Orašac is a young settlement, established in the first half of the 18th century, during the period of the Austrian occupation of north Serbia (1718-1739) when Serbian population moved here hoping they would live better under the Christian authority. The village was probably named after a great quantity of walnuts (en. walnut – sr. orah-Orašac).

When defeated by the Ottoman Empire, Orašac became the part of Smederevo sanjak, and then the part of Belgrade pashaluk. As the part of north Serbia, Orašac belonged to Austria according to the Treaty of Požarevac and remained under the Austrian occupation from 1718-1739. After the Austrians had left Serbia, the Ottomans came back to these territories again.

Notes on Orašac

The village Orašac was formed around Orašac stream. Later settlers inhabited the hills between Vrbljak and Misača villages. For that reason, Orašac is a dispersed village today that is divided on hamlets and groups of related houses. The center of the village is on the road Mladenovac- Arandjelovac. During the Uprising, there were 30 houses in Orašac, and the main agricultural activity was cattle breeding.

Describing Orašac at the end of 19th century, Kanitz said that he had seen “low fertile vineyards; and historically significant oak forest where few brave patriots decided to raise an uprising against the Ottoman aggressors on February 15th 1804 is completely destroyed”.

According to Kanitz, on the territory of Orašac, on Misača hill, a part of the road – 50m long and 15m wide – was cut through the rock a few centuries ago. This “cut”, which people assigned to Jerina the Cursed, joined the road from Smederevo towards the town Ostrovica, probably to connect nearby mines with the Danube easier. Kanitz further narrates that the “cut” was built by German miners who were digging the iron on Venčac Mountain.

Economic development of the village includes mining, exploitation of dark coal in the mines Orašac and Vrbica within one territorial unit and around 1 km far Misača. The pits were closed in 1961 due to unproductivity.

Today, the main economic activities are agriculture and cattle breeding.