Leskovac

Leskovac Град Лесковац
City
City of Leskovac
Panoramic view of Leskovac
Flag Coat of arms
Location of the city of Leskovac within Serbia
Coordinates: 43°00′N 21°57′E / 43.000°N 21.950°E / 43.000; 21.950Coordinates: 43°00′N 21°57′E / 43.000°N 21.950°E / 43.000; 21.950
Country	Serbia
Region	Southern and Eastern Serbia
District	Jablanica
Settlements	144
Government
• Mayor	dr Goran Cvetanović (SNS)
Area
• Administrative	1,025 km2 (396 sq mi)
Elevation	228 m (748 ft)
Population (2011 census)
• Rank	12th
• Urban	60,288
• Administrative	144,206
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	16000
Area code	+381 16
Car plates	LE
Website	www.gradleskovac.org

Leskovac (Serbian Cyrillic: Лесковац, pronounced [lě̞skɔ̝v̞at͡s]) is a city and the administrative center of the Jablanica District in southern Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the city urban area has 60,288 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 144,206.

Traces of life of the Brnjica culture (8th century BC) is seen at the Hisar Hill (Hisar Leskovac) that was protected by a deep moat with a palisade on its inner side, a fortification similar to that of another fortification on the Gradac () site near Zlokućane in the Velika Morava basin. A later Iron Age settlement existed at Hisar dating from the 6th century BC until the 4th century BC. Besides Greek fibula and pottery, Triballi (Thracian) tombs have been excavated in 2005.

Archeological findings from the multi-layer sites indicate that the Scordisci and Triballi inhabited the Leskovac valley before the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC. Famous cultural-historic monuments in this area are: the Roman necropolis in Mala Kopasnica originating from 2nd century AD, the Eastern Roman town of Justiniana Prima built in 535 AD.

Slavs settled the Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries. The province was known as Dendra in Greek, and Glubočica (Глубочица, later Dubočica) in Slavic. Dendra was given to Serbian ruler Desa in 1155. It was then held by Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja.