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Revision as of 18:21, 17 January 2006 by Maestral (talk | contribs) (confusion?! Misplaced Pages is here to solve confusions and to explain the truth. revert)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Šokci (Croatian and Serbian: Šokci/Шокци, singular Šokac/Шокац, pronounced as Shoktzi and Shokatz, also in Hungarian: Sokácok) are a South Slavic ethnic group living in various settlements along the Danube river in the historic regions of Slavonia, Baranja, Srem/Srijem and western Bačka. These regions today comprise the Vojvodina province of Serbia, the Slavonia, Srijem and Baranja regions of Croatia, and the Baranya region in Hungary (many Šokci live in the town of Mohács). They are Roman Catholic by faith and they speak a Shtokavian South Slavic dialect, thought they declare in censuses to speak Croatian or Serbian language, depend of that in which country they live.
Most of them declare themselves in censuses as Croats, while small number declare themselves as Šokci. In the old Austro-Hungarian censuses much larger number of them declared themselves as Šokci. According to 1991 census, there were 1,922 declared Šokci in Serbia and Montenegro. In the 19th century, the number of declared Šokci in this region was much greater - more than 20,000. Today, larger concentration of declared Šokci can be found in 4 settlements in Bačka: Bački Monoštor, Sonta, Sombor, and Bački Breg.
Šokci living in Croatia and Hungary, as well as many of those living in Serbia, usually consider themselves to be a subgroup of Croats, while those who declare themselves as Šokci are recognized as a separate ethnic group in Serbia.
A definition about the origin of the name Šokci states that the South Slavic people of Orthodox faith use to distinguish themselves from Roman-Catholics by naming them Šokci. Therefore South Slavic Catholics living in the Serbian part of Pannonia are called Šokci. By the contrast, the South Slavs of Roman-Catholic faith use name Vlachs for Orthodox South Slavs.