Novi Pazar
:
For the town in Bulgaria see Novi Pazar, Bulgaria.{{Serbian cities 3|native_name = Нови Пазар
Novi Pazar|image_coat_of_arms = Novi Pazar (Grb).gif|image_coat_of_arms_size = 91px|Coat_of_arms_legend =
City coat of arms|image_map = |mayor = ?|area = ?|population = 54,604 (85,996 municipality)|date-population = (2002 census)|density = ?|date-density = (2002)|coordinates = [
1]|code = +381 20|subdivisions = 99 settlements in the municipality|plates = NP|zone = |site = n/a|notes = |
Novi Pazar (
Serbian Cyrillic:
Нови Пазар) is a city and municipality located in the
Raška District of
Serbia at 43.15° North, 20.52"° East, in the geographical region of
Sandžak. According to the official census in 1991, the municipality of Novi Pazar had 85,249 inhabitants.
Its name means "a new
bazaar" in the local language (which is referred to as
Serbian language by the
Serb Christian inhabitants of the area, and
Bosniak by most of the
Muslim inhabitants). The term is derived ultimately from
Persian words "bazar" ("bazaar" in English) and nov ("new").
Novi Pazar is the main economic and cultural centre of the
Sandžak region (with
Bijelo Polje in
Montenegro after it), located in the valleys of the
Jošanica,
Raška,
Deževska, and
Ljudska rivers, at the elevation of 496m. It is surrounded by the high lands of
Golija and
Rogozna mountains, as well as the Pešter Plateau. The total area of about 100 settlements of the municipality is 742km
2.
Novi Pazar was founded in 1459-1461 by
Isa-beg Isaković, who was also the founder of the city of
Sarajevo. The first written document which mention Novi Pazar dates back to the 15th century, and describes the decision of
Ragusan Council to appoint a consul in this town. That reinforces the idea that the town was already developed back then, thanks to its outstanding geographic position, as it was at the intersection of important roads leading to
Ragusa (Dubrovnik),
Niš,
Sofia,
Constantinople,
Salonica (Thessaloniki),
Sarajevo,
Belgrade, and
Budapest. Many authors wrote about Novi Pazar and
Evliya Celebi noted that it was one of the biggest towns in the Balkans in the 17th century.
The city was the capital of the
Ottoman sanjak of Novibazar that existed between the 15th and the 20th century. The father of the famous Ragusan (Dubrovnik) scientist
Ruđer Bošković from the 18th and 19th centuries, migrated from
Dubrovnik and came to Novi Pazar, where he spent the last years of his life.
The name Novi Pazar (then,
Novibazar) entered the world encyclopædias as a synonym for the
Sandžak region in
1878, the year when the
Congress of Berlin designated the entire region as "corpus separatum" named
Sanjak of Novi Pazar. The Sanjak of Novi Pazar was occupied and administred by
Austria-Hungary from 1878 to 1908. In 1908 it was returned to the
Ottoman Empire, which ruled this territory until it was lost to
Serbia in 1912 during the
First Balkan War. After
World War I, the town of Novi Pazar rapidly lost its importance.
According to the 1991 census data, the population of the Novi Pazar municipality was 85,249 people, and it was composed of:
*
Muslims by nationality (75.37%)
*
Serbs and
Montenegrins (22.63%)
* Others.
According to the 2002 census data, the population of the Novi Pazar municipality was 85,996 people, and it was composed of:
*
Bosniaks = 65,593 (76.28%)
*
Serbs = 17,599 (20.47%)
*
Muslims by nationality = 1,599 (1.86%)
* Others.
According to the data of Red Cross and NGOs, the town hosts about 6,000 refugees from Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia, and Croatia. Most of those who in 1991 census declared themselves as
Muslims by nationality, in the next census in 2002 declared themselves as
Bosniaks, while the smaller number of them still declare themselves as Muslims by nationality.
The old
Serb Orthodox monastery of
Sopoćani, the foundation of St. King
Uroš I, built in the second half of the
13th century and located west of Novi Pazar, is a
World Heritage Site since
1979 accompanying with Stari Ras (Old Ras), a medieval capital of the Serbian great župan
Stefan Nemanja.
*
UNPO*
www.sanjak.org - Sandžak Information Center of Novi Pazar
*
Web Portal of Raska Oblast(Novi Pazar)*
Novi Pazar Na Internetu*
Stari Ras - old Novi Pazar*
Konsuli Nacional Boshnjak *
Stari Ras and Sopoćani - World Heritage site*
Monastery Djurdjevi Stupovi*
Bosnia Intenatonal Directory *
differentia - Antibeograd front - Differentia
*
Foto presentation
