Difference between revisions of "Bosnia and Herzegovina" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
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===World War II===
 
===World War II===
 
[[Image:TijentisteSutjeska.jpg|thumb|260px|left|Monument commemorating the [[Sutjeska offensive|Battle of Sutjeska]] in eastern [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]].]]
 
[[Image:TijentisteSutjeska.jpg|thumb|260px|left|Monument commemorating the [[Sutjeska offensive|Battle of Sutjeska]] in eastern [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]].]]
Once the kingdom of Yugoslavia was conquered by Nazi forces in [[World War II]], all of Bosnia was ceded to the [[Independent State of Croatia]]. The Nazi rule over Bosnia led to widespread persecution of Jewish, Serbian and Gypsy civilians. The Jewish population was nearly exterminated and roughly 50,000 Serbs died as a result of genocide perpetrated by the Croatian Ustasha. Many Serbs in the area took up arms and joined the [[Chetniks]]; a Serb nationalist and royalist resistance movement that conducted [[guerrilla warfare]] against the Nazis but then switched to fight the Partisans.  
+
Once the kingdom of Yugoslavia was conquered by Nazi forces in [[World War II]], all of Bosnia was ceded to the [[Independent State of Croatia]]. The Nazi rule over Bosnia led to widespread persecution of Jewish, Serbian and Gypsy civilians. The Jewish population was nearly exterminated and 129,114 Serbs died as a result of genocide perpetrated by the Croatian Ustasha in the [[Independent State of Croatia]], which included present day Bosnia and Herzegovina) between 1941 and 1945.
 +
 
 +
The list of victims of the 1941-1945 war, is kept in the Federal Bureau of Statistics in [[Belgrade]]. It contains the names of 179,173 persons killed in the war born in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This list is not complete. The ethnic structure in this list of the war victims confirms that the Serbian population had greatest losses. The war victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the above mentioned excerpt from the census, were 72.1 percent Serbs (129,114), 16.5 percent Muslims (29,539), 4.4 percent Croats (7850) and 7.0 percent of other nationalities.
 +
 
 +
Many Serbs in the area took up arms and joined the [[Chetniks]]; a Serb nationalist and royalist resistance movement that conducted [[guerrilla warfare]] against the Nazis but then switched to fight the Partisans.  
  
 
Starting in 1941, Yugoslav communists under the leadership of [[Josip Broz Tito]] organized their own multi-ethnic resistance group, the [[Partisans (Yugoslavia)|partisans]], who fought against both Axis and Chetnik forces. On November 25, 1943, the [[Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia]] with Tito at its helm held a founding conference in [[Jajce]] where Bosnia and Herzegovina was reestablished as a republic within the Yugoslavian federation in its Ottoman borders. Military success eventually prompted the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] to support the Partisans, but [[Josip Broz Tito]] declined their offer to help. Eventually the end of the war resulted in the establishment of the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]], with the [[Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|constitution of 1946]] officially making Bosnia and Herzegovina one of six constituent republics in the new state. The total number of deaths in Bosnia during the war was estimated at 164,000 Serbs, 75,000 Muslims, and 64,000 Croats.
 
Starting in 1941, Yugoslav communists under the leadership of [[Josip Broz Tito]] organized their own multi-ethnic resistance group, the [[Partisans (Yugoslavia)|partisans]], who fought against both Axis and Chetnik forces. On November 25, 1943, the [[Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia]] with Tito at its helm held a founding conference in [[Jajce]] where Bosnia and Herzegovina was reestablished as a republic within the Yugoslavian federation in its Ottoman borders. Military success eventually prompted the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] to support the Partisans, but [[Josip Broz Tito]] declined their offer to help. Eventually the end of the war resulted in the establishment of the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]], with the [[Constitution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|constitution of 1946]] officially making Bosnia and Herzegovina one of six constituent republics in the new state. The total number of deaths in Bosnia during the war was estimated at 164,000 Serbs, 75,000 Muslims, and 64,000 Croats.
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===Communism crumbles===
 
===Communism crumbles===
In 1980, after Tito's death, the rapid decline of the Yugoslav economy led to widespread public dissatisfaction with the political system. A crisis in [[Kosovo]], the emergence of Serb nationalist [[Slobodan Milošević]] (1941-2006) in [[Serbia]] in 1986, and the manipulation of nationalist feelings by politicians, further destabilized Yugoslav politics. Independent political parties appeared in 1988.
+
In 1980, after Tito's death, the presidency of the subsequent communist regime rotated between representatives of each of the six republics and two provinces. This system contributed to growing political instability, and the rapid decline of the Yugoslav economy, which in turn added to widespread public dissatisfaction with the political system. A crisis in [[Kosovo]], the emergence of Serb nationalist [[Slobodan Milošević]] (1941-2006) in [[Serbia]] in 1986, and the manipulation of nationalist feelings by politicians, further destabilized Yugoslav politics. Independent political parties appeared in 1988.  
 
