In the middle of the 18th century, during
Ottoman administration, two settlements with this name were mentioned -
Gornja Kula and
Donja Kula. These settlements were part of the Ottoman
Sanjak of Segedin and were populated by ethnic
Serbs. From the end of the 17th century, the region was under administration of the
Habsburg monarchy and two settlements were mentioned as
Mala Kula and
Velika Kula and were unpopulated. In 1714, there was a record about a single settlement named Kula that had 14 houses. In 1733, the population of the settlement numbered 251 houses and its inhabitants were
Serbs. Hungarians started to settle there in 1740 and Germans in 1780 to 1785. Until the middle of the 19th century, the settlement was part of the
Batsch-Bodrog County within the
Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary. In 1848-1849 it was part of the autonomous
Serbian Vojvodina and from 1849 to 1860, it was part of the
Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar, a separate Habsburg crownland. After the abolishment of the voivodeship in 1860, the settlement was again included into
Batsch-Bodrog County. In the second half of the 19th century, some
Rusyns were settled here as well. After 1867, colonization of
Hungarians was intensified, and until the beginning of the 20th century they replaced
Serbs as largest ethnic group in Kula. According to the 1910 census, the population of Kula was ethnically mixed: from the total population of 9,119 there was 3,679 speakers of
Hungarian, 2,510 speakers of
Serbian, 2,425 speakers of
German, and 456 speakers of
Rusyn. After 1918, the settlement was part of the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed to
Kingdom of Yugoslavia). In 1918–1919, it was part of the
Banat, Bačka and Baranja region, and also (from 1918 to 1922) part of the
Novi Sad County. From 1922 to 1929, it was part of the
Bačka Oblast, and from 1929 to 1941 part of the
Danube Banovina. During
World War II, From 1941 to 1944, Kula was under
Axis occupation and was attached to the
Horthy's Hungary. In 1944, the
Soviet Red Army and
Yugoslav partisans expelled Axis troops from the region and Kula was included into
autonomous province of Vojvodina within new
socialist Yugoslavia. Since 1945, Vojvodina is part of the
People's Republic of Serbia within Yugoslavia. According to 1953 census,
Hungarians were the largest ethnic group in the town, while subsequent censuses recorded
Serb ethnic plurality. The
German community left Kula at the end of
World War II, while a sizable number of Serb
Montenegrins from
Montenegro settled there instead of Germans. After the breakup of
Yugoslavia (1991–1992) and
Serbia and Montenegro (2006), the town became part of an independent
Republic of Serbia. Today the Serbs are the largest ethnic group in the town. ==Inhabited places==