Subotica

In the Neolithic and Eneolithic periods, several important archaeological cultures flourished in this area, including the Starčevo culture,[8] the Vinča culture,[9] and the Tiszapolgár culture.[10] Early Indo-European peoples settled in the territory of present-day Subotica in 3200 BC.[11] During the Eneolithic period, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, several Indo-European archaeological cultures included areas around Subotica - the Baden culture, the Vučedol culture,[12] the Urnfield culture[13] and some others. Before the Iazyge conquest in the 1st century BC, Indo-European peoples of Illyrian, Celtic and Dacian descent inhabited this area. In the 3rd century BC, this area was controlled by the Celtic Boii and Eravisci, while in the 1st century BC, it became part of the Dacian kingdom. From the 1st century BC, the area came under the control of the Sarmatian Iazyges, who were sometimes allies and sometimes enemies of the Romans. Iazyge rule lasted until the 4th century AD, after which the region came into the possession of various other peoples and states.[14]

In the Early Middle Ages various Indo-European and Turkic peoples and states ruled in the area of Subotica. These peoples included Huns, Gepids, Avars, Slavs and Bulgarians. Slavs settled today's Subotica in the 6th and 7th centuries, before some of them crossed the rivers Sava and Danube and settled in the Balkans.

The Slavic tribe living in the territory of present-day Subotica were the Obotrites, a subgroup of the Serbs. In the 9th century, after the fall of the Avar state, the first forms of Slavic statehood emerged in this area. The first Slavic states that ruled over this region included the Principality of Lower Pannonia (846-875), Great Moravia (833–c. 907) and the Bulgarian Empire.[15]

Emperor Jovan Nenad monument in the downtown

Subotica probably first became a settlement of note when people poured into it from nearby villages destroyed during the Tatar invasions of 1241–42. When Zabadka/Zabatka was first recorded in 1391, it was a tiny town in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. Later, the city belonged to the Hunyadis, one of the most influential aristocratic families in the whole of Central Europe.

King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary gave the town to one of his relatives, János Pongrác Dengelegi, who, fearing an invasion by the Ottoman Empire, fortified the castle of Subotica, erecting a fortress in 1470. Some decades later, after the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Subotica became part of the Ottoman Empire. The majority of the Hungarian population fled northward to Royal Hungary.[16] Bálint Török, a local noble who had ruled over Subotica, also escaped from the city. During the military and political havoc following the defeat at Mohács, Subotica came under the control of Serbian mercenaries recruited in Banat. These soldiers were in the service of the Transylvanian general John I Zápolya, a later Hungarian king.[17]

The leader of these mercenaries, Jovan Nenad, established in 1526–27 his rule in Bačka, northern Banat and a small part of Syrmia and created an independent entity, with Subotica as its administrative centre. At the peak of his power, Jovan Nenad proclaimed himself as Serbian tsar in Subotica. He named Radoslav Čelnik as the general commander of his army, while his treasurer and palatine was Subota Vrlić, a Serbian noble from Jagodina. When Bálint Török returned and recaptured Subotica from the Serbs, Jovan Nenad moved the administrative centre to Szeged.[18]

Some months later, in the summer of 1527, Jovan Nenad was assassinated and his entity collapsed. However, after Jovan Nenad's death, Radoslav Čelnik led a part of the army to Ottoman Syrmia, where he briefly ruled as an Ottoman vassal.

The Ottoman Empire ruled the city from 1542 to 1686. At the end of this almost 150-year-long period, not much remained of the old town of Zabadka/Zabatka. As much of the population had fled, the Ottomans encouraged the settlement of the area by different colonists from the Balkans. The settlers were mostly Orthodox Serbs. They cultivated the extremely fertile land around Subotica. In 1570, the population of Subotica numbered 49 houses, and in 1590, 63 houses. In 1687, the region was settled by Catholic Dalmatas (called Bunjevci today). It was called Sobotka under Ottoman rule and was a kaza centre in Segedin sanjak at first in Budin Eyaleti until 1596, and after that in Eğri Eyaleti between 1596 and 1686.[21]

Serbian postcard of Subotica with a picture of National Theatre (early 20th century)

In 1687, about 5,000 Bunjevci settled in Bačka (including Subotica). After the decisive battle against the Ottomans at Senta led by Prince Eugene of Savoy on 11 September 1697, Subotica became part of the military border zone Theiss-Mieresch established by the Habsburg monarchy. In the meantime the uprising of Francis II Rákóczi broke out, which is also known as the Kuruc War.

