Leskovac (, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Jablanica District in southern Serbia. It is situated in the Leskovac Depression (), by the small river of Veternica, near the confluence point with South Morava. According to the 2022 census, the city itself has a population of 58,338 while the city administrative area has 123,950 inhabitants.
The town, as a village, was first mentioned during the reign of emperor Stefan Dušan ( 1331–1355). During the Ottoman period, Leskovac became an administrative centre and a notable craftsman's and merchant town. Following liberation in the late 19th century, the town became important in the textile industry and expanded to become the third largest urban area in the state. After German occupation in World War II, it was heavily bombed by the Allies in 1944, which left much of the town destroyed. Located in the southeast of Serbia, Leskovac is regarded the meat capital, with an annual six-day grill festival showcasing specialties such as Pljeskavica, Ćevapi, Mućkalica, rotisserie, and paprika.
Etymology The toponym is Slavic, derived from the Old Slavic root lěska, meaning "hazel tree (corylus avellana)", and is widespread in Slavic countries.
Geography Leskovac is situated in the heart of the vast and fertile (Leskovačka kotlina) ( long and wide), the small Veternica river, at the foot of Hisar, in the central part of the Leskovac valley. Leskovac lies at an altitude of 228 meters, in a basin that covers . Around the valley are mountains Radan and Pasjača the west, Kukavica and Čemernik in the south and Babička Gora, Seličevica and Suva Planina to the east.
The largest river in the Leskovac region is the South Morava, which flows south to north. Tributaries of the South Morava are: the Vlasina river, which collects water from Lake Vlasina and flows through Crna Trava and Vlasotince; the Veternica river, which flows through Leskovac; the Jablanica river, which springs from the foot of Goljak and flows through Medveđa and Lebane; the Pusta river, which starts on Radan mountain, fills Lake Brestovačko and flows through Bojnik. The river Vučjanka, which springs from the Kukavica mountain, flows through Vučje and is a tributary of the Veternica river. Also known in the Leskovac region are Kozaračka, Predejanska, Kopašnička and Sušica rivers.
Climate Leskovac has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) with continental influences, with long, hot summers and short but cold, cloudy winters.
History
Archaeology The Leskovac region has archaeological sites of the Neolithic, Aeneolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age. The first excavations began after World War II. The Hisar hill site on the southwestern periphery of Leskovac, has finds of the Neolithic, later Aeneolithic (Bubanj-Hum II), later Bronze Age (Brnjica culture), Iron Age I and Iron Age III.
Middle Ages
Leskovac is mentioned for the first time in the 14th century, as a donated village in the charter of emperor Stefan Dušan ( 1331–1355) to the Serbian Orthodox monastery Hilandar on Mount Athos. It belonged to the župa (county) of Glbočica/Dubočica, which is mentioned since the 12th century as a possession of the Nemanjić dynasty. The area was caught up in the Serbian–Ottoman conflict in the first half of the 15th century, and Dubočica was once given as dowry to Sultan Mehmed II with his marriage to Serbian princess Mara (1433), then returned, and defended by Nikola Skobaljić (1454–1456), until definitively lost with the conquest of Smederevo (1459) and fall of Serbia.
Ottoman period Dubočica with centre in Leskovac was transformed into a nahiya, part of the sanjak of Kruševac, of which it was the largest nahiya. Leskovac was also the seat of a kadi (Islamic judge), who had a larger territorial responsibility than just the nahiya. Muslims came to inhabit the exterior settlement of the Leskovac castle (Hisar) and by the left banks of Veternica, while Christians lived on the right banks. With time, Leskovac received an Oriental design (kasaba) with mosques, hammams, tekkes, and the neighbourhoods (mahala) were named after professions, as Leskovac became a craftsman's town. The town became an important marketplace thanks to Ottoman feudals and Christian merchants. The Ottoman aristocracy endowed construction (waqf). During the Ottoman period, the town was known in Turkish as Leskovçe or Hisar ("fortress").
In 1594, the town burnt along with Skopje, likely as a result of the Uprising in Banat. During the Great Turkish War, the Austrian army with Serbian volunteers, led by Piccolomini, took Bela Palanka, Pirot, Niš, Leskovac, Prokuplje in the short-lived occupation ( 1689). 18th- and 19th-century traveling accounts describe Leskovac as a large town. Since 1737, the town was the centre of the Pashalik of Leskovac, as governed by a pasha. The second Great Serb Migration saw depopulation in the area. During the Austro-Turkish War (1788–1791), the local Živko Milinović volunteered in the Serbian Free Corps and became a captain, and the area of Leskovac rose up in rebellion. The monasteries in Jašunja burnt during that time. The First Serbian Uprising (1804–1813) included operations in South Morava, especially in the Toplica and Niš areas, and echoed to Vlasina, Masurica, Veternica and Jablanica. In 1807, rebel commander Ilija Strelja defeated Şaşit Pasha of Leskovac, but the rebels were unable to take the town, though they managed to take villages in the surroundings. In 1809, Leskovac was besieged, but the rebels were forced to retreat after the failed siege of Niš. Leskovac remained outside Serbia. In the mid-1830s, the Pashalik of Leskovac was dissolved and the Leskovac kaza became a mütesellimlik of the Sanjak of Niš. Despite reform initiatives of Sultan Mahmud II, the Serbs were still far inferior in status in relation to the Muslims. There was an intensified immigration of Muslim Albanians from the Pristina kaza into the Serb villages. Towards the mid-19th century, the status of the Leskovac villagers deteriorated, with violence and injustice, and they petitioned Serbian ruler Miloš Obrenović for help. The cultural progression within the Serb community from the late 18th- to mid-19th century was notably contributed to by the small Greek-Aromanian community. The failure to improve the status of Christians led to rebellion: In 1840, priest Đorđe Janković gathered villagers of Leskovac and its surroundings into a revolutionary organization, and in April 1841 a large rebellion broke out in South Morava, including Leskovac, where rebels were led by priest Đorđe, Koca Mumdžija, Pavle and Rista. The rebels were decisively defeated by the Ottoman army. In 1850, some conspirators in Niš and Leskovac were arrested following Omar Pasha's inquiry. In 1858, Leskovac had 3,000 households, out of which 2,400 were Christian, 500 Muslim, 30 Romani and 10 Jewish. In 1859–60 several revolutionary groups were established in Niš and Leskovac, but no rebellion broke out, due to Serbia's unwillingness to support. The Bulgarian Exarchate (formed in 1872) was refused in Leskovac and its agents were banished.
