Banatski Despotovac
Banatski Despotovac (; ) is a village in Serbia. It is located in the municipal area of the City of Zrenjanin, in the Central Banat District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority (98.2%) and its population numbers 1,620 people (2002 census). Name In Serbian, the village is known as Banatski Despotovac or Банатски Деспотовац (formerly also Ernestovac / Ернестовац), in Hungarian as Ernőháza, and in German as Ernsthausen. The current Serbian name for the village is derived from the Serbian word "despot" (a Medieval ruling title), while the word "banatski" refers to its location in the region of Banat in contrast to the town of Despotovac located in Šumadija and Western Serbia. History The village was founded during Austrian administration in 1822 (according to other sources in 1828) and was initially populated by Danube Swabian settlers. It was named Ernsthausen/Ernestovac after an Austrian army officer Feldmarschalleutnant Ernest Kiss de Elemer. The settlers were exclusively Roman Catholic in faith, and in 1844 they built a large schoolhouse which was used until 1944. Administratively, the village was part of the Torontal County within the Austrian Kingdom of Hungary. In 1848–49, the village was part of autonomous Serbian Vojvodina and