Smederevo

Smederevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Смедерево, pronounced [smêderevo]) is a city in Serbia, on the right bank of the Danube, about 45 kilometres (28 miles) downstream of the capital Belgrade. According to official results of the 2011 census, the city has a population of 64,105, and 108,209 people live in its administrative area. Smederevo is the seat of the Podunavlje District.

Its history starts in the 1st century BC, with the conquerings of the Roman Empire, when there existed a town called Vinceia. The modern city traces its roots back to the late Middle Ages when it was the capital (1430–1439 and 1444–1459) of the last independent Serbian state before the Ottoman conquest.

Name

In Serbian, the city is known as Smederevo (Смедерево), in Latin, Romanian and Greek as Semendria, in Hungarian as Szendrő or Vég-Szendrő, in Turkish as Semendire. The name of Smederevo was first recorded in the Charter of the Byzantine Emperor Basil II from 1019, in the part related to the Eparchy of Braničevo in Ohrid Bishopry. Another written record is found in the Charter of the Duke Lazar from 1381 by which he bestowed the Monastery of Ravanica and villages and properties ’to the Great Bogosav with the commune and heritage’’.