Novi Pazar


Novi Pazar is a city located in the Raška District of southwestern Serbia. As of the 2022 census, the urban area has 71,462 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 106,720 inhabitants. The city is the cultural center of the Bosniaks in Serbia and of Sandžak. A multicultural area of Muslims and Orthodox Christians, many monuments of both religions, like the Altun-Alem Mosque and the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, are located in the region which has a total of 30 protected monuments of culture.

Name

During the 14th century under the old Serbian fortress of Stari Ras, an important market-place named Trgovište started to develop. By the middle of the 15th century, in the time of the final Ottoman Empire conquest of Old Serbia, another market-place was developing some 11 km to the east. The older place became known as Staro Trgovište and the younger as Novo Trgovište. The latter developed into the modern city of Novi Pazar.
The name "Novi Pazar" was derived from the Serbian name Novo Trgovište, via the Turkish name Yeni Pazar, which is itself derived from bazaar. The city is known as Pazari i Ri or Tregu i Ri in Albanian and simply Novi Pazar in Bosnian. Aside from that it is still known as Yeni Pazar in modern-day Turkey.

Geography

Novi Pazar is located in the valleys of the Jošanica, Raška, Deževska, and Ljudska rivers. It lies at an elevation of 496m, in the southeast Raška region. The city is surrounded by the Golija and Rogozna mountains, and the Pešter plateau lies to the west. The total area of the city administrative area is 742 km2. It contains 100 settlements, mostly small and spread over hills and mountains surrounding the city. The largest village is Mur, with over 3000 residents.

Climate

Novi Pazar has a humid continental climate typical of the hilly Raška region. It is generally cooler than Serbia's other major cities, though still significantly warmer than the neighboring town of Sjenica.

History

One of the oldest monuments of the area is the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul first built in the Roman era and reconstructed in the 9th century. Over many centuries the city area of Stari Ras was a borderline contested by the First Bulgarian Empire, Serbian Principality and Byzantine Empire.
Since the late-12th century, the region of modern Novi Pazar served as the principal province of the Serbian realm. It was an administrative division, usually under the direct rule of the monarch and sometimes as an appanage. It was the crownland, seat or appanage of various Serbian states throughout the Middle Ages, including the Serbian Kingdom and the Serbian Empire. In 1427, the region and the remnant of Ras, as part of the Serbian Despotate, was ruled by Serbian despot Đurađ Branković. One of the markets was called "despotov trg". In 1439, the region was captured by the Ottoman Empire, but was reconquered by the Serbian Despotate in 1444. In the summer of 1455, the Ottomans conquered the region again, and named the settlement of Trgovište Eski Bazar. Novi Pazar was formally founded as a city in its own right in 1461 by Ottoman general Isa-Beg Ishaković, the Bosnian governor of the district who also founded Sarajevo. Ishaković decided to establish a new town on the area of Trgovište as an urban center between Raška and Jošanica, where at first he built a mosque, a public bath, a marketplace, a hostel, and a compound.
The town was the capital of the Sanjak of Novi Pazar during Ottoman rule. From 1878 to 1908, it was controlled by Austria-Hungary, and from 1908 to 1913, it was again part of the Ottoman empire under the Kosovo vilayet. It became part of the Kingdom of Serbia during the First Balkan War in 1912, and then in 1918 the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
The area has traditionally had a large number of Albanians and Muslim Slavs with a different culture from the Orthodox Serbs. In May 1901, Albanians pillaged and partially burned the cities of Novi Pazar, Sjenica and Priština, and massacred Serbs in the area of Ibar Kolašin. A contemporary report stated that when the Serb forces entered the Sandjak of Novi Pazar, they "pacified" the Albanians.
In the Battle for Novi Pazar, fought at the end of 1941 during the Second World War, the Chetniks, initially supported by the Partisans, unsuccessfully tried to capture the city. Following the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević on 5 October 2000, newly elected Prime Minister of Serbia Zoran Đinđić made considerable efforts to help economically the whole area of Novi Pazar. Also, with the help of Đinđić, the International University of Novi Pazar was founded in 2002. He made close relations with the leaders of Bosniaks, as part of his wider plan to reform Serbia. Twelve years following his assassination, the Novi Pazar Assembly decided to rename one street in his name.

Demographics

According to the 2022 census, the municipality of Novi Pazar has 106,720 inhabitants, while the city itself has 71,462 inhabitants. A total of 68.4% of population live in urban area of the city. The population density is 135.32 inhabitants per square kilometer. Novi Pazar has 23,022 households with 4,36 members on average; the number of homes is 28,688.
Religion structure in the city of Novi Pazar is predominantly Muslim, with Serbian Orthodox, Atheists, Catholics, and other minority groups. Most of the population speaks either Bosnian or Serbian.
The composition of population by sex and average age:
  • Male - 49,984 and
  • Female - 50,426.
A total of 33,583 citizens have secondary education, while the 7,351 citizens have higher education. Of those with higher education, 5,005 have university education.

Ethnic composition

From the 15th century to the Balkan Wars, Novi Pazar was the capital of the sanjak of Novi Pazar. Typically, like other centres of the wider area, its composition was multiethnic, with Albanians, Serbs and Slavic-speaking Muslims as the largest ethnic groups of the city. The Ottoman travel writer Evliya Çelebi noted that it was one of the most populated towns in the Balkans in the 17th century. Jews also lived in the city until World War II. The entire Jewish population of Novi Pazar - 221 individuals, were imprisoned, sent to the concentration camp Staro Sajmište and killed during the rule of Aćif Hadžiahmetović.
The ethnic composition of the city administrative area:
Ethnic groupPopulation
1953		Population
1961		Population
1971		Population
1981		Population
1991		Population
2002		Population
2011		Population
2022
Bosniaks-----65,59381,54585,204
Serbs25,17727,93325,07621,83419,06417,59916,23414,142
Muslims-23,25037,14049,76964,2511,599-1,851
Roma-3721044433469566486
Gorani-----15246255
Albanians144126307233209129202200
Montenegrins1745433592952321094434
Yugoslavs13,5641,2611839317001366772
Turks11,009-------
Others2635,6271,0574944597474,476161
Total50,33158,77764,32674,00085,24985,996100,410106,720

Ethnic composition of the urban area of the city:
Ethnic groupPopulation
1948		Population
1953		Population
1981		Population
1991		Population
2002		Population
2011		Population
2022
Bosniaks/Muslims1,085-32,79843,77447,24358,25260,684
Serbs10,6783,4666,6896,6986,7246,5766,067
Gorani-----240235
Albanians-134208172120162158
Yugoslavs-5,9448485701056468
Turks-4,280-----
Montenegrins-145246190933934
Others2291353103451,5413,3044,217
Total11,99214,10441,09951,74954,60468,74971,462

Settlements

Aside from the urban area of Novi Pazar, the city administrative area includes the following settlements, with population from the 2002 census: