Valjevo
Panorama of Valjevo
Valjevo is a city in western Serbia with about 62,000 inhabitants. The city is also the capital of the homonymous municipality in Okrug Kolubara, which has a total of about 95,000 inhabitants.
Geography
Valjevo is situated about 100 kilometers southwest of Serbia's capital, Belgrade, on the northeast edge of the Dinaric Alps in a Podgorina called hills. In the city the three rivers Gradac, Jablanica and Obnica flow together and form from here the river Kolubara. Through the confluence of the rivers, the typical city boiler situation has formed. The city center lies at an altitude of about 200 m. i J.
The surfaces of the immediate surroundings of the city are used predominantly agricultural, with in particular the northern slopes of reaching to a height of 400 meters hills are wooded usually. About seven kilometers south of the city begins the mountains of the Dinaric Alps, the 1104 meter high Maljen massif is located about 20 kilometers southwest of the city.
History
Valjevo was first mentioned in 1393 as a trading town in the kingdom of Nemanjic. In 1459 the city was conquered by Ottoman troops. She remained until the 19th century in the territory of the Ottoman Empire. The associated Islamic influence coined in this period, the urban development significantly. Was again a Serb dominated development was not until the formation of the Principality of Serbia after the two Serbian uprisings of 1804 and 1815. 1855 summed up the city council 's decision, scheduled rebuild the city square in neighborhoods that are visible in the city center today. The accompanying modernization led at the end of the 19th century to build a school, the municipal and county court, a savings bank and hotels. Had the city at the beginning of the 19th century only about 1000 inhabitants, the number had grown at the end of the century to about 8000.
In the 20th century Valjevo became an important industrial and cultural center in western Serbia, interrupted by the two World Wars, during which there was heavy destruction in Valjevo. In the course of forced industrialization policy of socialist Yugoslavia, the population grew from about 15,000 from 1948 to 1991 to about 60,000, and consequently four times.
Sons and daughters of the town
- Miloš Teodosić (* 1987), basketball player
- Matija Nastasić (* 1993), football player