Ni? (Serbian: Ниш ) is the largest city of southern Serbia and third-largest city in Serbia (after Belgrade and Novi Sad). According to the preliminary
results of 2011 census, the city has urban population of 177,972 inhabitants, while its municipality has a population of 257,867.
The city covers an area of 597 km?, including the urban core, town of Ni?ka Banja and 68 villages.
Ni? is the administrative center of the Ni?ava District.
It is one of the oldest cities in the Balkans and Europe, and has from ancient times been considered a gateway between the East and the West. The Paleo-Balkan Thracians inhabited the area in the Iron Age, and Triballians dwelled here prior to the Celtic invasion in 279 BC which established the Scordisci as masters of the region. Naissus was among the cities taken in the Roman conquest in 75 BC. The Romans built the Via Militaris in the 1st century, with Naissus being one of the key towns. Ni? is also notable as the birthplace of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman Emperor and the founder of Constantinople, as well as two other Roman emperors, Constantius III and Justin I. It is home to one of Serbia's oldest Christian churches dating to the 4th century in the suburb of Mediana.
There are about 30,000 students at the University of Ni?, which comprises 13 faculties. Ni? is also one of the most important industrial centres in Serbia, a center of electronics industry (see Elektronska Industrija Ni?), industry of mechanical engineering, textile- and tobacco industry. Constantine the Great Airport is its international airport. In 2013 the city will host the celebration of 1700 years of Constantine's Edict of Milan
Ni? is situated at the 43°19' latitude north and 21°54' longitude east in the Ni?ava valley, near the spot where it joins the South Morava. The central city area is at 194m altitude above sea level (the Main City Square). The highest point in the city area is Sokolov kamen (Falcon's rock) on Suva Planina (1523m) while the lowest spot is at Trupale, near the mouth of the Ni?ava (173m). The city covers 596.71 km?.
The trunk road running from the north down the Morava River valley forks into two major lines at Ni?: southern, leading to Thessalonica and Athens, and eastern leading towards Sofia and Istanbul.
Etymology
The city's early name under the Roman Empire remained Naissus, which is the Latin name derived from its original name Naissos.
The etymology of the original name Naissos ("city of the nymphs") was derived from a mythical creature of Greek mythology - Naiad (from the Greek ?????, "to flow," and ????, "running water") which was the nymph of freshwater streams rivers and lakes. Ni? is a possible location of Nysa, a mythical place in Greek mythology where the young god Dionysus was raised.
Navissos was the name during the Scordisci Celtic settlement in the 3rd century BC.
Prehistoric and ancient times
Archaeological evidence shows neolithic settlements in the city and area dating from 5,000 to 2,000 BCE, notable archeological site is Humska ?uka.
The ethnogenesis of the Thracians started in the Iron Age, one of the chief towns were Aiadava, the future Roman Remesiana. The Triballi dwelled in this region, mentioned as early as 424 BC. In 279 BC, during the Gallic invasion of the Balkans, the Scordisci tribe defeats the Triballi and settles the lands.
Roman times
At the time of the conquest of the Balkans by Rome in 168-75 BC, Naissos was used as a base for operations. Naissus was first mentioned in Roman documents near the beginning of 2nd century CE, and was considered a place worthy of note in the Geography of Ptolemy of Alexandria.
The Romans occupied the town in the period of the "Dardanian War" (75-73 BC), and set up a legionary camp. The city (called refugia and vici in pre-Roman relation), because of its strategic position (Thracians were based to the south) developed as an important garrison and market town of the province of Moesia Superior.
The Romans built the Via Militaris in the early 1st century AD, with Naissus being one of the key towns. Five roads met at Naissus, from Lissus, Serdica, Singidunum, Ratiaria and Thessalonica (through Scupi).
A tombstone of a Cretan soldier under either Claudius (41-54) or Nero (54-68) stands in Naissus, pointing that auxiliary units were stationed here at that time. Legia IIII Scythica and VII Claudia may have briefly been stationed here. An auxiliary fort was based to the north, at present-day Ravna, called Timacum minus. Marcus Aurelius (161–180) promoted the city to municipia. Overall, several family tombstones point that this was an important military region and by the 3rd century a social class of peasants and soldiers emerged.
Cohort I Aurelia Dardanorum was based in the city.
At the latest, a praetorium (road-station) was established under Septimius Severus (193-211) for Imperial officials business traveling, administered by stratores of Upper Moesia.
