Vinkovci

Sister cities

• Ohrid
• Kenzingen

History

The area around Vinkovci has been continually inhabited since the Neolithic period. The Sopot culture eponym site is Sopot, an archeological site near Vinkovci, which was dated to 5480–3790 BC. Vučedol culture finds in Vinkovci, generally dated to 3000–2500 BC, include a piece of ceramics dated to 2600 BC with an astral calendar, the first one found in Europe that shows the year starting at the dusk of the first day of spring. In the 2nd century, it was made a (the Roman name for town or city) under Hadrian and gained the status of during the reign of emperor Caracalla. It was the birthplace of Roman emperors Valentinian I and Valens. The Roman thermal bath is still preserved underground, along with several other Roman buildings located near the center of today's Vinkovci. The 4th century Battle of Cibalae, between the armies of Constantine the Great and Licinius, was fought nearby. A 4th-century Vinkovci Treasure was discovered in the city in 2012. In the Middle Ages, Vinkovci was one of the sites of the Bijelo Brdo culture. The City museum of Vinkovci maintains a survey of thirteen medieval archeological finds in Vinkovci and its surroundings, . From 1526 to 1687 it was part of the Ottoman Empire, administratively located in Sirem (whose seat was in ) within the Budin Eyalet. It was captured by the Habsburg Empire in 1687, which was later confirmed by the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. Until 1918, Vinkovci (named Winkowcze before 1850) was part of the Austrian monarchy (Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia after the compromise of 1867), in the Slavonian Military Frontier, under the administration of the until 1881. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Vinkovci was a district capital in the Syrmia County of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Zion, the…

Geography

Vinkovci is located in the eastern part of the Slavonia region, southwest of Vukovar, north of Županja and south of Osijek. The city lies in a flatland on the Bosut river, at an elevation of approx. , and has a mild continental climate. Vinkovci is also on the northwestern edge of the smaller subregion of Syrmia. Nearby villages and adjacent municipalities include Ivankovo, Jarmina, Markušica, Nuštar, Privlaka and Stari Jankovci.