Belgrade has been the capital of Serbia since 1404 and lies on the flowing
Sava river to the
Danube river in northern central Serbia and has a population of 1.65 million. Belgrade is said to be one of the oldest European if not world cities. Belgrade was first settled by Celtic tribes
2300 years ago before it became a Roman settlement of Singidunum and then being passed down to the
Byzantine Empire. Singidunum (Belgrade) was occupied by the Huns, Sarmatians, Ostrogoths and Avars after the Roman empire fell, until the Serbs settled it around 630AD. In
878 the city was renamed Beligrad under the rule of the Bulgarian kingdom. The first Serbian king to rule Belgrade was Dragutin, who received it as a present from the Hungarian king. Belgrade was occupied by the Kingdom of Hungary, until 1521 when it was captured by the
Ottoman Turks, Belgrade remained under Ottoman rule for 300 years. When the Ottoman Turks left in
1867 and Serbia got its full independence in 1878, Belgrade became again the capital of Serbia. After World War One Belgrade then became the capital of Yugoslavia for over 50 years until the break up of Yugoslavia in 1991.