In 268, during the "Crisis of the third century" when the Empire almost collapsed, the greatest Gothic invasion seen to date came pouring into the Balkans. The Goths' seaborne allies, the Heruli, supplied a fleet, carrying vast armies down the coast of the Black Sea where they ravaged coastal territories in Thrace and Macedonia. Other huge forces crossed the Danube in Moesia. An invasion of Goths into the province of Pannonia was leading to disaster. In 268, Emperor Gallienus won some important initial victories at land and sea, but it was his successor Claudius II who finally defeated the invaders at the Battle of Naissus in 268, one of the bloodiest battles of the 3rd century. Invaders allegedly left thirty to fifty thousand dead on the field.
Four years later in 272, the son of military commander Constantius Chlorus and an innkeeper's daughter called Flavia Iulia Helena was born in Naissus and destined to rule as Emperor Constantine the Great.
Constantine created the Dacia mediterranea province of which Naissus was capital, which also had Naissus and Remesiana of the Via militaris and the towns of Pautalia and Germania. He lived at Naissus in short periods from 316-322.
Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate (360-363) resided in Naissus briefly in 361, prior to becoming the sole Augustus.
A fabricae that produced ingots (Gold bars) was active in Naissus at the time of Theodosius I (378-395) as findings with the marking of NAISI at the order of the Emperor have been found in Romania, dating to 379.
The 4th century Imperial villa at Mediana is an important archaeological site located close to Ni?. Mosaic floors and other traces of luxury are preserved in the archaeological museum on the site. Other aristocratic suburban villas are clustered nearby.Historians think that city of Naissus could have 150,000 citizens. Here in Mediana, in 364, emperors Valentinian and Valens divided the Roman empire and ruled as co-emperors.
In the castle, or palace, of Mediana, only three miles from Naissus, they executed the solemn and final division of the Roman empire. Valentinian bestowed on his brother the rich praefecture of the East, from the Lower Danube to the confines of Persia; whilst he reserved for his immediate government the warlike praefectures of Illyricum, Italy, and Gaul, from the extremity of Greece to the Caledonian rampart, and from the rampart of Caledonia to the foot of Mount Atlas. (Edward Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" , Vol. 2,Chapter XXV)
The 4th century Christian basilica in Ni? is one of the oldest Christian monuments. The Roman Emperor Constantius III (421) who was the power behind the throne during much of the 410's was born in Naissus.
"When we arrived at Naissus we found the city deserted, as though it had been sacked; only a few sick persons lay in the churches. We halted at a short distance from the river, in an open space, for all the ground adjacent to the bank was full of the bones of men slain in war.'
Though the emperor Julian strengthened the walls, the very prosperity of Naissus made it a target and it was destroyed by Attila in 443. Attila the Hun conquered Naissus with battering rams and rolling towers—military sophistication that was new in the Hun repertory. After the Huns captured the city of Naissus they massacred the inhabitants of the city. Years later, river banks outside the city were still covered with human bones as a reminder of the devastation the Huns had inflicted. The founder of the Justinian Dynasty, Justin I, was born in Naissus in 450, and his nephew Justinian I did his best to restore the city, but Naissus never recovered its 4th century urbanity. The Roman fort at Balajnac with a well-preserved cistern produced coins to Justinian I.
Justinian establishes the Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima which the town and its bishopric (Bishopric of Ni?) becomes part of, Procopius mentions it as Naissopolis.
Middle Ages
The latter half of the 6th century AD saw the first major migrations of Slavs and Avars. During the 6th and 7th century, Slavic tribes made eight attempts to take Ni?. In 551, the Slavs crossed Ni? initially headed for Thessalonica, but ended up in Dalmatia. By the 580s the Slavs had conquered Serbia to much of northern Greece. During the final attack in 615 the invaders took the city, and most of the Roman and Romanized Daco-Thracian population fled, perished, or became assimilated.
The Slavs in the Sclaviniae remain independent for some while; in 785, Macedonia is conquered by Constantine VI, and in 842, with the death of Theophilos, the region is conquered by the Bulgars.
In 1018, the Theme of Sirmium is established by Emperor Basil II, who had conquered Bulgaria and Serbia. Ni? is one of three official cities.
Prince Constantine Bodin was crowned Emperor of Bulgaria in 1072, amid the Bulgarian revolts in Macedonia against the Byzantine Empire. Bodin conquered Ni?, but was later captured. During the People's Crusade, on July 3, 1096, Peter the Hermit clashes with Byzantine forces at Ni?, losing a quarter of his men, but manages to march on to Constantinople.
