- For the town in Bulgaria see Novi Pazar, Bulgaria.
River Raška in Novi Pazar
Novi Pazar (Serbian: Novi Pazar (Cyrillic: Нови Пазар), Bosnian: Novi Pazar, 
listen?) 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, while in 2002 census, number of inhabitants of municipality was 85,996. The city itself had a
population of 54,604 in 2002.
Name
Its name means "a new bazaar" in the local language (which is referred to as the
Serbian language by the Serb Christian inhabitants of
the area, and Bosnian language by most of the Muslim
Bosniak inhabitants). The term is derived ultimately from Turkish word "pazar" ("bazar"
in Persian and "bazaar" in English) and Serbian/Bosnian word "novi" ("new" in English) - Note that word "pazar" is also used in
Serbian/Bosnian to this day, but with slightly different meaning. In Turkish the name
is Yeni Pazar, while in Albanian it is Pazar i Ri or Treg i
Ri.
Geography
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 742km².
History
The town probably began life as an informal trading enclave which had spilled out from the nearby medieval capital of the
Serbian Kingdom, Ras (now Stari Ras). Ras was less ideally
placed for catching onto the passing trade from the trade routes and major roads through the Balkans, and the establishment of a
trading community a few miles away at Novi Pazar would have improved matters (and hence the name of the city).
Novi Pazar was formally founded as a city in its own right in 1459-1461 by Isa-beg Ishaković,
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 administered 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.
Municipality
Municipality of Novi Pazar include following settlements:
- Novi Pazar
- Aluloviće
- Bajevica
- Banja
- Bare
- Batnjik
- Bekova
- Bele Vode
- Boturovina
- Brđani
- Brestovo
- Varevo
- Vever
- Vidovo
- Vitkoviće
- Vojkoviće
- Vojniće
- Vranovina
- Vučiniće
- Vučja Lokva
- Golice
- Gornja Tušimlja
- Goševo
- Građanoviće
- Gračane
- Grubetiće
- Deževa
- Dojinoviće
- Dolac
- Doljani
- Dragočevo
- Dramiće
- Žunjeviće
- Zabrđe
- Zlatare
- Ivanča
- Izbice
- Jablanica
- Javor
- Janča
- Jova
- Kašalj
- Kovačevo
- Kožlje
- Koprivnica
- Kosuriće
- Kruševo
- Kuzmičevo
- Leča
- Lopužnje
- Lukare
- Lukarsko Goševo
- Lukocrevo
- Miščiće
- Mur
- Muhovo
- Negotinac
- Odojeviće
- Okose
- Osaonica
- Osoje
- Oholje
- Pavlje
- Paralovo
- Pasji Potok
- Pilareta
- Pobrđe
- Požega
- Požežina
- Polokce
- Pope
- Postenje
- Prćenova
- Pusta Tušimlja
- Pustovlah
- Radaljica
- Rajetiće
- Rajkoviće
- Rajčinoviće
- Rajčinovićka Trnava
- Rakovac
- Rast
- Sebečevo
- Sitniče
- Skukovo
- Slatina
- Smilov Laz
- Srednja Tušimlja
- Stradovo
- Sudsko Selo
- Tenkovo
- Trnava
- Tunovo
- Hotkovo
- Cokoviće
- Čašić Dolac
- Šavci
- Šaronje
- Štitare
Demographics
Faculty for Islamic studies in Novi Pazar
Ethnic groups in the municipality
According to the 2002 census data, the population of the Novi Pazar municipality numbered 85,996 people, and it was composed
of:
Ethnic groups in the city
According to the 2002 census data, the population of the Novi Pazar city numbered 54,604 people, and it was composed of:
According to the data of Red Cross and NGOs, the city hosts about 6,000 refugees from Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia, and
Croatia.
Note, in the year of 2005 the city had over 100.000 inhabitans. More likely figure is 125.000 for the urban city.
Settlements by ethnic majority
Settlements with Bosniak ethnic majority are: Casic Dolac, Hotkovo, Trnava, Slatina, Sitnice, Sebecevo ,Rajcinovicka Trnava,
Rajcinovice, Pozega, Pobrdje, Paralovo, Oholje, Osoje, Novi Pazar, Muhovo, Mur, Lukarsko Gosevo, Lukare, Leca, Krusevo, Kozlje,
Janca, Izbice, Ivanca, Vucja Lokva, Varevo, Brdjani, Bijele Vode, Banja, and Bajevica.
Demographic history
According to the 1953 census data, the population of the Novi Pazar municipality numbered 53,331 people, and it was composed
of:
Note that present-day Bosniak population in 1953 had declared itself either as Serb, Turkish or Yugoslav.
According to the 1991 census data, the population of the Novi Pazar municipality numbered 85,249 people, and it was composed
of:
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.
Politics
The seats in the municipality parliament won in the 2004 local elections: [1]
- List for Sandžak (22)
- Sandžak Democratic Party (17)
- Serbian Radical Party (3)
- Party for Sandžak (3)
- Serbian Democratic Alliance (2)
Surroundings
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.
The city also houses the 10th century (?) church of St. Peter, referred to as Petrova
crkva, which is sometimes claimed to be the oldest in Serbia (the foundation may predate the
current building). On a hilltop overlooking Novi Pazar is the 12th century monastery of Đurđevi stupovi, long left in
ruin, but recently restored and with a monastic community using it, with plate glass to keep out the weather and preserve the
fine frescos. The fine main mosque of the city, the Altun-Alem mosque, is the largest in this
region of the Balkans and dates from 16th century. There are various other historic Ottoman buildings, such as the fine 17th
century Amir-agin Han, a 15th century Hammam, and the
15th century Turkish fortress (all gone but the walls, the site of which is now a pleasant walled park in the city centre).
See also
External links
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