In the region of Subotica, Rákóczi joined battle against the Rac National Militia. Rác was a designation for the South Slavic people (mostly Serbs and Bunjevci) and they often were referred to as rácok in the Kingdom of Hungary. In a later period rácok came to mean, above all, Serbs of Orthodox religion.[22]

The Serbian military families enjoyed several privileges thanks to their service for the Habsburg Monarchy. Subotica gradually, however, developed from being a mere garrison town to becoming a market town with its own civil charter in 1743. When this happened, many Serbs complained about the loss of their privileges. The majority left the town in protest and some of them founded a new settlement just outside 18th century Subotica in Aleksandrovo, while others emigrated to Russia. In New Serbia, a new Russian province established for them, those Serbs founded a new settlement and also named it Subotica. In 1775, a Jewish community in Subotica was established.

It was perhaps to emphasise the new civic serenity of Subotica that the pious name Saint Mary came to be used for it at this time. Some decades later, in 1779, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria advanced the town's status further by proclaiming it a Free Royal Town. The enthusiastic inhabitants of the city renamed Subotica once more as Maria-Theresiopolis.[23]

This Free Royal Town status gave a great impetus to the development of the city. During the 19th century, its population doubled twice, attracting many people from all over the Habsburg monarchy. This led eventually to a considerable demographic change. In the first half of the 19th century, the Bunjevci had still been in the majority, but there was an increasing number of Hungarians and Jews settling in Subotica. This process was not stopped even by the outbreak of the Revolutions in the Habsburg monarchy (1848–49).

Subotica (Szabadka) in 1914 Hungarian postcard

During the 1848-49 revolution, the proclaimed borders of autonomous Serbian Vojvodina included Subotica, but Serb troops could not establish control in the region. On 5 March 1849, at the locality named Kaponja (between Tavankut and Bajmok), there was a battle between the Serb and Hungarian armies, which was won by the Hungarians.

The first newspaper in the town was also published during the 1848/49 revolution—it was called Honunk állapota ("State of Our Homeland") and was published in Hungarian by Károly Bitterman's local printing company. Unlike most Serbs and Croats who confronted the Hungarians, part of the local Bunjevci people supported the Hungarian revolution.

In 1849, after the Hungarian revolution of 1848 was defeated by the Russian and Habsburg armies, the town was separated from the Kingdom of Hungary together with most of the Bačka region, and became part of a separate Habsburg province, called Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar. The administrative centre of this new province was Timișoara. The province existed until 1860. During the existence of the voivodeship, in 1853, Subotica acquired its impressive theatre.[24]

After the establishment of the Dual-Monarchy in 1867, there followed what is often called the "golden age" of city development of Subotica. Many schools were opened after 1867 and in 1869 the railway connected the city to the world. In 1896 an electrical power plant was built, further enhancing the development of the city and the whole region. Subotica now adorned itself with its remarkable Central European, fin de siècle architecture. In 1902 a Jewish synagogue was built in the Art Nouveau style.

Between 1849 and 1860 it was part of the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar.[25]

Hungarian occupation troops massacred Serbian and Jewish civilians during the occupation (1941–1944)

Subotica had been part of Austria-Hungary until the end of World War I. In 1918, the city became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. As a result, Subotica became a border-town in Yugoslavia and did not, for a time, experience again the same dynamic prosperity it had enjoyed prior to World War I. However, during that time, Subotica was the third-largest city in Yugoslavia by population, following Belgrade and Zagreb.

