Ovca
Encyclopedia
| Овча Ovča |
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| Country Country A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously... : |
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| Subdivision Administrative division An administrative division, subnational entity, or country subdivision is a portion of a country or other political division, established for the purpose of government. Administrative divisions are each granted a certain degree of autonomy, and are required to manage themselves through their own... : |
City of Belgrade Belgrade Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe... , Palilula municipality |
| Population Population A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals... : |
2,567 (2002) |
| Area code: | 011 |
| Postal code Postal code A postal code is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail. Once postal codes were introduced, other applications became possible.In February 2005, 117 of the 190 member countries of the Universal Postal Union had postal code systems... : |
11212 |
| License plates: | BG |
Ovča (Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
Cyrillic: Овча, ɔ̂ːv̞t͡ʃa) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, the capital 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 located in the Belgrade's municipality of Palilula.
Location
Ovča is located in the northern, BanatBanat
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...
section of the Palilula municipality (Pančevački Rit
Pancevacki Rit
Pančevački Rit is a small geographical area in south-western Banat, Serbia. It is situated between the rivers Danube and Tamiš, in the Belgrade's municipality of Palilula.-Features:...
), 13 kilometers north of downtown Belgrade. The settlement is located 6 kilometers to the east of the settlement of Padinska Skela and the Zrenjaninski put road which connects Belgrade with the town of 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...
, in Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
.
History
First recorded mention of the village of Ovči is from 1456, as part of the SyrmiaSyrmia (former county)
Syrmia County was a historic administrative subdivision of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary. Croatia-Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen , the Hungarian part of the dual Austro-Hungarian Empire...
county of the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
. The name have a Slavic origin. As some of the first settlers were Vlach
Vlachs
Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs...
(Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
) shepherds, it is believed that this gave name to the settlement (Serbian word ovčar means "shepherd" in English). The village was captured by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in 1537, and was included into the Sanjak of Smederevo
Sanjak of Smederevo
The Sanjak of Smederevo , also known as the Pashaluk of Belgrade , was an Ottoman administrative unit , that existed between the 15th and the outset of the 19th centuries...
. It was granted a waqf
Waqf
A waqf also spelled wakf formally known as wakf-alal-aulad is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. The donated assets are held by a charitable trust...
status by the sanjak-bey
Sanjak-bey
Sanjak-bey, Sanjaq-bey or -beg was the Turkish title of the Bey in military and administrative command of a sanjak , answerable to a Wāli or other provincial governor. In a few cases the Sanjak-Bey was himself a governor directly answering to Istanbul....
Mehmet-pasha, for the mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
and imaret
Imaret
An imaret is one of a few names used to identify the Ottoman soup kitchens built throughout the Ottoman Empire from the 14th into the 19th century. These public kitchens were often part of a larger complex known as a Waqf, which could include hospices, mosques, caravanserais and colleges...
(public kitchen) of Belgrade's Dorćol
Dorcol
Dorćol is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Stari Grad.- Location :Dorćol begins already some 700 meters north of Terazije, the central square of Belgrade...
district.
In the mid 18th century the village was evacuated because of the plague outbreak and Ovča sentry outpost was built instead. Turned into a wasteland, the village was repopulated in 1813.
Ovča was part of the municipality of Borča until May 30, 1952 when it got its own municipality. However in 1955 all the municipalities in Pančevački Rit were merged into one, municipality of Krnjača
Krnjaca
Krnjača is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Palilula.- Location and population :...
which in turn became part of the municipality of Palilula in 1965. A movement for restoring former municipality of Krnjača (under the name of Dunavski Venac
Dunavski Venac
Dunavski Venac is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Palilula, geographically located in Banat.- Location & neighborhood :...
) is gaining momentum since the early 2000s.
Population
Population is generally stagnating. The apparent decline of population by almost one quarter in the 1970s is a result of change of the administrative borders of the settlements as many outer farms and smaller sub-settlements were grouped in Padinska Skela, which in turn grew by this administrative measures by over 400% (in 1971 it had less inhabitants than Ovča by one third, in 1981 it outnumbered it four times).Population of Ovča:
- 1921: 1,469
- 1932: 1.452 (1.400 RomaniansRomanians of SerbiaRomanians are a recognised national minority in Serbia. The total number of declared Romanians in the 2002 Serbian census was 34,576, while 40,054 people declared themselves Vlachs; there are differing views among some of the Vlachs over they should be regarded as Romanians or as members of a...
, 23 SerbsSerbsThe 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...
, 20 GermansGermansThe Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
, 7 Slovaks and 2 Hungarians) - 1971: 3,383
- 1981: 2,530
- 1991: 2,306
- 2002: 2,567
Ethnic structure (Census 2002): Serbs (63.96% or 1,642), Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
(27.46%), Roma (1.36%), Yugoslavs
Yugoslavs
Yugoslavs is a national designation used by a minority of South Slavs across the countries of the former Yugoslavia and in the diaspora...
(0.85%), Macedonians
Macedonians (ethnic group)
The Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs: "... the term Slavomacedonian was introduced and was accepted by the community itself, which at the time had a much more widespread non-Greek Macedonian ethnic consciousness...
(0.62%), etc.
Economy
Despite being classified as an urban settlement, the majority of economic activity in Ovča is still agricultural. Prominent features are the large bowl natural gasNatural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
tanks which dominate the flat landscape and hydrothermal spring of Ovčanska banja (Ovča spa
Destination spa
A destination spa is a short term residential/lodging facility with the primary purpose of providing individual services for spa-goers to develop healthy habits. Historically many such spas were developed at the location of natural hot springs or sources of mineral waters...
). The spa is not arranged for public usage but is very popular among the local population. A pond with an area of 150 square meters and one meter deep has been filled by the natural salt water since the mid 1980s. Ovča is also accessible by train as it lies on the Belgrade-Pančevo
Pancevo
Pančevo is a city and municipality located in the southern part of Serbian province of Vojvodina, 15 km northeast from Belgrade. In 2002, the city had a total population of 77,087, while municipality of Pančevo had 127,162 inhabitants. It is the administrative center of the South Banat...
railroad.