Banatska Palanka

Banatska Palanka (Банатска Паланка) is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Bela Crkva municipality, South Banat District, Vojvodina province. The population of the village numbering 837 people (2002 census), of whom 752 are ethnic Serbs.

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Name

In Serbian the village is known as Banatska Palanka (pronounced [bǎnaːtskaː pǎlaːŋka]; Банатска Паланка); in German as Palank or Neu-Palanka; in Hungarian as Palánk; and in Turkish as Haram.

Geography

Banatska Palanka is located in south-eastern part of the Serbian Banat, near the border with Romania. There are in fact two settlements in this area - Banatska Palanka and Stara Palanka. The second one is not officially regarded as a separate settlement, but as part of Banatska Palanka.

History

Banatska Palanka is an old settlement, existing at this spot since the 17th century, although the oldest settlement was on the place of today's Stara Palanka (Old Palanka) which is located at the mouth of river Nera into Danube.

At the beginning of the 19th century Banatska Palanka was an important Danube port. The settlement has a continuous decrease of population. Today Banatska Palanka together with Stara Palanka counts 837 inhabitants.

Historical population

Economy and features

Economy of Banatska Palanka is mostly orientated on agriculture, although its inhabitants have other economical activities too. Stara Palanka is entirely designated for social recreation centre (including hotels, resorts, restaurants, sport playgrounds, objects and spaces for musical and drama performances, as well as the construction of new flates and houses for vacation).

Banatska Palanka is a crossroad between the traffic directions Bela Crkva-Kovin and Stara Palanka-Ram. It also possess a ferry-boat, which is the shortest way of traveling from this part of Vojvodina to Požarevac and Central Serbia.

References

See also