In 1155, Prince Desa receives Dendra (Ni?) as an appanage. In 1162, Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos meets with Stefan Nemanja at Ni?, he is also given the region of Dubo?ica (Leskovac and Ni?). By 1188, Ni? had become Nemanja's capital. On 27 July 1189, Nemanja receives German emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his 100,000 crusaders at Ni?. When describing Serbia during the rule of Vukan II in 1202, the mentioning of Ni? shows its special status. In 1203, Kaloyan of Bulgaria annexes Ni?. Stefan Nemanji? later regains the region.
In 1375, the Ottoman Turks captured Ni? for the first time. After a 25-day long siege, the city fell to the Turks. The fall of the Serbian state decided the fate of Ni? as well. After the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, even though Serbia existed much weakened as a semi-independent state for another 70 years, the Constantinople-Vienna road grew deserted.
In 1443, Ni? fell into the hands of Ludanjin. The town itself was given back to the Serbs, while Brankovi? gave it over to ?or?e Mrnjav?evi?. In the so-called Long Campaign, Christian armies, led by the Hungarian military leader Janos Hunyadi (known as Sibinjanin Janko in Serbian folk poetry) together with Serbian Despot ?ura? Brankovi?, defeated the Turks and repelled them to Sofia. An important battle was fought near Ni?, which remained a free city for a whole year after that. It was during this battle that an Ottoman commander named Gjerg Kastrioti, aka Skanderbeg, deserted the Ottoman ranks with a strong following. Escaping to Albania, he mounted a semi-successful guerilla war against the Ottomans that lasted his remaining lifetime.
Early Modern and Modern periods
Ni? succumbed to Ottoman rule again in 1448 and remained thus for the following 241 years. During period of Ottoman rule, Ni? was a seat of the Sanjak of Ni?[27] and Ni? Eyalet. Ni? Fortress, built in that period, still represents one of the most beautiful and best preserved edifices in the Balkans. The extant fortification is of Turkish origin, dating from the first decades of the 18th century (1719–1723). It is well known as one of the most significant and best preserved monuments of this kind in the Mid-Balkans. The Fortress was erected on the site of earlier fortifications - the ancient Roman, Byzantine, and later yet Medieval forts. The Fortress has a polygonal ground plan, eight bastion terraces and four massive gates. It stretches over 22 ha of land. The rampart walls are 2,100 m long, 8 m high and 3 m thick on the average. The building stone, brought from the nearby quarries, was hewn into rather evenly-shaped blocks. The inside of the rampart wall was additionally fortified by a wooden construction, 'santra?', and an additional bulwark, 'trpanac'. On the outside, the Fortress was surrounded by a wide moat, whose northern part has been preserved to this day. Beside the massive stone rampart walls, the southern Stambol gate and the western Belgrade gate are pretty well preserved. Partly preserved are the water gates, while the northern Vidin gate and the south-east Jagodina gate are preserved only in remains. With a complete reconstruction of all the gates, Ni? Fortress would once again become, architecturally and functionally, a closed fortification system. On September 24, 1689, the Austrian army took the city after defeating the Turks at the Battle of Ni?, but the Ottomans retook it the next year. In 1737, it was seized again by the Austrian army, in their campaign against the Turks. The war ended in 1739.
At the beginning of the 19th century the crucial thing for the renewal of the Serbian state was the liberation of Ni? from the Turks. The Serbian leader Kara?or?e, in his talks with the representatives of Russia, as well as in his talks with Napoleon and the Turks, pointed out that Ni? had to belong to Serbia. The Serbian insurrection army headed towards Ni? in order to take it and go ahead towards Old Serbia and Kosovo. Kara?or?e's suggestion was to use the whole army to liberate Ni?, while the rest of the commanders demanded to attack Ni? from four different points. The latter was accepted. On April 27, 1809, the Serbian insurrection army with its 16,000 soldiers approached the villages of Kamenica, Gornji and Donji Matejevac, near the town of Ni? with Miloje Petrovi? as Commander-in-chief. The Serbian soldiers made six trenches. The first and biggest was on ?egar Hill with voivoda Stevan Sin?eli? at the head. The second one was in the village Gornji Matejevac (near the newly rebuilt Latin Church) with Petar Dobrnjac as the commander. The third trench was north-east to Kamenica, with voivoda Ilija Barjaktarevi?. The fourth trench was in Kamenica with Miloje Petrovi? as the chief commander. The fifth trench was in the mountain above Kamenica and under the control of voivoda Pauljo Mateji?, while the sixth one was made in Donji Matejevac. Miloje Petrovi?'s request to attack Ni? directly was not accepted. The demand was to wait and to besiege the town.
