City in southern Serbia
About Niš
Niš, less often spelled in English as Nish, is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in the southern part of Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the city proper has a population of 178,976, while its administrative area has a population of 249,501 inhabitants.
Name
Niš was known as Нишь or Ньшь (Nyšь) in Old Serbian and Old Bulgarian. Nāissus is the ancient name of the city. Naissus is itself probably a derivative of the older *Nāviskos, from *Nāvia ("trough valley"), the Celtic name of the Nišava River, which flows through the city. In historical sources, the town is mentioned as Naissus, Ναϊσσός, Naessus, urbs Naisitana, Нишь, Ньшь, Nisso and Nix. Niš evolved from the toponym attested in Ancient Greek as ΝΑΙΣΣΟΣ (Naissos), achieving its present form via phonetic changes in Proto-Albanian, after which the place name entered Slavic. Nish might indicate that Proto-Albanian was spoken in the region in pre-Slavic antiquity. …
History
The first settlement on the site of today's Niš may have been founded by the Celts at the end of the 3rd century BC. There is, however, very little archaeological evidence that can be used to reconstruct the pre-Roman history of Niš. During the Roman era, the city of Naissus became a large urban center. During the Roman conquest of the Balkans, between 168 and 75 BC, the city was used as a base of operations. Naissus was first mentioned in Roman documents near the beginning of the 2nd century CE, and was considered a place worthy of note in the Geography of Ptolemy of Alexandria. The Romans occupied the town during the Dardanian campaign (75–73 BC), and set up a legionary camp in the city. …
Geography
The road running from the North, from Western and Central Europe and Belgrade down to the Morava River valley, forks into two major lines at Niš: the southern line, leading to Thessalonica and Athens, and the eastern one leading towards Sofia and Istanbul. Niš is situated at the 43°19' latitude north and 21°54' longitude east, in the Nišava valley, near the spot where it joins the South Morava. The main city square, the city's central part, is at 194 m (636 ft) above sea level. The highest point in the city area is "Sokolov kamen" (Falcon's rock) on the Suva Planina (Dry Mountain) (1,523 m (4,997 ft)) while the lowest spot is at Trupale, near the mouth of the Nišava (173 m (568 ft)). The city covers 596.71 square kilometres (230 sq mi) of five municipalities. …
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