THE SETTLEMENT OF THE SERBS FROM KRAJINA IN PODRINJE 1835-1836

Abstract

The forced displacement of Muslims from Podrinje in 1834 caused unrest along the Serbian-Ottoman border on the Drina River due to the raids by bands of displaced Muslims into the territory of the Principality of Serbia. In three urban settlements from which Muslims had moved out – Loznica, Lipnica, and Lesnica, many vacant houses and a large amount of land remained, which the displaced people were unwilling to sell even months and years after being expelled. The first larger group of Serbs from Bosanska Krajina, from the surroundings of Buzim, Bihac, and Kladusa, arrived in Serbia after being expelled from Austrian territory, from which they were pushed back into the Ottoman Empire. Serbian authorities settled these migrants in the abandoned Muslim houses in Lesnica. The news about the settlement of their compatriots in Serbia spread throughout Bosanska Krajina, so that by September 1836, a total of about 3.200 Serbs from Bosanska Krajina, from the border line between the Ottoman Empire and Austria were settled in Podrinje. Due to a cholera epidemic in 1836 and dissatisfaction with the settlement conditions, at least half of the settlers had left Serbia and returned to Bosanska Krajina by 1838.