Ćuprija

The Romans founded the town as a fort Horreum Margi (Horreum: Granary, Margi: Morava) on the road from Constantinople to Rome, where it crosses the river now known as Velika Morava. It served as a Roman military base, had a shield factory{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IiLtO4ZvTdEC | title=A Social Economic and Administrative Survey | publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press | last=Jones | first=Arnold Hugh Martin | series=The Later Roman Empire, 284-602 | year=1986 | volume=1 | isbn=978-0-8018-3353-3}} and gained the status of municipium before AD 224. In 505, the Romans were defeated by Goths and Huns under Mundo, a descendant of Attila the Hun.{{cite book|last=Jaques|first=Tony|title=Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: F-O|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dh6jydKXikoC|year=2007|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-33538-9}}by Tony Jaques

Under Slavic rule, it became known as Ravno (literal translation to English would be "flat"), since it is in a flat river valley. Some local names (of the villages Paljane and Isakovo, of the river Mirosava) recall the major clash in autumn 1191 between the Serbs (under Stefan Nemanja) and the Byzantines (under Emperor Isaac II Angelos).

In the 15th century, Ćuprija became part of Ottoman Empire. After conquering this settlement, the Turks built a bridge or "köprü" in Turkish – hence the name of the town. Shortly after the First Serbian Uprising began, in 1805 one of the first and most important battles was won by Ivankovac, near Ćuprija. Serbian uprisers under the leadership of dukes Milenko Stojković, Petar Dobrnjac, and Stevan Sinđelić defeated a Turkish army which led to further spreading of the Uprising through all of Belgrade Pashaluk. Four years after that, in 1809, Ćuprija Elementary school was founded.

During the Second Serbian Uprising, Serbian prince Miloš Obrenović made an oral agreement in Ćuprija which enabled Serbs in Belgrade Pashaluk to collect their own taxes, to participate in proceedings against Serbs and to establish a National Office composed of Serbian princes. After 1834, the town started to grow economically and eventually merged with the nearby villages of Mućava, Mrčajevci, and Žirovnica. In the Ottoman era, Ćuprija was the town of Smederevo with the highest concentration of Albanians. Contemporary Serb author Joakim Vujić recorded more "Turkish Arnauts than Serbs" in 1826 in the town. After the war, Obrenović began a campaign to buy out all Muslim Albanian households in the town.{{harvnb|Ceribašić-Begovac|2017|p=84}} In 1853, "Dobričevo" farm was founded. This led to the establishment of the Agricultural school in 1899. In 1911, a Sugar factory called "ŠELK 911" was founded.

During the 19th century, Ćuprija was the center of Nahiyah. After 1890, it was the seat of Morvaski okrug (Morava County).

From 1929 to 1941, Ćuprija was part of the Morava Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

In World War II, a special Ćuprija-Paraćin partisan troop was formed in order to fight against the German Wehrmacht. On September 26, 1941, 35 members of this troop were shot by German occupiers. The Second World War finally ended in Ćuprija on October 13, 1944, when town was liberated from the Wehrmacht during the so-called Belgrade Operation.

During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the town's center was heavily damaged. Some buildings still remain in ruins. As of 2011 census, the municipality had 30,645 inhabitants.

Aside from the town of Ćuprija, the municipality includes the following 16 settlements:

{{div col}}

• Batinac
• Bigrenica
• Dobričevo
• Dvorica
• Isakovo
• Ivankovac
• Jovac
• Kovanica
• Krušar
• Mijatovac
• Ostrikovac
• Paljane
• Senje
• Supska
• Virine
• Vlaška

{{col div end}}

{{Historical populations

| type =

| percentages = pagr

|1948|28806 |1953|32313 |1961|34028 |1971|36529 |1981|38841 |1991|38747 |2002|33567 |2011|30645 |2022|25325

| source = {{cite web | url=http://pod2.stat.gov.rs/ObjavljenePublikacije/Popis2011/Knjiga20.pdf | title=2011 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in the Republic of Serbia | publisher=Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia | accessdate=11 January 2017 | website=stat.gov.rs}}

}}

The municipality of Ćuprija had a population of 30,645 inhabitants, according to the 2011 census results. All settlements in municipality have Serb ethnic majority except two villages, Bigrenica and Isakovo with Vlach ethnic majority.