 
In early 1990, multiparty elections were held in Slovenia and Croatia. With the fall of communism and the start of the break-up of Yugoslavia, the old communist doctrine of tolerance began to lose its potency, creating an opportunity for nationalist elements in the society to spread their influence.
 
 
 
On the first multi-party elections that took place in November 1990 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the three largest ethnic parties in the country won: the [[Bosniaks|Bosniak]] [[Party of Democratic Action]], the [[Serbian Democratic Party]] and the [[Croatian Democratic Union]]. After the elections, they formed a coalition government. The primary motivation behind this union was to maintain an atmosphere of tolerance and further their common goal to rule as a democratic alternative to the Socialist government that preceded them.
 
 
 
Parties divided the power along the ethnic lines so that the President of the Presidency of the [[Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] was a [[Bosniaks|Bosniak]], president of the Parliament was a [[Bosnian Serb]] and the prime minister a [[Bosnian Croat]].
 
  
Bosniak politician [[Alija Izetbegovic]] led a tripartite coalition government, but growing tension, both within and outside Bosnia, made cooperation with [[Radovan Karadzic's]] Serbian Democratic Party increasingly difficult.  
+
In 1989, Milosevic, with his vision of a "Greater Serbia" free of all other ethnicities, won the presidency in Serbia. In early 1990, multiparty elections were held in Slovenia and Croatia. On the first multi-party elections that took place in November 1990 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the [[Bosniaks|Bosniak]] [[Party of Democratic Action]], the [[Serbian Democratic Party]] and the [[Croatian Democratic Union]] formed a coalition government. Bosniak politician [[Alija Izetbegovic]] led a tripartite coalition government, but growing tension, both within and outside Bosnia, made cooperation with [[Radovan Karadzic's]] Serbian Democratic Party increasingly difficult.  
  
 
===Independence===
 
===Independence===
 
[[Image:Momo_i_Uzeir.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Momo and Uzeir towers in Sarajevo]]
 
[[Image:Momo_i_Uzeir.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Momo and Uzeir towers in Sarajevo]]
 
[[Image:Zgrada Lamela.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Lamela, the tallest building in Zenica]]
 
[[Image:Zgrada Lamela.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Lamela, the tallest building in Zenica]]
[[Croatia]] and [[Slovenia]]'s subsequent declarations of independence and the warfare that ensued placed Bosnia and Herzegovina and its three constituent peoples in an awkward position. A significant split soon developed on the issue of whether to stay with the [[SFRJ|Yugoslav federation]] (overwhelmingly favored among Serbs) or seek independence (overwhelmingly favored among Bosniaks and Croats).
+
[[Croatia]] and [[Slovenia]]'s subsequent declarations of independence and the warfare that ensued placed Bosnia and Herzegovina and its three constituent peoples in an awkward position. A significant split soon developed on the issue of whether to stay with the [[SFRJ|Yugoslav federation]] (overwhelmingly favored among Serbs) or seek independence (overwhelmingly favored among Bosniaks and Croats). Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its sovereignty in October of 1991 and organized a referendum on independence in March 1992. The decision of the [[Parliament of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] on holding the referendum was taken after most [[Bosnian Serb]] members had left the assembly in protest.  
 
 
Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its sovereignty in October of 1991 and organized a referendum on independence in March 1992. The decision of the [[Parliament of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina]] on holding the referendum was taken after the majority of [[Bosnian Serb]] members had left the assembly in protest.  
 
