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Zrenjanin (Зрењанин, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city urban area has a population of 67,129 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 105,722 inhabitants (2022 census data). The old name for Zrenjanin is Veliki Bečkerek or Nagybecskerek as it was known under Austria-Hungary up until 1918. After World War I and the liberation of Veliki Bečkerek the new name of the city was Petrovgrad, in honor of His Majesty King Peter I the Great Liberator, the King of Serbia and the King of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
Zrenjanin is the second largest city in the Serbian part of the Banat geographical region, and the 4th largest city in Vojvodina (after Novi Sad, Subotica and Pančevo). The city was designated European City of Sport 2021.
During the German occupation of Serbia in World War Two from 1941 to 1944, it was called Betschkerek or Gross-Betschkerek in official German documents. In 1946, it was renamed Zerjanin after Yugoslav Partisan Žarko Zrenjanin (1902–1942) who was a victim of the occupying forces.
In Romanian it is known as Becicherecul Mare or Zrenianin, and in Slovak language as Zreňanin.
The region had already been inhabited in the early Neolithic period about 5000 years BC. The most important archaeological site from this period is the so-called Krstić tumulus, located near Mužlja, about away from Zrenjanin where ceramic art, with ornaments were found. Beside the brewery ground, coloured fine ceramics, and ornaments from the Starčevo culture were discovered. The middle Neolithic appeared in our area as Vinča and Potisje culture, in the down course of the Tisa River. The influence of two parallel cultures flew through it at the same time. The Iron Age has not been enough explored yet. A few regions with some archaeological materials from the Iron Age have been found: in the residential area Šumica a tip of a spear was found and near the oil factory, and pieces of ceramics from the Bronze Age were also discovered.
The area was settled by many native tribes, but also by many newcomer tribes: the Illyrians, the Celts, the Goths, the Geths, the Sarmatian and Jazghs. At the end of the third century and towards the middle of the fourth century, in the area of Zrenjanin and its surroundings, the Sarmatian tribe Roxolani appeared. From this period, a Sarmatian’s graveyard has been found in a city residential district, near the railroad bridge. Finally in the necropolis, not far from Aradac, “Mečka”, more than 120 graves, which date from the end of the sixth and the beginning of the seventh century, were excavated in 1952.
After the Turkish people victory at the battle of Nicopolis (1396) the Hungarian King Sigismund (1387–1437) was considering defending the territory settled by the Serbs, and he is known to have visited Bečkerek on September 30, 1398. The town was granted to Stefan Lazarević at the end of the 1403. The despot became the vassal of the Hungarian King; but he got Bečkerek and the title of the Great Head of the Torontál County.
During Ottoman occupation, the sanjak had a military administration. Due to good behaviour of the rayah, the inhabitants were exempt from war taxes. During the 165 years of Ottoman rule, Bečkerek consisted of two separate settlements: the settlement of Bečkerek and the village of Gradnulica. The town was divided into two parts, a Turkish and a Serbian. The Turkish part was fenced and closed, while the Serbian one was open. On the main square there was a large mosque built and inside the fortress there was a little one. There was a Turkish bath, and around it there were about twenty stores. Gradnulica was a disorderly village, whose centre was approximately on the crossroad of the present streets Sindjelićeva and Djurdjevska. Prior to Ottoman occupation, the citizens were Serbs and Hungarians. At the end of the 18th century, there were about fifty Turkish families. According to the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699), the Temeşvar Eyalet, including Bečkerek, stayed under Ottoman rule, while bordering territories once again came under the Military Frontier. After the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18 Bečkerek went under Habsburg rule.
The colonization lasted from 1718–24, when the town was settled mostly by Germans, but the Serbs never stopped arriving. The military frontier in Potisje was displaced. In the following years Italians, Frenchmen, Romanians arrived and then the Catalan people from Barcelona, who escaped the repression after the War of the Spanish Succession and settled in a place which is now the suburb of Dolja within Zrenjanin. The town was called New Barcelona. But the life was difficult in this marsh with many contagious diseases, so many died and others left.
