Udbina

Udbina is a village and a municipality in the Lika region of Croatia. It is an administratively part of in the Lika-Senj County.

Geography

The village is located in the large karst field called Krbava. The field has a small airport, the only one in Lika.

History

The Krbava field and Udbina itself was the location of a medieval bishopric and the Battle of Krbava field of September 9, 1493, where the Croats under ban Emerik Derenčin (Hungarian: Imre Derencsényi) and the Frankopans suffered one of the major defeats at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Udbina was managed by Ottomans between 1527-1689 (nominally to 1699) and included to the Sanjak of Lika in the Eyalet of Bosnia.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Udbina was part of the Lika-Krbava County of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. According to the 1910 census, Udbina was inhabited by a Croat majority and Serb minority; 1244 were Catholics and 231 were Orthodox.

During World War II, Udbina was part of the Independent State of Croatia. In December 1942, the Croatian population was expelled from the town. The Catholic Church of St. Nicholas was subsequently destroyed. The Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas (filial of the Church of the Holy Transfiguration of Mutilić) was destroyed in World War II.