  
These Bosnian Serb assembly members asked the [[Bosnian Serb]] population to boycott the referendum held on February 29 and March 1, 1992. The turnout in the referendum was 64-67 percent and the vote was 98 percent in favor of independence. The controversy lies in the fact that the referendum failed to surpass the constitutional two-third required majority, so legally it failed too. Independence was declared on March 5, 1992. The referendum and the murder of a member of a wedding procession on the day before the referendum was utilized by the Bosnian Serb political leadership as a reason to start road blockades in protest. The [[Bosnian War]] followed.
+
The Bosnian Serb assembly members asked the [[Bosnian Serb]] population to boycott the referendum held on February 29 and March 1, 1992. The turnout in the referendum was 64-67 percent and the vote was 98 percent in favor of independence. The controversy lies in the fact that the referendum failed to surpass the constitutional two-third required majority, so legally it failed. Independence was declared on March 5, 1992. The referendum and the murder of a member of a wedding procession on the day before the referendum was utilized by the Bosnian Serb political leadership as a reason to start road blockades in protest. The [[Bosnian War]] followed.
  
 
===The 1992-1995 Bosnian War===
 
===The 1992-1995 Bosnian War===
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[[Image:Evstafiev-sarajevo-building-burns.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The parliament building in the centre of Sarajevo burns after being hit by tank fire during the siege in 1992.]]
 
[[Image:Evstafiev-sarajevo-building-burns.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The parliament building in the centre of Sarajevo burns after being hit by tank fire during the siege in 1992.]]
 
{{main|Bosnian War}}
 
{{main|Bosnian War}}
Following a tense period of escalating tensions and sporadic military incidents, open warfare began in Sarajevo on April 6, 1992. International recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina increased diplomatic pressure for the [[Yugoslav People's Army]] (JNA) to withdraw from the republic's territory which they officially did. However, in fact, the Bosnian Serb members of JNA simply changed insignia, formed the [[Army of Republika Srpska]], and continued fighting. Armed and equipped from JNA stockpiles in Bosnia, supported by volunteers and various paramilitary forces from Serbia, and receiving extensive humanitarian, logistical and financial support from the [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]], Republika Srpska's offensives in 1992 managed to place much of the country under its control. By 1993, when an armed conflict erupted between the Sarajevo government and the Croat statelet of [[Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia|Herzeg-Bosnia]], about 70 percent of the country was controlled by Republika Srpska.
+
Following a tense period of escalating tensions and sporadic military incidents, open warfare began in Sarajevo on April 6, 1992. The Serb army forced Muslims out of northern and eastern Bosnia, the areas nearest to Serbia, in a process called "ethnic cleansing". Serbs destroyed villages and systematically raped Bosnian women — entire villages at a time.
 +
 
 +
International recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina increased diplomatic pressure for the [[Yugoslav People's Army]] (JNA) to withdraw from the republic's territory which they officially did. However, in fact, the Bosnian Serb members of JNA simply changed insignia, formed the [[Army of Republika Srpska]], and continued fighting. Armed and equipped from JNA stockpiles in Bosnia, supported by volunteers and various paramilitary forces from Serbia, and receiving extensive humanitarian, logistical and financial support from the [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]], Republika Srpska's offensives in 1992 managed to place much of the country under its control. By 1993, when an armed conflict erupted between the Sarajevo government and the Croat statelet of [[Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia|Herzeg-Bosnia]], about 70 percent of the country was controlled by Republika Srpska.
  
 
In March 1994, the signing of the Washington accords between the leaders of the republican government and Herzeg-Bosnia led to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat [[Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]. The signing of the [[Dayton Agreement]] in [[Dayton, Ohio]] by the presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina ([[Alija Izetbegović]]), Croatia ([[Franjo Tuđman]]), and Yugoslavia ([[Slobodan Milošević]]) brought a halt to the fighting, roughly establishing the basic structure of the present-day state.  
 
In March 1994, the signing of the Washington accords between the leaders of the republican government and Herzeg-Bosnia led to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat [[Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]. The signing of the [[Dayton Agreement]] in [[Dayton, Ohio]] by the presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina ([[Alija Izetbegović]]), Croatia ([[Franjo Tuđman]]), and Yugoslavia ([[Slobodan Milošević]]) brought a halt to the fighting, roughly establishing the basic structure of the present-day state.  
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==Demographics==
 
==Demographics==
[[Image:Ethnic relations 1991.GIF|thumb|200px|Ethnic map based the [[1991 population census in Bosnia and Herzegovina|1991 census]] ([[municipality]] data). The different colours show the largest single ethnic group in each municipality:
 
{{legend|blue|[[Croats]]}}
 
{{legend|red|[[Serbs]]}}
 
{{legend|green|[[Muslims by nationality]]}}]]
 
{{main|Demographics of Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
 
{{seealso|1991 population census in Bosnia and Herzegovina}}
 
 
===Population===
 
===Population===
Around 4.3 million people lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1991, prior to its 1992–1995 war. In 2007 its resident population was estimated as approximately 4 million.
+
Around 4.3 million people lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1991, before the 1992–1995 war, while in 2007 its population was estimated at four million. No census has been taken since 1991, and none is planned due to political disagreements. Therefore, almost all of the post-war data is an estimate. Life expectancy at birth for the total population was estimated at 78 years in 2006. Large population migrations during the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s have caused a large demographic shift in the country.  
 
