Vitez

For other uses, see Vitez (disambiguation).
Vitez
Витез
Town and Municipality

Flag
Coat of arms

Location of Vitez within Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Country  Bosnia and Herzegovina
Government
 • Municipality president Tomislav Bošnjak Matić HDZ BiH
Area
 • Total 159 km2 (61 sq mi)
Population (2013 census)
 • Total 27,006
 • Density 170/km2 (400/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Area code(s) +387 30
Website http://www.gradvitez.info

Vitez is a town and municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is administratively part of the Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Name

The word "vitez" literally means knight in the South Slavic languages, Bosnian; Croatian; Slovenian; Serbian and Macedonian, it is also used in Hungarian. The Russian cognate is Vityaz.

History

The first settlements belonged to the "Butmir Culture". One of the most famous artifacts found from that age in Veliki Mošunj, is a "Big Bronze Sword", uniquely crafted. During Roman time, the first urban settlements are being built. Through the river Lašva valley there were communication routes in which the caravans, armies, missionaries, etc. used to travel.

On Castoriusovoj Tabuli Peutingeriani, there were caravan's routes from which the important one goes through this valley to connect from Pannonia at the North to Aegnatia at the South. U lower levels of the valley there were findings and lots of tombs, foundations, ... According to excavated articles from the middle age significant findings are discovered in Zabilje, Počulica, Kremenik, Gačice, Večeriska, Preočica etc.. During Big Migration in Europe, caused by the decay of Roman Empire, in this region the Slavs begin to come from nowadays Ukraine and Poland, and are organizing their first states. At nearby Bilino Polje (Zenica) the great Bosnian ruler Kulin Ban left the Charter of Ban Kulin, the oldest written document of all South Slavic states, 29 August 1189, written in Bosančica (Old Bosnian Alphabet). In the time of Ban Stjepan Kotromanić there was a census in which old Bosnia had seven counties.

It is also known that Vitez was part of Bosnia until the decay of Bosnia when Ottoman Empire occupied this region. This was the period in Vitez got its name. It is known that the first settlement in nowadays urban area was formed around the mosque, built in 1590. Knowing that mosques are being erected in urban areas, it is logical to say that this settlement existed even before. Vitez is mentioned once again during an uprising against Turks led by Husein Gradaščević, when he defeated Turkish Army at Kosovo, after which he was named for Bosnian de facto ruler (Vezir). According to the Austrian officer Božića (1785), Vitez had 18 houses, mosque and Motel (Han).

After many centuries under the Ottoman rule, 1878 Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Vitez got occupied by Austro-Hungary Monarchy, and later 1908 annexed. During this time there were many changes in Bosnian society, both political and economical. For a short period they built many roads, railroads, mines,... But, unluckily only with goal to exploit Bosnian natural resources. At the place of old Turkish wood plant, Austrian entrepreneur Guido Rütgers built the enterprise for mechanical wood processing which was a milestone in a development of urban area. In 1879. Vitez had 510 inhabitants. Other companies existed as well, but were all owned by foreigners. It this period many people from parts of Monarchy came to work in Vitez, especially from Slovenia, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Switzerland.

Demographics

1971

20,628 total

1991

In 1991 the population of the Vitez municipality was 27,859, of which were 45.49% Croats (12,675), 41.32% Bosniaks (11,514), 5.38% Serbs (1,501), 4.94% Yugoslavs (1,377), 2.87% others and unknown (792). The population of the town itself was 7,200:

Sport

The town is home to the association footballfootball club NK Vitez, basketball club HKK Vitez Paladij, handball club R.K. Vitez, table tennis club STK Vitez and STK CM Vitez.

Notable people

References

Coordinates: 44°9.51′N 17°47.31′E / 44.15850°N 17.78850°E / 44.15850; 17.78850

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vitez.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/27/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.