In the summer of 1738 there was the great plague. The Count Mersy wanted to turn marshes into fertile soil and he began to regulate the Begej River. In the middle and down course of the river a long canal was built, to make the river traffic possible between Bečkerek and Timișoara. On the first of November 1745 Sebastian Krazeisen began to make beer in the first brewery and that meant the first start of the industrialization. In the same year the first Serb's school was mentioned.
On 6 June 1769, Maria Theresa granted the Community of Great Bečkerek, the privilege of becoming the trading centre. By this privilege the whole social-economic life of the former Bečkerek was regulated and it got the status of the town. In 1769 the first hospital was built. In 1779, by the new organization of Torontál County, Bečkerek became its centre. The city was briefly restored to Ottoman Empire administration from 1787 to 1788 during Austro-Turkish War (1787–91).
During the 18th century it developed into thriving economic and cultural centre, but the great fire destroyed a large portion of the town in 1807. The town was soon rebuilt. The fire came from the brewery, on 30 August 1807. After the fire a new regulation of streets had been done, houses had been built from stronger materials, roads had been rebuilt. The river traffic was especially intensive. The theatre building with an attractively decorated hall was built in 1839. In 1846 the Grammar School was opened and in 1847 the first printing shop.
The 1848–49 Revolutions impacted Bečkerek. The Serbs revolted, aiming for autonomy within the Austrian Empire. At the May Assembly (13–15 May 1848), the Serbian Vojvodina was proclaimed, including most of what is today Vojvodina. Serbs from Bečkerek participated in the uprising against Hungarian authority (which refused Serb rights) and from 26 January to 29 April 1849 the town was under Serb rebel control. In 1849, the town became part of the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar until 1860.
Although that time was known in history as a period of Bach's absolutism, the second part of the 19th century brought the town new developing benefits. New industrial facilities and handicraft stores were opened in every part of the town. Late 19th and early 20th century was progressive period for Veliki Bečkerek. Railway arrived in 1883, while post office was opened back in 1737.
On 17 November, Serbian army arrived at Veliki Bečkerek. On 31 October 1918, the Serb Chamber of People of the town founded in the war conditions, as a temporary authority with Dr Slavko Župunski at its head. Serb army, the infantry iron regiment “Prince Mihajlo” and the infantry brigade with Colonel Dragutin Ristić in command came into the town on 17 November 1918. A few days after Vojvodina had been occupied, its provinces were attached to the Kingdom of Serbs and on December 1, 1918, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was founded, as the first South Slavs state. The town of Veliki Bečkerek became the administrative centre of Torontal-Tamiš County, and after its repealing, the town became the headquarters of District Office. In 1929 the town became part of the Danube Banovina. By the Town Council decision made on 29 September 1934, and confirmed by the Town Authority on 18 February 1935, the town was renamed Petrovgrad, after the king Peter I.
The camp existed for almost two years and thousands of people passed through it. In town there were many underground groups supported by the Communist Party, which fought the German occupiers and the Germans made reprisals. On 2 October 1944, the Red Army came into town, and, after a short fight, took command of most vital public buildings. The following day the first meeting on National Liberation Committee for the town Petrovgrad was held. Eight members of the national liberation resistance, from the town and its surroundings were announced National Heroes: Žarko Zrenjanin, Svetozar Marković Toza, Pap Pavle, Stevica Jovanović, Servo Mihalj, Nedeljko Barnić Žarki, Boško Vrebalov, and Bora Mikin Marko.
During World War II, the town infrastructure was kept almost saved. Except in the final fights for the town, there were no war actions on the territory of the town. The Germans tried to damage and destroy some industrial buildings, but it was prevented. Only Anau-Winkler's mill and the monumental Jewish synagogue in the centre of the town were destroyed. After World War II important social-political changes were made in the country, which, of course, had their influence on the development of Zrenjanin, newly named in 1946. In August 1945 the Agriculture Reform Act came into force, in June 1950 the Worker Self-Management Act, in 1959 the first direct urban plan of the town development, which indicated the urbanism-economic development of the town, was passed.
The development, in the first after war decade, was directed by the directive plans, which were based on the principles of socialist economy in which the most important industrial branches were industry and agriculture. By the 1980s many people left their villages and moved into towns which brought many changes in the social, educational and ethnic structure of the town. There was permanently shortage of housing. That is why many new parts of the town and many new apartment buildings were built. Zrenjanin became an important agricultural, industrial, cultural and sport centre, at the time Zrenjanin was one of the most powerful industrial centers of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia led by Tito.
In the first years after the end of war activities the Town and its citizens have been adjusting to new economic and social-economic conditions, known as transition. Instead of previous large economic combines and companies plenty of new flexible private enterprises are established and foreign capital is starting to flow in Zrenjanin. New industrial and work and residential zones are formed and the Town's General Plan 2006-2026 and Sustainable Development Strategy 2006-2013 are made and approved. At the end of 2007, introducing a new national territorial organisation followed by necessary legislation, the Municipality of Zrenjanin has been upgraded to an administrative and territorial status of a city.
In 2004, the town's tap water was deemed unsafe for consumption due to high levels of arsenic. As of 2022, the ban remains in place.
Zrenjanin is around away from Belgrade, and about from Novi Sad, which is also the distance to the present border with the European Union (Romania), which makes its position a particularly important transition center and potential resource in the directions north–south and east–west.
[[File:Županijski park - panoramio (1).jpg|thumb|right|Palace in Županijski Park]]
The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is (Humid Temperate Climate). Climate Summary
The average temperature for the year in Zrenjanin is . The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is January, with an average temperature of .
The highest recorded temperature in Zrenjanin is , which was recorded in July. The lowest recorded temperature in Zrenjanin is , which was recorded in February.
The average amount of precipitation for the year in Zrenjanin is . The month with the most precipitation on average is June with of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is February with an average of . There are an average of 126.8 days of precipitation, with the most precipitation occurring in May with 12.4 days and the least precipitation occurring in August with 7.5 days.
The ethnic composition of the city administrative area:
| 91,579 | 74.24% |
| 12,350 | 10.01% |
| 3,410 | 2.76% |
| 2,161 | 1.75% |
| 2,062 | 1.67% |
| 592 | 0.48% |
| 527 | 0.43% |
| 412 | 0.33% |
| 280 | 0.23% |
| 184 | 0.15% |
| 139 | 0.11% |
| 110 | 0.09% |
| 9,556 | 7.75% |
| 123,362 |
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As of September 2017, Zrenjanin has one of 14 free economic zones established in Serbia.
The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):
| 736 |
| 687 |
| 12,688 |
| 480 |
| 651 |
| 1,096 |
| 4,907 |
| 1,918 |
| 859 |
| 464 |
| 477 |
| 103 |
| 1,195 |
| 1,095 |
| 1,781 |
| 2,265 |
| 2,772 |
| 456 |
| 555 |
| 1,071 |
| 36,526 |
In the past river traffic on the Begej river used to be most developed mode of cargo transport. Veliki Bečkerek got a railway in 1883, when it linked the city to Kikinda. There are many taxi companies in Zrenjanin and the regulations are either lacking or are not enforced by the authorities.
The city is served by Zrenjanin Airport, which however, as of 2023, has no hard runway, and no facilities for commercial air transport.
There is a Tourist Information Office in the building of National Museum (Subotićeva 1).Tourism Information Office, http://www.zrenjanin.rs/en/visit-zrenjanin/tourist-information-center
[[File:Nikola Grbić.jpg|thumb|right|Olympic and World champion [[Nikola Grbić]]]]
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