Čonoplja

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Čonoplja (Чонопља) is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Sombor municipality, in the West Bačka District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbering 4,359 people (2002 census).
Before the end of the 18th century Čonoplja was mainly populated by ethnic Bunjevci, preceded by a small Serbian community during
the Ottoman administration (16th-17th century). In the middle of the 18th century Hungarian settlers were there as well. The Bunjevci and Hungarian were of Catholic confession. At the end of the 18th century, in 1786, the village population was enlarged with new German settlers, who came from the Elsass and Lothringen region, with a large part of it from Hunsrück, near Koblenz. The population rose to more than 5,000 in the middle of the 19th century, with a large decrease due to emigration to the US around 1900. In 1940 the population of Čonoplja numbered 4,879, with a slight majority of Germans (53.45%), and large Hungarian (29.68%) and Croat (Bunjevci) (14.84%) minorities. The rest mainly consisted of small groups of Jews (0.78%) and Serbs (0,78%). Most of the German population left with the retreating German army in October 1944. The remaining German part was mainly sent to prison and work camps, where many of them died. After 1945, the village was settled by more than 3,000 people from the area around Slunj, Vrginmost and Cazin, now in Croatia, at the central part. The new settlers were mostly of Serbian origin.
Čonoplja has a large Serbian majority (70.96%), with a large minority of Hungarians (15.33%). Other minorities mainly consist of Yugoslavs, Croats and Bunjevci.