Ferdinandovac - establishment and history of the settlement Pavlanci
Until 1844, the village of Brod was located on the right bank of the Drava River. Such accommodation of the settlement provided its inhabitants with modest conditions for economic, demographic and any other development because there was little arable land, and the capricious Drava River often threatened with floods and caused soil erosion. The settlement of Brod was named after the arranged crossing over the Drava River, and it differed from other settlements in Podravina by the presence of a large number of occupations related to the river, such as millers, boatmen and the like. There were always a lot of craftsmen and several officials connected with the Frontier administration and the Church: a priest, a Frontier officer, a bell ringer, a janitor, a midwife and others. An independent chaplaincy was established in Brod in 1782, and the parish was founded in 1811 and was under the heavenly protection of St. Nicholas. Since the river crossing in Brod connected the territory of the Military Frontier and Hungary, it was also a place where people of different origins, languages and cultures mixed.
Due to the catastrophic floods of 1844, great destruction occurred and then the settlement of Brod was abandoned and the population moved to a new settlement called Ferdinandovac. A total of 83 families, i.e., 830 inhabitants, were relocated. The relocation of the locals from Brod to Ferdinandovac on 9 November 1844 was led by the then parish priest Ivan Južak in cooperation with the Frontier authorities. Houses were built in advance for all families and arranged in orderly straight streets, which is characteristic of planned settlements. Later, a school building, a parish court and a parish church dedicated to St. King Ferdinand were built.
It is a common misconception that the village of Brod was located on the left bank of the Drava River, while historical sources clearly testify that it was located on the right bank but was threatened by river erosion. Later, the river actually intercepted the place where Brod was, so the toponym Stari Brod is today located on its left bank.
The development of Ferdinandovac in the modern age was influenced by the permanent habitation of konaki by people from Đurđevac and other places, therefore, such hamlets are included in the Ferdinandovac parish and municipality. Konaki were temporary residences of cattle and people from larger settlements in Podravina who had their separate estates on drained locations, beams, forest clearings, and sandy and gravel hills covered with a thick layer of humus. The creation, maintenance and expansion of konaki was a response to the desire and hunger for arable agricultural land and wood.
One of such konaki is Pavlanci. It is believed to have originated from the parish of St. Paul which was located among the Drava River swamps in the Middle Ages. That settlement, which was named after St. Paul, was destroyed during the conflict with the Ottomans in the middle of the 16th century, and the places where the remains of buildings are located are known, therefore, archaeological research should be carried out.
