1752–1764 → Abolished 1764 | Established 1752 | |
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Capital Novomyrhorod (Novomirgorod) | ||
New Serbia (Ukrainian: Нова Сербія, Nova Serbija; Russian: Новая Сербия; Serbian: Нова Србија/Nova Srbija; archaic Serbian name: Нова Сербія or Ново-Сербія; Romanian: Noua Serbie) was a military frontier of Imperial Russia from 1752 to 1764 subordinated directly to the Senat and Military Collegium.
Contents
It was mostly located in the territory of present-day Kirovohrad Oblast of Ukraine, although some of its parts were located in the territory of present-day Cherkasy Oblast, Poltava Oblast and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The administrative centre of New Serbia was Novomirgorod (literally "New Mirgorod"), which is now Novomyrhorod, Ukraine.
History
The region was named after Serbs, who migrated in 1752 to the Russian Empire from the Military Frontier of the Habsburg Monarchy. Russian authorities gave these Serbian settlers a land, which thus acquired its name, New Serbia soon after the War of the Austrian Succession. As the Panonian Frontier, New Serbia was also organized into military province located on the Russian-Polish border and on the land of Buhogard palanka, Zaporizhian Sich. The purpose of the polity was a protection of southern borders of the Russian empire as well as participation in Russian military operations near that region. Commandant of New Serbia was Jovan Horvat who vouched for his subordinates the Austrian Grenz infantry.
Demographics
Before the formation of New Serbia, its territory was mostly populated by Ukrainians and included 3,710 houses of settlers from the Hetmanate, Slobozhanshchina and Zaporizhia, 643 houses of native inhabitants and 195 houses of Ukrainian settlers from Poland and Moldavia. When New Serbia was formed, the Russian senate ordered that all these settlers, except native inhabitants, must return to the places where they had previously lived.
After the formation of New Serbia, its initial new settlers were Serbs, but also many Moldavians and other Romanians (Mocani from Transylvania), Ukrainians, Bulgarians and others settled in the area.
Some of the original Ukrainian settlers who left the territory of New Serbia settled in the southern regions of modern-day Ukraine. In 1745, before the formation of New Serbia, its territory was populated by 9,660 inhabitants, while in 1754, the number of inhabitants was 3,989.
Because of the large number of Moldavian settlers, the largest ethnic group in the province in 1757 were not Serbs, but Moldavians. In 1757, population of New Serbia numbered 5,482 inhabitants, including:
Settlements of New Serbia
In their new home, Serbs established new places, and consequently gave them same names such as the names of the places in their old home in the Pannonian Plain (in modern-day Serbia, Croatia, Romania and Hungary). Serbs also changed names of some older settlements, giving them Serb names. Of the 41 settlements that existed in New Serbia, 26 were founded before arrival of the Serbs.
Notes:
Origin of settlement names
Places in New Serbia whose names can be also found in the territory of the Pannonian Plain (mostly in Vojvodina and Pomorišje) include: