Greda (formerly Borča II) and Nova Borča (formerly Borča III). Most of Borča is grouped into centers (Centar I to V), which are sometimes referred to as Borča I to V (Centar I = Borča I, etc.).

Stara Borča
Local community of Stara Borča (Old Borča) occupies the entire southern section of the settlement. It extends on both sides of Zrenjaninski put and comprises most diverse neighborhoods of Borča: the original, oldest section in the south-west, those closest to Belgrade, easternmost sections which extends to Ovča and the south-western extension in the direction of the Danube. It had a population of 7,928 in 1991, 13,624 in 2002 and 20,188 in 2011.

 * Atovi (Атови, "horses"); easternmost extension, close to Ovča.
 * Centar I (Центар Ι); central part of Borča, mainly bounded by the streets of Ivana Milutinovića, Lička and Narodnog fronta. It borders the neighborhoods of Stara Borča on the west, Sebeš on the east.
 * Crvenka
 * Irgot (Иргот); south-western part of Stara Borča. It is located around the church, in the curve made by the Vizelj river, south of the Borčanskih žrtava street.
 * Popova Bara (Попова бара; "priest's pond"); east-central and east-southern extension, across the Zrenjaninski put. Consists of two sections, northern, around the Androvačka street (formerly, Popova bara) and southern, on the northern bank of the Sebeš river, while the central bart in between is still mainly unurbanized.
 * Sebeš (Себеш); southern extension which makes one continuous built-up area with Dunavski Venac and, further to the south, Krnjača. It is also called Mokri Sebeš (Wet Sebeš) or Borčanski Sebeš. Named after the river-turned-canal Sebeš which flows into Vizelj further south and marks the southern border of the neighborhood but also of the entire Borča. It extends into Stara Borča and Centar I on the west, Zrenjaninski Put on the north and Popova Bara on the east, across the road of Zrenjaninski put.
 * Slatina (Слатина; "salt marsh"); eastern extension, developed along the road to Ovča. As a curiosity, majority of the streets in the neighborhood, previously known all as Slatina with different numbers added to distinguish them, are recently being named after (ancient) Greek toponyms: Epirus, Morea, Boeotia, Angora, Ephesus, Milet, Nicaea, Pergamon, Cappadocia, Delphi, Corinth, Troy, Volos, Sparta, Antioch, Epidaurus, Phocis, Pilos, etc.
 * Stara Borča (Стара Борча); as the name suggests, the oldest part of the entire settlement. It occupies the south-west corner, south of the Jugoslovenska street and the Square of Liberation. It borders the neighborhoods of Centar III on the north, Centar I on the north-east, Sebeš on the west and extends into Crvenka further into the south-west. Generally considered the calmest part of Borča, it is mostly made of individual residential houses, resembling in form other typical Pannonian settlements.
 * Vihor (Вихор; "windstorm"); eastern extension, close to Ovča.

Nova Borča
Local community of Nova Borča (New Borča) occupies the east-central corner of Borča. Unlike Stara Borča and Borča Greda, it comprises only one sub-neighborhood, Centar III. It had a population of 9,640 in 1991, 14,875 in 2002 and 7,298 in 2011.

 * Centar III (Центар III); entire settlement is constructed as a series of a parallel, half-circular streets: Ratnih vojnih invalida, Bele Bartoka, Privrednikovih pitomaca, Prelivačka. It extends into Stara Borča and Centar I on the south, Centar II on the east and Borča Greda on the north-east. Northern and western border of Centar III is marked by the Pretok canal and an unurbanized area across it, while in the south-west the neighborhood meets the Vizelj river. West, right across the Vizelj is occupied by the sport fields of the BSK Borča football club. Cemetery and open green market (new one, Nova pijaca) are located in the neighborhood.

Borča Greda
Local community of Borča Greda occupies the entire northern section of the settlement, extending on both sides of Zrenjaninski put. The fastest growing sections of Borča, like Pretok or Mali Zbeg, are located in this local community, so it more than doubled its population between the 2002 and 2011 censuses: 9,327 in 1991, 8,087 in 2002 and 18,600 in 2011.

 * Borča Greda (Борча Греда); north-western extension of Borča, located between the street of Bratstva i jedinstva on the south and the Pretok canal on the north, with Ranka Miljića street running through the central parts of the municipality. It borders the neighborhoods of Centar IV in the north-west, Centar II on the north-east, Centar III on the south and Mali Zbeg on the north, across the Pretok. Neighborhood originates from the early 1950s and was originally named "Martinova Greda".
 * Centar II (Центар II); north-central extension, mostly bordered by the streets of Valjevskog odreda (western border), Bratstva i jedinstva (northern) and Ivana Milutinovića (southern). It extends into Centar III on the south-west, Borča Greda on the west, Center IV and Center V on the north and Zrenjaninski Put on the east. Open green market (old one, Stara pijaca) is located in the center of the neighborhood. Next to he market, a large community health center was built from December 2019 to July 2021.
 * Centar IV (Центар IV); smallest of all five centers. It occupies five buildings between the streets of Kovilovska, Severina Bijelića and Miladina Zarića. It extends into Borča Greda on the south-west, Centar V on the north-east and Mali Zbeg on the north, across the Pretok canal.
 * Centar V (Центар V); located between the streets of Hopovska (west), Velikoremetska (south), Dunavske divizije (west) and the Pretok canal (north). It borders the neighborhoods of Centar IV on the south-west and Mali Zbeg on the north, across the Pretok. Because of its white buildings, it has been nicknamed "Sivi Dom" after very popular 1986 Serbian TV serial "Sivi dom" (literally, "grey home"), about a correctional facility in central Serbia.
 * Guvno (Гувно; "threshing floor"); north-eastern extension of Borča, west of the Zrenjaninski road, in the section where a regional road for Ovča separates. It extends into Pretok on the north, Popova Bara in the south and Zrenjaninski Put, across the road of the same name.
 * Mali Zbeg (Мали Збег; "little refuge"); the northernmost part of Borča, across the canal and east of the road of Zrenjaninski put. Main streets in the neighborhood are Rastka Nemanjića (center) and Karlovačke mitropolije (south). One of the fastest growing parts of Borča. The Pretok canal, which makes southern border of Mali Zbeg, separates it from the neighborhoods of Borča Greda, Centar IV and Centar V. Large cemetery of "Zbeg" is located just north of the neighborhood. Plan for the cemetery was adopted in 1994, and in 1996 "Zbeg" became operational. Chief planner was architect Slobodanka Prekajski. The cemetery covers an area of 29 ha and has no church, but the Church of the Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas is located nearby. The name of the locality came from the Austrian period, when it was the gathering place of the refugees who fled across the river from the Ottoman held Serbia.
 * Pretok (Преток; "overspill"); north-eastern extension of Borča, west of the Zrenjaninski put. Main streets in the neighborhood are Kikindska and Mitra Trifunovića Uče. It developed in the late 1990s and was mostly settled by the refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina during Yugoslav wars, which made it another fast growing part of Borča. It borders the neighborhoods of Pretok on the south and Zrenjaninski Put on the east.
 * Zrenjaninski Put (Зрењанински пут; "Zrenjanin road"); once easternmost part of Borča, located along the western side of the road of Zrenjaninski put, with massive expansion of the neighborhoods on the east (Pretok, Guvno, Popova Bara, Slatina, etc.), Zrenjaninski Put basically becomes central part of the entire neighborhood. It expands during almost entire run of the Zrenjaninski put, connecting many other neighborhoods (Sebeš, Centar II, Centar V on the western side and Pretok, Guvno and Popova Bara on the eastern side).

Parks
There are only few parks in Borča, and they are small. One, called Mali park (Small Park, formerly Park Sonje Marinković), is located in Borča I.

Another, called Park Centar 3 (formerly Park JNA) is located along the curve of the Ratnih vojnih invalida Street, at the Borča 3 roundabout of the bus lines 85, 95, 96 and 105L. It covers an area of 3,354 m2 and was renovated in November 2017.

title: Borča


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Čačak

Čačak (Чачак, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Moravica District in central Serbia. It is located in the West Morava Valley. As of the 2022 census, the city within administrative borders has a population of 105,612 inhabitants.

