| Vrbas Врбас |
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| — Municipality and Town — | |||
| Churches in Vrbas | |||
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| Location of the municipality of Vrbas within Serbia | |||
| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Serbia | ||
| District | South Bačka | ||
| Settlements | 7 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Željko Vidović | ||
| Area[1] | |||
| • Municipality | 376 km2 (145.2 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2011 census)[2] | |||
| • Town | 25,907 | ||
| • Municipality | 45,852 | ||
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | ||
| Postal code | 21460 | ||
| Area code | +381 21 | ||
| Car plates | VS | ||
| Website | www.vrbas.net | ||
Vrbas (Врбас) is a city and municipality located in Serbia at , in the South Bačka District in the province of Vojvodina. In 2002 the city had a total population of 25,887, while the municipality had 45,839.
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Its name stems from the word "Willow" in the Serbian language. During the SFRY period, the town was renamed Titov Vrbas (meaning "the Vrbas of Tito"), after Josip Broz Tito. Like all other towns in Socialist Yugoslavia named after Tito, the first part was dropped once the new states were formed during the early 1990s.
In Rusyn, the town is known as Вербас, in Hungarian as Verbász, in Croatian as Vrbas, in German as Werbass, and in Turkish as Verbas.
Vrbas was mentioned first in 1213 as Orbaszpalota, under the administration of the Kingdom of Hungary. According to other sources, it was mentioned first in 1387.[3] In the 16th century it became a part of the Ottoman Empire. During Ottoman administration it was populated by ethnic Serbs.[4] Since the end of the 17th century, Vrbas was under administration of the Habsburg Monarchy, and, according to 1720 census, it was populated exclusively by Serbs.[5]
After 1784 many Germans settled in the town. Before settlement of Germans, the population of the town included about 250 Serb families.[6] Germans founded a new settlement named Novi Vrbas (New Vrbas) near old (Serb) settlement which then became known as Stari Vrbas (Old Vrbas). In 1910, population of Novi Vrbas was mostly composed of ethnic Germans, while population of Stari Vrbas was ethnically mixed and was mainly composed of Serbs and Germans.[7]
In 1918, Vrbas became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed to Yugoslavia). The town was under Hungarian occupation between 1941 and 1944. As a consequence of the World War II events in Yugoslavia, the German population fled from the town after this war. In the same time, many settlers from Montenegro came to Vrbas and other neighboring places.
Vrbas municipality includes the city of Vrbas and the following villages:
Settlements with Serb ethnic majority are: Bačko Dobro Polje, Zmajevo, Kosančić, and Ravno Selo. Ethnically mixed settlements are: Vrbas (with relative Serb majority), Kucura (with relative Rusyn majority), and Savino Selo (with relative Montenegrin majority).
According to the 2002 census, 85% of inhabitants of the Vrbas municipality speak Serbian as mother tongue. Other spoken languages include Rusyn (8%), Hungarian (4%) and Ukrainian (1%).
Seats in the municipal parliament won in the 2004 local elections: [1]
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