Zalužnica

Zalužnica
Village
Country	Croatia
Municipality	Vrhovine
Population (2011)
• Total	220
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Zalužnica is a village in the Gacka valley in Lika-Senj County, Croatia. It is located around the main road between the market town of Otočac and the Plitvice Lakes National Park. Over the last 100 years its population was around 700–1000 people but was de-populated in 1995 during the war that saw the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. A handful of old people remained in the village and a few new people have subsequently settled in the last 10 years.

The village was probably established in the 17th century by peoples migrating from the Ottoman Empire in a territory then under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The existing village church dates to 1705. During both the late 16th and 17th centuries the Ottomans had major offensives northwards. Many people fled ahead of them who were predominantly of the Christian Orthodox faith. The ethnicity of these peoples has been debated extensively but clearly from a simple review of family names they were a mix of mainly Serbs, Vlachs and various other minorities from Ottoman territories to the south. They settled in Lika and surrounding counties (such as Krbava); this was allowed by the Austro-Hungarian authorities to create a bulwark against future Ottoman incursions.

The Austro-Hungarian Army later maintained a presence in Otočac recruiting from both the Catholic Croat and Orthodox Serb communities in the surrounding area. This included the Otočac Border Regiment Nr.2 in the mid-19th century and the XIII Militärterritorial (Korps) bezirk, Otočac at the start of World War I.

Population

A survey from 1895^[1] had the population at 1139 with 178 households. This was made up of the main village plus some smaller settlements, namely Draga Brakusa, Čelina, Gola Brdo and Cvijanovic kuca. This population probably represents the pinnacle in numbers as in the first decade of the 20th century many people left for the USA with millions of others from Europe,^[2] then there was the impact of the two World Wars (death and migration), from the early 1960s many younger people migrated to the cities and finally the wholesale migration of the village to Serbia in 1995 due to war. According to the 2011 census, there were 220 inhabitants living in 157 housing units.^[3]

The village family names were in many respects clan orientated, which possibly belies much of the peoples origin as Serbian and Bosnian. Over time, the composition of family names would have also changed but a significant portion of the village had the family name of Hinić (Hinich), which is attested from the earliest time to the end of the village. Other family names included Brakus, Borovac, Uzelac, Vukovojac. Although families of the same name were related, many were not (in living memory) and many households adopted or were given nicknames ('spitznamen' in the local language) to differentiate themselves.

Language

Given the relative isolation, mixed origins, neighbouring Croats who spoke with a different accent as well as dialect and the influence of the Austro-Hungarian state, the language developed its own character. From an academic perspective the dialect would be grouped under Štokavian and mainly the Ijekavian accent (e.g. mljeko rather than Serbian mleko); the latter likely taken up from the surrounding Croat population (together with local Croat words and phrases). While historically classified as a 'Serbo-Croat' language, German words also became inter-mingled into every day use from the past influence of Austro-Hungarian rule. The rural setting naturally stamped its own influences on the accent.

Surrounding area

The village is located around the main road running from Plitvice Lakes National Park to the east that leads to a crossroads at Čovići; turning northwest the road leads to Otočac and from there onto the coast to Senj, while turning south leads to Gospić. By car, it takes about 45 minutes to drive to Plitvice and 15–20 minutes to Otočac. The first village to the southwest towards Čovići is the village of Sinac (both Croat villages). Otočac was a mixed market town of Croats (majority) and Serbs (and on the outskirts of town a settlement of Roma).

North of the main road is a country lane where Zalužnica merges with Doljani and beyond that Škare and Podum (all Serb villages). East towards Plitvice, the first village is Vrhovine (mixed but mainly a Serb village), which is probably the highest above sea level in the immediate area (700m above sea level compared to Zalužnica's 500 m, only 10–15 minutes drive down the road). Vrhovine has a railway station. While there are a few households off the beaten track like Dugi Dol, there are no other settlements because to the immediate south, south-east and north east are mountain peaks. Zalužnica sits on the eastern slope of the Gacka valley; in the eastern part of the village by the main road is a limestone cavern and underground river, which, until the early 1950s, was a main drinking water supply for the village (later a number of common wells were dug around the village that tap into the same underground water supply).

Farming

Farming in Zalužnica was always a matter of mainly self-subsistence made more difficult by the limestone geology and mountainous terrain. The mainstays of the average farm was sheep, cattle, pigs, wheat, barley, and potatoes. Plums orchards were also a very important resource from which to make the local spirit called Šlivovic. The winters are typically harsh, and the summers are hot. Until the early 1960s, most work on the farm was manual throughout the year using bullocks/ox (or a few families who could afford to keep horses) as the main power source for heavy farm work. By the 1970s, farming became almost fully mechanised. Typical farm sizes were around 10 to 20 hectares with many small fields scattered around the village resulting from historical inheritance which further limited the scope for larger farmsteads. For those farms away from the main road electricity was only connected in the late 1950-60's and piped water in the 1970-80's.

Notes and References

Coordinates: 44°51′18″N 15°21′25″E / 44.85500°N 15.35694°E / 44.85500; 15.35694