The city lies about 144 km south of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. It is also located near the Ovčar-Kablar Gorge ("Serbian Mount Athos"), with over 30 monasteries built in the gorge since the 14th century.

Geography
Located for the most part in western Morava Valley, the city of Čačak forms a link between the undulating hills of Šumadija in the north and the hilly and mountainous areas of the inner Dinaric Alps in the south. The central part of the city is the Čačak basin, located between the mountains of Jelica in the south, Ovčar and Kablar in the west and Vujan in the north, while in the east it is open to the Kraljevo basin. These mountains gently and undulatingly descend towards the Čačak basin, the town of Čačak and the West Morava river.

The city administrative area covers 636 km2 and contains:
 * the Čačak valley, with an altitude between 204 and 300 m
 * hills between 300 and 500 m high
 * the mountains Jelica to the south, Vujan to the northeast, and Ovčar and Kablar to the west

Climate
Čačak has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb). The average temperature of the city and its vicinity is 10.47 °C with 74.1% humidity, and it is characterized by warm summers and cold winters. Winds blow from the north and northeast and rarely from the west because of the mountains that block them. The average temperature in August is 20.6 °C, while in January it is 0.5 °C. There are on average 38 days with snow during the year. The average wind speed is 2.3 m/s. The usual number of foggy days is 54. The average yearly precipitation is 802 mm.

There are a few recorded instances of sandstorms originating in the Sahara arriving to the town.

Etymology
The original name of the town was Gradac (meaning "little town"), which developed around the Moravski Gradac monastery, built in the late 12th century. First mention of the name Čačak was in a document issued by the Republic of Ragusa. Dated on 3 January 1409, it refers to the events from 18 December 1408, and this date is today the official Čačak Town Day.

The origin of the name is obscured today. However, several dictionaries from the 19th and even from the 20th century, including works of major linguists Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and Đuro Daničić, mention words čačak and the corresponding adjective čačkovit, meaning (lumps of) frozen or dried mud, or lumps of stone protruding from the ground. The widening along the West Morava where Čačak is located, was indeed regularly flooded until the 20th century. Daničić suggested that the origin of the word is the root skak (skakati means jumping in Serbian). The word and its variants completely disappeared from Serbian language today, but some other toponymy of the same origin were preserved, like in the name of the Čakor mountain.

In time, erroneous but widespread theory developed, claiming that the name indeed means "mud", but that it is of Turkish origin. At the time of the name's first mention this region wasn't occupied by the Ottoman Empire yet, mud is called differently in Turkish language, nor there is a Turkish word corresponding vocally to čačak.

Prehistoric
The region has several archaeological sites, dating from prehistory to the present, the oldest from the 15th century BC.

Princely tombs of an Illyrian type (Glasinac culture) were found in two mounds of Atenica with Ionian glass, glass-paste, an amber bead depicting a swan, and an Attic plaque of a wild boar, all dating to the late 6th century BC. More ornithomorphic fibulae of bronze swans were found in Mojsinje.

Prehistoric tumuli have been unearthed in Mrčajevci. The Triballi and Scordisci tribes lived in this area by the time of Roman conquest.

Roman era
The town was inhabited in Roman times, with traces of the Roman settlement still visible today, like Roman Thermae built in the 2nd to 4th century period. These still stand behind a secondary school in the center of Čačak.

Nearby, in the village of Gradina at the foot of the Jelica mountain, a Roman compound (fort) with a martyrium and necropolis has been excavated, with three churches, one of which produced a pentanummion for the late Roman Emperor Justinian in the 526–537 period. Justinian is also believed to have founded the fort in the 530s. The presence of burnt layers on the sight could be evidence that the settlement was destroyed in the conflict that characterized the region following the barbarian invasions of the late Roman Empire. In the same region, in the 6th century, four other forts were built.

Middle Ages
Slavs settled the area during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610–641). From 1168 to 1189, after incorporation into the First Bulgarian Empire and then various Serbian states, Stefan Nemanja's brother Stracimir Zavidović controlled the West Morava region, including the city, then known as Gradac. Stracimir, a Serbian župan, raised the Church of Our Lady of Moravian Gradac at the highest point of the town.

In 1459, the Turks completed their conquest of the area, incorporating it into the Sanjak of Smederevo and converting Stracimir's church into a mosque. The town's name was changed from Gradac to the current Čačak.

16th century–present
Evliya Çelebi, an Ottoman explorer of the 16th and 17th centuries, described Čačak as the main place in the local kadiluk. In 1717, Čačak became a part of the Habsburg Empire after the Austrians defeated Ottomans, signing the Treaty of Passarowitz. Austrian rule was short-lived, and 21 years later Čačak would again become a part of the Ottoman Empire. Most of Čačak's Serb residents at the time of reconquest had deserted the town, migrating north safety in the Habsburg Empire. In their stead were settlers from Montenegro, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Vlachs from the countryside nearby.

Čačak has two years on its coat of arms. The first is 1408, in which Ragusan archives first name the town. The second is 1815, the year the Second Serbian Uprising began and the year the Battle of Ljubić was fought in the hills near Čačak. This battle is famous for one of the greatest Serbian rebel victories. Then a small group, the rebels defeated a much stronger Ottoman army numbering 5,000–12,000 men. Soon after, the Principality of Serbia, one of the first nations liberated from Ottoman rule, secured its independence.

In 1837, one of the first Serbian grammar schools was completed. In the 1837–1941 period Čačak gradually modernized, with its town center modeled in a Vienna Secession style popular at the time and standing to this day. During World War II, Čačak was part of the short-lived Republic of Užice, which, while the first liberated territory in Europe, was cut off by German forces shortly after it was founded. On 4 December 1944 Čačak was finally liberated by the Yugoslav Partisans. It has since evolved into a large town and a regional center, later being given the official status of a city within today's Republic of Serbia.

Settlements
Aside from the urban area of the city, the administrative area includes the following 58 settlements:

 * Atenica
 * Baluga (Ljubićska)
 * Baluga (Trnavska)
 * Banjica
 * Beljina
 * Bečanj
 * Brezovica
 * Bresnica
 * Vapa
 * Vidova
 * Viljuša
 * Vranići
 * Vrnčani
 * Vujetinci
 * Goričani
 * Gornja Gorevnica
 * Gornja Trepča
 * Donja Gorevnica
 * Donja Trepča
 * Žaočani
 * Zablaće
 * Jančići
 * Ježevica
 * Jezdina
 * Katrga
 * Kačulice
 * Konjevići
 * Kukići
 * Kulinovci
 * Lipnica
 * Loznica
 * Ljubić
 * Međuvršje
 * Milićevci
 * Miokovci
 * Mojsinje
 * Mrčajevci
 * Mršinci
 * Ovčar Banja
 * Ostra
 * Pakovraće
 * Parmenac
 * Petnica
 * Preljina
 * Premeća
 * Pridvorica
 * Prijevor
 * Prislonica
 * Rajac
 * Rakova
 * Riđage
 * Rošci
 * Slatina
 * Sokolići
 * Stančići
 * Trbušani
 * Trnava

Demographics
As of 2011 census, the city's administrative area or municipality has 115,337 inhabitants, with 73,331 living in Čačak proper. As of 2022 census, the city within administrative borders has a population of 106,453 inhabitants.

The city of Čačak has 38,590 households with 2.99 members on average. The number of homes is 51,482.

The city's religious structure is predominantly Serbian Orthodox (110,281), with minorities including atheists (577), Catholics (168), Muslims (73), Protestants (21) and others. Virtually the entire population speaks the Serbian language (112,505).

The composition of population by gender and average age:
 * Male – 55,995 (41.42 years) and
 * Female – 59,342 (43.95 years).

A total of 53,543 citizens older than 15 have a secondary education (54.01%), while 14,823 citizens have some sort of tertiary education (14.95%). Of those with a tertiary education, 9,386 (9.47%) have university education.

Ethnic groups
The city is mostly inhabited by Serbs (95.3%), followed by minorities of Roma, Montenegrins and other ethnic groups.

Being located on a crossroads between the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary during the 19th century, Čačak was home even to people of ethnicities that were not common in Čačak's region. One such example was a small Armenian community which began to settle from 1885, fleeing the forcible draft into the Ottoman army and the general oppression against the Armenians in the empire. Most members of this community worked in the coffee business. By the 1950s most of them had emigrated as the new Communist authorities, in the massive process of nationalization after World War II, confiscated Armenian businesses.

