Medveđa

The name is derived from the Serbian word medved (медвед), "bear", hence meaning "the place of the bears".^{[citation needed]}

During the Roman period, there was a town (mansia) with the name Idimum located in the cadastral area of the modern town. Architectural debris dating to the 4th century AD lay at various locations of the town, as it was a transitory zone of Upper Moesia; travel and postal stations are among the finds.^[5]

Toponyms such as Arbanaška and Đjake shows an Albanian presence in the Toplica and Southern Morava regions (located north-east of contemporary Kosovo) before the expulsion of Albanians during 1877–1878 period.^[6][7] The rural parts of Jablanica valley and adjoining semi-mountainous interior was inhabited by compact Muslim Albanian population while Serbs in those areas lived near the river mouths and mountain slopes and both peoples inhabited other regions of the South Morava river basin.^[8][9][10] As the wider Jabllanica region, Medveđa also had an Albanian majority. These Albanians were expelled by Serbian forces^[11][12][13] in a way that today would be characterized as ethnic cleansing.^[14] Due to depopulation and economic considerations some small numbers of Albanians were allowed to stay and return though not to their previous settlements and instead were designated concentrated village clusters in the Toplica, Masurica and Jablanica areas.^[13] Of those only in the Jablanica valley centered around the town of Medveđa have small numbers of Albanians and their descendants remained.^[11][12] This was due to a local Ottoman Albanian commander Sahit Pasha from the Jablanica area negotiating on good terms with Prince Milan and thereby guaranteeing their presence.^[11][13]

According to the 2011 census results, the municipality of Medveđa has a population of 7,438 inhabitants. It saw a great depopulation in the past 50 years, having nearly 25,000 inhabitants in 1961 and 7,400 fifty years later. Around 43.5% of inhabitants live in urban areas. As of the 2022 census, the municipality has a population of 6,360 inhabitants.^[4]

Aside from the town of Medveđa, the municipality includes the following settlements:

The municipality of Medveđa is one of the least developed municipalities in Serbia. It has many natural advantages for tourism development, as it is in the vicinity of a spa resort with dozens of mineral springs in Sijarinska Banja, Stara Banja and Tulare.

On its territory there are mineral resources for mining, semi-precious stones and marble-onyx. The most promising branch of industry is mining, having mine and flotation "Lece", within the Group Farmakom. It has also solid prospects for development in agriculture and industries such as livestock (sheep, goats, cows) and fruit (plums, pears, apples, quince), also the timber industry and processing.

The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2022):^[28]

Seats in the municipality parliament won in the 2012 local elections:^[29]

• Group of Citizens "For North Jablanica" (16)
• Party for Democratic Action (6)
• Democratic Party (6)
• United Regions of Serbia (4)
• Serbian Progressive Party (3)

• 
  Monument in town center
• 
  Town streets
• 
  Svirce in 2017
• 
  Albanian language school and police station in Svirce
• 
  Mosque of Sijarina, built around 1880's

• Dušan Spasojević, deceased head of the Zemun clan
• Idriz Ajeti, historian
• Agim Ajdarević, football player
• Veli Dedi Albanian General