The crown land Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar was formed in 1849 and was initially divided into two districts: Batschka-Torontal and Temeschwar-Karasch.

In German the original term used for these subdivisions was Districte[1] (modern spelling Distrikte).

In Bach's reforms from 1853 the Districte became Kreise,[3] a form of administrative division already in use across much of the non-Hungarian part of the Empire since the 18th century.

The change of name was not superficial – different political, administrative and judicial structures were used in each subdivision type.

In 1854 Großbetschkerek District (now a Kreis) was subdivided into 8 'office districts' (Amtsbezirke [de]) (names as defined, modern German in parentheses):[2] Main cities and towns in the district were: Most of the mentioned cities and towns are today in Serbia, while towns of Groß Sankt Nikolaus (Sânnicolau Mare), Perjamosch (Periam), Hatzfeld (Jimbolia) and Tschene (Cenei) are today in Romania.