Veliki Bečkerek

Veliki Bečkerek stands on the Begej in the low, once marshy country of the Banat. The settlement was recorded in 1326, and in 1403 King Sigismund entrusted its administration to the Serbian despot Stefan Lazarević. Its fortress became a focus of the long struggle for the region.

Mehmed Pasha Sokolović captured fortified Bečkerek in 1551. It remained under Ottoman rule for most of the next century and a half; its fortress was demolished in 1701 under the terms of the Treaty of Karlowitz. Habsburg troops entered the town in 1717, and the authorities organized a district with its seat here. Work on the Begej canal helped drain the marshes. Maria Theresa granted the community market privileges in 1769, and in 1779 it became the seat of Torontál county. A great fire destroyed much of the centre in 1807.