Belo Blato is a village located in the Zrenjanin

Zrenjanin

Zrenjanin is a city and municipality located in the eastern part of Serbian province of Vojvodina. It is the administrative centre of the Central Banat District of Serbia...

 municipality, in the Central Banat District

Central Banat District

Central Banat District is a northeastern district of Serbia. It lies in the region of Banat, in the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It has a population of 208,456...

 of Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

. It is situated in the autonomous province of Vojvodina

Vojvodina

Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...

. The village is ethnically mixed and its population numbering 1,477 people (2002 census).

Ethnic groups (2002 census)

The population of the village include:

• 583 (39.47%) Slovaks
  Slovaks
  The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
  
  
• 488 (33.04%) Hungarians
• 128 (8.67%) Bulgarians
  Banat Bulgarians
  The Banat Bulgarians are a distinct Bulgarian minority group which settled in the 18th century in the region of the Banat, which was then ruled by the Habsburgs and after World War I was divided between Romania, Serbia, and Hungary...
  
  
• 118 (7.99%) Serbs
  Serbs
  The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
  
  
• others.

Slovaks and Hungarians in the village still speak their native languages and nestle their national cultures, while Bulgarians do not have school classes in their language, which is slowly disappearing.

History

Belo Blato was settled in 1883 by Slovak people from the village of Padina

Padina

-In Bulgaria:* Padina, Kardzhali Province* Padina, Silistra Province* Padina, Varna Province-In Romania:* Padina, Buzău, a commune in Buzău County* Padina, a village in Amărăşti Commune, Vâlcea County-In Serbia:...

 (in south Banat

Banat

The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...

), where Slovaks from Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

 settled several years earlier. They left their homes because Slovak people were very oppressed from the Hungarian reign. These Slovaks were poor but very active. After few years, they built in a new village the new Evangelical

Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

 church, house for priest, school for children, and mill. Soon after Slovaks, the Hungarian and Bulgarian settlers settled in Belo Blato as well. They came from neighbouring villages of Mužlja

Mužlja

Mužlja is a former ethnic Hungarian village, today a neighborhood of the Zrenjanin city in Serbia. It was joined with Zrenjanin in 1981.- Literature :...

 and Lukino Selo

Lukino Selo

Lukino Selo is a village located in the Zrenjanin municipality, in the Central Banat District of Serbia. It is situated in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina...

.