Serbs in Vojvodina

The Serbs of Vojvodina are the largest ethnic group in this northern province of Serbia. For centuries, they lived under foreign rule, but despite many attempts that aimed to assimilate them, Vojvodinian Serbs preserved their national consciousness, language, religion, culture as well as the rich folklore, national costumes and music. According to the 2011 census, there were 1,289,635 Serbs in Vojvodina or 66.76% of the population of the province.

History

Middle Ages

Early medieval period

Before the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC, Illyrian, Thracian and Celtic tribes inhabited the territory of present-day Vojvodina region. During the Roman rule, original inhabitants were heavily Romanized, and latter they are known under name of Vlachs. It is thought that this original population had not entirely disappeared, leaving certain genetic traces among the modern Serb population of the region.

The Slavs (Severans, Abodrites, Braničevci, Timočani and Serbs) settled today's Vojvodina in the 6th and 7th centuries (during the early medieval migrations). Until the 13th century, the region had dominant Slavic population.

Serbs

The Serbs (Serbian: Срби/Srbi, pronounced [sr̩̂bi]) are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to the Balkans. The majority of Serbs inhabit Serbia (including the disputed territory of Kosovo), as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, and form significant minorities in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. There is a large Serb diaspora in Western Europe, and outside Europe there are significant communities in the North America and Australia.

The Serbs share cultural traits with the rest of Southeast Europe, and are predominantly Orthodox Christians by religion. The Serbian language is official in Serbia (also in disputed Kosovo) and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is spoken by the majority in Montenegro.

Ethnology

The modern identity of Serbs is rooted in Eastern Orthodoxy and traditions. In the 19th century, the Serbian national identity was manifested, with awareness of history and tradition, medieval heritage, cultural unity, despite living under different empires. Three elements, together with the legacy of the Nemanjić dynasty, were crucial in forging identity and preservation during foreign domination: the Serbian Orthodox Church, Kosovo Myth, and the Serbian language. When the Principality of Serbia gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, Orthodoxy became crucial in defining the national identity, instead of language which was shared by other South Slavs (Croats and Bosniaks). The tradition of slava, the family saint feast day, is an important ethnic marker of Serb identity, and is usually regarded their most significant and most solemn feast day.

Vojvodina

Coordinates: 45°24′58″N 20°11′53″E / 45.416°N 20.198°E / 45.416; 20.198

Vojvodina (Serbian Cyrillic: Војводина), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (Serbian: Аутономна Покрајина Војводина / Autonomna Pokrajina Vojvodina, [ʋǒjʋodina]; see Names in other languages), is an autonomous province of Serbia, located in the northern part of the country, in the Pannonian Plain. Novi Sad is the largest city and administrative center of Vojvodina and the second-largest city in Serbia. Vojvodina has a population of approximately 2 million (approximately 26.88% of the Serbian population excluding Kosovo, and 21.56% including it). It has a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural identity; there are more than 26 ethnic groups in the province, which has six official languages.

Name

The term vojvodina in Serbian means a type of duchy – more specifically, a voivodeship. It derives from the word "vojvoda" (See: voivode) which stems from the Proto-Slavic language word "voevoda". Those words are etymologically connected with modern-day words "vojnik" (soldier) and "voditi" (to lead). Its original name (from 1848) was the "Serbian Voivodeship" (Srpska Vojvodina) which then became "Voivodeship of Serbia" ("Vojvodstvo Srbija").

List of Serbs

This is a list of historical and living Serbs (of Serbia or the Serb diaspora).

Arts

Visual arts

Architecture

Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. (/ˈdʒoʊsᵻf rɒbᵻˈnɛt ˈbaɪdən/; born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, jointly elected twice with President Barack Obama, and in office since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Biden represented Delaware as a United States Senator from 1973 until becoming Vice President in 2009.

Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1942, and lived there for ten years before moving to Delaware. He became an attorney in 1969, and was elected to the New Castle County council in 1970. Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972, and became the sixth-youngest senator in U.S. history. He was re-elected to the Senate six times, and was the fourth most senior senator at the time of his resignation to assume the Vice Presidency in 2009. Biden was a long-time member and former chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. He opposed the Gulf War in 1991, but advocated U.S. and NATO intervention in the Bosnian War in 1994 and 1995. Biden voted in favor of the resolution authorizing the Iraq War in 2002, but opposed the surge of U.S. troops in 2007. He has also served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dealing with issues related to drug policy, crime prevention, and civil liberties, and led the legislative efforts for creation of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, and the Violence Against Women Act. He chaired the Judiciary Committee during the contentious U.S. Supreme Court nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.