History of Belgrade
A theory suggests that the ancient name Singidunum (Celtic: *Singidūn, Greek: Σιγγιδών) actually bears its modern meaning — "White Fort (town)".
The first mention of Belgrade, in its current form, is from a letter written on 16 April 878, by Pope John VIII to Boris I Mihail, when the city was held by the Bulgarian Kingdom.
The contemporary name of Belgrade derives from the Slavic words "bel" (i.e. "white") and "grad" (i.e. "town"-"city" or "castle"-"fort").
White City is not so uncommon as a name between Slavic people, for example: Belgorod in Russia, Bilhorod on Dniester in Ukraine, or Biograd na Moru in Croatia.
Chipped stone tools found at Zemun show that the area around Belgrade was inhabited by nomadic foragers in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras.
The Vinča culture is known for its very large settlements, one of the earliest settlements by continuous habitation and some of the largest in prehistoric Europe;[7] anthropomorphic figurines such as the Lady of Vinča; the earliest known copper metallurgy in Europe;[8] a proto-writing form developed prior to the Sumerians and Minoans, known as the Old European script, dating back to around 5300 BC.
[10] Belgrade was inhabited by a Thraco-Dacian tribe Singi,[1] while after the Celtic invasion in 279 BC, the Scordisci took the city, naming it "Singidūn" (dun, fortress).
In 75 BC, Gaius "Quintus" Scribonius Curio, the proconsul of Macedonia, invaded the Balkan interior as far as the Danube, in an effort to drive out the Scordisci, Dardanians, Dacians and other tribes.
It wasn't until the rule of Octavian, when Marcus Licinius Crassus, the grandson of the Caesarian Triumvir and then proconsul of Macedonia, finally stabilized the region with a campaign beginning in 29 BC Moesia was formally organized into a province some time before 6 AD, when the first mention of its governor, Caecina Severus, is made.
Other remnants of Roman material culture such as tombs, monuments, sculptures, ceramics, and coins have been found villages and towns surrounding Belgrade.
Singidunum found itself once again on the limes of the fading Empire, one of the last major strongholds to survive mounting danger from the invading barbarian tribes.
Moesia and Illyricum suffered devastating raids by the successive invasions of the Huns, Ostrogoths, Gepids, Sarmatians, Avars, and Slavs.
[15] According to Byzantine chronicle De Administrando Imperio, the White Serbs had stopped in Belgrade on their way back home, asking the strategos for lands; they received provinces in the west, towards the Adriatic, which they would rule as subjects to Heraclius (610–641).
[16] The first record of the name Belograd appeared on 16 April 878 in a letter[17] from Pope John VIII to the ruler of the Bulgarian Empire Boris I, part of which was the city.
[20][28] Seven decades after the initial siege, on 28 August 1521, the fort was finally captured by Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent and his 250,000 soldiers; subsequently, most of the city was razed to the ground and its entire Orthodox Christian population was deported to Istanbul,[20] to an area that has since become known as the Belgrade forest.
[42] The first-ever projection of motion pictures in the Balkans and Central Europe was held in Belgrade, in June 1896 by Andre Carr, a representative of the Lumière brothers.
The city was liberated by Serbian and French troops on 1 November 1918, under the command of Marshal Louis Franchet d'Espérey of France and Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia.
[50] One contemporary was not impressed with the new homes being built in Belgrade, writing: "Overnight they hauled timber beams, pounded them into the ground, built a roof with cheap scrap wood, and covered it with hole-punched til pitchers, porcelain pots, billboards,...instead of walls, wrapped the dwelling temporarily with tent canvases and carried some battered oven".
[51] One journalist wrote about the people living in these slums: "Hundreds of newspaper sellers, hawkers, washerwomen....leave their filthy and gloomy dwellings while it is still dark.
[51] On 25 March 1941, the government of regent Crown Prince Paul signed the Tripartite Pact, joining the Axis powers in an effort to stay out of the Second World War and keep Yugoslavia neutral during the conflict.
This was immediately followed by mass protests in Belgrade and a military coup d'état led by Air Force commander General Dušan Simović, who proclaimed King Peter II to be of age to rule the realm.
In the late 1940s and 1950s, the Communist regime went out of its way to rebuild Belgrade in a futuristic style inspired by Le Corbusier to show that Yugoslavia was in the forefront of modernity and progress.
[58] A journalist from the Washington Post newspaper wrote in 1967: "Belgrade is a lively, frivolous, noisy, jam-packed city compared with the one I remember from twenty years ago".
[58] The huge posters of Karl Marx, Fredrich Engels and Tito that had dominated Belgrade before were overshadowed by the billboards promoting Western brands.
[58] The Belgradians in the 1960s were described by visitors as very fond of wearing the fashionable Western clothing styles with many noting that the many women of Belgrade had an obsession with having their hair bleached blonde.
[58] The German historian Marie-Jannine Calic wrote that in the Belgrade of the 1960s "a vibrant hustle and bustle prevailed in the streets, squares, and numerous cafes.
"[58] She also noted that the core of Belgrade had a very modern, futuristic look, but that "along the mighty boulevards huddled pathetic little stores selling cloth, metal goods and dishware next to the dingy workshops of shoemakers, silversmiths and candle makers".
[66] These protests brought Zoran Đinđić to power, the first mayor of Belgrade since World War II who did not belong to the League of Communists of Yugoslavia or its later offshoot, the Socialist Party of Serbia.
[75] In 2015, an agreement was reached with Eagle Hills (a UAE company) on the Belgrade Waterfront deal, for the construction of a new part of the city on currently undeveloped wasteland by the riverside.
[76][77] According to Srdjan Garcevic, "Vaguely contemporary but somehow cheap-looking, it is planted illegally in the middle of the city on unstable soil – serving the interests of the anonymous lucky few.
