What is the Capital of Serbia? Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located on the plateau of the Danube and Sava rivers and is one of the largest cities in Southeast Europe. The name of the city means White City.
Today, Belgrade, which has an autonomous administration, has a special position in the administrative structure of Serbia. There are 17 municipalities in the metropolitan city area, each have its own local council.
When did Belgrade Become the Capital?
During the First Serbian Uprising, the Serbian revolutionaries held the city from January 8, 1807 until the withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire in 1813. After the Second Serbian Uprising in 1815, Serbia became semi-independent in 1830. In 1841 Mihailo Obrenovi III, Prince of Serbia, carried the capital Kragujevac to Belgrade. In May 1868, Prince Mihailo was killed while boarding a car in the park with his cousin Princess Anka.
The assassination of Gavrilo Princip on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo ended with the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, which led to World War I.
Most of the attacks in the Balkans, which resulted in the outbreak of the war, occurred around Belgrade. Belgrade, which was bombed by Austria-Hungary on June 29, 1914, was taken by the Austro-Hungarian Army, led by Oskar Potiorek, on November 30. The city, which was taken aback by Serbian forces under the leadership of Radomir Putnik on 15 December, has been ending long wars.
In the post World War I period, Belgrade grew rapidly as the capital of the new Yugoslavia, which developed as an important industrial center. In 2003, with the current name of Serbia leaving the name of Yugoslavia and taking the name of Serbia-Montenegro, the state of Yugoslavia disappeared from history.
Furthermore, Montenegro left Serbia and declared its independence in 2006. On the ongoing process, Kosovo, which was provided by Serbia and secured by NATO, declared its independence in 2008 and left Serbia. Belgrade lasted as the current capital of Serbia, which emerged as Kosovo gained independence.
Features of Belgrade
Belgrade has a population of 1.18 million by 2018. The surface area is 360 square kilometers. In Belgrade you can see four seasons together. Moreover, the winter is 4 degrees a month and the summers are 21 degrees a month. In a city with a continental climate, the winter months are cold and the summer months are moist and hot. The coldest month in Belgrade is January, the warmest month is July and August.
Belgrade is the financial center of Serbia and Southeast Europe with a multitude of office spaces. It hosts the National Bank of the country. Several major Serb companies such as Jat Airlines, Telekom Srbija, Telenor Serbia, Komercijalna bank and Pošta Srbije have headquarters in the city. In addition, AXA, Société Générale, Motorola, Samsung, Kraft Foods, Carlsberg, Unilever, General Electric, Japan Tobacco, Procter & Gamble and many international companies have regional centers.
Belgrade has many traditional international cultural activities. These include Film Festival, Theater Festival, Music Festival, Book Fair and Beer Festival. Furthermore, the Nobel prize-winning writer Ivo Andrić wrote his most famous work, The Bridge on the Drina here.
Important Places to See in Belgrade
Belgrade, which has hosted as many countries as antiquity and daily life, contains works bearing the traces of cultural richness. Belgrade is a much more economical city than many other European countries. At the beginning of the places you should see in Belgrade; Kalemegdan, the Church of Saint Sava and Nikola Tesla Museum.