The ethnic composition of the city is given in the following table (as of 2011 census):

Society and culture
This city traversed a long and thorny road from an anonymous settlement to a modern city in the 21st century. The very face of the city, as seen in the facades, monuments, and cultural establishments, is the reflection of the artistic spirit of its inhabitants.

During the theatrical season there are numerous theatrical ensembles on tour from all of Serbia at cultural centre Dom kulture Čačak. Centre is home to "Drama Studio" and schools of ballet, fine art and sculpture. The exhibitions and performances, cultural and literary evenings are held at numerous places such as: "City Library Čačak", "Nadežda Petrović" and "Risim" galleries, "National Museum" in Čačak, "Salon of Photography" and "Inter-Municipal Archive" among many others. The current artwork production in the city can be followed through the auspices of groups and associations, private galleries, colonies and numerous enthusiasts.

Fine art and sculpture colonies are most often held at the Ovčar Banja spa resort. There are numerous cultural, musical, entertainment and tourist manifestations within the city and close surroundings, which attract multitudes of followers of ethno-culture, original folk music, like the "Dis spring", Memorial to Nadežda Petrović and the "Flute festival" in the nearby village of Prislonica. Also, newly established festivals "DUK Festival" and rock festival "Priča" attract younger population from the city and its region. Čačak is also home to events such as "Pitijada", "Kupusijada", "Fijakerijada" and other festivals that celebrate old traditions belonging to Serbs.

In Guča, 10 km south from Čačak, every year the Guča trumpet festival is held, one of the most popular festivals in the Balkans, alongside the Exit festival in (Novi Sad).

Education
There are two faculties located in Čačak, which are a part of the University of Kragujevac:
 * Faculty of Agronomy
 * Faculty of Technical Sciences

There are seven secondary schools:
 * Čačak's Grammar School (one of the oldest grammar schools in Serbia, 1837)
 * High School of Economics
 * Technical High School
 * Medicine High School
 * Machine High School
 * Musical High School
 * F&C School

There are many primary schools and childcare centers.

Sports
The "Mladost Sports Center" which is located on the coast of West Morava River, next to the Čačak Stadium, two faculties and numerous other important buildings, offers many sports venues for locals. The whole area where the Sports Center is located is the town's most important entertainment area.

Čačak is nationally famous for its clubs in various team sports; the most popular ones are basketball, football and handball. The basketball club Borac Čačak and football club Borac Čačak have been participating in the top-tier leagues of Serbia for many consecutive years with much success. Women's handball is also very successful and popular.

Tourism
In the vicinity of Čačak there are more than 20 churches and monasteries, the largest number found on such a small area in Serbia. They represent cultural and historic monuments of great significance. The most important ones are the Church of the Ascension of Jesus, a church on Ljubić hill dedicated to Saint Tsar Lazar, as well as the Vujan Monastery located on a nearby mountain of the same name. Special value is attributed to the monasteries of the Ovčar-Kablar Gorge, which as a cultural and historic whole date back to the Middle Ages and represent the particularity of the region's cultural and artistic heritage created over the centuries. There are 12 monasteries and churches in the gorge:
 * Uspenje
 * Vavedenje
 * Jovanje
 * Nikolje
 * Blagoveštenje
 * Vaznesenje
 * Preobraženje
 * Sretenje
 * Sveta Trojica
 * Ilinje
 * Savinje
 * Kadjenica

Thermal and mineral springs with medicinal properties provide the basis for the development of recreational tourism. There are three spa resorts within the territory of the city of Čačak: Gornja Trepča, Ovčar Banja and Slatinska Banja. There are also picnic sites: Gradina and the "Battle and victory" park (also called "Spomen" (remembrance) park) on the Jelica mountain, the Memorial complex on Ljubić hill, Grujine fields, rafts on West Morava river in Beljina, Parmenac, Međuvršje and Ovčar Banja, and picnic sites on the tiny rivers called Dičina, Kamenica, Čemernica and Banja.

Economy
The structure of the economy of the city of Čačak is composed of services and trade, industry and agriculture. The main processing industries are paper production, electric home appliances, blade tools for the processing of metal, non-metals, chemical industry products, thermal technical appliances, metal and combined carpentry, parts and kits for the pharmaceutical industry and products for medical needs. Also, well developed are wood, lumber industry and agriculture.

Many companies with more than 250 employees have deteriorated due to the sanctions in the 1990s. Since 2000, more than 40 government-owned companies have gone through the privatization process.

Private enterprise, which has its tradition from back in the 19th century, is the primary characteristic of the economy of the city. As of January 2017, 98.65% of all business enterprises are small and micro companies. A large number of private companies grew into middle-size companies with 80 to 270 employees offering a wide variety of products. Today, on the territory of the city of Čačak, among the largest employers are Sloboda, Technical Overhaul Military Institute (Remont), Hospital Čačak, Fabrika reznog alata and P.S. Fashion. Čačak also has the prestigious and country's unique Fruit Research Institute located in city center zone.

For the 2017 calendar year, business enterprises in Čačak imported the goods in value of 269 million euros, and exported goods in value of 171 million euros. The coverage of imports by exports was 64%.

The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2019):
 * Economic preview

Transportation
Due to its geographical position, Čačak is the main road transportation center in Western Serbia. As of August 2019, Miloš the Great motorway, which is projected to run from Belgrade to border with Montenegro, is in service from Belgrade bypass to Čačak with several other sections currently under construction. Also, the A5 motorway is planned and it will run from Čačak to Pojate, thus connecting two main motorways in Serbia. Čačak also lies on State Road 22 and State Road 23, two main highways in Western Serbia.

A railway from Kraljevo to Požega passes through Čačak, thus connecting the city with Belgrade–Bar railway (one of country's main railways). The Morava Airport, one of country's three international airports, was opened in 2019 for civil airplanes and is located between Čačak and Kraljevo.

Notable people

 * Boban Dmitrović, football player
 * Bora Đorđević, rock musician
 * Branko Jelić, football player
 * Darko Lazović, football player
 * Dragan Kićanović, former basketball player and coach, Olympic, World and European champion
 * Dragomir Čumić, actor
 * Dragutin Gavrilović, military officer († 1945)
 * Dušan Markešević, athlete
 * Hadži Prodan Gligorijević, leader of the Hadži Prodan's Revolt († 1825)
 * Ivan Stambolić, politician († 2000)
 * Ivan Stevanović, football player
 * Ivica Dragutinović, football player
 * Filip Filipović, mathematician, revolutionary, first secretary of Communist party of Yugoslavia
 * Filip Mladenović, football player
 * Lazar Marković, football player
 * Luke Black, pop singer
 * Marko Lomić, football player
 * Marko Marinović, basketball player
 * Milan Jovanović, Montenegrin football player
 * Milan Stojadinović, politician († 1961)
 * Milivoje Vitakić, football player
 * Miloš Minić, politician († 2003)
 * Miloš Ristanović, Serbian professional footballer
 * Milovan Destil Marković, artist
 * Milovan Rajevac, football coach
 * Miroslav Ilić, folk singer
 * Mladomir Puriša Đorđević, film director and screenwriter
 * Momčilo Perišić, general
 * Nadežda Petrović, painter († 1915)
 * Nemanja Kojić, athlete
 * Serbian Patriarch Irinej, head of the Serbian Orthodox Church († 2020)
 * Petar Stambolić, politician († 2007)
 * Predrag Koraksić Corax, caricaturist
 * Radisav Ćurčić, Serbian-Israeli basketball player, 1999 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP
 * Radmila Bakočević, soprano
 * Radojko Avramović, football coach
 * Radomir Mihailović Točak, rock guitarist
 * Robert Kišerlovski, road bicycle racer
 * Sonja Savić, actress († 2008)
 * Stepa Stepanović, general from Balkan Wars and World War I († 1929)
 * Stracimir Zavidović, 12th-century Serbian noble who ruled West Morava († after 1189)
 * Tadija Dragićević, basketball player
 * Tanasko Rajić, captain in Second Serbian Uprising († 1815)
 * Tatomir Anđelić, mathematician († 1993)
 * Uroš Tripković, basketball player
 * Velimir Ilić, politician
 * Vera Matović, folk singer
 * Vlada Jovanović, basketball coach
 * Vladan Vasilijević, politician and specialist in criminal law
 * Vladislav Petković Dis, poet († 1917)
 * Željko Obradović, former basketball player and coach, Olympic silver medalist, World, European and nine-time Euroleague champion
 * Zoran Kostić (footballer), football player
 * Petar Krsmanović, volleyball player, European champion

Twin towns and sister cities
Čačak is twinned with:

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Čačak


text:
Ćuprija

Ćuprija (Serbian Cyrillic: Ћуприја, ) is a town and municipality located in the Pomoravlje District of central Serbia. The population of the town is 19,380, while the municipality has 30,645 inhabitants.

