Beočin

Beočin (Беочин, bɛɔ̌tʃiːn; Belcsény) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The population of the town is 7,839, whilst Beočin's municipality population is 15,726. There is also a Beočin Monastery from the 16th century in the municipality. In Serbian, the town is known as Beočin (Беочин), in Croatian as Beočin, in Hungarian as Belcsény, in German (dated) as Beotschin, in Slovak as Beočín, and in Rusyn as Беочин. The name of the town derives from the word that came from local Serbian dialect, which in modern standard Serbian would be written as "beli otac" or in English as "white father" (the full meaning of the name is "the place that belong to white father"). The name referred to the prior of the nearby Beočin monastery. Although it is geographically located in Syrmia, Beočin administratively belong to South Bačka District. The town of Beočin is divided into two parts: Beočin Grad ("Beočin town") and Beočin Selo ("Beočin village"). However, no matter that Beočin Selo is called a village, it is not a village but simply part of the town. The existence of the Serbian Orthodox monastery of Beočin (which is located 2 km in the south from modern town) was first recorded by the sources in 1566-67. Until the end of the 18th century, a small settlement (hamlet) existed near this monastery. During Ottoman administration, this settlement was populated by ethnic Serbs. The settlement that developed into modern Beočin was mentioned in 1702. By then the hamlet had grown into 49 households. In the beginning, it was only a village, and its basic economic activity was wine production (even today, the oldest part of Beočin is known as Beočin Selo, i.e. "Beočin village" in English). After the cement factory was opened in 1839, Beočin developed into a modern town, which over time became the centre of northern Syrmia. The cement factory in Beočin is one of the largest cement factories in Europe.