Begaljica (Serbian Cyrillic: Бегаљица (Бегаљицаⓘ)) is a rural settlement in the Grocka municipality of eastern Belgrade, Serbia.

The village is located at the water source of the Begaljica river, a tributary of the Danube, thus in the southern half of Podunavlje, as well as in the fertile Šumadija region of central Serbia.

Begaljica was first mentioned in 1528, seven years after the Ottoman conquest of Serbia, as having 5 families, and the Rajinovac monastery on the hill above the village.

In 1804, a notable knez from the village, Stevan Andrejević Palalija, was executed alongside some 70 nobles by the janissaries.

[1] According to locals, it is derived from the fact that the Ottomans constantly attacked and seized the village, forcing the population to flee.

[2] In Turkish sources Begaljica was known as Begaljevo,[3] and the current form of the name may be a crossing with the name Bugarica, which the village also was known as in Ottoman times.

[6] A 3rd century AD marble statue from the Severan era was discovered in Begaljica (see Belgrade City Museum link).

In 1688, during the Great Turkish War, the Habsburg troops took control over most of present-day Serbia after numerous battles and successfully besieging Belgrade, with the massive help of Serbs,[10] but when the King redirected all forces to the Nine Years' War, the Ottomans closed in and took the city in 1690, ending the Habsburg conquests.

[11] Fear of Ottoman retaliation started the Great Serb Migrations from south of the Danube deeper into Habsburg territory.

By 1791 however the Austrians were forced into withdrawal across the Danube and Sava rivers, joined by thousands of Serbian families who feared Ottoman revenge for supporting the Habsburgs.

[13] During the First Serbian Uprising, Begaljica was part of the Grocka nahija which was headed by oborknez Stevan Andrejić Palalija, murdered in the Slaughter of the Dukes (1804).

[3] The Serbian Revolution led to unrest in all of Serbia due to Ottoman retaliation, including Grocka region which halted its development, and only after the Second Serbian Uprising (1815) and stability of the political situation in Serbia, Grocka region started to intensively develop.

[17] Begaljica is classified as a rural settlement (village) based on agriculture, namely fruits and viticulture, with 38,6% of the population being agrarian (1991).

[5] Industrialism was not widely caught up in Ritopek, Slanci, Višnjica, Vinča, Veliko Selo, Zaklopača, and Begaljica, as these were intensively working with silviculture of fruits and vegetables (1962).