Its strategic location near the confluence of the Sava and the Danube placed it in the center of the continued border wars between the Habsburg and the Ottoman empires.

With the abolishment of the Military Frontier in 1881, Zemun and the rest of the eastern Srem was included into Syrmia County of Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, part of Austria-Hungary.

Believed to be derived from the word zemlja, meaning soil, it was a basis for all other future names of the city: modern Serbian Земун (Cyrillic) or Zemun (Latin), Za·munt (Romanian), Hungarian Zimony and German Semlin, which is mentioned in the Austrian-German folksong Prinz Eugen, der edle Ritter as the place where the army of Prince Eugene of Savoy set up camp before the Siege of Belgrade (1717) that liberated the city from the Ottoman Empire.

In 1521, the forces of the Kingdom of Hungary, 500 šajkaši (river flotilla troops) led by Croatian Marko Skoblić, and Serbs[10] fought against the invading Ottoman army of Suleyman the Magnificent.

Zemun and the southeastern Syrmia were conquered by the Austrian Habsburgs in 1717, after the Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Peterwardein (5 August 1716) and through the Treaty of Požarevac (German: Passarowitz) became a property of the Schönborn family.

Its strategic location near the confluence of the Sava and the Danube placed it in the center of the continued border wars between the Habsburg and the Ottoman empires.

With the abolishment of the Military Frontier in 1881, Zemun and the rest of the eastern Srem was included into Syrmia County of Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, part of Austria-Hungary.

The Zemun Fortress was the site of the first shots fired during World War I, when the Austro-Hungarian Army shelled the Serbian capital of Belgrade.

Serbian engineers responded by demolishing the Old Railway Bridge over the Sava River, damaging an Austro-Hungarian Navy patrol boat below.

The city is now home of the Air force command building, a monumental edifice, situated at 12 Аvijatičarski Square in Zemun, Belgrade.

Modern area of Zemun's Donji Grad was regularly flooded by the Danube and the water would carve canals through the loess.

[16] The Danube bank in the north is mostly marshy, so the settlements are built further from the river (Batajnica) separated from it by hillocks (up to 114 metres (374 ft)).

[21] One of the characteristics of the Zemun's topography are the lagums, artificial underground corridors which crisscross below the loess area of Gardoš, Muhar, Ćukovac and Kalvarija.

The Romans began digging the lagums at least as early as 1,700 years ago,[22] using them mostly as the food storages, but later were also used for supply and eventual hiding and evacuation.

The average temperature in the lagums is 16 °C (61 °F)[23] Though used by the local population as food storages, during the Ottoman period, the Turkish administration did not commonly use them.

In this period, the myths of the entire grid of underground corridors connecting Zemun and Belgrade under the Sava river originated.

[23] After World War II, as the city rapidly urbanized, the new settlers were unaware of the lagums, especially the largest one, which covered an area of 450 m2 (4,800 sq ft) on Ćukovac.

His son, Dragi Vukojčić, built the underground rooms in 1943 as a shelter, but the local myths claimed that he had an entire factory below.

Latest stories include criminals from the Zemun Clan, who were allegedly hiding in the lagums during the police Operation Sabre, after they assassinated prime minister Zoran Đinđić on 12 March 2003.

In the 21st century, the stories of mythical creatures are replaced with those of criminals, smugglers, drug addicts and homeless people.

[23] The lagums remained an important part of the local Zemun identity, preserving the spirit of the town and personal memories.

Zemun has two large and still growing industrial zones, one located along the highway and the other one along the road to Batajnica and further to Novi Sad (Galenika, Goveđi Brod, etc.).

Industries include: heavy agricultural machines and appliances (Zmaj), precise and optical instruments and automatized appliances (Teleoptik), clocks (INSA), busses and other heavy vehicles (Ikarbus), pharmaceuticals (Galenika), plastics (Grmeč), shoes (Obuća Beograd), textile (TIZ, Zekstra), food, candies and chocolate (Soko Štark), metals (IMPA, Intersilver), wood and furniture (Gaj, Reprek), recycling (INOS metali and INOS papir), beverages (Coca-Cola, Navip), chemicals (Roma), building materials (DIA), electronics, leather, etc.

The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):[31]  Several important roads of Serbia run through the municipality.

Citizens protested while the experts rejected the reasons named by the authorities, adding that it is a mere money throwing on the unnecessary project.

In an article "Cloud over the Great War Island", Aleksandar Milenković, member of the Academy of Architecture of Serbia, opposed the motion.

He expressed fear that having in mind the "synchronous ad hoc decisions of the administration", the reaction should be prompt as the seemingly benign idea is actually a strategically disastrous enterprise (concerning the protected wildlife on the island).

The Prokop is still not finished, has no station building and a proper access road and public transportation connections with the rest of the city.

Zemun is known for many squares, though almost all of them are small in size: Magistratski, Senjski, Veliki, Branka Radičevića, Karađorđev, Masarikov, etc.

[citation needed] Today visible ruins however are of the medieval fortress (angular towers and parts of the defending wall) of the 1521 Ottoman siege.