Islam Grčki

Islam Grčki is a village within the town of Benkovac, in the Zadar County, Croatia.

Islam Grčki
Islam Grčki
Location of Islam Grčki in Croatia
Coordinates: 44°10′N 15°27′E
Country Croatia
CountyZadar
MunicipalityBenkovac
Government
 • MasterDon Sanja Vujanic %,O.G A.Kalapać
Population
 (2011)[1]
 • Total150
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)

Geography

Islam Grčki is located in the Ravni Kotari area, 23 kilometers away from Benkovac and 20 km away from Zadar. The village is also only 3 kilometers away from the Adriatic Sea but it does not play a major role in the villages economy.

Name

The original name of the village was Saddislam, meaning "The wall of Islam" in Turkish which marked the final frontier of the Ottoman Empire.

In the 18th century, when the village split in two, the name changed to Islam Grčki. While Islam stayed from the original name, the adjective Grčki (meaning "Greek") stands for the religion of the villagers - Orthodoxy. The other part of the split up village, Islam Latinski, got its name from the religious belief of its settlers - Catholicism.

A former Italian name was Sant'Anastasia Alta.

History

The history of Islam Grčki goes back to the Middle Ages. The village was an Uskok stronghold in the 16th and 17th century. The most notable Uskok leader Stojan Janković got possession of the village after the Cretan War. He built the villages most notable object - the Janković Kula.

Kula Jankovic, the fort in which lived Stojan Jankovic and his descendants, now owned by the Desnica family.
The Orthodox Church of St. George, Janković-church, built in 1675.

During World War II the village, a Serb enclave surrounded by Croatian villages, was a firm Chetnik militia stronghold. Some villagers also joined the Italian collaborationist Anti-Communist Volunteer Militia.

After World War II the village became part of the Socialist Republic of Croatia. During the Croatian war of independence the village was one of the first areas under Krajina Serb control. The village was partly destroyed by shelling during the Croatian-led Operation Maslenica and was overtaken by the Croatian forces on 22 January 1993.[2]

A big part of the villages population fled during the war and the village itself suffered a lot material damage. Janković Kula, for instance, was destroyed in the shelling of 1993 but was being rebuilt as of 2012.[3]

Demographics

The village is predominantly ethnic Serb,[4][5] and as of 2011 has 150 inhabitants.[1] This represents 13.17% of its pre-war population according to the 1991 census.

The 1991 census[6] recorded that 87.00% of the village population were ethnic Serbs (991/1139), 9.39% were Croats (107/1139) while 3.61% were of other ethnic origin (41/1139).

Historical population 1857-2011 [1][7]


Sights
  • Orthodox Church of St. George
  • The Stojan Janković' Tower

See also

Sources
  1. "Population by Age and Sex, by Settlements, 2011 Census: Islam Grčki". Census of Population, Households and Dwellings 2011. Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics. December 2012.
  2. Vojna povijest, no. 22, page 14
  3. http://www.h-alter.org/vijesti/hrvatska/kamen-po-kamen-kula-fotogalerija
  4. "Zadruga oživljava Islam Grčki". portalnovosti.com (in Serbian). 20 August 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  5. "Sumrak 'male Kalifornije'". portalnovosti.com (in Serbian). 14 September 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
  6. Izdanje Državnog zavoda za statistiku RH: Narodnosni sastav stanovništva RH od 1880-1991. godine.
  7. Naselja i stanovništvo Republike Hrvatske 1857-2001, www.dzs.hr
  8. "Croats Battle Serbs for a Key Bridge Near the Adriatic". New York Times. January 24, 1993. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
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