The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):{{cite web|title=MUNICIPALITIES AND REGIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA, 2019.|url=https://publikacije.stat.gov.rs/G2019/PdfE/G201913046.pdf|website=stat.gov.rs|publisher=Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia|date=25 December 2019|accessdate=28 December 2019}}

• Elementary school "Đura Jakšić"
• Elementary school "Vuk Stefanović Karadžić"
• Elementary school "13. Oktobar"
• High school in Ćuprija
• Medical High-School
• Technical School
• Medical College in Ćuprija
• Musical Elementary School "Dušan Skovran"
• School for musically gifted children
• Faculty for banking and trade, Alpha University
• College of Health Studies

Sport activities in Ćuprija are developed. Thanks to many athletes and coaches (such as Vera Nikolić, Dragan Zdravković, Snežana Jolović-Pajkić, Zora Antić -Tomecić, Miroslav Pavlović, Vladan Đorđević, Dušan Košutić, Vlada Jovanović, Ljiljana Šušnjar and Aleksandar Petrović etc.) Ćuprija was well known as "the Athletics town". Beside athletic, soccer (football in Europe), basketball, handball, tennis and volleyball are extremely popular sports in Ćuprija.

Ćuprija's football club "Morava" was founded in 1918 and is currently competing in Pomoravsko-Timočka football zone. It has its own stadium with a capacity of 10,000 sport fans.

In Ćuprija, there could be found a dance club for those who love to dance.

Ćuprija lies on international road and railway links {{convert|150|km|0|abbr=off}} south of Belgrade and {{convert|90|km|0|abbr=on}} north of Niš. The main source of income is the College of Nursing and Agriculture. Ravanica Monastery, built in 1381 by Lazar of Serbia, is {{convert|8|km|0|abbr=on}} to the east.

Ćuprija has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) with hot summers coupled with cool nights and moderately cold, snowy, and very cloudy winters. Precipitation peaks during the month of June.{{Weather box

|width = auto

|location = Ćuprija (1991–2020, extremes 1961–present)

