Svrljig (, ); until 1904 Derven () is a town and municipality located in the Nià ¡ava District of the southern Serbia. According to 2022 census, the town has a population of 6,762 inhabitants, while the municipality has 10,781.
Svrljig is situated on the river Svrljià ¡ki Timok, 30 km east from Nià ¡, the third largest city in Serbia. Nearby villages include Crnoljevica and Prekonoga.
Aside from the town of Svrljig, the municipality includes the following settlements:
An anthropological study by Mihailo Kostiàclaimed that the Svrljig province was inhabited by mostly an "olden" population, while part descends from "colonists from the second half of the 15th century". According to Petar VlahoviÃÂ, Svrljig is part of the Serbian à  opi ethnographical region.
Svrljig was the name of a à ¾upa (county) in the Middle Ages. It is mentioned (for the first time) in the geographical list of counties and cities in the 1019âÂÂ20 charters of Byzantine Emperor Basil II. The settlement and its surrounding region is mentioned as part of the Eparchy of Nià ¡. In 1183, Svrljig and other nearby fortifications were taken over by Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja. The fortification mostly dates to the medieval Serbian period. It was situated on the road which connected Nià ¡ with the road to Constantinople. An evangelion manuscript written in Svrljig in the Serbian redaction of Old Slavic dating to 1279 is preserved in fragments. After the fall of BraniÃÂevo under the Serbian king Stefan Milutin in 1290s Svrljig became a border region. Svrljig was conquered and plundered in 1413 by Ottoman prince Musa ÃÂelebi. It was then part of Stefan LazareviÃÂ's Serbian Despotate.
The town was known as Isferlik and Isfirlig in Ottoman Turkish. It was administratively part of the Sanjak of Vidin.
During the Toplica Uprising (1917), Serbian guerrilla bands were active in the region.
In 1922, the Nià ¡âÂÂSvrljigâÂÂKnjaà ¾evacâÂÂZajeÃÂar highway was built. From 1929 to 1941, Svrljig was part of the Morava Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During World War II, Yugoslav Partisans were active in the region.
According to the 2011 census results, the municipality of Svrljig has 14,249 inhabitants.
The ethnic composition of the municipality is:
The following table gives a preview of total number of employed people per their core activity (as of 2017):