 
In 1910 Bosnia and Herzegovina had a population of 1,898,044 where 825,918 (43.49%) were [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Orthodox]], 612,137 were [[Muslims]] (32.25%), 434,061 were [[Catholics]] (22.87%) and 26,428 (1.39%) others. <br>
 
According to the 1931 census, there were 2,323,555 persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Orthodox 1,028,139 (44.25%); Muslims 718,079 (30.90%); Catholics 547,949 (23.58%); other: 29,388 (1.27%) of the total population.
 
 
 
In Bosnia and Herzegovina in the course of [[World War II]] the Serbian population had greatest losses in men and material. The [[Serbs]], [[Jews]] and [[Romani people|Gypsies]] were the victims of the genocide executed in the [[Independent State of Croatia]] (which included the whole of present day Bosnia and Herzegovina) between 1941 and 1945.
 
 
 
The list of victims of the 1941-1945 war, made in 1964, is kept in the Documentation of the Federal Bureau of Statistics in [[Belgrade]]. It contains the names of 179,173 persons killed in the war born in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This list is not complete. The ethnic structure in this fragmental list of the war victims confirms the well-known fact that the Serbian population had greatest losses in this region. The war victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the above mentioned excerpt from the census, were 72.1% Serbs (129,114), 16.5% Muslims (29,539), 4.4% Croats (7850) and 7.0% of other nationalities.
 
<ref>www.rastko.org.yu/istorija/srbi-balkan/spasovski-zivkovic-stepic-Bosnia.html</ref>
 
 
 
 
[[Image:Bih 1991.jpg||thumb|left|Ethnic map based on the [[1991 population census in Bosnia and Herzegovina|1991 census]]. The different colors show majority in every settlement:
 
[[Image:Bih 1991.jpg||thumb|left|Ethnic map based on the [[1991 population census in Bosnia and Herzegovina|1991 census]]. The different colors show majority in every settlement:
 
{{legend|blue|[[Serbs]]}}
 
{{legend|blue|[[Serbs]]}}
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{{legend|red|[[Croats]]}}
 
{{legend|red|[[Croats]]}}
 
{{legend|yellow|no majority}}]]
 
{{legend|yellow|no majority}}]]
Large population migrations during the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s have caused a large demographic shift in the country. No census has been taken since 1991, and none is planned for the near future due to political disagreements. Since censuses are the only statistical, inclusive, and objective way to analyze demographics, almost all of the post-war data is simply an estimate. Most sources, however, estimate the population at roughly 4 million (representing a decrease of 350,000 since 1991).
 
 
[[Image:DemoBIH2006.PNG|thumb|right|200px|Ethnic map based on 2006 municipality data (estimated - not necessarily accurate). The different colours show the largest single ethnic group in each municipality: {{legend|red|[[Croats]]}}
 
[[Image:DemoBIH2006.PNG|thumb|right|200px|Ethnic map based on 2006 municipality data (estimated - not necessarily accurate). The different colours show the largest single ethnic group in each municipality: {{legend|red|[[Croats]]}}
 
{{legend|blue|[[Serbs]]}}
 
{{legend|blue|[[Serbs]]}}
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===Ethnicity===
 
===Ethnicity===
Regardless of ethnicity, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina is often identified in [[English language|English]] as a [[Bosnians|Bosnian]]. In Bosnia however, the distinction between a Bosnian and a [[Herzegovina|Herzegovinian]] is maintained as a regional, rather than an ethnic distinction.  
+
Regardless of ethnicity, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina is often identified in [[English language|English]] as a [[Bosnians|Bosnian]]. In Bosnia however, the distinction between a Bosnian and a [[Herzegovina|Herzegovinian]] is maintained as a regional, rather than an ethnic distinction. According to the [[1991 population census in Bosnia and Herzegovina|1991 census]], Bosnia and Herzegovina had a population of 4,377,053. Ethnically, 41.47 percent were [[Muslims by nationality]], 33.21 percent [[Serbs]], and 17.38 percent [[Croats]], with 5.54 percent declaring themselves [[Yugoslavs]]. According to 2000 data from the [[CIA World Factbook]], Bosnia and Herzegovina is ethnically 48 percent[[Bosniaks|Bosniak]], 37.1 percent [[Serb]], 14.3 percent [[Croat]], 0.6 percent other.
 
