Potisje

Potisje (Serbian Cyrillic: Потисје) is the name of the Tisa river basin parts located in Serbia, in the autonomous province of Vojvodina. The river Tisa flows between the Banat and Bačka regions.

Municipalities in Potisje

Municipalities in Bačka:

Municipalities in Banat:

History

In the 1st century, ancient author Plinius used the name Pathissus to describe the surroundings of the river Tisa. Because of the similarity of this name with the modern Slavic name Potisje (meaning approximately "a land around the river Tisa" in Slavic), which is a typical Slavic name used for surroundings of rivers (like Podunavlje, Pomoravlje, etc.), the name mentioned by Plinius might indicate an early Slavic presence in the area.^[1]

Between 1702 and 1751, the western part of Potisje (in the region of Bačka) belonged to the Tisa-Mureș (Potisje-Pomorišje) section of the Habsburg Military Frontier. The Potisje segment of the Frontier included towns near the river Tisa: Bečej, Ada, Senta and Kanjiža (in present-day Serbia), Szeged (in present-day Hungary), as well as other places in Bačka, including Subotica, Sombor and Sentomaš (Srbobran). After the abolishment of this part of the Frontier in 1751, many Serbs that lived in the region emigrated to Russia (notably to New Serbia and Slavo-Serbia). To prevent this emigration, the Habsburg authorities formed the autonomous District of Potisje with its seat in Bečej. The District of Potisje existed between 1751 and 1848. The three privileges were given to the district in 1759, 1774, and 1800. The first privilege of the District defined its autonomous status, while the second one allowed ethnic Hungarians to settle in the district. In the following period many Hungarians settled in Potisje and they replaced Serbs as the dominant ethnic group in parts of the region.

Ethnic groups

The municipalities with a Serb ethnic majority are: Žabalj (86%), Titel (85%), Novi Kneževac (59%), Kikinda (76%), Novi Bečej (69%), and Zrenjanin (74%).

The municipalities with a Hungarian ethnic majority are: Kanjiža (86%), Senta (81%), Ada (77%), and Čoka (52%).

The Bečej municipality is ethnically mixed with 49% Hungarians and 41% Serbs.