Vrbas, Serbia

Vrbas (Врбас; Verbász) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2011, the town had a population of 24,112, while the municipality had 42,092 inhabitants. Its name stems from the word for 'willow' in Serbian . During the SFRY period, the town was renamed Titov Vrbas (meaning 'Tito's Vrbas'), after Josip Broz Tito. Like all other towns in communist Yugoslavia named after Tito, the first part was dropped once the new states were formed during the early 1990s. In Rusyn, the town is known as Вербас, in Hungarian as Verbász, in Croatian as Vrbas, in German as Werbass, and in Turkish as Verbas. Vrbas was mentioned first in 1213 during the administration of the Kingdom of Hungary. According to other sources, it was mentioned first in 1387. In the 16th century it became a part of the Ottoman Empire. During Ottoman administration it was populated by ethnic Serbs. Since the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718), Vrbas and the Banat were placed under administration of the Habsburg monarchy. According to the 1720 census, it was populated exclusively by Serbs (about 250 families). After 1784 many Germans settled in the town founding a new settlement named Novi Vrbas (Neu-Verbasz) near the old Serb settlement, which then became known as Stari Vrbas (Old Vrbas). In 1910, population of Novi Vrbas was mostly composed of ethnic Germans, while population of Stari Vrbas was ethnically mixed and was mainly composed of Serbs and Germans. In 1918, Vrbas became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was later renamed to Yugoslavia. The town was under Axis occupation in 1941–1944, and during that time it was attached to Horthy's Hungary. As a consequence of the World War II events in Yugoslavia, the German population fled from the town after this war. At the same time, many settlers from Montenegro came to Vrbas and other neighboring places. Vrbas municipality includes the city of Vrbas and the following villages: Bačko Dobro Polje Zmajevo Kosančić Kucura Ravno Selo Savino Selo According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has 42,092 inhabitants.