History
The Romans founded the town as a fort Horreum Margi (Horreum: Granary, Margi: Morava) on the road from Constantinople to Rome, where it crosses the river now known as Velika Morava. It served as a Roman military base, had a shield factory and gained the status of municipium before AD 224. In 505, the Romans were defeated by Goths and Huns under Mundo, a descendant of Attila the Hun.

Under Slavic rule, it became known as Ravno (literal translation to English would be "flat"), since it is in a flat river valley. Some local names (of the villages Paljane and Isakovo, of the river Mirosava) recall the major clash in autumn 1191 between the Serbs (under Stefan Nemanja) and the Byzantines (under Emperor Isaac II Angelos).

In the 15th century, Ćuprija became part of Ottoman Empire. After conquering this settlement, the Turks built a bridge or "köprü" in Turkish – hence the name of the town. Shortly after the First Serbian Uprising began, in 1805 one of the first and most important battles was won by Ivankovac, near Ćuprija. Serbian uprisers under the leadership of dukes Milenko Stojković, Petar Dobrnjac, and Stevan Sinđelić defeated a Turkish army which led to further spreading of the Uprising through all of Belgrade Pashaluk. Four years after that, in 1809, Ćuprija Elementary school was founded.

During the Second Serbian Uprising, Serbian prince Miloš Obrenović made an oral agreement in Ćuprija which enabled Serbs in Belgrade Pashaluk to collect their own taxes, to participate in proceedings against Serbs and to establish a National Office composed of Serbian princes. After 1834, the town started to grow economically and eventually merged with the nearby villages of Mućava, Mrčajevci, and Žirovnica. In the Ottoman era, Ćuprija was the town of Smederevo with the highest concentration of Albanians. Contemporary Serb author Joakim Vujić recorded more "Turkish Arnauts than Serbs" in 1826 in the town. After the war, Obrenović began a campaign to buy out all Muslim Albanian households in the town. In 1853, "Dobričevo" farm was founded. This led to the establishment of the Agricultural school in 1899. In 1911, a Sugar factory called "ŠELK 911" was founded.

During the 19th century, Ćuprija was the center of Nahiyah. After 1890, it was the seat of Morvaski okrug (Morava County).

From 1929 to 1941, Ćuprija was part of the Morava Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

In World War II, a special Ćuprija-Paraćin partisan troop was formed in order to fight against the German Wehrmacht. On September 26, 1941, 35 members of this troop were shot by German occupiers. The Second World War finally ended in Ćuprija on October 13, 1944, when town was liberated from the Wehrmacht during the so-called Belgrade Operation.

During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the town's center was heavily damaged. Some buildings still remain in ruins. As of 2011 census, the municipality has 30,645 inhabitants.

Settlements
Aside from the town of Ćuprija, the municipality includes the following 16 settlements:

 * Batinac
 * Bigrenica
 * Dobričevo
 * Dvorica
 * Isakovo
 * Ivankovac
 * Jovac
 * Kovanica
 * Krušar
 * Mijatovac
 * Ostrikovac
 * Paljane
 * Senje
 * Supska
 * Virine
 * Vlaška

Demographics
The municipality of Ćuprija has a population of 30,645 inhabitants, according to the 2011 census results. All settlements in municipality have Serb ethnic majority except two villages, Bigrenica and Isakovo with Vlach ethnic majority.

Economy
The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):

Education

 * Elementary school "Đura Jakšić"
 * Elementary school "Vuk Stefanović Karadžić"
 * Elementary school "13. Oktobar"
 * High school in Ćuprija
 * Medical High-School
 * Technical School
 * Medical College in Ćuprija
 * Musical Elementary School "Dušan Skovran"
 * School for musically gifted children
 * Faculty for banking and trade, Alpha University
 * College of Health Studies

Sports
Sport activities in Ćuprija are developed. Thanks to many athletes and coaches (such as Vera Nikolić, Dragan Zdravković, Snežana Jolović-Pajkić, Zora Antić -Tomecić, Miroslav Pavlović, Vladan Đorđević, Dušan Košutić, Vlada Jovanović, Ljiljana Šušnjar and Aleksandar Petrović etc.) Ćuprija was well known as "the Athletics town". Beside athletic, soccer (football in Europe), basketball, handball, tennis and volleyball are extremely popular sports in Ćuprija.

Ćuprija's football club "Morava" was founded in 1918 and is currently competing in Pomoravsko-Timočka football zone. It has its own stadium with a capacity of 10,000 sport fans. In Ćuprija, there could be found a dance club for those who love to dance.

Features
Ćuprija lies on international road and railway links 150 km south of Belgrade and 90 km north of Niš. The main source of income is the College of Nursing and Agriculture. Ravanica Monastery, built in 1381 by Lazar of Serbia, is 8 km to the east.

Climate
Ćuprija has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) with hot summers coupled with cool nights and moderately cold, snowy, and very cloudy winters. Precipitation peaks during the month of June.

Twin towns — Sister cities
Ćuprija is twinned with:
 * 🇸🇮 Celje, Slovenia
 * 🇧🇦 Doboj, Bosnia and Herzegovina
 * 🇧🇦 Gradiška, Bosnia and Herzegovina, since 1994

Notable people

 * Dušan Matić, poet
 * Dragoslav Mihailović, writer
 * Filip Stojković, professional footballer
 * Snežana Pajkić, middle-distance runner
 * Vera Nikolić, athlete and coach

title: Ćuprija


text:
Gjakova

Gjakova or Đakovica is the seventh largest city of Kosovo and seat of Gjakova Municipality and Gjakova District. The city has 40,827 inhabitants, while the municipality has 94,556 inhabitants.

Geographically, it is located in the south-western part of Kosovo, about halfway between the cities of Peja and Prizren. It is approximately 100 km inland from the Adriatic Sea. The city is situated some 208 km north-east of Tirana, 145 km north-west of Skopje, 80 km west of the capital Pristina,  435 km south of Belgrade and 263 km east of Podgorica.

The city of Gjakova has been populated since the prehistoric era. During the Ottoman period, Gjakova served as a trading centre on the route between Shkodra and Constantinople. It was also one of the most developed trade centres at that time in the Balkans.

Name
The Albanian name for the city is Gjakova. There are several theories on the origin of the village name, such as from the personal name Jakov, a variant of Jacob; the Serbian word đak (pupil); or from the Albanian word for "blood" (gjak).

The "Jakov theory" derives its name from Jakov, a little known nobleman in the service of lord Vuk Branković who founded and ruled the city, and whose coins have been found, signed "Jakov". According to local Albanians, the name was derived from the name Jak (Jakov), with the village name meaning "Jakov's field".

Ottoman Period

Gjakova was mentioned as a village with a market in the 1485 Ottoman defter, and had 54 households. The local Albanians developed it into a town in the 16th century. It has been a settlement with an ethnic Albanian majority since its foundation, having grown around the founding structures built by Hadim Suleyman Efendi, a politically important local Albanian. Edith Durham noted that Gjakova was founded by members of the Albanian Mërturi tribe in the 15th-16th centuries, specifically by the families of two men descended from Bitush Mërturi - Vula and Mërtur. The descendants of the Vula family were still present during the time of her visit to Albania in the first decade of the 20th century.

