SLAVONSKI BROD INFO  

TABLE OF CONTENT

Prehistorical era in Brod and surroundings

Roman time - Marsvnnia

Slavonski Brod trought centuries

Brod na Savi, a Book by Zvonimir Toldi

Slavonski Brod in a homeland war (1991 - 1995)

Links about SB History:

Roman Military Diploma from Slavonski Brod

Slavonski Brod is today a medium-sized town (in 1991 it had 55.683 inhabitants) situated by the Sava River in the region called Slavonia in the Republic of Croatia. During the two thousand years of its existence Brod has changed its name a few times. In Antique it was called Marsvnnia, in the Medieval its name was Stari Grad (Old Town), from the thirteenth century it was mentioned as neighbouring village Brod, owned by Berislavić family. Latter town name was Brod na Savi and today is Slavonski Brod.

Since Slavonski Brod has existed over 2.000 years, it is evident that its geographical position has always been particularly important. The value of this position is due to the fact that here adjoin all the traffic directions connecting the upper and the lower Posavina as well as the Pannonian plane with Bosnia and the Adriatic coast.

Other geographical characteristics of Brod are not quite favourable, because in the past the Sava often burst its banks and flooded a considerahle part of the plane. In the Brod hinterlands stretches the mountainous territory of Dilj, which has always been inhabited. Therefore, Brod is situated at the ancient crossroads leading west, east, north and south.

The first settlements on this territory have heen known since Neolithic. The Starcevo culture on mount Igrač beyond village Tomica indicates that on this site people lived in sod-houses and that they practiced hunting and hoe-farming. In the times of the Sopot culture settlements near villages Donja Bebrina and Klokočevik were known. They consisted of simple wooden houses with a single room. The Eneolithic settlement near Donja Bebrina showed a significant improvement: the houses had a regular rectangular foundation, two rooms and a porch. In the Bronze Age there were several settlements in the environs of Brod, which is proved by the presence of Bronze-Age objects. During the Hallstatt the Brod region saw the process of ethnogenesis of Illyrians from Pannonia. At the same time traffic connections with distant regions were developping. Trading caravans, passing through this region, brought their goods from Alpine regions on the west, a wide circle of the Danube countries on the north and east, and from the Adriatic ports on the south. In the age of La Tene the Brod region was invaded by Celts who brought their knowledge of iron. Celts did not drive Pannonian and Illyrian natives back from the Brod region, but only imposed themselves as the ruling population. It seems that it was Celts who founded, at the mouth of the Sava, a fortress with a settlement which got the name Marsvnnia after the river with the same name. Therefore, Marsvnnia could be dated back to 300 BC, which means that Brod has existed as long as 2.300 years.