Historical Regions of Serbia

Historical Regions Of Serbia

The regions of Serbia include geographical and, to the lesser extent, traditional and historical areas. Geographical regions have no official status, though some of them are used as a basis for the second-level administrative divisions of Serbia, okrugs (Districts of Serbia). Not being administratively defined, the boundaries of the regions are in many cases vague, they overlap or are variously defined by different geographers and publications, not also in the sense of regions extension, but also whether they are separate geographical entities or parts of other super-regions, etc.

For the most part, regions correspond to the valleys or the watershed areas of rivers and were simply named after them (some even a millennium ago) while boundaries are often mountain ridges and peaks. In some cases, it may refer only to the inhabited parts of the valleys (see župa).

Valley and plains along the largest rivers are special cases. In Serbian language they are usually formed with the prefix po- (Sava – Posavina, Danube (Dunav) – Podunavlje, Tisa – Potisje, etc.). Considered geographical regions per se, they are usually being very elongated and covering large areas (Pomoravlje), sometimes spreading through several different countries (Posavina, Potisje, Podrinje, etc.). For the most part they overlap with other, smaller regions established during history along their course, in most case named after the tributaries of the main river (most notably, in the case of all three sections of Pomoravlje).

For the purpose of easier presentation in the tables, territory of Serbia is roughly divided into six geographical sections: northern, western, central, eastern, south-western and south. Thus, tables do not follow the political divisions, but the belonging of the regions to the provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo is noted. Since the NATO bombing of 1999 and Albanian declaration of independence in February 2008, regions in Kosovo are part of the disputed area.