----
Raci (
Раци, , ,
Ratzians,
Rasciani,
Rascians) was a name used to designate
SerbsSerbs are a South Slavic people living in the Central Europe and the Balkans , between the Balkan- and Carpathian mountains in the east and the Adriatic sea in the west. They are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia...
, or sometimes, in a wider perspective, all
South SlavsThe South Slavs are a southern branch of the Slavic peoples that live mainly in the Balkans. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the southern Pannonian Plain, the eastern Alps and the Balkan peninsula and they speak South Slavic languages...
, in the Middle Ages and the early modern times. The name was primary used by Hungarians and
GermansThe German people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent, and speaking the German language as a mother tongue. Within Germany, Germans are defined by citizenship , distinguished from people of German ancestry...
and it derived from the name of medieval Serbian principality –
Raška (Rascia)Raška was the central and most successful medieval Serbian state that unified neighboring Serbian tribes into a main medieval Serbian state in the Balkans.-Background:Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos describes Raška in...
. The southern parts of the Pannonian Plain were also named
Raška (
Rascia in Latin,
Ráczság or
Ráczország in Hungarian and
Ratzenland or
Rezenland in German).
Since the 15th century, the Serbs made up a large percentage of the population on the territory of present-day
VojvodinaThe Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province in Serbia, containing about 27% of its total population according to the 2002 Census. It is located in the northern part of the country, in the Pannonian plain of Central Europe...
.
----
Raci (
Раци, , ,
Ratzians,
Rasciani,
Rascians) was a name used to designate
SerbsSerbs are a South Slavic people living in the Central Europe and the Balkans , between the Balkan- and Carpathian mountains in the east and the Adriatic sea in the west. They are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia...
, or sometimes, in a wider perspective, all
South SlavsThe South Slavs are a southern branch of the Slavic peoples that live mainly in the Balkans. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the southern Pannonian Plain, the eastern Alps and the Balkan peninsula and they speak South Slavic languages...
, in the Middle Ages and the early modern times. The name was primary used by Hungarians and
GermansThe German people are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent, and speaking the German language as a mother tongue. Within Germany, Germans are defined by citizenship , distinguished from people of German ancestry...
and it derived from the name of medieval Serbian principality –
Raška (Rascia)Raška was the central and most successful medieval Serbian state that unified neighboring Serbian tribes into a main medieval Serbian state in the Balkans.-Background:Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos describes Raška in...
. The southern parts of the Pannonian Plain were also named
Raška (
Rascia in Latin,
Ráczság or
Ráczország in Hungarian and
Ratzenland or
Rezenland in German).
History of usage
Since the 15th century, the Serbs made up a large percentage of the population on the territory of present-day
VojvodinaThe Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province in Serbia, containing about 27% of its total population according to the 2002 Census. It is located in the northern part of the country, in the Pannonian plain of Central Europe...
. Because of this, many historical sources and maps, which were written and drawn between 15th and 18th centuries, mention the territory of present-day Vojvodina under the names of
Rascia (Raška) and
Little Raška. The name
Rascia was also used to designate parts of
SlavoniaSlavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
populated by Serbs.
According to one historical record from 1543,
TimişoaraTimişoara , also known as "The City of Athletes", is a city in the Banat region of western Romania...
and
AradArad is the capital city of Arad County, in western Romania, in the historical region of Crişana, on the river Mureş.An important industrial center and transportation hub, Arad is also the seat of a Romanian Orthodox bishop and features two universities, a Romanian Orthodox theological seminary, a...
were located in the middle of
Rascia (
in medio Rascionarum).
In official Habsburg documents from the 18th century the people of Vojvodina were mentioned as
Nation Rasciana ("Rascian nation").
During the
KurucThe kuruc was a term used to denote the armed anti-Habsburg Hungarian rebels in Royal Hungary between 1671 and 1711....
War (1703-1711) of
Francis II RakocziFerenc II Rákóczi Hungarian aristocrat, he was the leader of the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburgs in 1703-11 as the prince of the Estates Confederated for Liberty of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was also Prince of Transylvania, an Imperial Prince, and a member of the Order of the Golden...
, the territory of present-day Vojvodina was a battlefield between Hungarian soldiers and Bunjevci who fought on the side of the Habsburg Emperor. Darvas, the prime military commander of these soldiers and knights, which fought against rebels in Vojvodina, wrote:
We burned all large places of Rascia, on the both banks of the rivers DanubeThe Danube is the longest river in the European Union and Europe's second longest river after the Volga.The river originates in the Black Forest in Germany as the much smaller Brigach and Breg rivers which join at the German town Donaueschingen, after which it is known as the Danube and flows...
and TisaTisá is a village and municipality in Ústí nad Labem District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic.The municipality covers an area of , and has a population of 786 ....
.
When the representatives of the Vojvodinian rebels negotiated with the Hungarian leader
Lajos KossuthLajos Kossuth was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Governor-President of Hungary in 1849...
in 1848, they asked him not to call them
Raci, because they regard this name insulting.
The initial name of the city of
Novi SadNovi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city lies in the southern part of Central Europe's Pannonian Plain, on both banks of the Danube river.Novi Sad is Serbia's second largest city, after Belgrade...
(
Ratzen Stadt) has also derived from the name
Raci. The
TabánTabán is a district of Budapest, Hungary, to the south of György Dózsa Square, on the northern Buda side of Elisabeth Bridge to the east of Naphegy.- Maps :*Meyers Lexikon on the right:*Google-Maps Satellite - streets on the Map:...
quarter of
BudapestBudapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it serves as the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation center and is considered an important hub in Central Europe. In 2009, Budapest had 1,712,210 inhabitants, down from a mid-1980s...
was also called
Rácváros in the 18th-19th centuries.
Since the 19th century, the term
Raci is no longer widely used.
Literature
- Drago Njegovan, Prisajedinjenje Vojvodine Srbiji, Novi Sad, 2004.
- Milan Tutorov, Mala Raška a u Banatu, Zrenjanin, 1991.
- Rascia, Časopis o Srbima u Vojvodini, godina I, broj 1, Vršac, Maj 1996.
- Lazo M. Kostić, Srpska Vojvodina i njene manjine, Novi Sad, 1999.
See also
- Serbs
Serbs are a South Slavic people living in the Central Europe and the Balkans , between the Balkan- and Carpathian mountains in the east and the Adriatic sea in the west. They are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia...
- Raška (state)
Raška was the central and most successful medieval Serbian state that unified neighboring Serbian tribes into a main medieval Serbian state in the Balkans.-Background:Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos describes Raška in...
- Rascia
- History of Vojvodina
This is a history of Vojvodina.Vojvodina is the Serbian name for the territory of Northern Serbia, consisting of the southern part of the Pannonian Plain...
- History of Serbia
The origins of the history of today's Serbia lie in the Slavic settlement on the Balkans, on the territories ruled by the Byzantine Empire, between 6th and 8th centuries...
- Rac Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 5 million Croats living in the southern Central Europe region, along the east bank of the Adriatic Sea and an estimated 9 million throughout the world...
of Hungary
External links