1.
Golubac Fortress
–
The Golubac Fortress was a medieval fortified town on the south side of the Danube River,4 km downstream from the modern-day town of Golubac, Serbia. The fortress, which was most likely built during the 14th century, is split into three compounds which were built in stages and it has ten towers, most of which started square, and several of which received many-sided reinforcements with the advent of firearms. Golubac Fortress has had a tumultuous history, prior to its construction it was the site of a Roman settlement. During the Middle Ages, it became the object of many battles and it changed hands repeatedly, passing between Turks, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Serbs, and Austrians, until 1867, when it was turned over to the Serbian Knez, Mihailo Obrenović III. Now, it is a popular tourist attraction in the region, Golubac, in the Braničevo District of north-eastern Serbia and on the modern-day border with Romania, marks the entrance to the Đerdap national park. It is strategically located on the embankment of the Danube River where it narrows to form the Iron Gate gorge, allowing for the regulation and taxation of traffic across and along the river. In the Middle Ages, this was done with the aid of a chain connected to Babakaj. Inscriptions and evidence of defensive structures in the area show the presence of a Roman settlement, sometimes named Columbaria. From 803 to 1018, the area belonged to the First Bulgarian Empire, to the Byzantine Empire from then until 1193, and the Second Bulgarian Empire until 1257. The area remained in Serbian hands from then until the Ottoman conquest in the 15th century and it is also unclear whether the medieval fortress was built by Bulgarians, Serbs or Hungarians, or how many towers it had originally. However, an Orthodox chapel built as part of one tower shows that it, there is also uncertainty about when construction started, although it is generally agreed that the majority of the fortress was built early in the 14th century. The first known record of Golubac is in Hungarian sources from 1335, sometime between 1345 and 1355, Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan toured the Braničevo region, which was part of Serbia along the boundary between Serbia and Hungary. He also visited Golubac, which was under the command of Castellan Toma, Voivode of Transylvania, after Dušans death, the House of Rastislalić gained influence in Braničevo, later winning independence. According to Serbian chroniclers, Knez Lazar of Serbia evicted the last Rastislalić feudal lord, Radič Branković, in 1379, by the time of the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, Golubac was held by Serbia. It is unclear when or how it changed hands, though one source puts it later than 1382, after the battle, the fortress was lost to Sultan Bayezid I, marking the first possession by the Ottoman Empire. In 1391, Golubac switched hands twice, Hungarian Timişoaran Comes Péter Perényi won it, but shortly afterwards lost it again to the Turks. Later, it returned again to the Kingdom of Hungary. The first extended Serbian possession of Golubac began in 1403 when Sigismund, King of Hungary, in May of 1426, Stefan and Sigismund met in Tata to discuss who Stefans successor would be
2.
Municipalities and cities of Serbia
–
The municipalities and cities of Serbia are the second level administrative subdivisions of the country. Serbia is divided into 147 municipalities and 27 cities, forming the basic level of local government, also, the city of Belgrade has a status of separate statistical region. Municipalities and cities are the units of Serbia, and they form 29 districts in groups. They are defined by the Government of Serbias Enactment of 29 January 1992, a city may and may not be divided into city municipalities depending on their size. Currently, there are six cities in Serbia with city municipalities, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Požarevac, Užice and Vranje comprise several city municipalities each, divided into urban, Municipalities Like in many other countries, municipalities are the basic entities of local government in Serbia. The head of the municipality is the President of the municipality, while the power is held by the Municipal council. Municipal assembly is elected on local elections, while the President, Municipalities have their own property and budget. Only the cities officially have mayors, although the presidents are often informally referred to as such. The territory of a municipality is composed of a town and surrounding villages, the municipality bears the name of the seat town. Only one municipality does not share the name with the seat town and this municipality is located in Kosovo, and thus exists only on paper. The territory of the municipality was merged with part of the Municipality of Prizren in 2000 by UNMIK to form new Municipality of Dragaš and this move is not recognised by Serbian Government. Cities and city municipalities Cities are another type of local self-government, the territory with the city status usually has more than 100,000 inhabitants, but is otherwise very similar to municipality. There are 27 cities, each having an assembly and budget of its own, only the cities have mayors, although the presidents of the municipalities are often referred to as mayors in everyday usage. As with a municipality, the territory of a city is composed of a city proper, every city is part of a district. The exception is the capital Belgrade, which is not part of any district, the city may or may not be divided into city municipalities. Six cities, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Požarevac, Vranje, competences of cities and city municipalities are divided. The city municipalities of these six cities also have their assemblies, the two largest city municipalities by number of residents are the City municipality of Novi Sad and New Belgrade. The city of Kragujevac had its own city municipalities from 2002 until 2008, in 2013, the city municipality of Sevojno within the city of Užice was established
3.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Serbia
–
Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
5.
