Subotica (Municipality, Serbia and Montenegro [Serbia])

Last modified: 2023-07-03 by
Keywords: subotica | szabadka |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors

• History of Subotica
• Flag of Subotica (Szabadka) in Austro-Hungarian Empire

See also:

• Serbia and Montenegro
• Serbia
• Vojvodina
• Austro-Hungarian Empire

History of Subotica

Subotica (Hungarian, Szabadka ; German, Maria-Theresianstadt ) is a town and district in Vojvodina, close to the Hungarian border. The town has got 100,219 inhabitants (1990 census).

• 1241-1242: Foundation of the sttlement by King Bela IV after Mongol invasion.
• 1391: First mention of the city, as Zabotka, part of the Bodrog county in the Kingdom of Hungary.
• 1527-1542: After the battle of Mohács, ruled by Nenad Cernoević's peasant army.
• 1543-1686: Part of the Ottoman Empire, in the Buda vilayet.
• 1699: Reallocated to Hungary by the treaty of Karlowatz.
• 1743: Free Town, as Szent-Maria.
• 1779: Free Royal City. as Maria-Theresiopolis.
• 1845. Officially renamed Szabadka.
• 1848-1861: After the defeat of the Hungarian Independence War (1848-1849), allocated to a new province (Governorate of Temes and Serbian Vojvodina).

The 1910 population census yielded 94,610 inhabitants, divided as follows:

• Census by mother language:
  • Hungarian: 55,587 (58.8%)
  • Bunjevat*: 33,247 (35.1%)
  • Serbian: 3,514 (3.7%)
  • German: 1,913 (2.0%)
  • Others: 100 (0.4%)
• Census by religion:
  • Roman Catholic: 85,445 (90.3%)
  • Jewish: 3,539 (3.8%)
  • Greek Orthodox: 3,486 (3.7%)
  • Calvinist: 1.420 (1.5%)
  • Others: 720 (0.8%)

In 1918, the city was under Serbian occupation. From 1920 (Treaty of Trianon) to 1941, the city was incorporated to Yugoslavia. In 1941-1944, the area was occupied and annexed by Hungary. The treaty of Paris reallocated it to Yugoslavia in 1947.

Subotica is the birthplace of the Hungarian writer, poet and journalist Dezsö Kosztolányi (1885-1936).

István Molnár, 10 December 2000

*Bunjevat is the name used by Croats living in Vojvodina for designate themselves (plural form is Bunjevtsi). In various times the separate name of this community was used by others to promote their difference from Croat nation, and probably there are some circles among them who would follow some similar way. As far as I am aware, the definition of the Bunjevtsi as Croats is widely accepted today.

Željko Heimer, 12 December 2000

Flag of Subotica (Szabadka) in Austro-Hungarian Empire

by István Molnár

Source: Sándor Széll. Városaink neve, címere és lobogója [szs41].

István Molnár, 24 September 2002