Place:Zemun, Serbia, Serbia and Montenegro

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Zemun is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown Belgrade. The development of New Belgrade in the late 20th century expanded the continuous urban area of Belgrade and merged it with Zemun.

The town was conquered by the Kingdom of Hungary in the 12th century and in the 15th century it was given as a personal possession to the Serbian despot Đurađ Branković. After the Serbian Despotate fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1459, Zemun became an important military outpost. Its strategic location near the confluence of the Sava and the Danube placed it in the center of the continued border wars between the Habsburg and the Ottoman empires. The Treaty of Belgrade of 1739 finally placed the town into Habsburg possession, the Military Frontier was organized in the region in 1746, and the town of Zemun was granted the rights of a military commune in 1749. In 1777, Zemun had 6,800 residents, half of which were ethnic Serbs, while another half of population was composed of Germans, Hungarians and Jews. With the abolishment of the Military Frontier in 1881, Zemun and the rest of the eastern Srem was included into Syrmia County of Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, part of Austria-Hungary. Following Austro-Hungarian defeat in World War I, Zemun returned to Serbian control on November 5, 1918 and became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Kingdom of Yugoslavia).

According to the 2011 census results, the municipality of Zemun has a population of 168,170 inhabitants. Apart from the Zemun proper, the municipality includes suburbs of Batajnica, Ugrinovci, Zemun Polje and Nova Galenika to the northwest.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The area of Zemun has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. Baden culture graves and ceramics like bowls and anthropomorphic urns were found in the town. Bosut culture graves were found in nearby Asfaltna Baza. The first Celtic settlements in Taurunum area originate from the 3rd century BC when the Scordisci occupied several Thracian and Dacian areas of the Danube. The Scordisci founded both Taurunum and Singidunum across the Sava, predecessor of modern Belgrade. The Romans came in the 1st century BC, Taurunum became part of the Roman province of Pannonia around 15 AD. It had a fortress and served as a harbour for the Pannonian (Roman) fleet of Singidunum (Belgrade). The pen of Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid) was said to be found in Taurunum. After the Great Migrations the area was under the authority of various peoples and states, including the Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of the Gepids and the Bulgarian Empire. The town was conquered by the Kingdom of Hungary in the 12th century and in the 15th century it was given as a personal possession to the Serbian despot Đurađ Branković. After the nearby Serbian Despotate fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1459, Zemun became an important military outpost. In 1521, the forces of the Kingdom of Hungary, 500 šajkaši (river flotilla troops) led by Croatian Marko Skoblić, and Serbs fought against the invading Ottoman army of Suleyman the Magnificent. Despite hard resistance, Zemun fell on July 12 and Belgrade soon afterwards. In 1541, Zemun was integrated into the Syrmia sanjak of the Budin pashaluk.

Zemun and the southeastern Syrmia were conquered by the Austrian Habsburgs in 1717, after the Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Peterwardein (5 August 1716) and through the Treaty of Požarevac (German: Passarowitz) became a property of the Schönborn family. In 1736, Zemun was the site of a peasant revolt. Its strategic location near the confluence of the Sava and the Danube placed it in the center of the continued border wars between the Habsburg and the Ottoman empires. The Treaty of Belgrade of 1739 finally fixed the border, the Military Frontier was organized in the region in 1746, and the town of Zemun was granted the rights of a military commune in 1749. In 1754, the population of Zemun included 1,900 Eastern Orthodox Christians, 600 Catholics, 76 Jews, and about 100 Romani. In 1777, the population of Zemun numbered 1,130 houses with 6,800 residents, half of which were ethnic Serbs, while another half of population was composed of Catholics, Jews, Armenians and Muslims. Among Catholic population, the largest ethnic group were Germans. From this period originates the increased settlement of Germans and Hungarians in the Zemun.

While during the Ottoman period Zemun was a typical oriental-type small town, with khans, mosques and large number of Turkish population, after becoming part of Austria, the town prospered as an important road intersection and a border city, which boosted trade. The town had a port on the Danube and was a major fishing center. It is recorded that in 1793, a heavy Beluga sturgeon was caught. In 1816 it was greatly expanded by mass resettlement of Germans and Serbs in the new town suburbs of Franzenstal and Gornja Varoš, respectively. In the 19th century, Zemun reached 7,089 residents and 1,310 houses. Zemun also became important in Serbian history as the refuge for Karađorđe in 1813 as well as many other people from the nearby Belgrade and the rest of Karađorđe's Serbia which fell to the Ottoman rule.

During the Revolution of 1848–1849, Zemun was one of the de facto capitals of Serbian Vojvodina, a Serbian autonomous region within Habsburg Empire, but in 1849, it was returned under the administration of the Military Frontier. With the abolishment of the Military Frontier in 1881, Zemun and the rest of the eastern Srem was included into Syrmia County of Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, part of Austria-Hungary. The first railway line that connected it to the west was built in 1883, and the first railway bridge over the Sava followed shortly thereafter in 1884.

The Zemun Fortress was the site of the first shots fired during World War I, when the Austro-Hungarian Army shelled the Serbian capital of Belgrade. Serbian engineers responded by demolishing the Old Railway Bridge over the Sava River, damaging an Austro-Hungarian Navy patrol boat below. During the Serbian campaign at the beginning of World War I, Zemun was briefly occupied by the Royal Serbian Army, and many South Slavs living in the city fled to Serbia. The Austro-Hungarian Balkan Army under Oskar Potiorek quickly retook the city and hanged suspected collaborators. The city returned to Serbian control on November 5, 1918. The town became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Kingdom of Yugoslavia). The inter-war period was marked by political struggle between the city gentry (organized into the Radical Party, Democratic Party and the Croatian Peasant Party) and the more socialist parties supported by the ethnic Germans.

In 1934 two intra-city bus lines were introduced connecting Zemun with the parts of Belgrade, and the general shift of attention towards this issue was supported by the growing Serbian population of Zemun.

The Zemun airbases originally built in 1927 were an important geostrategic objective in the Axis invasion of April 1941. Following the surrender of Yugoslavia that same month, Zemun, along with the rest of Syrmia, was given to the Independent State of Croatia. The city was taken from Axis control in 1944, and since then, it is part of Serbian region known as Central Serbia. The city is now home of the Air force command building, a monumental edifice, situated at 12 Аvijatičarski Square in Zemun, Belgrade.

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