Administrative divisions of Serbia
–
Autonomous provinces Serbia has two autonomous provinces, Vojvodina in the north and Kosovo and Metohija in the south. The province of Vojvodina has its own Assembly and Government of Vojvodina and it enjoys autonomy on certain matters, such as infrastructure, science, education and culture. The Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija has been transferred to the administration of UNMIK since June 1999, Central Serbia The Central Serbia is the area that lies between the autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo and Metohija and it was known under that name until 2009. It was not a division, and it did not have any regional authority of its own. In 2009, the National Assembly of Serbia adopted the Law on Equal Territorial Development that formed 7 statistical regions in the territory of Serbia, the Law was amended on 7 April 2010, reducing the number of regions from seven to five. The previously formed region of Eastern Serbia was merged with Southern Serbia, districts are not defined by the Law on Territorial Organisation, but are organised under the Governments Enactment of 29 January 1992. Serbia is divided into 29 districts, while the city of Belgrade presents a district of its own, municipalities Serbia is divided into 147 municipalities and 27 cities, which form the basic units of local government. Each municipality has its own assembly, a president, public service property. Municipalities usually have more than 10,000 inhabitants, municipalities comprise local communities, which mostly correspond to settlements in the rural areas. Urban areas are divided into local communities. Their roles include communication of elected representatives with citizens, organization of citizen initiatives related with public service. They are presided over by councils, elected in semi-formal elections, the role of local communities is far more important in rural areas, due to proximity to municipal centers, many urban local communities are defunct. Cities Cities are another type of local self-government, territories with the status of city usually have more than 100,000 inhabitants, but are otherwise very similar to municipalities. There are 27 cities, each having an assembly and budget of its own, only cities have mayors, although the presidents of the municipalities are often referred to as mayors in everyday usage. The city may or may not be divided into city municipalities, five cities, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Požarevac and Vranje comprise several municipalities, divided into urban and suburban areas. Competences of cities and their municipalities are divided and this move is not recognized by Serbia, but is recognized by the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. According to the new subdivision, Kosovo is divided into 7 districts and 37 municipalities
6.
Southern and Eastern Serbia
–
The Southern and Eastern Serbia is one of five statistical regions of Serbia. It is also a statistical region according to the European Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. The region has a population of 1,563,916. In July 2009, the Serbian parliament adopted a law which divided Serbia into seven statistical regions, at first, it was decided that in the territory of current statistical region of Southern and Eastern Serbia there would be two statistical regions - Eastern Region and Southern Region. However, in May 2010, the law was changed, thus the Eastern and Southern region were merged into a statistical region named Southern and Eastern Serbia
7.
Districts of Serbia
–
The districts of Serbia, officially called administrative districts are the first level administrative subdivisions of the country. Districts are the units of Serbia, comprising several municipalities and cities each. They are defined by the Government of Serbias Enactment of 29 January 1992, Districts are regional centers of state authority and they do not have any form of self-government. They run affairs in the name of the Government, there are 29 districts in Serbia. The only part of Serbia that is not part of any district is the territory of the City of Belgrade which has a special status, every districts has its seat in the largest city of the district. The Slavic word okrug denotes administrative subdivision in some states and its etymology is similar to the German Kreis, circle, okrug is literally something encircling. In the subdivisions of Serbia, the term is translated as district, the territorial organisation of Serbia is regulated by the Law on Territorial Organization, adopted by the National Assembly on 29 December 2007. According to the Law, the organization of the republic comprises municipalities and cities, the City of Belgrade with special status. Districts are not mentioned in law but are defined by the Government of Serbias Enactment of 29 January 1992. They are defined as the districts as regional centers of state authority, Serbia is divided into 29 districts, plus the City of Belgrade. The City of Belgrade is not part of any district, but has a status very similar to that of a district. Serbian laws treat Kosovo and Metohija as integral part of Serbia, the Enactment defines five districts on the territory of Kosovo. But, since 1999, following the Kosovo War Kosovo is under United Nations administration of UNMIK, in 2000, the UNMIK administration changed territorial organisation on the territory of Kosovo. All five districts were abolished, and seven new districts were created, Serbian government does not recognize this move, and accepts only five pre-2000 districts. Five of Serbian Districts are on the territory of Kosovo, comprising 28 municipalities and 1 city, in 2000, UNMIK created 7 new districts and 30 municipalities. Serbia does not exercise sovereignty over this polity, for the UNMIK districts and the districts of Kosovo, see Districts of Kosovo. Because the Serbian government has no control over Kosovo since it declared independence, for current demographic information about Kosovo, see Kosovos 2011 census. Administrative divisions of Serbia Municipalities and cities of Serbia Cities and towns of Serbia Cities, towns and villages of Vojvodina Populated places of Serbia ISO 3166-2, RS Notes References
Serbia
