History of Zrenjanin

first settled in the 14th century, the first mention of it dates from 1326. The merchant town on the Begej river became a property of the Serbian prince Stefan Lazarević in the 14th century. The town was ruled by the Kingdom of Hungary until 1551 when it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman army that conquered Bečkerek was led by Mehmed-pašaSokolović, an Ottoman statesman of Serb origin, hence the local Serbs from Bečkerek helped him to conquer the town. After the town fell, Mehmed-paša met with the leaders of local Serbs, and nominated begMalković for administrator of Bečkerek. As a gratitude to Serbs for their help, Mehmed-paša later (in 1570) turned the town into his vakuf (foundation), built there many beautiful buildings, and granted local autonomy to it. During the Ottoman rule, the town of Bečkerek was divided into two parts (mahalas) - one Serb and another Muslim and was sanjak centre in Province of Temeşvar.

In 1716, Bečkerek was conquered by the Habsburg Monarchy and it developed significantly by Maria Theresia's order of 1769. According to the 1753 data, the town was mostly populated by Serbs and Germans. According to the 1773 data, the population of the town numbered 721 houses, of which 625