Slavonski Brod - History

History

A favorable geographical location, pleasant continental climate, fertile soil and vicinity of the river Sava have all resulted with the city being inhabited since a prehistoric age. The city was given the name "Brod", historically first signifying the place where the river could be crossed, and only later the actual vessel to cross the river with.

The northeastern part of the city, at Galovo, recently revealed a rich deposit of the Starčevo culture, dating in the Early Stone Age. Besides the fact that this is the largest architectural finding in Northern Croatia, it confirms that the locality of Brod has been inhabited for at least 8,000 years.

The first historical settlement in Brod dates from Roman times, the settlement being known as Marsonia.It is still disputed whether Marsonia was a postal station, lodging for the night or an actual settlement.

The famous Peutinger map refers to Marsonia as Marsonie, while the work "Notitia dignitatum" has Marsonia under the name of "Auxilia Ascaria Tauruno sive Marsonia". The issue of Marsonia becoming a city has been tackled by the publishers of Ptolemy's geography, dating from the 16th century. The first geographer who located the position of Marsonia at the locality of Brod was Abraham Ortelius, who, in his atlas Theatrum orbis terrarum (Antwerpen 1590) published a map, the objective of which was to reconstruct and connect the antic names of Panonian and Illyric settlements with the towns of that time. It was he who placed Marsonia at the today's locality of Brod.

The aforementioned Peutinger's table clearly shows that Marsonia initially existed next to the Sava river, at the place where the Roman road crossed the river. The first Croatian expert, claiming that the Roman MARSVNNIA was located where Brod is now is Matija Petar Katancic, giving this assertion additional support.

The Slavs inhabited the city in the 6th century. The name of the town is mentioned for the first time in Be'la IV of Hungary's charter, dated 1224. The Middle Ages and Modern Era saw the city being an important fortress in the Military Frontier. The Ottoman Empire's influence remains dominant until the territorial gains by Austria-Hungary. Next to its defending role, the city saw development of crafts and trade. The education and culture were strongly dominated by the Franciscans. The 20th century was a period of strong economic growth of the city, with the 1920s being called "the Golden Age of Brod". The city's current name dates from 1934 when it was changed from Brod na Savi.

From 1941 to 1945 the city was part of the Independent State of Croatia. The town was heavily bombed by the Allies in 1944 and 1945. The bombing resulted in damage to 80% of the buildings in Slavonski Brod. The bombing resulted in 897 civilian deaths, 244 military deaths, 208 wounded civilians, and 28 military wounded in Slavonski Brod and Bosanski Brod. In the communist Yugoslav era, the list of victims was manipulated, with only 11 people being declared as dying from aerial bombing in the 1964 census.

In 1990, democratic reforms legalized the forming of political parties, other than the League of Communists of Croatia. In Slavonski Brod, the first parties formed were the Croatian Democratic Union and the Croatian Democratic Party.