In the Ottoman defter (tax registry) of 1485, Gjakova was a village with 67 households. In the 17th century, Katip Çelebi and Evliya Çelebi mention this place as Jakovičse, with 2000 houses and 300 shops. During the early period of Ottoman rule, Gjakova and the Gjakova Municipality were part of the Nahiya of Altun-ili. Most of the villages in the Nahiya of Altun-ili were dominated by inhabitants with Albanian anthroponomy. This is seen by Selami Pulaha as an indication that during the 15th century (as supported by Ottoman defters), the lands between Junik and Gjakova were inhabited by a dominant ethnic Albanian majority. In the 1571 and 1591 Ottoman defters, the majority of the inhabitants of Gjakova as a settlement itself were recorded with Albanian anthroponomy; Albanian onomastics prevailed over Slavic onomastics.

In the year 1638, the Archbishop of Bar, Gjergj Bardhi, reported that Gjakova had 320 Muslim homes, 20 Catholic homes and 20 Orthodox homes, and wrote that "the area is inhabited by Albanians and the Albanian language is spoken there".

The city had developed into an Ottoman trade center on the Shkodra–Istanbul route, with the marketplace being by the Hadum Mosque, built in 1594 by Mimar Sinan, financed by Hadum Aga. Evliya Çelebi mentioned it as a city in 1662, and described it as a flourishing and attractive town with 2,000 houses built of stone with roofs and gardens. The public buildings were situated on a broad plain and included two richly adorned congregational mosques, several prayer-houses, some inns with leaden roofs, a delightful bath-house (hamam), and about 300 shops like nightingale-nests. Between 3–6 September 1878, heavy fighting took place in Gjakovë between the nationalist Albanian League of Prizren and the Ottoman Empire. In the ensuing fight, 280 Ottoman soldiers were killed, including 2 Pashas, and a further 300 were wounded.

In May 1845, following Mustafa Reşid Pasha's outlawing of the right to bear arms, 2,000 rebels from the Gjakova region, and the Gjakova Highlander tribes of Krasniqi, Gashi and Bytyçi rose in revolt. The rebels, about 8,000 men, drove the Ottoman garrison out of Gjakova. The Ottomans suppressed the rebellion, but did not succeed in establishing effective control of the region.

In 1862 the Ottomans sent Maxharr Pasha with 12 divisions to implement the Tanzimat Reforms in the Highlands of Gjakova. Under the leadership of Mic Sokoli and Binak Alia, the tribes of Krasniqi, Gashi, Bytyçi and Nikaj-Mertur organized a resistance near Bujan. The rebels were reinforced by the forces of Shala, led by Mark Lula. After heavy fighting, they managed to defeat the Ottoman force and expel them from the highlands.

Local Albanian leaders, such as Sulejman Aga of Botushë, organised resistance and movements for independence against the Ottomans throughout the 19th-20th centuries; in one such uprising, 5,000-6,000 Albanian fighters led by Sulejman Aga Batusha, gathered outside of Gjakova and attacked the garrison in an attempt to enter the city. In 1904, 10 Ottoman battalions accompanied by artillery were sent to Gjakova in order to quell the uprising. Shemsi Pasha and the Ottomans were then ordered to estimate the livestock possessions and to enforce heavy taxes upon the local Albanians in response to the uprising, and the hostilities were accompanied by the forcible collection of taxes from the local population and the destruction of entire villages in the Gjakova region by Ottoman forces; Upon arriving to Botusha, Shemsi Pasha, with five battalions and numerous artillery pieces, began bombarding the houses. The Ottomans were met by 300 Albanian resistance fighters led by Sulejman Aga Batusha. The resistance fighters had 35 dead or wounded, but the Ottomans lost more than 80 soldiers. Another 300 Albanian fighters arrived and surrounded the Ottoman force but could not yet finish them as the Ottomans were numerically-superior and were positioned well with cannons. 2,000 Albanian tribesmen would eventually gather to fight the Turks, and the Ottoman government sent 18 more battalions accompanied by artillery to quell this new uprising; Shkup's Vali, Shakir Pasha, also went to Gjakova. A series of ensuing battles followed in the Gjakova region, resulting in the deaths of more than 900 Ottoman soldiers as well as 2 bimbashis and a dozen officers, whereas the Albanians suffered only 170 dead or wounded. Shakir Pasha was thereby ordered to stand down.

Modern Period
Gjakova suffered greatly from the Serbian and Montenegrin armies during the First Balkan War. The New York Times reported in 1912, citing Austro-Hungarian sources, that people on the gallows hanged on both sides of the road, and that the way to Gjakova became a "gallows alley." In the region of Gjakova, the Montenegrin military police formed the Royal Gendarmerie Corps (Kraljevski žandarmerijski kor), known as krilaši, which committed much abuse and violence against the non-Orthodox Christian population. The mass hanging of Albanian civilians in 1914 by the Serbo-Montenegrin army and the killing of Catholic priest Luigj Palaj were some of the most reported wartime events which took place in Gjakova.

Serbian priests forcibly converted Albanian Catholics to Serbian Orthodoxy. According to a 20 March 1913 Neue Freie Presse article, Orthodox priests and the military converted 300 Gjakova Catholics to the Orthodox faith; Franciscan Pater Angelus, who refused to renounce his faith, was tortured and killed with bayonets. The History Institute in Pristina reported that Montenegro converted over 1,700 Albanian Catholics to the Serbian Orthodox faith in the Gjakova region in March 1913. Albert von Mensdorff-Pouilly-Dietrichstein told Edward Grey in a 10 March 1912 interview that Serbian soldiers behaved in a "barbarous way" toward Muslim and Catholic Albanians in Gjakova. During World War II, when Kosovo was made a part of Greater Albania under Italian rule and later under German control, Serbs were persecuted by Albanian paramilitaries. A large number of killings of Serbs took place in 1941 in the district of Gjakova.

In 1953–56, a systematic campaign of police repression was conducted throughout Kosovo with the goal to force Albanians to leave the region. The first protest against the Yugoslav police which involved the unfurling of the banned Albanian national flag was held in Gjakova on May Day, 1956. This protest was soon followed by other protests which involved high school and university students who unfurled the Albanian flag in Yugoslavia. A total of 19 Albanians were assassinated by the Yugoslav secret police in Gjakova in these events.

In the events of the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosova (BSPK) was created in 1990. BSPK's members took pride in their large grassroots participation which reached 14,900 workers. The BSPK founding congress was held in Gjakova and despite gaining a permission to be legally held, the police broke it up during its second day. The city was badly affected by the Kosovo War, suffering great physical destruction and large-scale human losses and human rights abuses. In the rural locality of Meja, just 4 km outside Gjakova's city center, the mass killing of at least 377 Albanian males between the ages of 16 and 60 took place on April 27, 1999, by the Serbian police. It is the largest massacre of the Kosovo War. Many of the bodies of the victims were found in the Batajnica mass graves. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has convicted several Serbian army and police officers for their involvement. Actions on the ground had a devastating effect on the city. According to the ICTY, OSCE, and international human rights organisations, about 75% of the population was expelled by Serbian police and paramilitaries as well as Yugoslav forces, while many civilians were killed in the process. Large areas of the city were destroyed, chiefly through arson and looting but also in the course of localised fighting between government security forces and members of the KLA. The actions of the government forces in Gjakova formed a major part of the United Nations war crimes indictment of the then-President Slobodan Milošević. Yugoslav units were stationed in and near the city in two barracks due to the risk of an attack by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) from across the border in Albania. In one incident, NATO aircraft misidentified a convoy of Albanian refugees and attacked it.

Most of the Albanian population returned following the end of the war. After that much of the town was rebuilt. Many Albanians viewed the Roma population as participants in war crimes and collaborators in acts of state repression. The Romani neighbourhood of Gjakova (Brekoc) was targeted and parts of it burnt down in mid-1999, about 600 Roma were moved to a refugee camp outside the town and as a result of political violence fifteen were reportedly killed or missing by August 1999. The majority of the Serbian population, numbering 3,000, fled Gjakova in June 1999 with only five Serbs remaining, living under guard by KFOR troops at a local Serbian Orthodox Church. In 2004, the last five remaining Serbs were expelled from Gjakova with the local Serbian Orthodox Church being destroyed by ethnic Albanians during rioting as part of the March unrest in Kosovo. About 15 Serbs had returned to Gjakova by the 2011 census.

Geography
Gjakova is located in the south-western part of Kosovo. To the north-east of the city, the west Kosovan plain of Metohija opens, while in the south-west the peak of Accursed Mountains rises. The city is also situated at the entrance to the Erenik Valley, where the river Krena flows from the north to the Erenik mountain stream. After a few kilometers, it flows into the White Drin, the longest river in Kosovo. To the west of Gjakova lie the Gjakova Highlands, and to the north-east of the city is the Dushkaja region.

