;Back to Neolithic Age Excavations in 2017–2019 revealed a stable settlement since about 6500 BC in
Svinjarička Čuka in the village
Štulac (Lebane). (See there.) ;Prehistory and Medieval times The favorable location and the richness of nature made Jablanica valley important place since the earliest times. Traffic affordable and fertile, Leskovac valley has provided favorable conditions for the settlement of population. Archaeological findings, of which the most important are
Hissar and Caričin grad (
Iustiniana Prima) show that life in this area, continuously evolved from prehistoric man to date. First mention of Lebane as Hlebane dates back to 1512. ;After the liberation from the Ottomans Lebane is formed as a village of the same name after the liberation in 1878. Visiting Serbia in 1880s, M. Rakic writes about it as a "
big village populated by Serbs, in a valley, on the river Jablanica, on its left bank." Only when Lebane got the role of Jablanica district headquarters, it began to gradually develop in a direction of a small town. The core of this small town was a series of houses along the Jablanica which is 45m wide here (as is even now); at the end of this series are the buildings of the Court and Municipality. The main feature of this town were two huge cottonwood trees with a volume of not less than 10 m and three huge walnut tree on the right bank of the river, near the pedestrian bridge. One of these cottonwoods survived as one of the most recognizable Lebane's landmarks, in front of the Justiniana - Caričin Grad hotel, until 2008, when it was hit by a lightning and had to be removed. Lebane has always been a Christian village with about forty houses scattered on the hill near the river. In 1900 it had 67 houses with 460 inhabitants. ;World War 1 and interwar period During
WWI Lebane population
suffered greatly from Bulgarian occupiers. Because of forcible mobilization of youth to the
Bulgarian Army, people from
Jablanica and
Toplica rose to arms in
Toplica Uprising and managed to liberate large part of Southern Serbia. From 1929 to 1941, Lebane was part of the
Vardar Banovina of the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The emergence and development of the regional market in the period between the two world wars did not significantly encourage Lebane's development, so in the inter-war period it was still a rural town (eopolis) with about 1500 inhabitants. But its local importance was recognized by making it a center of Jablanica srez (corresponding to today's municipalities of Lebane,
Medveđa and
Bojnik). ;Modern times However, after
WWII and, especially, during the "Golden 70's", thanks to the numerous industrial plants built within the town, Lebane grew substantially and its population increased more than fivefold. The fastest pace of growth was in the period from 1977 to 1985, thanks to an unfortunate event – in 1976 Lebane was hit by a catastrophic flood. Then unregulated river Jablanica, swollen after a long rainy period, broke on 6 June, burst its banks and caused enormous material damage in Lebane. Flood toll was paid and human victims (killed two people). After this tragic event, with financial help, Lebane begins to industrialize faster, and the process of industrialization has caused more versatile and faster development of the city. ==Demographics==