Editing Novi Sad (section)

=== Founding of Novi Sad ===
[[File:Kaiserin Maria Theresia (HRR).jpg|thumb|[[House of Habsburg|Habsburgs]] prohibited Orthodox Christians to settle in [[Petrovaradin]]. That policy pushed Serbs to form the ''Serb city'' which later became Novi Sad. The city was proclaimed to be a free royal city by [[Maria Theresa]] by 1748.]]

Habsburg rule was aligned with the Roman Catholic doctrine and, as it took over this area near the end of the 17th century, the government prohibited people of [[Eastern Orthodox|Orthodox faith]] from residing in [[Petrovaradin]]. Unable to build homes there, the Serbs of the area founded a new settlement in 1694 on the left bank of the Danube. They initially called it the 'Serb city' ({{langx|sr|Srpski Grad}}, {{langx|de|[[Rascians|Ratzen]] Stadt}}). Another name used for the settlement was Petrovaradinski Šanac. In 1718, the inhabitants of the village of [[Almaš]] were resettled to Petrovaradinski Šanac, where they founded [[Almaški Kraj]] ('the Almaš quarter').

According to 1720 data, the population of Ratzen Stadt was composed of 112 Serbian, 14 German, and 5 Hungarian houses. The settlement officially gained the present names ''Novi Sad'' and ''Újvidék'' (''Neoplanta'' in Latin) in 1748 when it became a 'free royal city', in German language it was called Neusatz.

The edict that made Novi Sad a 'free royal city' was proclaimed on 1 February 1748. The edict reads:
{{blockquote|' We, [[Maria Theresa of Austria|Maria Theresa]], by the grace of God [[Holy Roman Empress]],<br />Queen of [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungary]], [[Bohemia]], [[Moravia]], [[Dalmatia]], [[Croatia]], [[Slavonia]], [[Prozor-Rama|Rama]], [[Serbia]], [[Galicia (Central-Eastern Europe)|Galicia]], [[Lodomeria]], [[Duchy of Carinthia|Carinthia]], [...]<br />cast this proclamation to anyone, whom it might concern... so that the renowned Petrovaradinski Šanac, which lies on the other side of the Danube in the [[Bačka]] province on the [[Sajlovo]] land, by the might of our divine royal power and prestige...make this town a [[Free imperial city|Free Royal City]] and to fortify, accept and acknowledge it as one of the free royal cities of our [[Kingdom of Hungary]] and other territories, by abolishing its previous name of Petrovaradinski Šanac, renaming it Neoplanta ([[Latin]]), Új-Vidégh ([[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]), Neusatz (German) and Novi Sad ([[Serbian language|Serbian]]) '|sign=|source=}}

In the 18th century, the Habsburg monarchy recruited Germans from the southern principalities of the Holy Roman Empire to relocate to the Danube valley. They wanted both to increase the population and to redevelop the river valley for agriculture, which had declined markedly under the Ottomans. To encourage such settlement, the government ensured that the German communities could practice their religion (mostly Catholicism) and use their original German dialect.