Bač (Serbia)

Infobox Serbia municipality
native_name = Бач|official_name=Bač
district = South Bačka
mayor = Tomislav Bogunović (DS)
area_km2 = 367
population_total = 6087
mpop=16268
latd = 45| latm = 23|longd = 19| longm = 14
code = 21
settlements = 6
plates = NS
postal_code = 21420
website = www.bac.co.yu

Bač ( _sr. Бач Audio|Sr-Bacx.ogg|listen, _hu. Bács) is a town and municipality in South Bačka District of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 6,046, while Bač municipality has 16,101 inhabitants. The Bačka region was named after the town of Bač.

Name

In Serbian, the town is known as "Bač" (Бач); in Slovak as "Báč"; in Croatian (Šokac) as "Bač"; in Hungarian as "Bács"; in German as "Batsch"; and in Latin as "Bach" or "Bacs". Along with Serbian, Slovak and Hungarian languages are also in official use in the municipality administration.

In the 9th-10th century, name of the town was "Bagasin". [Prof. Dr. Miloš Blagojević, Istorijski atlas, Beograd, 1999] In 1154, the Arab geographer Idrisi mention it under name "Bakasin" and claim that "it is a famous city that was mentioned among old big cities".

The current name of the town was first recorded in 1094. In 1111 the parish was mentioned as "Bache". [ [http://lexikon.katolikus.hu/LINKEK/LINKBBBB/02BACS.HTML 02BACS ] ] This name probably derived from the same personal name. In Serbian this name is written as "Bač" or Бач, in Hungarian as "Bács", and in Romanian as "Baci", although the Romanian population used this word as a title rather than as a name. The name is of uncertain origin and its existence was recorded among Vlachs, Slavs and Hungarians in the Middle Ages. The origin of the name could be Paleo-Balkanic, [Milica Grković, Rečnik imena Banjskog, Dečanskog i Prizrenskog vlastelinstva u XIV veku, Beograd, 1986] Romanian, Slavic, [Dr. Aleksa Ivić, Istorija Srba u Vojvodini, Novi Sad, 1929] or Old Turkic-Hungarian. [ [http://www.pallaslexikon.hu/pallas/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=default.htm A Pallas Nagy Lexikona ] ]

In the Romanian language, "Baci" means "tenant, mountaineer or chieftain of the shepherd habitation in the mountain". The name could be spread into other languages by the Vlach shepherds. However, a similar name, "Bača", was recorded among old Russians, which implies the possibility of Slavic origin. [С. Б. Веселовскии, Ономастикон, древнерусские имена, прозвиша и фамилии, Москва, 1974] Hungarian linguists claim that a similar but originally different Hungarian personal name was derived from the Old Turkic "baya" dignity in the form "Bácsa", which later evolved into "Bács". [ [http://72.14.221.104/search?q=cache:T-binunn6U4J:www.mek.ro/01600/01695/01695.doc+b%C3%A1cs+etimol%C3%B3gia&hl=hu&gl=hu&ct=clnk&cd=10 403 Forbidden ] ] It is not certain whether name of the town came from Vlach-Slavic or from the Hungarian name. Some Hungarian historians assume that the town was named after the first comes of the county, Bács ispán (Bač župan). [ [http://www.dmisz.net/barangolo/tortenelem.htm A Délvidék Rövid Történelme ] ] However, the existence of that person is not historically confirmed and his ethnic origin is uncertain.

There are several more places with same name (in the Republic of Macedonia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Albania), as well as a large number of place names beginning with letters "bač-" or "bács-" that are scattered all over the Balkans and Central Europe, as well as in some other regions. [ [http://fallingrain.com/world/a/B/a/269/ Places in World that start with Bač ] ]

History

Bač is one of the oldest towns in Vojvodina. The archeological research showed that an ancient Roman settlement existed in this area. Bač was first mentioned in 535 AD, in a letter written by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian. In 873 AD, the town was mentioned as Avar fortress, inhabited by both, Avars and Slavs. In this time, the Saint Methodius, a creator of the Slavic alphabet, converted to Christianity Slavs that lived in Bačka and Bač.

