Serbs in Vojvodina
The Serbs of Vojvodina are the largest ethnic group in this northern province of Serbia. For centuries, Vojvodina was ruled by several European powers, but Vojvodina Serbs never assimilated into cultures of those countries. Thus, they have consistently been a recognized indigenous ethnic minority with its own culture, language and religion. According to the 2022 census, there were 1,190,785 Serbs in Vojvodina or 68.43% of the population of the province. History Early medieval period Before the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC, Celtic tribes inhabited the territory of present-day Vojvodina region. During the Roman rule, the original inhabitants were heavily Romanized. The Slavs (Severans, Abodrites, Braničevci and Timočani) settled today's Vojvodina during the early medieval migrations. Until the 13th century, the region had a dominant West Slavic and Hungarian population. In the 9th century the region of present-day Vojvodina was ruled by the two local Bulgaro-Slavic dukes (Voivodes). Their names were Salan and Glad. Salan ruled the territory of Bačka, and his capital city was Titel, while Glad ruled the territory of Banat. The descendant of Glad was Ahtum, another local duke of Banat, the last ruler who opposed to the establishment of the Kingdom of Hungary in the 11th century. The important local Bulgaro-Slavic duke was also Sermon, a vassal of the Bulgarian emperor Samuil, who ruled over Srem in the 11th century. Hungarian rule Parts of Vojvodina were conquered by the Kingdom of Hungary between the 10th and 12th centuries. This was followed by the destruction of the local Slavic tribal organization and introduction of the county system of rule. The first known prefect of the Bač county (in the region of Bačka) was recorded in 1074 and his name was Vid, which is a Slavic name by origin. During the rule of the Hungarian king Coloman (1095–1116), the local Serb nobles in Bačka were Uroš, Vukan and Pavle. A record from 1309 speak about "Schismatics" (Eastern Orthodox Christians), who lived in Bačka. Arsenije I Bogdanović from Srem, the second Serb archbishop (1233–1263) after Saint Sava, was born in Srem, in the village Dabar near Slankamen. After the creation of an autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church in 1219 and negotiations between Archbishop Sava and the Hungarian crown, the Eastern Orthodox Slavic population north of the Danube was subjected under its jurisdiction. From 1282 to 1316 Serbian King Stefan Dragutin Nemanjić reigned several lands as a "King of Syrmia". The center of his realm was in "Lower Syrmia" (modern Mačva), while he also possibly ruled "Upper Syrmia" (i.e. Syrmian part of Vojvodina). Stefan Dragutin died in 1316, and was succeeded by his son Vladislav (1316–1325), who was a vassal of the Hungarian King. An increasing number of Serbs began settling in the Vojvodina region from the 14th century onward. By 1483, according to a Hungarian source, as much as half of the population of the Vojvodina territory of the Kingdom of Hungary at the time consisted of Serbs. The Hungarian kings encouraged the immigration of Serbs to the Kingdom,