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Donji Lapac

Coordinates: 44°33′16″N 15°57′33″E / 44.55444°N 15.95917°E / 44.55444; 15.95917
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Donji Lapac
Доњи Лапац (Serbian)[1]
Donji Lapac Municipality
Općina Donji Lapac
Donji Lapac Municipality
Coat of arms of Donji Lapac
Donji Lapac is located in Croatia
Donji Lapac
Donji Lapac
Location of Donji Lapac in Croatia
Coordinates: 44°33′16″N 15°57′33″E / 44.55444°N 15.95917°E / 44.55444; 15.95917
Country Croatia
County Lika-Senj
Government
 • MayorDušan Šijan (SDP)
Area
 • Total
352.72 km2 (136.19 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)[3]
 • Total
2,113
 • Density6.0/km2 (16/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Websitewww.donjilapac.hr
the Donji Lapac municipality within the Lika-Senj County

Donji Lapac (Serbian Cyrillic: Доњи Лапац) is a settlement and a municipality in Lika, Croatia.

Geography

Donji Lapac is located a region of eastern Lika called Ličko Pounje, by the river Una that flows near the town in the valley between mountain Plješevica and Una on the altitude of 582 m. It is connected with the road that connects Bihać with Gračac.

History

The area of Donji Lapac has been inhabited since the Iron Age, which many material remains prove. During medieval times the area of Lapac was part of old-Croatian Lapac župa, related to Lapčan family, and in 1449 it became a possession of Frankopan family. Old city Lapac was located on a nearby Obljaj hill (666 m) south from Donji Lapac. When in 1528 Ottomans conquered Lika, Lapac was absorbed. In 1790 The Croatian Corps of the Habsburg Imperial Army under the command of Feldzeugmeister Joseph Nikolaus Baron de Vins[4] liberated Lapac as well as some other parts of Croatia in the regions of Kordun and Lika, including Cetingrad, Furjan, Boričevac and Srb, and they again became parts of the Kingdom of Croatia within the Habsburg Monarchy.

Donji Lapac was founded in 1791, in the year the Austro-Ottoman war ended and Eastern Lika was annexed by Habsburg empire as a frontier post. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Donji Lapac was a district capital in the Lika-Krbava County of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. In 1941 Yugoslav partisans liberated the district center.

During the Croatian War of Independence, Donji Lapac was incorporated along with other towns into the unrecognized breakaway Republic of Serbian Krajina. In August 1995, it was returned to Croatian control following victories by the Croatian army.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, the town has population of 946 and a municipality of 2,113 people.[3] Before the war the area was almost entirely Serb-populated with only 0.67% Croats (according to the 1991 census). After the war the area of Donji Lapac municipality grew smaller because villages of Donji Srb and Gornji Srb were given to Municipality of Gračac in Zadar County. However, according to the 2011 census Serbs continue to constitute a majority of 80.6%, with 18.8% of Croat population.[5]

Year of census total Serbs Croats
1910 11,971 10,601 (88.55%) 1,367 (11.41%)
1991 4,603 4,460 (96.89%) 31 (0.67%)
2001 1,880 1,383 (73.56%) 471 (25.05%)
2011 2,113 1,704 (80.64%) 397 (18.79%)

Some Croats or Serbs declared their ethnicity as Yugoslav.

Population by censuses

Municipality of Donji Lapac

According to the 2011 census, municipality of Donji Lapac had 2,113 inhabitants.[3]

Population[6]
1857 1869 1880 1890 1900 1910 1921 1931 1948 1953 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011
8,553 10,305 9,481 10,774 11,691 11,971 11,529 11,465 6,641 6,735 6,456 5,645 4,845 4,603 1,880 2,113

Note: It became independent municipality in 2001 census, from old Comune of Donji Lapac.

1991 census

According to the 1991 census, Municipality of Donji Lapac had 4,603 inhabitants, which were ethnically declared as this:

Municipality of Donji Lapac
1991

total: 4,603

  Serbs 4,460 (96.89%)
  Yugoslavs 54 (1.17%)
  Croats 31 (0.67%)
  Muslims 16 (0.34%)
  Macedonians 9 (0.19%)
  Greeks 3 (0.06%)
  Montenegrins 2 (0.04%)
  Roma 1 (0.02%)
  Slovenes 1 (0.02%)
  others 1 (0.02%)
  nondeclared 9 (0.19%)
  regionally declared 1 (0.02%)
  unknown 15 (0.32%)

Austro-Hungarian 1910 census

According to the 1910 census, Municipality of Donji Lapac had 11,971 inhabitants, which were linguistically and religiously declared as this:

Population by language Croatian or Serbian German Slovenian
Municipality of Donji Lapac 11,968 (99.97%) 2 (0.01%) 1 (0.00%)
Population by religion Eastern Orthodox Roman Catholics
Municipality of Donji Lapac 10,601 (88.55%) 1,370 (11.44%)

Donji Lapac (settlement itself)

According to the 2011 census, settlement of Donji Lapac had 946 inhabitants.[3]

Population[6]
1857 1869 1880 1890 1900 1910 1921 1931 1948 1953 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011
1,237 1,475 1,466 1,142 1,102 1,140 1,014 1,008 667 726 1,001 1,286 1,590 1,791 812 946

Note: From 1857–1880 include data for the settlement of Gajine.

1991 census

According to the 1991 census, settlement of Donji Lapac had 1,791 inhabitants, which were ethnically declared as this:

Donji Lapac
1991

total: 1,791

  Serbs 1,742 (97.26%)
  Yugoslavs 22 (1.22%)
  Croats 14 (0.78%)
  Muslims 6 (0.33%)
  Macedonians 2 (0.11%)
  Montenegrins 2 (0.11%)
  others 1 (0.05%)
  nondeclared 2 (0.11%)

Austro-Hungarian 1910 census

According to the 1910 census, settlement of Donji Lapac had 1,140 inhabitants in 2 hamlets, which were linguistically and religiously declared as this:

Population by language Croatian or Serbian German Slovenian
Donji Lapac 1,042 1 1
Lapački Zbjeg 96 - -
Total 1,138 (99.82%) 1 (0.08%) 1 (0.08%)
Population by religion Eastern Orthodox Roman Catholics
Donji Lapac 936 108
Lapački Zbjeg 78 18
Total 1,014 (88.94%) 126 (11.05%)

Economy

Donji Lapac is underdeveloped municipality which is statistically classified as the First Category Area of Special State Concern by the Government of Croatia.[7] Before the war, Donji Lapac had a developed wood and textile industry. Many people worked in the transportation company Likatrans which employed more than 200 people. Today most of the inhabitants are unemployed and jobs are mostly restricted to public services or the renewed wood industry. Additionally many people work in basic agriculture, growing mostly potatoes and plums from which they make the alcohol Slivovitz.

Settlements in municipality of Donji Lapac

Notable people

Literature

  • [1] Savezni zavod za statistiku i evidenciju FNRJ i SFRJ, popis stanovništva 1948, 1953, 1961, 1971, 1981. i 1991. godine.
  • Knjiga: "Narodnosni i vjerski sastav stanovništva Hrvatske, 1880–1991: po naseljima, autor: Jakov Gelo, izdavač: Državni zavod za statistiku Republike Hrvatske, 1998., ISBN 953-6667-07-X, ISBN 978-953-6667-07-9;

References