Serbian-Ottoman conflict broke out in 1876, with significant Serbian losses and a signed truce, then Russia declared war in April 1877 and Serbia continued operations in December 1877, taking Niš, Pirot, Bela Palanka, Kuršumlija, while Leskovac and Vlasotince were liberated by the locals. The Serbian acquisitions and sight of scouts led to panic in the Muslim population of Leskovac, which fled. An Ottoman force with Albanian refugees from Leskovac planned to attack the town but they were defeated at Vučje on 22 December 1877. By the end of the Serbian–Turkish Wars (1876–1878), 700 Muslim houses in Leskovac town were abandoned, and a total of 16,976 Muslim Albanians had moved out of the county/district of Leskovac; the Muslim refugees moved to Mitrovica, Prizren, Kumanovo, Veles, Skopje, Serres, Thessaloniki. Leskovac became part of Serbia with the Treaty of Berlin (1878).
Late 19th century to present Leskovac was part of a textile industry network from the Black Sea to the central Balkans, and exported duty-free to Bulgaria, from where Serbia imported machinery. Independence initially had a negative impact though trade barriers, tariffs and open hostilities between Serbia and Bulgaria necessitated the acquisition and development of technology for rope- and industrial hemp-processing. By the mid-1880s business development, particularly the textile sector enabled Leskovac to become the third largest urban area after Belgrade and Niš at the time. The establishment of a railway line linking Leskovac with Belgrade, Skopje and Thessaloniki in 1886 also significantly contributed to the development of the town. The industrial success led to Leskovac being nicknamed Serbia's "Little Manchester" (), as Manchester was a British textile powerhouse. A vocational textile school opened 1890 and in 1903 the second hydroelectric power plant in Serbia was built on the nearby Vučjanka river. The growing customs dispute with Austria-Hungary following the May Coup precipitated protectionism throughout the 1900s which served to nourish the local economy.
Following the Serbian campaign of 1915 Leskovac fell within the Bulgarian occupational zone. This period was marked by harsh repression with attempts at Bulgarisation of the local inhabitants. Numerous crimes were committed on the Leskovac citizenry with 2,000-4,000 victims being executed and a great many more massacred in the surrounding region. During the occupation Leskovac was also adversely affected by a typhus epidemic and widespread malnutrition. Bulgaria capitulation to the Entente on 30 September 1918, and Leskovac was liberated on 7 October 1918 in an offensive led by Field Marshal Petar Bojović's 1st Serbian Corps, which repelled the Austro-Hungarian 9th and German 11th Divisions. Cheering crowds gathered to welcome the Serbian Army's Dinarska and Dunavska divisions as they entered the city accompanied by French cavalry units.
Following the war Leskovac continued its fast economic and social transformation. The townsfolk practised a cultural medley of both Oriental and European habits, whilst the social fabric was dominated by affluent, often competing industrialists families and greater social disparity within the community. Industrial development facilitated trade union agitation amongst an emerging urban working-class. In August 1920 Leskovac became one of the first municipalities to elect the Communist Party, however, it was quickly suppressed by the authorities.
Despite its rise as a regional manufacturing centre the town still lacked basic infrastructure during the interwar period such as a running water supply, sewerage system, paved streets (with only three asphalted in 1938) and a permanent marketplace. Leskovac experienced a significant influx of largely peasant workers leading to poor housing conditions with many affected by squalor, alcoholism, a high mortality rate and labour exploitation. From 1929 to 1941, Leskovac was part of the Vardar Banovina of the renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Nazi Germany invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941, and there were air raids and skirmishes in southeastern Serbia, including Leskovac, until 11 April. Leskovac was occupied by the Germans on 12 April 1941. Despite several attempts at assassination and sabotage the town remained relatively docile throughout the Nedić administration, with the exception of the Arapova Dolina massacre of 310 mostly Romani civilians. Pockets of Partisan insurgency remained limited to the surrounding countryside which began experiencing noteworthy military engagements during the July–August 1944 Toplica-Jablanica Operation.