Kragujevac (Serbian Cyrillic: Крагујевац, pronounced [krǎɡujeʋats] ( listen)) is the fourth largest city of Serbia and the administrative center of the Šumadija District in central Serbia. It is situated on the banks of the Lepenica River. According to the official results of the 2011 census, the city administrative area has a population of 179,417 inhabitants.
Kragujevac was the first capital of modern Serbia (1818–1841); the first constitution in the Balkans was proclaimed in the city in 1835. The city's first grammar school and printworks were both established in 1833, followed by the professional National theatre (1835), Military academy (1837) and the first full-fledged university in the newly independent Serbia (1838). Kragujevac was the site of a massacre by the Nazis (1941), in which 2,778 Serb men and boys were murdered. Contemporary Kragujevac is known for its munitions (Zastava Arms) and automobile industry (Fiat Automobili Srbija).
As an important university center, the University of Kragujevac was established on 21 May 1976, from departments of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Faculty of Economics, which began to work in late 1960s. The University of Kragujevac includes twelve schools, six located in Kragujevac with others located in Čačak, Kraljevo, Jagodina, Užice and Vrnjačka Banja. The city has two scientific research institutes: the Institute for Field Crops in Kragujevac and Fruit and Grape Research Institute in Čačak.
The name Kragujevac derives from the archaic Serbian word "kraguj", describing a particular species of hawk. Thus, Kragujevac means "hawk's nesting place".