In 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded and partitioned by the Axis Powers, and its northern parts, including Subotica, were annexed by Hungary. The annexation was not considered legitimate by the international community and the city was de jure still part of Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav government in exile received formal recognition of legitimacy as the representative of the country. On 11 April 1941, the Hungarian troops arrived in Subotica on the grounds that the majority of the people living in the city were ethnic Hungarians, which had been part of the Kingdom of Hungary for over 600 years. During World War II, the city lost approximately 7,000 of its citizens, mostly Serbs, Hungarians and Jews. Before the war about 6,000 Jews had lived in Subotica; many of these were deported from the city during the Holocaust, mostly to Auschwitz. In April 1944, under German administration, a ghetto was set up.[26] In addition, many communists were executed during Axis rule. In 1944, the Axis forces left the city, and Subotica became part of the new Yugoslavia. During the 1944–45 period, about 8,000 citizens (mainly Hungarians) were killed by Partisans while re-taking the city as a retribution for supporting Axis Hungary.[27][28]

In the post-war period, Subotica has gradually been modernised. During the Yugoslav and Kosovo wars of the 1990s, a considerable number of Serb refugees came to the city from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, while many ethnic Hungarians and Croats, as well as some local Serbs, left the region.

The following are the neighborhoods of Subotica:

• Aleksandrovo (Hungarian: Sándor)
• Bajnat (Bajnát)
• Centar (Központ)
• Dudova Šuma (Radijalac) (Sétaerdő)
• Gat (Gát)
• Graničar (Határőr)
• Ker (Kér)
• Kertvaroš (Kertváros)
• Makova Sedmica (Makkhetes)
• Mali Bajmok (Kisbajmok)
• Mali Radanovac (Kisradanovác)
• Novi Grad (Újváros)
• Novo Naselje (Újtelep)
• Prozivka (Prozivka)
• Srpski Šor (Szerb sor)
• Teslino Naselje
• Veliki Radanovac (Nagyradanovác)
• Zorka (Zorka)
• Željezničko Naselje (Vasutastelep)

Subotica

Kelebija

Palić

Mala Bosna

Ljutovo

Hajdukovo

Bački Vinogradi

Šupljak

Bikovo

Donji Tavankut

Gornji Tavankut

Mišićevo

Bajmok

Đurđin

Stari Žednik

Novi Žednik

Višnjevac

Čantavir

Bačko Dušanovo

Municipality of
Subotica
●

The administrative area of Subotica comprises Subotica proper, the town of Palić (Hungarian: Palics) and 17 villages. The villages are:

• Bački Vinogradi (Bácsszőlős)
• Bačko Dušanovo (Zentaörs)
• Bajmok (Bajmok)
• Bikovo (Békova)
• Čantavir (Csantavér)
• Donji Tavankut (Alsótavankút)
• Đurđin (Györgyén)
• Gornji Tavankut (Felsőtavankút)
• Hajdukovo (Hajdújárás)
• Kelebija (Alsókelebia)
• Ljutovo (Mérges)
• Mala Bosna (Kisbosznia)
• Mišićevo (Hadikörs)
• Novi Žednik (Újnagyfény)
• Stari Žednik (Nagyfény)
• Šupljak (Ludas)
• Višnjevac (Meggyes)

Places with either an absolute or relative Hungarian ethnic majority are: Subotica (Hungarian: Szabadka), Palić (Hungarian: Palicsfürdő), Hajdukovo (Hungarian: Hajdújárás), Bački Vinogradi (Hungarian: Bácsszőlős), Šupljak (Hungarian: Alsóludas), Čantavir (Hungarian: Csantavér), Bačko Dušanovo (Hungarian: Zentaörs), and Kelebija (Hungarian: Alsókelebia). Places with an absolute or relative Serb ethnic majority are: Bajmok, Višnjevac, Novi Žednik, and Mišićevo. Places with a relative ethnic majority Croat are: Mala Bosna, Đurđin, Donji Tavankut, Gornji Tavankut, Bikovo, Stari Žednik. Ljutovo has a relative Bunjevac ethnic majority.

