Požarevac (Serbian Cyrillic: Пожаревац, pronounced[pǒʒarevats]) is a city and the administrative centre of the Braničevo District in eastern Serbia. It is located between three rivers: Danube, Great Morava and Mlava and below the hill Čačalica (208m). As of 2022, the city has a population of 51,271 while the city administrative area has 68,648 inhabitants.
Name
In Serbian, the city is known as Požarevac (Пожаревац), in Romanian as Pojarevăț or Podu Lung, in Turkish as Pasarofça, in German as Passarowitz, and in Hungarian as Pozsarevác.
The name means "fire-town" in Serbian (In this case, the word "fire" is used in the sense of a disaster).
One pretext for the Hun invasion of the Eastern Roman Empire in 442 was that the Bishop of Margus had crossed the Danube to ransack and desecrate the royal Hun graves on the north bank of the Danube. When the Romans discussed handing over the Bishop, he slipped away and betrayed the city to the Huns, who then sacked the city and went on to invade as far as the gates of Constantinople itself. [citation needed]
After the fall of the Hunnic Empire, the area was again controlled by the Eastern Roman Empire. In the 6th century, it was briefly controlled by the Kingdom of the Gepids. Since the 6th century, the area was populated by Slavs, but the Eastern Roman Empire held a nominal control over the region until the 8th century when Balkan Slavs achieved de facto independence from the Eastern Empire. It was also ruled by Avar Khaganate before their demolition by Charlemagne. The area was subsequently included into the Bulgarian Empire and was alternately ruled by the Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary until the 13th century.
A Bronze Age figurine "The Idol of Kličevac" was found in a grave in the village of Kličevac. It was destroyed during World War I.[3]
The National Museum in Belgrade and Požarevac has some 40,000 items found in Viminacium, of which over 700 are of gold and silver. Among them are many invaluable rarities.
In June 2008, a Triballian (Thracian) grave was found with ceramics (urns). These date from the first millennium BC.[4]
Modern city
Unveiling of the Miloš Obrenović monument, 1898.Reservist mobilization in Požarevac, 1914.
The modern town of Požarevac was first mentioned in the 14th century under the name Puporače[5][dubious – discuss]; it first being mentioned under its present-day name in 1476.[6] The town became part of Moravian Serbia and Serbian Despotate, until the Ottoman conquest in 1459. During Ottoman administration, it was part of the Sanjak of Smederevo. It was occupied by Austrian Empire between 1688 and 1690.
In 1718, Požarevac was the site of the signing of the Treaty of Požarevac,[7] with the town then falling under Habsburg control and becoming part of the Habsburg Kingdom of Serbia (from 1718 to 1739). After 1739, the town reverted to Ottoman control except final Austrian occupation between 1789 and 1791. During the First Serbian Uprising (1804–1813), the town was part of the Karađorđe's Serbia. At the end of the uprising in 1813, the town came briefly once more under direct Ottoman control. However, following the Second Serbian Uprising from 1815, the town then became part of the autonomous Ottoman Principality of Serbia. Požarevac was the second capital of the Serbian prince, Miloš Obrenović with the first regular state court in Serbia being established here in 1821. Since 1878, Požarevac became part of the independent Principality of Serbia and since 1882 as part of the Kingdom of Serbia.
In the 2008 reform of Serbian local government, Požarevac received the status of a city and the town of Kostolac became the seat of the second city municipality. Požarevac is the smallest Serbian city consisting of two municipalities.
^Garasanin, Draga (1972). "Bronze Age in Serbia". Projekat Rastko. Translated by Stefanovic, M. R. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
^Mirković, S. (9 June 2008). "Iskopane urne Tribala". Jaša Tomić (in Serbian). Archived from the original on 8 February 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2009.