Meanwhile, the Turkish army was reinforced with 20,000 soldiers from Adrianople, Thessalonica, Vranje and Leskovac. The Turks attacked the trench of Petar Dobrnjac on 30 May The following day, on May 31, 1809, the most prominent trench on ?egar Hill, under the command of Stevan Sin?eli?, was attacked. The battle lasted all day. As Milovan Kuki? witnessed, "the Turks attacked five times, and the Serbs managed to repulse them five times. Each time their losses were great. Some of the Turks attacked, and some of them went ahead, and thus when they attacked for the sixth time they filled the trenches with their dead so that the alive went over their dead bodies and they began to fight against the Serbs with their rifles, cutting and sticking in their enemies with their sabers and knives. The Serbian soldiers from other trenches cried out to help Stevan. But there was no help, either because they could not help without their cavalry, or because Miloje Petrovi? did not allow it.
When Stevan Sin?eli? saw that the Turks had taken over the trench, he ran to the powder cave, took out his gun and fired at the powder magazine. The explosion was so strong that all the surrounding was shaken, and the whole trench caught in a cloud of dense smoke. Stevan Sin?eli?, who up to that moment had reached everywhere, helping and encouraging everybody, went into the air." Three thousand Serbian soldiers and more than twice as many on the Turkish side were killed on ?egar Hill. An important monument from early 19th century Serbian uprisings against Turkish reign is the Skull Tower (?ele kula), a tower which incorporates human skulls (those of dead Serbian "rebels") in its construction, a monument likely unique in its design.
Ni? was finally released during the Serbian-Turkish War (1876-1878). Struggle for the liberation of Ni? are started on 29 December 1877 and the Serbian Army entered in Ni? on 11 January 1878. In the upcoming years, the city saw rapid development. City library was founded in 1879,and its first clerk was Stevan Sremac. The first hotel, Europe, was built in 1879; a hospital and the first bank started operating in 1881. The City hall was built from 1882 to 1887. In 1883, Kosta ?enda? established the first printing house. In 1884, first newspaper in the city Ni?ki vesnik was started. In 1884 Jovan Apel built a brewery. A railway line to Ni? was built in 1884, as well as the city's railway station; on 8 August 1884, the first train arrived from Belgrade. Since 1885, Ni? was the last station of the Orient Express, until the railroad was built between Ni? and Sofia in 1888. In 1887 Mihailo Dimi? founded the "Ni? Theatre Sin?eli?." In 1897 Mita Risti? founded the textile factory Nitex. In 1905 painter Nade?da Petrovi? established the Si?evo art colony. The first film was screened in 1897, and the first permanent movie theater started operating in 1905. Hydroelectric dam in Si?evo Gorge on Ni?ava was built in 1908; at the time, it was the largest in Serbia. The airfield was built in 1912 on the Trupale field, and the first airplane arrived on 29 December 1912. City Museum was founded in 1913, hosting archaeological, ethnographic and art collections.
During the First Balkan War, Ni? was the seat of The Main Headquarters of Serbian Army, who led the military operations against the Ottoman Empire. In World War I, Ni? was the wartime capital of Serbia, hosting the Government and the National Assembly, until Central Powers conquered Serbia in November 1915. After the breakthrough of the Thessaloniki Front, First Serbian Army commanded by general Petar Bojovi? liberated Ni? on October 12, 1918.
In the first few years after the war, Ni? was recovering from the damage. The tram system in Ni? started to run in November 1930. The national airline Aeroput included Ni? as a regular destination for the route Belgrade—Ni?—Skopje—Thessaloniki on 1930.
During the time of German occupation in World War II, the first Nazi concentration camp in Yugoslavia was located near Ni?. In 1942 an armed revolt led to an escape. The escapees were guerrillas from Josip Broz Tito's movement who was captured by German forces during the Battle of Kozara. This escape is featured in Miomir Stamenkovi?'s film Lager Ni?, 1987. The city was heavily bombed by the Allies in 1944 along with other cities in Axis Serbia.[28]
In 1996, Ni? was the first city in Serbia to stand against the government of Slobodan Milo?evi?. A coalition of democratic opposition parties called Zajedno (Together) won the local elections in Ni? in 1996. The first democratic mayor of City of Ni? was Zoran ?ivkovi?, who later became the Prime Minister of Serbia in 2003. On May 7, 1999 it was the site of the NATO Cluster bombing of Ni? that resulted in many civilian casualties and no military losses. During the local elections held in September 2004, Smiljko Kostic of Nova Srbija won the mayor office. The democratic party provoked referendum to recall Kostic in November 2005. The majority voted against recall. In the local elections held in May 2008, the Democratic Party, G17+ and coalition assembled around the Socialist Party of Serbia won and Milo? Simonovi? from the Democratic party became the elected mayor.