The ethnic composition of the municipality:[33]

Languages spoken in Subotica administrative area:[34]

• Serbian = 63,412 (44.80%)
• Hungarian = 50,621 (35.76%)
• Bunjevac = 6,313 (4.46%)
• Croatian = 5,758 (4.07%)
• Others

Serbian is the most employed language in daily life, but Hungarian is also used by over one third of the population in their daily conversations. Both languages are also widely employed in commercial and official signage [35]

Subotica Synagogue

Cathedral of Saint Teresa of Avila

Religion in the Subotica administrative area as of the 2011 census:[34]

• Roman Catholic = 81,532 (57.60%)
• Orthodox = 39,333 (27.79%)
• Muslim = 2,756 (1.95%)
• Protestant = 2,372 (1.68%)
• Judaism = 89 (0.001%)

Subotica is the centre of the Roman Catholic diocese of the Bačka region. The Subotica area has the highest concentration of Catholics in Serbia. 57% of the city's population are Catholic. There are eight Catholic parish churches, a Franciscan spiritual centre (the city has communities of both Franciscan friars and Franciscan nuns), a female Dominican community, and two congregations of Augustinian religious sisters. The diocese of Subotica has the only Catholic secondary school in Serbia (Paulinum).

When the nuns' orphanage and children's home in Blato, Korčula (present-day Croatia) had exhausted the food and funds needed for helping poor and hungry children, Marija Petković (later known as Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified Petković), went to Bačka, whose apostolic seat is Subotica, to solicit help for orphans and widows. Bishop Ljudevit Lajčo Budanović asked Petković to found monasteries of her Order in Subotica and neighbourhood, so the locals could benefit spiritually from the instruction of the nuns of her Order.[36] She learned that Bačka had many poor and abandoned children. In 1923, she opened Kolijevka, a children's home in Subotica. The home still exists but is no longer run by nuns.

Among other Christian communities, the members of the Serbian Orthodox Church are the most numerous. There are two Orthodox church buildings in the city. Orthodox Christians in Subotica belong to the Eparchy of Bačka of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Subotica has two Protestant churches as well, Lutheran and Calvinist. The Jewish community of Subotica is the third largest in Serbia, after those in Belgrade and Novi Sad. About 1000 (of the 6,000 pre-WWII Jews of Subotica) survived the Holocaust. According to the 2011 census, fewer than 90 Jews remained in Subotica as of 2011.[34]

• Teacher Training Faculty in the Hungarian Language of the University of Novi Sad

Tutoring of teachers in Subotica dates back to the late 18th century. After the establishment of Austria-Hungary, the second state-financed teacher training faculty of Hungary was founded in Subotica, second to Buda only. Modern history of teacher training in Subotica started in 2006, when the Sombor Teacher Training Faculty's curriculums in the Hungarian language seceded from the faculty and became independent as the 14th faculty of the University of Novi Sad.[41] As of 2022, the faculty offers bachelor's degrees in kindergarten teaching, elementary school teaching, disciplinatory teaching and communications, and master's degrees in kindergarten teaching and elementary school teaching.

• Polytechnic school, Surveying and Construction, Typography, Forestry and Wood Processing
• Teachers' College, founded in 1689, the oldest college in the country and region
• "Svetozar Marković" grammar school
• "Dezső Kosztolányi" Philological grammar school
• "MEŠC" Electro-mechanical school, recently renamed to "Tehnička Škola - Subotica" (en. "Technical School")
• "Bosa Milićević" School of Economics
• "Lazar Nešić" School of Chemistry
• "Medicinska Škola" Medical School

4 953 students studied in the city in the year 2020/21 in the secondary education. 1 626 students chose Hungarian speaking classes (32.8%), 209 students chose Croatian classes while 3 118 students studied in Serbian language.[42]

• Subotica Law School

Subotica is twinned with the following cities:

Subotica is a partner city with the following: