Ancient Sirmium of
Julian, Syrmium, 361 Sremska Mitrovica is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Archaeologists have found a trace of organized
human life dating from 5000 BC onwards.
Ionian jewellery dating to 500BC was excavated in the city. When the
Romans conquered the city in the 1st century BC, Sirmium already was a settlement with a long tradition. In the 1st century, Sirmium gained a status of a colony of the citizens of
Rome, and became a very important military and strategic location in
Pannonia province. The war expeditions of Roman emperors
Trajan,
Marcus Aurelius, and
Claudius II, were prepared in Sirmium. In 103, Pannonia was split into two provinces:
Pannonia Superior and
Pannonia Inferior, and Sirmium became the capital city of the latter. In 296,
Diocletian implemented a new territorial division of Pannonia. Instead of previous two provinces, there were four new provinces established in former territory of original Pannonia:
Pannonia Prima,
Pannonia Valeria,
Pannonia Savia and
Pannonia Secunda. Capital city of Pannonia Secunda was Sirmium. In 293, with the establishment of
tetrarchy, the Roman Empire was split into four parts; Sirmium became one of the four capital cities of the Empire, the other three being
Augusta Treverorum,
Mediolanum, and
Nicomedia (modern
Trier,
Milan and
Izmit). During the tetrarchy, Sirmium was the capital of emperor
Galerius. With the establishment of
praetorian prefectures in 318, the capital of the prefecture of
Illyricum was Sirmium. Beginning in the 4th century, the city was an important
Christian centre, and was a seat of the Episcopate of Sirmium. Four Christian
councils were held in Sirmium. At the end of the 4th century, Sirmium was brought under the sway of the
Goths, and later, was again annexed to the Eastern Roman Empire. In 441, Sirmium was conquered by the
Huns, and after this conquest, it remained for more than a century in the hands of various Germanic tribes, such were
Eastern Goths and
Gepids. For a short time, Sirmium was the center of the
Gepid State and the king
Cunimund minted golden coins in it. After 567, Sirmium was again incorporated into
Eastern Roman Empire. The city was conquered and destroyed by
Avars in 582. This event marked the end of the period of late Antiquity in the history of Sirmium. 11 luxurious golden belts of Avar handicraft dating to the 6th century was excavated in the vicinity.
After the Avar conquest For the next two centuries Sirmium was a place of little importance. At the end of the 8th century, Sirmium belonged to the Frankish State. The historical role of Sirmium increased again in the 9th century, when it was part of the
Bulgarian Empire. Pope Adrian II gave
St Methodius the title of Archbishop of Sirmium. After having adopted Christianity, the Bulgarians restored in Sirmium the Christian Episcopate, having in mind old Christian traditions and the reputation this city had in the ancient world. In the 11th century, Sirmium was a residence of
Sermon, a duke of
Syrmia, who was a vassal of the
Bulgarian Samuil. After 1018, the city was again included into the
Byzantine Empire, and since the end of the 11th century, Sirmium was a subject of a dispute between the Byzantine Empire and the
Kingdom of Hungary, until 1180 when the Byzantine Empire gave up Sirmium, surrendering it to the Kingdom of Hungary. In the 11th century, a Byzantine province named
Theme of Sirmium had its capital in this city. Emperor
Basil II (976–1025) created administrative system in which Sirmium was a seat of
strategos Serbias. For a while, about 1451, the city was in possession of the Serbian despot
Đurađ Branković. In 1521 the city came into
Ottoman hands and it remained under the Ottoman rule for almost two centuries. According to Ottoman traveler
Evliya Çelebi, Mitrovica had been conquered by the Bosnian sanjak bey
Husrev-bey. It was renamed as "Dimitrofça". The name of the mayor of the city was Dimitar and since the middle of the 16th century, the city was mostly populated with
Muslims. According to the 1566/69 data, the population of the city was composed of 592 Muslim and 30
Christian houses, while according to the 1572 data, it was composed of 598 Muslim and 18 Christian houses. According to the 1573 data, the city had 17 mosques and no Christian church. During the Ottoman rule, Sremska Mitrovica was the largest settlement in
Syrmia, and was the administrative center of the Ottoman
Sanjak of Syrmia. It was temporarily occupied by Austrian troops between 1688 and 1690. They finally took it in 1717 and took possession of it after signing
Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718. With the establishment of the
Habsburg administration in 1718, the Muslim population fled from the city and was replaced with
Serbian,
Croatian, and
German settlers. According to the 1765 data, the population of the city numbered 809 people, of whom 514 were Serbs and 290 Catholics. Sremska Mitrovica was part of the Habsburg
Military Frontier (
Slavonian Krajina). In 1848–49, it was part of the
Serbian Voivodship, a Serb autonomous region within Austrian Empire, but in 1849, it was returned under administration of the Military Frontier. With the abolition of the Slavonian Military Frontier in 1881, Sremska Mitrovica was included into
Syrmia County, which was part of the
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within
Austria-Hungary. According to the 1910 census, the population of the city numbered 12,909 people, of which 8,793 spoke the Serbo-Croatian language (4,878 of those spoke Serbian and 3,915 spoke Croatian) and 2,341 German. The administrative area of the city (which did not included the city itself) had 32,012 inhabitants, of which 28,093 spoke Serbo-Croatian (27,022 of those spoke Serbian and 1,071 spoke Croatian) and 2,324 German. This was attacked during the 1914
Shelling of Belgrade which was the first battle of the First world war
After the First World War In 1918, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy collapsed and the Syrmia region first became a part of the newly formed
State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, and then, on 24 November 1918, the assembly of Syrmia, composed of Serbs in
Ruma decided most of Syrmia (including Mitrovica) would join the
Kingdom of Serbia. in case the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs would have not united with Kingdom of Serbia, which did occur on December 1 st. 1918, a week later. Subsequently, on 1 December 1918, Kingdom of Serbia united with the
Kingdom of Montenegro and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to form the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed to
Yugoslavia in 1929). Between 1918 and 1922, Sremska Mitrovica was part of the Syrmia County, between 1922 and 1929 part of the Syrmia Oblast, between 1929 and 1931 part of the
Drina Banovina, and, between 1931 and 1941, part of the
Danube Banovina. visits the memorial park in Sremska Mitrovica, dedicated to the
World War II victims in Syrmia During
World War II, the city was occupied by
Axis troops and was attached to the
Independent State of Croatia. During that time its name was changed to
Hrvatska Mitrovica (meaning
Croatian Mitrovica). One of the largest Nazi concentration/death camps in the Independent State of Croatia existed in Sremska Mitrovica and as many as 10,000 victims (Serbs, Jews, and antifascists) were killed here. The
Serbian Jewish population was to be interned in a
concentration camp built first in Jarak and then at Zasavica. However, both locations proved to be too flooded for construction. The Germans had to abandon these locations and use
Sajmište, which resulted in
the destruction of 83% of Serbian Jewry. In the
Yugoslav wars in
Sremska Mitrovica Prison, some
Croatian
prisoners of war were kept in this prison. The main prison facility; the largest known in Serbia, was open from November 1991 to August 1992 and was a scene where many prisoners were killed,
tortured,
abused and
raped. Beginning in 1944, the town was part of the Autonomous Province of
Vojvodina within the new
Socialist Yugoslavia and, from 1945, within the Socialist Republic of Serbia. From 1992 to 2003 it was part of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which was then transformed into the state union of
Serbia and Montenegro. Since the 2006 independence of
Montenegro, Sremska Mitrovica is part of an independent
Serbia. ==Inhabited places==