Capljinac
Fortress shadow village—Čapljinac's 787 residents farm below Kurvingrad ruins, 11km from Niš, sharing schools with neighboring villages.
Čapljinac exists because the Doljevac valley needed settlements between Niš and the Morava—and because proximity to medieval fortresses shaped where people lived. This village of 787 in Doljevac municipality sits in the Nišava District, 11 kilometers from Niš and 6 kilometers from Doljevac itself. Above the town rises Kurvingrad (also called Koprijan), a ruined medieval fortress that once commanded the South Morava valley.
The fortress context explains the settlement pattern. Medieval and Ottoman rulers built defensive positions on commanding heights; villages clustered in the protected lowlands nearby, farming the fertile alluvium while castle garrisons provided security from raiders. Čapljinac's position—close to Belotinac, Čaplinci, and Batušinac—reflects this network of agricultural settlements feeding regional administrative centers.
The Doljevac municipality pattern is agricultural decline despite fertile land. The 2022 census counted 15,837 residents municipality-wide, but the population trends downward as young people migrate to Niš for education and employment. Čapljinac shares a primary school with Belotinac—the Vuk Karadžić school that received EU renovation funding in 2023—illustrating how villages pool resources to maintain services. By 2026, Čapljinac's viability depends on whether Niš's labor market can absorb commuters or whether the 11-kilometer distance proves too great for daily travel.