Subotica, Serbia

Subotica (Serbian Cyrillic: Суботица, pronounced [sǔbotitsa] (listen); Hungarian: Szabadka) is a city and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, contemporary Subotica is now the second largest city in the province, following the city of Novi Sad. According to the 2011 census, the city itself has a population of 97,910, while the urban area of Subotica (with adjacent urban settlement of Palić included) has 105,681 inhabitants, and the population of metro area (the administrative area of the city) stands at 141,554 people.

The name of the city has changed frequently over time. The earliest known written name of the city was Zabotka or Zabatka, which dates from 1391. It is the origin of the current Hungarian name for the city "Szabadka". Other sources claim, that the name "Szabadka" comes from the adjective szabad, which derived from the Slavic word for "free" – svobod, referring to the status of the colonists settled in this zone by the Habsburg after the Battle of Zenta.