Aleksinac

Aleksinac Алексинац (Serbian)
Town and municipality
Church of St Nicholas, Aleksinac
Car plates		AL
Website	www.aleksinac.org

Aleksinac (Serbian Cyrillic: Алексинац) is a town and municipality located in the Nišava District of southern Serbia. According to 2022 census, the municipality has a population of 43,258 inhabitants.

History

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Prehistory and Antiquity

The territory of the municipality of Aleksinac has been inhabited since the neolithic age. Most of the settlements in the area belong to the Vinča cultural group, and are located on the western side of the South Morava river.

After the fall to the

) along the road on the territory of Aleksinac: Praesidium Pompei and Rappiana.

Their location is still unknown, although there are few candidates for this position. Also few fortresses (Castell) are known to existed in this period, but their names are not known, except for the Castell Milareca on Gradiste hill (228 m).

Middle Ages

From the year 476 this territory was under

rule. There are evidences of settlements from this time, however their names still remain unknown.

During the reigns of emperors

thus passing through the territory of Aleksinac municipality.

During the reign of the

, date from this period.

Ottoman rule

Aleksinac is first mentioned in 1516 in "Kruševački Tefter", a list of towns and its residents were made by Turks to keep an eye on taxes, as the village belonging to Bovan province and Kruševac sanjak. It remained village up to the end of the 16th century when it was developed into town settlement.

In the middle of the 17th century, Aleksinac was town with more than 100 shops in it, and because of its strategic location on the road to

in 1616.

The development of Aleksinac was stopped during the so-called

Budim

. Aleksinac was destroyed again by fire during the .

After the third Austro-Turkish War (1737–1739) Aleksinac developed into significant trade and handcraft center. Many caravans passed through it exchanging wares from entire Ottoman Empire and central Europe. At the same time it became center of Aleksinac county which in 1784 consisted of 17 villages. There were 160 houses in Aleksinac at that time, 120 of them Christian and 40 Turkish.

After the fourth

.

Modern times

Aleksinac and its surrounding area joined the First Serbian Uprising in January 1806. This included villages on the right bank of the South Morava river which were liberated by the army of Petar Dobrnjac.

The settlements on the left bank were liberated by Mladen Milovanović and Stanoje Glavaš. As soon as the town was liberated, Captain Vuča Žikić built the famous Deligrad trenches on the north side of Aleksinac which earned fame in battles with the Turks, especially in 1806.

After the fall on the First Serbian Uprising, Aleksinac remained under Turkish rule up to December 1832 when it became integral part of

Serbia. During his first reign Aleksinac became the economic centre of the south-east Serbia with numerous trade and handicrafts shops and it developed into important government centre.

It became a centre of county and county court. The third post office in Serbia (after Belgrade and Kragujevac) was opened in Aleksinac for both Serbian and Austrian post as well as the place where English courier sent and received the post from Turkey. At that time Customs office and quarantine station were built in Aleksinac.

Aleksinac was also the site of major battles with

.

Aleksinac was seriously damaged during the

NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999

.

Settlements

Aside from the town of Aleksinac, the municipality includes the following settlements:

Demographics

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1948	61,002	—
1953	64,344	+1.07%
1961	67,200	+0.54%
1971	66,082	−0.17%
1981	67,286	+0.18%
1991	63,844	−0.52%
2002	57,749	−0.91%
2011	51,863	−1.19%
Source: [3]

According to the last official census done in 2011, the municipality of Aleksinac has 51,863 inhabitants.^[4]

Ethnic groups

The ethnic composition of the municipality:^[4]

Ethnic group	Population	%
Serbs	47,563	91.71%
Roma	1,937	3.73%
Macedonians	98	0.19%
Montenegrins	68	0.13%
Croats	50	0.10%
Yugoslavs	49	0.09%
Bulgarians	45	0.09%
Muslims	37	0.07%
Slovenians	30	0.06%
Vlachs	21	0.04%
Romanians	20	0.04%
Albanians	18	0.03%
Hungarians	16	0.03%
Russians	15	0.03%
Gorani	13	0.03%
Others	1,883	3.63%
Total	51,863

Economy

The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):^[5]

Activity	Total
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	111
Mining and quarrying	327
Manufacturing	3,026
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply	30
Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities	274
Construction	205
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	1,191
Transportation and storage	271
Accommodation and food services	289
Information and communication	62
Financial and insurance activities	82
Real estate activities	3
Professional, scientific and technical activities	214
Administrative and support service activities	71
Public administration and defense; compulsory social security	457
Education	838
Human health and social work activities	985
Arts, entertainment and recreation	86
Other service activities	139
Individual agricultural workers	819
Total	9,482

Tourism

Lake Bovan, situated 15 km from Aleksinac centre, is a place popular for tourists. The medieval monastery from the 15th century built by Despot Stefan Lazarević, St. Stefan in Lipovac, is 25 km from the city. The monastery is built beneath the slopes of Mt. Ozren (1175 m). There is also remnants of two medieval towns in the mountains surrounding Aleksinac: Bovan and Lipovac, however they are not well preserved.

• 
  Bovan lake
• 
  Ozren

  mountain
• 
• 
  European highway E75
• 
  Mali Jastrebac
• 
  Aleksinac
• 
  Aleksinac valley
• 
  Vukanja

Notable people

• Kosta Taušanović (1854–1902), one of the founders of Serbian Radical Party, minister of police and minister of commerce, founder of first insurance company in Serbia.
• theologian, historian and rector of Theologian University in Belgrade
  .
• Mihailo Gavrilović (1868–1924) prominent Serbian historian and diplomat.
• Dragutin Jovanović-Lune (1892–1932), Serbian guerrilla fighter, officer, politician, delegate and mayor of Vrnjci. He was awarded several times for his service in the Balkan Wars and World War I.
• Dejan Stojanovic
  Serbian musician, prominent guitar player.

Trivia

• The patron saint of Aleksinac is
  St. Mark
  .
• Aleksinac was the first Serbian town to get a post office, on May 25, 1840. The second was opened in Belgrade and the third in Kragujevac.
• Aleksinac is the home of the Native Indians Society of Serbia.

Twin towns – sister cities

Aleksinac is twinned with:^[6]

• Aiani, Greece
• Hisarya, Bulgaria
• Laurium
  , Greece
• Probištip, North Macedonia
• Zagorje ob Savi, Slovenia

References and further reading

External links

• Official website