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The Gruža (Serbian Cyrillic: Гружа, pronounced [ɡrûʒa]) is a geographical region in central Serbia. The region, containing a village of the same name, due to its location is poetically referred to as the Heart of Šumadija.

Geography

The region is located in the valley of the Gruža river, with developed agriculture and numerous settlements.^[1] The watershed itself covers 622 km² (240 sq mi),^[1]^[2] but the region covers 764.5 km² (295.2 sq mi) as it includes the valley of the Velika Reka.^[3] The Gruža is a micro-region and makes the southern part of the Šumadija region of central Serbia (also called High Šumadija).^[2] It stretches in the northwest-southeast direction, and is bounded by the West Pomoravlje to the south, the Gledić Mountains and the Levač region to the east, Rudnik and Ješevac mopuntains, and Takovo and Lepenica regions to the north, and the Kotlenik mountain to the west. The central part of the region is the Gruža Depression.^[3]^[4] Due to its geographical location, in the center of Serbia, it is nicknamed the Heart of Serbia or the Heart of Šumadija.^[5]^[6]

The region consists of two sub-regions, Upper Gruža (with 363.5 km² (140.3 sq mi)) and Lower Gruža (401 km² (155 sq mi)). They are divided by the narrowing known as Tucački Naper. The location was dammed and the artificial Gruža Lake was formed. The reservoir contains 65,000,000 m³ (2.3×10⁹ cu ft) of water and covers an area of 9.34 km² (3.61 sq mi), thus permanently flooding a part of the Knić Field. The water is used for the waterworks of Kragujevac.^[3]

Other rivers in the region, tributaries to the Gruža river, are mostly short: Kamenička Reka (13 km (8.1 mi)), Boračka Reka (16 km (9.9 mi)), and Ribež (19 km (12 mi)).^[3] The southern section of the region, in direction of West Morava, is a composite valley, cut between the mountains of Kotlenik and Gledičke. This section is called the Guberevac Trench.^[3]

Characteristics

The region is very fertile and thus almost exclusively an agricultural area.^[1] Even though populated by many villages (58 or 61 settlements),^[2]^[3] they all have small population and are increasingly depopulating, despite the land's fertility. In the Knić section, population fell from 28,380 in 1948 (69 inhabitants per km²)^[7] to 11,729 in 2022 (28 inhabitants per km²), as previously well developed industries in the nearby towns of Gornji Milanovac, Kraljevo and Kragujevac constantly attracted the manpower from the Gruža region (for example, the density of population in the neighboring Lepenica region, where the city of Kragujevac is located, peaked at 215 inhabitants per km² in 2011.

The settlements are mostly dispersed, and the center of the region is the municipal seat of Knić, located 4 km (2.5 mi) west from the Gruža river. The Gruža river valley in the center of the region is the route for the regional Kragujevac-Kraljevo road and railway, which, with the additional road connection to Gornji Milanovac, makes the region generally well connected to the other parts of Serbia.^[3]

Culture

Lepe li su nano Gružanke devojke (Oh, mom, girls from Gruža are beautiful) is a popular folk song, written by Dragiša Nedović.^[8]^[9]

43°55′29″N 20°41′53″E / 43.924770°N 20.698163°E / 43.924770; 20.698163

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Borislav Blagojević, ed. (1986). Мала енциклопедија Просвета, Vol. I, A-J, 4th edition [Little encyclopedia Prosveta]. Belgrade: Prosveta. p. 561. ISBN 86-07-00001-2.
^ ^a ^b ^c Jovan Đ. Marković (1990). Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije [Encyclopedic geographical lexicon of Yugoslavia]. Sarajevo: Svjetlost. p. 79. ISBN 86-01-02651-6.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Miroljub Milinčić, Nenad Živković (2008). Radoš Ljušić (ed.). Енциклопедија српског народа [Encyclopedia of Serbian people]. Belgrade: Zavod za udžbenike. p. 257. ISBN 978-86-17-15732-4.
^ Denis Šehić, Damir Šehić (2007). Атлас Србије [Atlas of Serbia]. Belgrade: Monde Neuf. pp. 30–31. ISBN 978-86-86809-05-6.
^ Luka Mijatović (4 April 2019). "Širom zatvorenih očiju – Samo srcem se dobro vidi" [Eyes wide shut – You can see good only with your heart] (in Serbian). Radio Television Serbia.
^ "Zaboravljena jela Srbije – Gruža" [Forgotten dishes of Serbia – Gruža] (in Serbian). Lepa & Srećna – Mondo Serbia. 11 March 2020.
^ Comparative overview of the number of population in 1948, 1953, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2002 and 2011 – Data by settlements. Belgrade: Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. 2014. p. 91. ISBN 978-86-6161-109-4.
^ Branko Vučković (21 July 2014). "Kragujevčanin autor nezaboravnih sevdalinki" [Kragujevac man authored unforgettable sevdalinkas] (in Serbian). Radio Slobodna Evropa.
^ "Dok je sveta i veka: Dragiša Nedović" [As long as the world exist: Dragiša Nedović] (in Serbian). Radio Television Serbia. 7 March 2021.