 
 
 
  
According to the [[1991 population census in Bosnia and Herzegovina|1991 census]], Bosnia and Herzegovina had a population of 4,377,053. Ethnically, 41.47% were [[Muslims by nationality]], 33.21% [[Serbs]], and 17.38% [[Croats]], with 5.54% declaring themselves [[Yugoslavs]].
+
While the Balkan region has been characterized by volatile relations among local groups and with outside forces, Bosnia has had a long history of peaceful coexistence among its three main ethnic groups. Before 1990, intermarriage was common, as were mixed communities. However, Milosevic's extremist politics stirred latent distrust, and "ethnic cleansing" left millions dead, wounded, or homeless.  
According to 2000 data from the [[CIA World Factbook]], Bosnia and Herzegovina is ethnically 48% [[Bosniaks|Bosniak]], 37.1% [[Serb]], 14.3% [[Croat]], 0.6% Other.  
 
  
 
===Religion===
 
===Religion===
There is a strong correlation between ethnic identity and religion in Bosnia and Herzegovina. as is shown by the fact that 99% of Bosniaks are [[Muslims]], 98% of [[Croats]] are [[Catholics]] whilst 99% of Serbs are [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]]. Tensions between the three constitutional peoples remain high in BiH and often provoke political disagreements.  
+
There is a strong correlation between ethnic identity and religion in Bosnia and Herzegovina. as is shown by the fact that 99 percent of Bosniaks are [[Muslims]], 98 percent of [[Croats]] are [[Catholics]] whilst 99 percent of Serbs are [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]]. Tensions between the three constitutional peoples remain high in Bosnia and Herzegovina and often provoke political disagreements. According to the [[CIA World Factbook]], 40 percent of population are (Sunni) Muslims, 31 percent are Orthodox Christians, 15 percent are Roman Catholics, and 14 percent are atheists or have other religious affiliation.
  
According to the [[CIA World Factbook]], 40% of populations are (Sunni) Muslims, 31% are Orthodox Christians, 15% are Roman Catholics, and 14% are atheists or have other religious affiliation.
+
===Language===
 +
Languages spoken are Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian,
  
===Language===
 
  
 
===Men and women===
 
===Men and women===
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* [http://bosnia.europe-countries.com Geographic guide to Bosnia and Herzegovina] Accessed September 30, 2007.
 
* [http://bosnia.europe-countries.com Geographic guide to Bosnia and Herzegovina] Accessed September 30, 2007.
  
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[[Category:Geography]]
 
[[Category:Geography]]
 
[[Category:Europe]]
 
[[Category:Europe]]

Revision as of 01:59, 30 September 2007

Bosna i Hercegovina
Босна и Херцеговина

Bosnia and Herzegovina
Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina Coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: none
Anthem: Intermeco
Location of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Location of  Bosnia and Herzegovina (orange)
on the European continent (white)  —  [Legend]
Capital Sarajevo
43°52′N 18°25′E
Largest city capital
Official languages Bosnian
Croatian
Serbian
Government Parliamentary democracy
 - Presidency members Nebojša Radmanović1
Haris Silajdžić2
Željko Komšić3
 - Chairman of the
Council of Ministers

Nikola Špirić
 - High Representative Miroslav Lajčák4
Independence  
 - Formed 29 August 1189 
 - Kingdom established 26 October 1377 
 - Independence lost
 to Ottoman Empire
1463 
 - Independence from SFR Yugoslavia March 1 1992 
 - Recognized April 6 1992 
Area
 - Total 51,197 km² (127th)
19,767 sq mi 
 - Water (%) negligible
Population
 - 2007 estimate 3,935,000
 - 1991 census 4,377,033 [1]
 - Density 76/km²
230/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2005 estimate
 - Total $31.1 billion
 - Per capita $9,168 (2007 estimate) IMF
HDI  (2004) Green Arrow Up (Darker).png 0.800 (high)
Currency Convertible mark (BAM)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Internet TLD .ba
Calling code +387

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a republic of the western Balkan peninsula of Southern Europe, and is home to three ethnic constituent peoples: Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats.

