Mitrovica

Mitrovica stands on the Sava in Syrmia, over the remains of the Roman city of Sirmium. Once a major imperial and Christian centre, Sirmium gave its name to the surrounding region. The medieval town was known as the city of Saint Demetrius, a name that survives in the Serbian Dimitrovica and the Hungarian Szávaszentdemeter.

The Ottomans brought Mitrovica under their rule in the sixteenth century, and it developed as a provincial town known as Şeher Mitrovica or Dimitrofçe. The wars between the Ottomans and Habsburgs turned Syrmia into a contested borderland. By the Peace of Passarowitz in 1718, Mitrovica belonged to the Habsburg Monarchy; it later served as a regimental centre of the Military Frontier. Its position on the Sava continued to link the town with the lands on both banks.