Ostružnica

Ostružnica (Serbian Cyrillic: Остружница) is a suburban settlement in Čukarica of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.

Geography

Ostružnica is located on the right bank of the Sava river, at the mouth of the Ostružnička reka, 14 km southwest of Belgrade, south of the Ada Ciganlija island.

History

Doljani is a former settlement that was located in the upper part of the Doljanski potok stream, between Velika Moštanica, Meljak and Sremčica, just south of Ostružnica. It is widely held that Doljani was depopulated during the First Serbian Uprising, by Karađorđe due to the plague. Aćim Doljanac, Karađorđe's close cooperator and progenitor of the Doljančević family, moved to Ostružnica at that time.

During the First Serbian Uprising, Karađorđe, the leader of the rebellion, summoned the very first national assembly of Serbia in Ostružnica 24-28 April 1804.

Economy and infrastructure

Ostružnica has its own train station on the Belgrade's internal freight railway Batajnica-Surčin-Ostružnica-Železnik-Resnik, as the Sava is crossed by the railway bridge at Ostružnica. It is connected to the Belgrade's major freight train station and marshalling yard of Makiš.

A new Ostružnica road bridge, in the final stages of construction, was bombed during NATO air attacks on Yugoslavia in 1999 and wasn't finished until 2005. It represents one of the major sections of the future Belgrade bypass.

Demographics

It is an urban settlement, with fluctuating number of population. In the last 40 years, it experienced a slow growth, stagnation, depopulation and accelerated growth above the Serbian average.

• 1921 - 1,497
• 1961 - 3,871
• 1971 - 4,011
• 1981 - 4,060
• 1991 - 3,628
• 2002 - 3,929

Sources

• Mala Prosvetina Enciklopedija, Third edition (1985); Prosveta; ISBN 86-07-00001-2
• Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije; Svjetlost-Sarajevo; ISBN 86-01-02651-6
• Bačko Aleksandar, Maleševci – clan with family feast on st. Ignatius day, Association of citizens “Serbian despot”, Series of Serbian ethnography and history, vol. 1, Belgrade 2007. (in Serbian: Малешевци – род који слави св. Игњатија)
• Nikolić Rista T, Belgrade area, Serbian academy of sciences and arts, Serbian ethnographical series, vol. 5, Settlements and origin of inhabitants, vol. 2, Belgrade 1903. (in Serbian: Околина Београда)