|metric first = y

|single line = y

|Jan record high C = 20.7

|Feb record high C = 25.5

|Mar record high C = 29.0

|Apr record high C = 33.8

|May record high C = 35.4

|Jun record high C = 40.1

|Jul record high C = 44.6

|Aug record high C = 42.7

|Sep record high C = 38.3

|Oct record high C = 33.2

|Nov record high C = 28.0

|Dec record high C = 21.4

|year record high C = 44.6

|Jan high C = 4.8

|Feb high C = 7.7

|Mar high C = 13.2

|Apr high C = 18.9

|May high C = 23.7

|Jun high C = 27.5

|Jul high C = 30.0

|Aug high C = 30.4

|Sep high C = 24.8

|Oct high C = 18.7

|Nov high C = 12.1

|Dec high C = 5.8

|year high C = 18.1

|Jan mean C = 0.5

|Feb mean C = 2.3

|Mar mean C = 6.7

|Apr mean C = 12.0

|May mean C = 16.7

|Jun mean C = 20.5

|Jul mean C = 22.3

|Aug mean C = 22.1

|Sep mean C = 17.0

|Oct mean C = 11.7

|Nov mean C = 6.8

|Dec mean C = 1.8

|year mean C = 11.7

|Jan low C = -3.1

|Feb low C = -2.2

|Mar low C = 1.0

|Apr low C = 5.4

|May low C = 10.0

|Jun low C = 13.4

|Jul low C = 14.7

|Aug low C = 14.6

|Sep low C = 10.7

|Oct low C = 6.4

|Nov low C = 2.7

|Dec low C = -1.6

|year low C = 6.0

|Jan record low C = -27.1

|Feb record low C = -25.8

|Mar record low C = -17.3

|Apr record low C = -8.1

|May record low C = -3.2

|Jun record low C = 1.0

|Jul record low C = 4.1

|Aug record low C = 3.6

|Sep record low C = -3.3

|Oct record low C = -8.0

|Nov record low C = -18.6

|Dec record low C = -20.8

|year record low C = -27.1

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 50.5

|Feb precipitation mm = 47.8

|Mar precipitation mm = 48.9

|Apr precipitation mm = 61.9

|May precipitation mm = 76.8

|Jun precipitation mm = 74.5

|Jul precipitation mm = 61.6

|Aug precipitation mm = 45.3

|Sep precipitation mm = 53.5

|Oct precipitation mm = 57.4

|Nov precipitation mm = 49.1

|Dec precipitation mm = 58.4

|year precipitation mm = 685.7

|Jan humidity = 82.2

|Feb humidity = 77.0

|Mar humidity = 70.1

|Apr humidity = 67.9

|May humidity = 70.6

|Jun humidity = 69.7

|Jul humidity = 66.8

|Aug humidity = 66.5

|Sep humidity = 72.0

|Oct humidity = 77.3

|Nov humidity = 79.2

|Dec humidity = 83.2

|year humidity = 73.5

|unit precipitation days = 0.1 mm

|Jan precipitation days = 14.7

|Feb precipitation days = 13.6

|Mar precipitation days = 12.6

|Apr precipitation days = 13.6

|May precipitation days = 14.3

|Jun precipitation days = 11.5

|Jul precipitation days = 10.0

|Aug precipitation days = 8.0

|Sep precipitation days = 10.3

|Oct precipitation days = 10.6

|Nov precipitation days = 11.4

|Dec precipitation days = 15.3

|year precipitation days = 145.9

|Jan snow days = 8.9

|Feb snow days = 7.7

|Mar snow days = 3.7

|Apr snow days = 0.8

|May snow days = 0.0

|Jun snow days = 0.0

|Jul snow days = 0.0

|Aug snow days = 0.0

|Sep snow days = 0.0

|Oct snow days = 0.2

|Nov snow days = 2.3

|Dec snow days = 6.9

|year snow days = 30.5

|Jan sun = 71.3

|Feb sun = 95.4

|Mar sun = 154.3

|Apr sun = 190.0

|May sun = 229.5

|Jun sun = 265.3

|Jul sun = 297.6

|Aug sun = 285.1

|Sep sun = 204.6

|Oct sun = 151.4

|Nov sun = 94.1

|Dec sun = 59.8

|year sun = 2098.4

|source 1 = Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia{{cite web

| url = https://www.hidmet.gov.rs/ciril/meteorologija/stanica_sr_cuprija.php

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220420200823/https://www.hidmet.gov.rs/ciril/meteorologija/stanica_sr_cuprija.php

| archive-date = 20 April 2022

| title= Monthly and annual means, maximum and minimum values of meteorological elements for the period 1991–2020

| language = sr

| publisher = Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia

| access-date = 20 April 2022}}{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210720080922/http://www.hidmet.gov.rs/eng/meteorologija/stanica_sr.php?moss_id=13384 |archive-date=20 July 2021 | url=http://www.hidmet.gov.rs/eng/meteorologija/stanica_sr.php?moss_id=13384 | title=Monthly and annual means, maximum and minimum values of meteorological elements for the period 1981–2010 | publisher=Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia | accessdate=February 25, 2017 | language=Serbian}}

|date=September 2012

}}

{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Serbia}}

Ćuprija is twinned with:

• {{flagicon|SVN}} Celje, Slovenia
• {{flagicon|BIH}} Doboj, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• {{flagicon|BIH}} Gradiška, Bosnia and Herzegovina, since 1994{{cite web |title=Побратимски градови|url=http://www.gradgradiska.com/medjunarodna-saradnja/|website=gradgradiska.com|publisher=Gradiška|language=sr|date=2021-04-24|access-date=2021-04-24}}

• Dušan Matić, poet
• Dragoslav Mihailović, writer
• Filip Stojković, professional footballer
• Snežana Pajkić, middle-distance runner
• Vera Nikolić, athlete and coach

• List of places in Serbia

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite thesis|last=Ceribašić-Begovac|first=Anaid|year=2017|title=Die Muslime im Sandschak Smederevo am Übergang vom 18. ins 19. Jahrhundert - Ein Vergleich zwischen der serbischen und bosnischen wissenschaftlichen Literatur|publisher=University of Graz|url=https://unipub.uni-graz.at/obvugrhs/content/titleinfo/1883278/full.pdf}}

{{Commons category|Ćuprija}}

• {{official website|http://www.cuprija.rs}}

{{Municipalities of Serbia}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuprija}}

Category:Populated places in Pomoravlje District

Category:Municipalities and cities of Šumadija and Western Serbia