Principality of Serbia

Also known as Kneževina Srbija, Serb Principality, Serbian Principality

1815-1882 principality in Southeastern Europe

Key facts

1815: 24,440 km (9,440 sq mi)
1834: 37,511 km (14,483 sq mi)
1874: 1,353,000
Capital: Gornja Crnuća (1815–1818) Kragujevac (1818–1841) Belgrade (1841–1882)
Common languages: Serbian
Religion: Serbian Orthodoxy ( official )
Demonym: Serbian, Serb
Government: Absolute monarchy (1815–1838) Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy (1838–1882)
1817 1839 first: Miloš Obrenović I
1868 1882 last: Milan Obrenović IV
1815 1816 first: Petar Nikolajević
1880 1882 last: Milan Piroćanac

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Article

Today part ofSerbia

The Principality of Serbia (Serbian: Књажество Србија, romanized: Knjažestvo Srbija) was an autonomous, later sovereign state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian Revolution. Its creation was negotiated first through an unwritten agreement between Miloš Obrenović, leader of the Second Serbian Uprising, and Ottoman official Marashli Pasha, followed by a series of decrees of the Sublime Porte in 1828–1833. Its de facto independence ensued in 1867, following the evacuation of the remaining Ottoman troops from the Belgrade Fortress and the country; its independence was recognized internationally in 1878 by the Treaty of Berlin. In 1882 the country was elevated to the status of kingdom.