Bregovina Explained

Official Name:Bregovina
Settlement Type:Village
Pushpin Map:Serbia
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name: Serbia
Subdivision Type1:District
Subdivision Name1:Toplica District
Subdivision Type2:Municipality
Subdivision Name2:Prokuplje
Unit Pref:Imperial
Population As Of:2002
Population Total:70
Timezone:CET
Utc Offset:+1
Timezone Dst:CEST
Utc Offset Dst:+2
Coordinates:43.0819°N 21.5681°W

Bregovina (Serbian Cyrillic:Бреговина) is a village in the municipality of Prokuplje, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 70 people.[1]

History

The Drengrad archaeological site located in the village, which includes the ruins of a 6th-century fort, is part of the Cultural Heritage of Serbia list, inscribed in 1982–83.[2]

Toponyms such as Arbanaška and Đjake show an historic Albanian presence in the Toplica and Southern Morava regions that dates to the pre-medieval era.[3] In the 19th century, the Toplica region had an Albanian majority,[4] as did the town of Prokuplje and the village of Bregovina. The village of Bregovina was completely ethnically Albanian, and the Albanians of the village spoke in the Gheg dialect of Albanian; they were also Muslims.

During the 1877–1878 period, these Albanians from Bregovina were expelled by Serbian forces[5] in a way that today would be characterized as ethnic cleansing.[6] It is estimated that around 11,437 Albanians left their homes in 119 villages in the Prokuplje district with the arrival of the Serbian army, including the village of Bregovina.[7] The Albanian migrants from this region became known as Muhaxhirs and they mostly migrated to what is today modern Kosovo, which was back then the Vilayet of Kosovo of the Ottoman Empire.

Sources

43.0819°N 21.5681°W

Notes and References

  1. Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i Stanova 2002. Knjiga 1: Nacionalna ili etnička pripadnost po naseljima. Republika Srbija, Republički zavod za statistiku Beograd 2003.
  2. Web site: Споменици културе у Србији.
  3. Geniş . Şerife . Maynard . Kelly Lynne . July 2009 . Formation of a Diasporic Community: The History of Migration and Resettlement of Muslim Albanians in the Black Sea Region of Turkey . Middle Eastern Studies . en . 45 . 4 . 553–569 . 10.1080/00263200903009619 . 0026-3206.
  4. Book: Bataković, Dušan T. . Kosovo and Metohija: Living in the Enclave . 2007 . Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute for Balkan Studies . 35 . 978-86-7179-052-9 . en.
  5. Book: Blumi, Isa . Ottoman Refugees, 1878-1939: Migration in a Post-Imperial World . 2013-09-12 . A&C Black . 978-1-4725-1538-4 . en.
  6. Müller . Dietmar . 2009-01-01 . Orientalism and Nation: Jews and Muslims as Alterity in Southeastern Europe in the Age of Nation-States, 1878–1941 . East Central Europe . en . 36 . 1 . 63–99 . 10.1163/187633009X411485 . 1876-3308.
  7. Jagodić . Miloš . 1998-12-01 . The Emigration of Muslims from the New Serbian Regions 1877/1878 . Balkanologie. Revue d'études pluridisciplinaires . en . 2 . 2 . 10.4000/balkanologie.265 . 1279-7952.