Petrovaradin

Petrovaradin (Serbian Cyrillic: Петроварадин, Pétervárad, ), is part of the agglomeration of Novi Sad in Serbia (population 13,917 in 2002). Lying across the river Danube from the main part of Novi Sad, it is built around the Petrovaradin Fortress, known as the "Gibraltar of the Danube".

Name
Petrovaradin was founded as Roman Cusum after the Romans conquered the region from the Celtic tribe of Scordisci, the Romans built the Cusum fortress where present Petrovaradin Fortress now stands. In addition, the town received its name from the Byzantines, who called it Petrikòn (Πετρικον) named after Saint Peter.

In documents from 1237, the town was first mentioned under the name Petrovaradin (Pétervárad). Petrovaradin was known under the name Pétervárad under Hungarian rule, Varadin (Petervaradin) under Ottoman rule, and Peterwardein under Habsburg rule.

Today, the town is known in Serbian as Петроварадин or Petrovaradin and in Hungarian as Pétervárad.

History
Human settlement in the territory of present-day Petrovaradin has been traced as far back as the Stone Age (about 4500 BC). This region was conquered by Celts (in the 4th century BC) and Romans (in the 1st century BC).

The Celts founded the first fortress at this location, and during the Roman rule, a larger fortress was built (in the 1st century) with the name Cusum and was included into Roman Pannonia. In the 5th century, Cusum was devastated by the invasion of the Huns.

By the end of the 5th century, Byzantines had reconstructed the town and called it by the names Cusum and Petrikon. The town was then conquered by Ostrogoths, Gepids, Avars, Franks, Bulgarians, and by Byzantines again.

The town was conquered by the Kingdom of Hungary (in the 12th century), by the Ottoman Empire (in 1526), and by the Habsburg Monarchy (in 1687).

During the Ottoman rule, Petrovaradin had 200 houses, and three mosques. There was also a Christian quarter with 35 houses populated with ethnic Serbs.

Petrovaradin was the site of a major battle on August 5, 1716 in which Prince Eugene of Savoy defeated the forces of the Ottomans. Eugène later defeated the Ottomans at Belgrade before the Turks sued for peace at Požarevac.

During the Habsburg rule, Petrovaradin was part of the Habsburg Military Frontier (Slavonia general command - Petrovaradin regiment). In 1848/1849, the town was part of Serbian Vojvodina, but in 1849, it was returned under the administration of the Military Frontier. With the abolishment of the Military Frontier in 1881, the town was included into Croatia-Slavonia, the autonomous kingdom within Austria-Hungary.

In 1918, the town became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. From 1918 to 1936, Yugoslav Royal Air Force was based in Petrovaradin. Between 1929 and 1941, the town was part of Danube Banovina, a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During World War 2 (1941–1944), the town was occupied by the Axis Powers and it was attached to the Independent State of Croatia. Since the end of the war, the town is part of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.

Geography
Petrovaradin is one of the two city municipalities of the City of Novi Sad City and it is located in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina. Approximately 25-30% of total area of City of Novi Sad (699 km²) is an area of Petrovaradin municipality, which is approximately 100–130 km²; of which approximately 30% is a part of urban area of Novi Sad. Much of land outside of urban area is part of National Park of Fruška Gora.

Petrovaradin municipality is located in the Syrmia region, on the Danube river and Fruška Gora, a horst mountain with elevation of 78–220 m (municipality up to 451 m). The northern part of Fruška Gora consists of massive landslide zones, but they are not active, except in Ribnjak neighborhood (between Sremska Kamenica and Petrovaradin fortress).

Politics
The town of Petrovaradin is the seat of Petrovaradin municipality. Since 2002, when the new statute of the City of Novi Sad came into effect, it has been divided into two urban municipalities, Petrovaradin and Novi Sad. Between 1980 and 1989, Petrovaradin also had municipality status within Novi Sad. From 1989 to 2002, Novi Sad's municipalities were abolished and territory of the former Petrovaradin municipality was part of Novi Sad municipality, which included the whole territory of the present-day City of Novi Sad.

City municipalities of Novi Sad were formally established in 2002, for the sole reason that Novi Sad could get a city status. In 2007, after the update of the law of local government, the requirement for multiple municipalities for city status was lifted (and 20 additional cities were proclaimed). However, the renewed 2008 city statute also foresaw formation of two separate municipalities, but as of 2009 none of them exist, and the city is ran only by the city administration. Today, Petrovaradin municipality does not have its own offices.

Settlements and neighborhoods
Municipality of Petrovaradin includes 5 settlements:
 * town of Petrovaradin
 * town of Sremska Kamenica
 * village of Bukovac
 * village of Ledinci
 * village of Stari Ledinci

Neighborhoods and parts of the Petrovaradin town are: Petrovaradin Fortress, Podgrađe Tvrđave (which is a fortified part of Petrovaradin and part of Petrovaradin Fortress complex), Stari Majur (which is part of Petrovaradin where offices of Petrovaradin municipality and local community are located), Novi Majur, Bukovački Plato (Bukovački Put), Sadovi, Široka Dolina, Širine, Vezirac, Trandžament, Ribnjak, Mišeluk, Alibegovac, Radna Zona Istok, Marija Snežna (Radna Zona Istok), and Petrovaradinska Ada (Ribarska Ada).

Demographics
At the begin of 19. century, Petrovaradin was by the percent of Croat the most croatian town, it has bigger percent of Croats then the Zagreba. In Petrovaradinu the 98% of inhibitors was Croats, and in Zagreb 92%.

Ethnic groups in the municipality
According to the 2002 census, the total population of the territory of present-day Petrovaradin municipality was 31,227, of whom 24,026 (76.94%) were ethnic Serbs. All settlements in the municipality have an ethnic Serb majority.

Ethnic groups in the town
During the Ottoman rule, Petrovaradin was mostly populated by Muslims, while some Serbs lived there as well in the Christian quarter. During the Habsburg rule and in the first half of the 20th century, the largest ethnic group in the Petrovaradin town were ethnic Croats. Today, there are a couple of Croat-inhabited neighborhoods in Petrovaradin, like Stari Majur and Podgrađe Tvrđave.

Historical population of the town
In 1961 Petrovaradin had 8,408 inhabitants; in 1971 10,477; in 1981 10,338; in 1991 11,285; and in 2002 13,973. By city's registry estimation, from mid-2005, Petrovaradin town had 15,266 inhabitants.

Culture
EXIT (also known as State of EXIT) is an annual summer music festival in Petrovaradin fortress. It is staged annually since 2000 and usually lasts for 4 days.

Notable people

 * Josip Jelačić - Croatian ban and army general