Belgrade
Port and capital of Serbia, at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers: population (2002) 1,120,100. It is linked to the port of Bar on the Adriatic Sea. Industries include light engineering, food processing, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and electrical goods.
History
The settlement grew up around the 4th-century
BC Celtic fortress of Kalmegdan. It was on several important routes: east along the Danube to Vienna and the Black Sea, west along the Sava to northern Italy, and southeast to the Aegean Sea. Under Serbian rule from 1284, it became the capital of Serbia in 1402, but fell to the Turks in 1521. It remained part of the Ottoman Empire until Serbian independence in 1878, apart from brief periods of Austrian occupation between the late 17th and late 18th centuries. After World War I Belgrade became the capital of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (the name was changed to Yugoslavia in 1929). Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, it became capital of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992.
Features
ruins of the fortress Kalmegdan; University of Belgrade 1863; Konak Knjeginje Ljubice (‘night quarters of Princess Ljubice’) 1831; Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church; National Museum 1844.