Climate
Gjakova has a Humid subtropical climate (Cfa) as of the Köppen climate classification with an average annual temperature of 11.5 C. The warmest month in Gjakova is August with an average temperature of 22.5 C, while the coldest month is January with an average temperature of 0.7 C.

Demography

According to the 2011 census, the resident population was 94,556, of which urban inhabitants numbered 40,827 and rural 53,729; there were 47,226 males and 47,330 females. The ethnic groups include Albanians (87,672), Balkan Egyptians (5,117), Roma (738), Ashkali (613), and smaller numbers of Bosniaks (73), Serbs (17), Turks (16), Gorani (13) and others. Based on those that answered, the religious make-up was 77,299 Muslims, 16,296 Roman Catholics, 22 Orthodox Christians, 142 others, and 129 irreligious. Based on the population estimates from the Kosovo Agency of Statistics in 2016, the municipality has 95,433 inhabitants. According to OSCE estimations, before the Kosovo War of 1999 the municipality had a population of about 145,000, of which 93% were Kosovo Albanians and 7% non-majority communities, including some 3,000 Serbs, who mostly lived in Gjakova itself.

In 2021 Dragica Gasic, the first Serb returnee since the end of the Kosovo War in 1999 returned to her former apartment in Gjakova. Despite being legally allowed to return to her property by the Kosovo Property Agency, her return was marred by threats of violence and harassment from her ethnic-Albanian neighbors.

Kosovo does not have an official religion. As the rest of the country, the majority of Gjakova's population consider themselves Muslim. The minority of Gjakovas's religious population that is not Muslim practices Christianity in the form of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. According to the census of 2011, the prominent religion is Islam, including 81.75% of the population, while 17.23% is Roman Catholic Christian, 0.02% Orthodox Christian and 1% other. Religious communities have educational institutions for their needs organized in accordance with applicable law.

Christianity has been around in Gjakova for a long time, going back all the way to the time of the Roman Empire. Islam in Gjakova began to be spread very early, during the Ottoman Rule.

Most Catholics live in the Rruga e Katolikëve street, where the two main churches are, and others in villages. The Muslims, living in other parts of the city and in most villages, have been encouraging the building of mosques, which could have counted about 10–15 buildings during the centuries.

Economy
Gjakova built an economy based on farming and agriculture, lower trade and some types of manufacturing workshops which mainly produce for the needs of city-based products as imported cases. After World War II, Gjakova has built an economy based on industry and agriculture but also in the service sector. Nowadays, these subsequent shifts in transitional societies are escorted with shifts in the economic structure of the city. Therefore, Gjakova has an economic structure that is based on two pillars: in the private business sector and social business sector which is currently being privatized. Private business sector is in expansion and the main indicators qualify it as the main component of Gjakova's economy.

According to official sources identified in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, by the end of 2005 there were about 3,200 registered businesses that exercise activity in different areas of Gjakova, such as enterprise manufacturing, construction, service, trade, catering, craft, transportation, information technology, etc. Social economy in 1989 has counted 45 companies that have employed 18,640 workers. In non-economic activities (education, health, culture, government institutions, banks, etc.) there were employed 4000 workers. Furthermore, they also developed the private economy – where in 2010 approximately 920 employees were registered in the business entities. The economy of the municipality of Gjakova suffered mostly during the economic sanctions and the mass violence done by Serbian forces during the war. The situation further during NATO's intervention as a result of the destructive actions of multiple military and police forces, which have stood and operated in the economic enterprise facilities. This meant that during their withdrawal, these Serbian forces robbed, looted and destroyed most of the assets, inventories, transportation machines, etc. The losses that were done in the social economy as a result of the war were approximately 190 million DEM, whereas in the private economy around 100 million DEM.

According to official data, in 2006, there were 581 registered small and medium enterprises, in 2008 there were 3,120 such registered businesses, while in 2012 their number had reached 4,120. Gjakova currently has 12,000 people employed, in both the public and private sector, mostly in the latter. Although unemployment is high, there is a gradual increase of employment over the years according to data from the Kosovo Ministry of Work and Social Wellbeing. According to government statistics, in 2010, 40,000 people were registered as unemployed, while in 2011 this number decreased to 30,000 and in 2012 to 15,000. 30,000 people in Gjakova receive social assistance. This category includes poor families, people with disabilities, families of war veterans/victims and the retired.

Potential industry sectors in the municipality of Gjakova are:
 * Metal industry, which produces metal ropes, nails, galvanized pipes, profiles of metal adhesive bandages. The existing industry also the production of electro motors for washing machines, engines for industrial applications, motors for hermetic compressors, finger jointed and Teflon containers, chimneys, elbows, enameled pots, technical gases, and chrome concentrate.
 * Textile industry, which produced cotton spinning, cotton fabrics, artificial leather, underwear, lingerie costume for men, and different types of fabric (specifically jeans), etc.
 * Chemical industry, involves production of the shampoo for domestic and industrial use and other chemical products which are used for household hygiene.
 * Food industry, is mainly known with the production of flour, bread, eggs, pasta, chocolate, high quality wines, and fresh meat.
 * Construction industry, Gjakova is also known for its construction materials industry, which involves the production of bricks, blocks, tiles, doors and windows, briquette, wooden cottages in the global level (log Houses ) and also the production of asphalt, fresh concrete, concrete slabs, and concrete pipes.

The municipal budget of Gjakova was subsidised by donations from USAID, CDF, Austrian Office in Kosovo, the European Commission and others, which over the past four years have done capital investments to the amount of €25 million: €5.4 million in 2010; €6.3m in 2011; €6.7m in 2012; €6.6m in 2013. The capital investments in the municipality of Gjakova are mainly focused on the regulation of roads including the rehabilitation, pavement and partially their lighting. However, investments for the expansion of the sewage system and the regulation of the canalization remain insufficient. The total amount of funds that are available to the municipality of Gjakova during a year for capital investments lies somewhere over 6 million euros.

Dominated by small family businesses, retail stores, cafeterias and providers of basic services, the private sector of Gjakova remains weak. It makes up only 5.5 percent of all businesses registered in Kosovo. According to the Tax Administration Office in Gjakova, 88 to 93 percent of active businesses are businesses with a single owner, five to ten percent are businesses with limited liability and the remaining two percent are large businesses. As in any other place in Kosovo, more than 90 percent of the sector consists of small family businesses which cannot create growth with added value. Only 2 out of 53 studied businesses in the centre of Gjakova declared not having employed any relative.

Gjakova's private sector, as in other places of Kosovo, is dominated by small businesses which hire 1–5 employees in activities with small added value, such as wholesale and retail, or other service activities such as restaurants and hotels. Wholesale and retail represent 50.5 percent of registered businesses. Other sectors include hotels and restaurants (10.2 percent), production (9.7 percent), transport and communication (7.8 percent), construction (4.2 percent) and agriculture (1.7 percent) among others.

Outside of the city's centre, Gjakova's private sector is characterized by ex-social ventures. Only one of the 15 privatized social ventures and one of the two ventures with common shares are completely functional. Both ventures have to do with construction. One of them is "Dukagjini" with 109 employees, which is one of the biggest private employers in Gjakova today. The other venture is "NIKI-S" which at present has 279 employees and is considered the biggest company in Gjakova's municipality.

