Vojvodina or Voivodina [key], autonomous province (1991 pop. 2,013,889), 8,301 sq mi (21,500 sq km), N Serbia. Novi Sad is the chief city and administrative center. A part of the Pannonian Plain, it is watered by the Danube, the Tisza, and the Sava rivers and is one of the most densely populated parts of Serbia. About 60% of the land is under cultivation. It is the breadbasket of Serbia; cereals, fruit (notably plums, used for brandy), grapes, and vegetables are extensively cultivated. Cattle raising is also important, and food processing is the most significant industry. Besides Novi Sad, the chief cities are Subotica, Zrenjanin, Sombor, and Pančevo. The region was part of Hungary and Croatia before its conquest by the Turks in the 16th cent., and it was restored to the Hungarian crown by the Treaty of Passarowitz (1699). Parts of the region were included in the military frontier of S Hungary in the 18th cent., and the whole region was settled with Serbian and Croatian fugitives from the Ottoman Empire, as well as by German colonists. The present population is still mixed and includes Serbs, Croats, Magyars (Hungarians), Romanians, and Slovaks. The region was ceded (1920) to Yugoslavia by the Treaty of Trianon, and it received autonomy in 1946. As constituted in 1946, the Vojvodina consists of three sections—the Srem, in the southwest, which was part of Croatia-Slavonia until 1918; the Backa, in the northwest, which was an integral part of Hungary; and the western part of the Banat of Temesvar. Under the Yugoslavian constitution of 1974, Vojvodina and Serbia's other province Kosovo were designated autonomous provinces within Serbia. The autonomy, however, was largely rescinded in the 1990 Serbian constitution, but legislation since has partially restored (2002) and strengthened (2009) Vojvodina's autonomy.
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