Kikinda (Кикинда, kǐkiːnda; Nagykikinda) is a city and the administrative center of the North Banat District in Serbia . The city urban area has 32,084 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 49,326 inhabitants.
The city was founded in the 18th century. From 1774 to 1874 Kikinda was the seat of the District of Velika Kikinda, an autonomous administrative unit of Habsburg monarchy. In 1893 Kikinda was granted the status of a city. The city became part of the Kingdom of Serbia (and Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes) in 1918, and it lost the city status. The status was re-granted in 2016.
In 1996, the well-preserved archaeological remnants of a half a million-year-old mammoth were excavated on the outer edge of the town area. The mammoth called "Kika" has become one of the symbols of the town. Today it is exhibited in the National Museum of Kikinda. Other attractions of the city are the Suvača – a unique horse-powered dry mill, the annual Pumpkin Days and the International Symposium of Sculpture "Terra". The winter roosts of long-eared owl, with a large number of individuals, are easily accessible as they are situated in town parks and therefore they attract birdwatchers both from this country and abroad.
In Serbian, the city is known as Kikinda (Кикинда), while in other languages it is called Great Kikinda: in Hungarian as Nagykikinda, in German as Gross Kikinda or Großkikinda, in Latin as Magna Kikinda, in Romanian as Chichinda Mare, in Slovak as Kikinda, in Rusyn as Кикинда, and in Croatian as Kikinda. Until 1947 it was also known in Serbian as Great Kikinda — Velika Kikinda (Велика Кикинда).
The name of Kikinda is first found recorded at the beginning of the 15th century as Kokenyd, and most probably denoted, together with the name Ecehida, a number of small settlements, i.e. estates, firstly belonging to Hungarian and later to Serb local rulers. The name of the town first appears on a map of 1718 as Gross Kikinda, indicating an uninhabited area or a wasteland and not a settlement.