Notable People

 * Gjon Nikolle Kazazi was an Albanian Catholic bishop of Skopje, known for discovering Meshari of Gjon Buzuku.
 * Abdullah (Dah) Polloshka, Fighter against the Ottoman occupiers, National hero
 * Sulejman Age Batusha Albanian nationalist, leader against ottoman empire
 * Ahmet Koronica, Albanian nationalist
 * Nimon Ferizi, Teacher Albanian nationalist
 * Riza bej Gjakova, Albanian nationalist and guerrilla fighter
 * Abdullah Pashë Dreni, Albanian pasha
 * Fehmi Agani, Albanian sociologist, academic and politician
 * Fadil Hoxha, Albanian, first Prime Minister of AP Kosovo
 * Mahmut Bakalli, Albanian politician, 5th President of the League of Communists of Kosovo
 * Emin Duraku, Albanian, partisan
 * Dimitar Obshti, Bulgarian revolutionary
 * Bardhyl Çaushi, Kosovo Albanian dean of law of the University of Pristina
 * Bekim Fehmiu, Yugoslav-Albanian actor, the first Eastern European to star in Hollywood during the Cold War
 * Shyqri Nimanin, Prof of Art and Design, continued art research in Japan from 1976 to 1978
 * Faton Tefiku, Scientist in Japan
 * Teki Dervishi, Albanian playwright
 * Avni Mula, Albanian musician
 * Qamil Muhaxheri - Qamili i VogelAlbanian musician, composer
 * Mazllom Mejzini Albanian musician, composer
 * Sabah Bytyqi Albanian musician, composer
 * Shkelzen Doli, Albanian violinist in Vienna Philharmonic
 * Ali Podrimja, Albanian poet
 * Muslim Mulliqi, Albanian impressionist and expressionist painter
 * Rauf Dhomi, Albanian composer
 * Liza Vorfi, Albanian actress
 * Naim Kryeziu, Albanian footballer, part of AS Roma's first Serie A win
 * Besnik Hasi, Albanian footballer and coach
 * Lorik Cana, Albanian footballer and captain on National football team of Albania
 * Esat Valla, Albanian painter
 * Masar Caka, Albanian painter
 * Ardian Gashi, Albanian-Norwegian footballer
 * Nora Gjakova, Olympic judo champion
 * Atifete Jahjaga, Albanian, former President of Kosovo
 * Valon Kadrijaj, Albanian-German footballer
 * Ardian Kozniku, former Albanian-Croatian footballer
 * Burim Kukeli, Albanian footballer
 * Eros Grezda, Albanian footballer
 * Fanol Perdedaj, Albanian-German footballer

Transport
There are lots of infrastructure facilities of railways and platforms which currently are out of function. Pristina International Airport is some 70 kilometres east of Gjakova. It is the only port of entry for air travelers to Kosovo. In northern of the city, there is the Gjakova Airport situated. The airport is expected to become public in the following years, to be used by low-cost commercial airlines and cargo flights.

Education
Gjakova has a long tradition of education since the beginning of civil life. According to the Gjakova tradition the Hadim Aga library was so rich in books so it was said "Who wants to see the Kaaba, let them visit the library of Hadim Aga". The library had a reading room on the ground floor and the shelf with books upstairs.

According to some data, schools with Albanian as a language of instruction in the territory of Gjakova were opened before 1840. The Albanian intellectuals from the city, that were educated in the most important educational centers of the Ottoman Empire, had a special role in opening of schools in Albanian during the Albanian National Movement. A particular role in enriching the educational tradition in the region of Gjakova and beyond was the opening of religious schools, initially schools, later the madrasas.

The city has become an important university town. Today in the municipality of Gjakova, there is also a large number of primary and secondary schools, in the public sector, as well as in the private sector. The education system is organized in many schools and in the separate physical activity classes. During 2004, there was development respectively. There has been an increase in the number of private institutions, especially at the preschool level, but also in primary and secondary education.

The University of Gjakova Fehmi Agani, is one of the newest public universities in Kosovo. The university began operating on 1 October 2013. In 2014, the Gjakova Summer School for Entrepreneurship were opened in the city.

Culture
Historical monuments in Gjakova are divided into three main categories based on their cultural, religious and social context. The core part of the city was created between the Krena River to the east and Cabrati hill to the west. Around the cornerstone of the town, the Old Bazaar – the center of trade and craftsmanship – was created. By 1900, the bazaar housed around 1000 enterprises. Numerous bridges were built to enable the journey of trade caravans across the neighboring rivers. With the fast development of trade in the city, several inns were built to host the many visitors. Because of its ancient origins and fast economic development, Gjakova has become of great historical importance. The Old or Grand Bazaar (Çarshia e Madhe) in Gjakova is the oldest bazaar in Kosovo, and it served as an Ottoman trading centre and heart of the city economy. It suffered damage during the Kosovo War but has since been renovated. The Hadum Mosque, built in the 16th century, lies by the bazaar, and includes a highly decorated graveyard, where the city notables were buried. Within the mosque complex were the hamam which was destroyed in 2008, the "Old library" from 1671, damaged in the Kosovo War, and also a meytepi from 1777. The Bazaar is linked to the city centre, just five minutes away via the Islam-Beg Bridge. The bazaar covers an area of about 35000 m2 and the length of its main road is 1 km, with about 500 shops situated along it. It is, however, still home to an active mosque, several türbes, and a clocktower. The Hadum Mosque, located in the Old Bazaar, built in 1594 by Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan and financed by Hadum Aga. The mosque has played a significant role in the urban character of the city from the 17th to 20th centuries. Its construction was followed by the appearance of the craftsmanship around it, which increased the importance of the city. The mosque holds historical value and is viewed of as a sacred monument. The great Tekke ("Teqja e Madhe"), built by the end of 16th century by Shejh Suleyman Axhiza Baba, a Sufi mystic from Shkodra. It belongs to the Saadi order of Sufism. The complex includes turbe (small mausoleums), samahanes (ritual prayer-halls), houses and fountains. It is characterized with detailed sacral architecture, with wood-carved elements. Gjakova is also characterized with two main Catholic Churches, which are part of the cultural heritage. The Saint Paul and Saint Peter Church (Albanian: Kisha e Shën Palit dhe Shën Pjetrit) is one of the tallest monuments in Gjakova, which can be seen from different points of the city. The arrival of the Albanian Catholics form Malesia resulted in rejuvenation of Saint Peter's Church in Gjakova in 1703, while in 1851 Gjakova's parish is rejuvenated. In 1999, after the War it was totally destroyed. In the same site the new cathedral has been built.

The Saint Ndou Church, was once called also the church of Padre Mila, who had built it in 1882, but it was later destroyed. In 1931, Padre Lorenc Mazrreku built in the same place the church that exists today, which was renovated few times, adding to it the guestrooms, offices and restrooms, but complying with the original architectural concept.

The Clock Tower, built just after the Hadum Mosque at a place known as Field of the Clock, characterizes the rapid economic development of Gjakova at that time. It was destroyed during the Balkan Wars, while the belfry was removed and transported to Montenegro. With sides 4.10m long and a height of about 30 meters, a new clock tower was built later near the foundations of the previous one. Constructed mainly of stone with the wooden observation area and the roof covered in lead, the clock tower is unique of its kind.

Festivals
Events and festivals in Gjakova are not as much in numbers, as they are highly valued. The historic city of Gjakova, Kosovo, especially the Old Town, is the hub of many outdoor and indoor festivals, cultural events and street parades. Many of them are seasonal and take place only one time, while others are organised annually for many years by various festival societies. All of them draw interest from the locals and visitors alike. Some of the events are organised by the city, some by private companies as well.

Sports
Apart from being a culture and educative center of the Kosovo, Gjakova is also known as a sport center. The best example of this is the fact of having 38 clubs, which compete in all leagues over Kosovo. Gjakova's most successful team is KF Vëllaznimi which has won 9 titles of Kosovar Superliga and 4 Kosovo Cups. "Shani Nushi" is the city's sports hall, which has a capacity of 3500 seats, while the Gjakova City Stadium has a capacity of 6000 seats.

International relations
Gjakova is twinned with:
 * 🇺🇸 Fort Dodge, United States
 * 🇺🇸 Jamestown, United States
 * 🇫🇷 Lodève, France
 * 🇦🇱 Saranda, Albania

title: Gjakova


text:
Gjilan

Gjilan or Gnjilane (Гњилане) is the sixth most populous city in Kosovo and it serves as both a municipality and the administrative center of the Gjilan District. The municipality has a population of 90,178 with approximately 54,239 inhabitants residing in the urban area.

It is located in the east of Kosovo, in the region of Anamorava, and is well connected with the capital city of Kosovo, Pristina, as well as other surrounding cities such as Ferizaj, Kamenica, Preševo and Bujanovac.