In the 10th century, this region became part of the Kingdom of Hungary. In the Middle Ages the town was the seat of the Bacsensis County. The foundation date of the county is a disputed question, some historians assume that it was one of the first counties of the Kingdom established by Stephen I but there is no documentary evidence of its existence in that time. [ [http://www.historia.hu/archivum/2000/0004zsoldos.htm História 2000/04. - ZSOLDOS ATTILA: Szent István vármegyéi. Források, következtetések ] ] The first known prefect (comes) of the county was recorded in 1074 and his name was Vid.

King Ladislaus I made the town the seat of a new archbishopric in 1085. Previously historians assumed that Bač (Bacs) was a bishopric before that time. The first archbishop, Fabian (1085-1103) helped the king in the course of the campaign against Croatia and was rewarded with the title. [ [http://www.elib.hu/00000/00060/html/034/pc003441.html A Pallas nagy lexikona ] ]

Gyula Városy proved that king Ladislaus only moved the seat of the archbishopric of Kalocsa to Bač (Bacs), where he built a cathedral and established a chapter house around 1090. After 1135 the archbishops moved back to their former seat in Kalocsa. Later the diocese was called the "Archbishopric of Kalocsa-Bacs" (first mentioned in 1266). [ [http://lexikon.katolikus.hu/ Magyar Katolikus Lexikon ] ]

In 1154, the Arab geographer Idrisi wrote that Bač is a rich town with many merchants and craftsmen, a place with a lot of wheat and many "Greek scholars" which could refer to Orthodox priests and monks.

During the war between Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, in the 16th century, Serbian despot Stevan Berislavić successfully defended the Bač fortress from the Ottomans for a long time until the fortress finally fell.

During the Ottoman rule (16th-17th century), Bač was a seat of a nahija of Bač and was populated by ethnic Serbs. Since the end of the 17th century, the town was under Habsburg rule and many Germans settled in Bač during this time. After 1918, Bač was part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and subsequent South Slavic states.

Inhabited places

Bač municipality includes the town of Bač (together with Mali Bač settlement) and the following villages:
*Bačko Novo Selo
*Bođani
*Vajska (together with Labudnjača and Živa settlements)
*Plavna
*SelenčaIn 17th century 50,000 Sokac Croats from Tuzla area migrated to Bac are as refugees today they only compromise less than 9% of the population

Demographics (2002 census)

Ethnic groups in the Bač municipality

* Serbs (46.69%)
* Slovaks (19.75%)
* Croats (8.53%)
* Hungarians (6.09%)
* Yugoslavs (4.94%)
* Romanians (3.5%)
* Roma (1.95%)
* Muslims (1.32%)
* Germans (0,55%)

ettlements by ethnic majority

Settlements with Serb ethnic majority are: Bač, Bačko Novo Selo, and Bođani. The settlement with Slovak ethnic majority is Selenča. Ethnically mixed settlements with relative Serb majority are Vajska and Plavna.

Ethnic groups in the Bač town

* Serbs (70.22%)
* Croats (8.36%)
* Hungarians (6.87%)
* Yugoslavs (4.47%)
* Slovaks (2.33%)

Languages in the Bač municipality

According to the 2002 census, 66% of inhabitants of the Bač municipality speak Serbian as mother tongue. Other spoken languages include Slovak (20%), Romanian (4%), Hungarian (3%), Croatian (3%), and Romani (2%).

Historical population of the town

*1961: 6,321
*1971: 5,916
*1981: 5,994
*1991: 6,046

Politics

Seats in the municipality parliament won in the 2004 local elections: [http://www.cesid.org/lokalni2004/rezultati.jsp?opstina=80055]
*Democratic Party (11)
*Serbian Radical Party (7)
*Democratic Party of Serbia (3)
*Socialist Party of Serbia (2)
*G17 Plus (2)

ites of interest

*Bač fortress
*Bođani monastery
*Franciscan Church
*Turkish bath

Twin cities

*flagicon|Netherlands Vlist, Netherlands
*flagicon|Croatia Vukovar, Croatia

Notes

References

*Slobodan Ćurčić, Broj stanovnika Vojvodine, Novi Sad, 1996.

Gallery

ee also

*List of places in Serbia
*List of cities, towns and villages in Vojvodina
*Bačka

External links

* [http://www.bac.co.yu/ www.bac.co.yu - Official site]
* [http://www.turizambac.org/ www.turizambac.org - web site of Turistic organization Bac ]
* [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/YI/2/Bac.html Bač]