t
is not known when Skakavac (a village next to
Petrovac) was first settled nor who were the first
to live there. Skakavac is located on the side of
the Grmec mountain that protects it from northern
winds. To the east is the village Smoljan, to the
south Suvaja, and to the west Vodjenica. There is a
story about how Skakavac came into being.
Apparently the family of a certain Rados
Stoisavljevic from Gradacac was trying to find a
location to settle down, and found one close to a
water source called Pecina next to Petrovac (which
was called Novo Selo in those times). However, the
Turks prevented Rados from taking water from this
spring. Rados, who was very old and of poor
eyesight, therefore decided to try to get on good
terms with them. At that time the Turks were
building a fortress in Novo Selo.
Rados found a huge rock and dragged it with oxen to
the building site. The ‘Beg’ who was standing there
asked Rados what the rock was for. “Here is some
stone for your new garden” replied Rados. “Thank
you peasent” said the Beg, “now go and find
yourself a place to start a home between Kljucke
Vratnice and Risova Greda”. Rados took his whole
family and went in search of this place. When they
all arrived in Obljaj they were fascinated by the
3-5 metre tall waterfalls and decided to settle
down. Rados went back to the Beg and told him he
was building a house at the place where the water
jumps down the rocks and makes a noise. The Beg
answered: “Very well, then you shall call that
place Skakavac (meaning ‘jumper’ in Serbian) and
you and your family shall have the surname
Radosevic”.
It is known that the first inhabitants in the
region of Skakavac were a certain family Knezevic,
descendents of a ‘knez’, who came to the area from
Vranovina. After came the family Marjanovic, who
descended from the knez’s brother Marjan and they
all celebrated St John as their patron saint. There
were several other families too: Banovic family (catholics
from the coast who converted to orthodoxy and took
St Nicholas as their patron saint), Curcic family
(descendants of the Strbac family), Culibrk family
(descendants of the Majstorovics), Dukic family
(they settled close to the Radosevics and took
their surname), and the Stupar family (who came
from Vrljika and Zrmanja). The Kecman family
inhabited the part of Skakavac called Trnovac.
There were no other families in Trnovac. There are
stories that were passed down the generations ever
since the Turks conquered Bosnia and took Bihac in
1592. These stories largely talk about how whole
families fled the Turks into the mountains and
forests, to Dalmatia, Lika and beyond (Banija,
Slavonia, Gorski Kotar, even Trieste). Only after
1700 did their descendants start returning to their
ancestral homes. The biggest return happened in
1744. when Dalmatia experienced a severe famine. In
that year around 1,000 families returned to
Petrovac led by priests. In Skakavac there are 6
small villages (that only people from the region
seem to know about):
Podgreda (inhabited by families Stupar, Banovic,
Banjac, Kovacevic, Marjanovic, Cica, Cik and Djukic). Obljaj (Popovic, Kovacevic, Banovic, Cica, Djakovic,
Djilas), Poljica and Glavica (Grbic, Stupar, Petkovic,
Culibrk), Kljestina (Brkljac, Knezevic),
Marjanovic Do (Marjanovic, Dragic, Kerkez, Djakovic).
The Kecman family were the only inhabitants of
Trnovac - four houses in all. The elders recall 19
mills in the region. There are none left today.
etrovac
is located 55km southeast of Bihac on the main road
to Sarajevo. The municipality consists in three
‘polja’ (fields): Bjelajsko, Medeno, and Petrovacko.
The town itself is 664m above sea level. The plain
is surrounded by the Grmec mountain in the north,
Risovac and Cava in the west, and Osjecnica in the
south. It is a region of thick forests which
supports the local population. Apart from a few
insignificant water springs there is no flowing
water in the region.
The climate is continental - long and severe
winters and short and dry summers.
The municipality covers 854 square km and has
15,552 inhabitants (1991 statistics) which makes it
one of the least populated regions in the
Unsko-Sanski canton.
This region was populated even in pre-historic
times, which is proven by a number of
archaeological sites. There are currently 51
confirmed pre-historic sites discovered. The region
provided good protection from surprise attacks due
to its height and surrounding mountains. The main
medieval locality is the town Covka which is
mentioned in the 15th century. Only ruins of it
remain today. Historical sources mention it as the
seat of the Orlovic noblemen, who were there until
it fell under the Turks in 1524.
Written sources mention a town called St Petri de
Oedem in 1334 situated where Petrovac is today. The
historian Sisic places the town Pset here too
(mentioned in the 10th century by Constantine
Porphyrogennetos), however this cannot be taken as
fact. Turks conquer the area between 1520 and 1530
and organise the ‘kadiluk’ (canton) Novosel.
Bosanski Petrovac is one of the newest towns in
Krajina - it was built during the reign of Sultan
Ahmed III. After the Karlovac peace treaty (1699),
Lika and Dalmatia are transferred from the Ottoman
empire to Austria, and the muslim population leaves
to settle in Kulen Vakuf, Bjelaj, Bihac, Cazin, and
Bosanski Petrovac where they start building the
town. The town had a ‘tabija’ and a tower and was
one of the tallest in the region of Krajina.
Petrovac was in good shape when Austria-Hungary
occupied Bosnia in 1878. It was probably destroyed
in 1905 during the ‘regulation plan’ put in
practice by the Austro-Hungarians. |
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