Name
The etymology of Gjilan is disputed. Albanian sources claim that the town (initially a village) obtained its name from Bahti Beg Gjinolli of Gjinaj clan that ruled the region of Vushtrri (Llap and Drenica), and populated this area in the 18th century (around 1750). However, there is no definite evidence to support this claim and in fact no one can confirm who the first real inhabitants were or when they first settled. On the other hand, Serbian sources claim that the origin of the city's name comes from the Serbian word "gnjio" (rotten).

History

In 1342, a place called Morava was visited by Serbian King Stefan Dušan (later Emperor, r. 1331–1355). A fort was built nearby in the 14th century. Gornja Morava ("Upper Morava") was known simply as Morava under Ottoman rule, and it extended west of the Upper Žegra–Budriga–Cernica line, thus Gjilan stayed in the oblast (province) of Topanica, whose provincial seat was Novo Brdo. In the 1455 defter (Ottoman tax registry), Gjilan was inhabited by Serbs, and the priest Božidar served the town. There were 41 households. Haji Kalfa (first half of the 17th century) mentions Morava being 17 days from Constantinople. Gornja Morava and Izmornik were organized into the Sanjak of Viçitrina up until the 18th century. Gjilan became a kadiluk around 1780, and 20–25 years later a large village.

The exact year of establishment of Gjilan to this day is not exactly determined. In the 17th century, Evlia Çelebija mentions Gjilan, but named Morava, as a cadillac within the Sanjak of Viçitrina. There is a tradition in the people that Gjilan as a settlement was formed around 1750, and as an urban center – in 1772. Gjilan as a town developed in addition to the extinction of Novo Brdo, which in the Middle Ages was one of the cities and the largest commercial, economic and mining centers in the Balkans. The feudal family "Gjinaj" in the second half of the nineteenth century transferred their headquarters from Novo Brdo and built their own houses in the place where Gjilani is now located.

Modern history
In 1999, Camp Monteith was established outside the city as a base of operations for KFOR during Operation Joint Guardian, on the site of a destroyed Serbian military base which was handed over to the Kosovo Protection Corps in 2007 after the U.S. Military downsized their number of troops. Gjilan has also served as the regional headquarters of the UNMIK International Police task force from 1999.

On April 24, 2002, a 5.7 magnitude earthquake was recorded in the municipality of Gjilan, killing one person.

In 2020, the cities of Gjilan and Kumanovo, North Macedonia came closer through a new border point which was built in the village of Stançiq.

Geography
Gjilan is located in the southeastern part of Kosovo, the region of Anamorava. Its geographic position makes it possible to make good connections with other centers of Kosovo and the region. Around the town of Gjilan lies the Hill of Martyrs (Popovica), Gllama, Dheu i Bardhë, the area of Malisheva (Gjilan), Zabeli of Sahit Agës and Bregu i Thatë. There are three small rivers, Mirusha, Banja and Stanishori, which join and flow to Binačka Morava, west of the Uglara village.

Gjilan is 46 km from Pristina, 27 km from Kamenica, 22 km from Vitia, and 25 km from Novo Brdo. The municipalities of the region are bordered in the southeast by Preševo (33 km) and Kumanovo (53 km), and in the east by Bujanovac (40 km).

The Gjilan area is defined by the Morava River, which collects all the small rivers, with an average monthly flow rate of 6.7 cubic meters/second. In the southeast it is surrounded by the mountains of Karadak.

Climate
Gjilan has a Humid subtropical climate (Cfa) as of the Köppen climate classification with an average annual temperature of 10.9 C. The warmest month in Gjilan is August with an average temperature of 22.1 C, while the coldest month is January with an average temperature of -0.5 C.

Economy
As of 2018 there were 4,100 registered private businesses in the municipality employing some 6,900 people.

Prior to 1999, Gjilan was an important industrial centre in Kosovo. Still in operation are the radiator factory and tobacco factory, which has been recently privatized. The new city business incubator, supported by the European Agency for Reconstruction, was inaugurated in the summer of 2007.

Education
Education in Gjilan includes pre-school, primary and secondary education, and a public university (Kadri Zeka). As of 2018, there were 12,370 students in 29 primary schools, of which 12,023 were ethnic Albanians and 347 members of ethnic minorities (Serbs, Roma and Turks). There were nine secondary schools with 5,650 students of which 5,449 were Albanians and the rest minority groups.

Transport
A highway that connects the city of Gjilan with Pristina is being built, as well as connecting with the city of Kamenica. The highway which is 47 kilometers long, is expected to be completed at the end of 2024 or early 2025.

Demography

The population of Gjilan has always been mixed, but with a predominant majority of Albanians in both periods during Turkish and Serbian-Yugoslav rule. According to the 2011 census, the Municipality of Gjilan has 90,178 inhabitants. Albanians – 87,814, Serbs – 624, Turks – 978, Bosniaks – 121, Roma – 361, Ashkali – 15, Gorani – 69, Egyptians – 1, others – 95. They preferred not to respond – 35 people. In the city live 54,239 inhabitants, while in rural areas – 35,939. Division of population by gender: male – 45,354, female – 44,824. Based on the population estimates from the Kosovo Agency of Statistics in 2016, the municipality has 81,447 inhabitants.

The vast majority of the population is Albanian, followed by Serbs, and a small number of minorities. There are among others, 978 Turks or 1% of the municipal population. The recorded number of Serbs has decreased due to partial census boycott and the creation of the Serb-majority municipality of Parteš.

The ethnic composition of the municipality:

Albanian, Serbian and Turkish are all official languages in the municipality.

Flaka e Janarit
Flaka e Janarit is a cultural event that starts on January 11 in Gjilan with a symbolic opening of the flame, to keep up with various cultural activities to 31 January of each year. It gathers thousands of artists and art lovers from all the Albanian territories, who for three consecutive weeks transform the city into a cultural metropolis. The nation's martyrs are honored through values of art by this event, which began before the 10th anniversary of the assassination of writer, activist and patriot Jusuf Gërvalla, along with Kadri Zeka and Bardhosh Gërvalla. It was exactly the tenth anniversary without these three martyrs of freedom and from coincidence of these murders in a same date on 11 January, this event got this name "Flaka e Janarit".

There are 41 mosques in Gjilan.

Sports
Gjilan is home to the basketball club KB Drita, the football clubs SC Gjilani and FC Drita, and the volleyball club KV Drita. It also has the KF Bashkimi Gjilan football club which competes in the Third League. Gjilan hosts the biggest derby in Kosovo, the Kosovo Derby, between FC Drita and SC Gjilani. Both of the clubs are from the city, which draw thousands of viewers inside the Gjilan City Stadium.

Notable people

 * Idriz Seferi (b.1847), Albanian patriot
 * Mulla Idriz Gjilani (b.1901), Albanian patriot
 * Zoran Antić (b. 1975), Serbian footballer
 * Faton Bislimi (b. 1983), Kosovan author
 * Nijazi Ramadani (b. 1964), Kosovan poetry writer
 * Albert Bunjaku (b. 1983), Kosovan footballer
 * Daut Dauti (b. 1960) Kosovan author
 * Dragan Dimić, Serbian footballer
 * Bajram Haliti (b. 1955), Romani writer
 * Shpëtim Hasani (b. 1982), Kosovan footballer
 * Lutfi Haziri (b. 1969), Kosovan politician
 * Genta Ismajli (b. 1985), Kosovan singer
 * Aljmir Murati (b. 1985), Swiss footballer
 * Zenun Pajaziti (b. 1966), Kosovan politician
 * Xherdan Shaqiri (b. 1991), Swiss footballer
 * Jahi Jahiu, (b. 1959), Kosovan artist
 * Mira Stupica (b. 1923), Serbian actress
 * Goran Svilanović (b. 1963), Serbian politician
 * Faton Toski (b. 1987), Kosovan footballer
 * Agim Ramadani (b. 1963), KLA commander
 * Abdullah Tahiri (b. 1956), KLA commander
 * Antun Marković (b. 1992), Croatian footballer
 * Lirim Hajrullahu (b. 1990), Canadian CFL kicker
 * Đorđe Martinović (b. 1929), farmer

Twin towns – sister cities
Gjilan is twinned with:
 * 🇲🇰 Kumanovo, North Macedonia
 * 🇹🇷 Nazilli, Turkey
 * 🇦🇱 Sarandë, Albania
 * 🇺🇸 Sioux City, United States
 * 🇹🇷 Yıldırım, Turkey

title: Gjilan