Croatia borders the country on the north, west, and south, Serbia and Montenegro on the east and southeast, and the Adriatic Sea on the southwest. The country's name comes from the two regions Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have a vaguely defined border between them. Bosnia occupies the northern areas which are roughly four fifths of the entire country, while Herzegovina occupies the rest in the south part of the country.

The country consists of two political entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, with District Brčko as a de facto third entity.

Formerly one of the six federal units constituting the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina gained its independence during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. As a result of the Dayton Accords, the civilian peace implementation is supervised by the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina selected by the Peace Implementation Council.

Geography

Map of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Dianthus flower from central Bosnia.
View of Kik Mountain (right), 1,000 m (3,280 ft); and Rance (Suvi Vrh) Mountain (left), 1,432 m (4,698 ft).
File:Sarajevoatnight.jpg
City of Sarajevo at night.
The Old Bridge in Mostar

The name "Bosnia" most probably comes from the name of the Bosna river around which it has been historically based, which was recorded in the Roman Age under the name Bossina.

The name Herzegovina was first included in the official name of the then Ottoman province in the mid-nineteenth century.Herzegovina means Herzog's lands after Stefan Vukčić Kosača who in 1448 called himself Herzog of Saint Sava.

With an area of 19,741 square miles (51,280 square kilometers) the country is slightly smaller than West Virginia in the United States.

The country is mostly mountainous, encompassing the central Dinaric Alps and numerous ranges, including the Plješivica, Grmec, Klekovaca, Vitorog, Cincar, and Raduša, which run in a northwest-southeast direction. The highest point, reaching 7828 feet (2386 meters), is Maglic, near the Montenegro border.

The Karst, a region of arid limestone plateaus containing caves, potholes, and underground drainage, is located in the south and southwest. Karst uplands can be bare as a result of deforestation and thin soils, but valleys have alluvial soil suitable for agriculture. Central Bosnian terrain has rugged, green and often forested plateaus. The northeastern parts reach into the Pannonian basin, while in the south it borders the Adriatic.

The country has only 20 kilometres (12 miles) of coastline, around the town of Neum in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, although enclosed within Croatian territory and territorial waters, with no natural harbours. Neum has many hotels and is an important tourism destination.

Natural resources include coal, iron ore, bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, chromite, cobalt, manganese, nickel, clay, gypsum, salt, sand, forests, hydropower

The Dinaric Alps cut Bosnia and Herzegovina off from the climatic influence of the Mediterranean Sea. The climate in Bosnia is mild, though bitterly cold in winter. In Banja Luka, the January (winter) temperature averages 32°F (0°C), and the July (summer) temperature averages about 72°F (22°C). Rain falls least during January and February in Banja Luka, and most in May and June.

Herzegovina can be oppressively hot in summer. In Mostar, near the Adriatic coast, January, averages 42°F (6°C), and July averages about 78°F (26°C). There is a relatively dry season from June to September, while the heaviest precipitation is between October and January.

There are seven major rivers: The Sava river, the largest river and a tributary of the Danube, flows through Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, and makes a natural border with Croatia. The Sana is a tributary of the river Sava in the north. The Bosna, Vrbas, and Una, flow north and empty into the Sava. The Drina, which flows north the eastern part of Bosnia, forms part of the eastern boundary with Serbia, and is a tributary of the Sava. The Neretva river is a large river in Central and Southern Bosnia, which flows through the Karst region, continues through Croatia, and south to the Adriatic Sea. The river is famous as it flows through the famous city of Mostar.

Close to 50 percent of Bosnia and Herzegovina is forested with pine, beech, and oak. Fruits are common, including grapes, apples, pears, and especially plums, which are made into thick jam and slivovitz, a brandy. Northern Bosnia contains fertile agricultural land along the river Sava and the corresponding area is heavily farmed. This farmland is a part of the Parapannonian Plain stretching into neighbouring Croatia and Serbia.

The country's wildlife includes bears, wolves, wild pigs, wildcats, chamois, otters, foxes, badgers, and falcons. Hunting is a popular pastime.

Natural hazards include destructive earthquakes

Environmental issues include air pollution from metallurgical plants; sites for disposing of urban waste are limited; water shortages and destruction of infrastructure because of the 1992-95 civil strife; deforestation.

The nation's capital and largest city is Sarajevo, seated between several high mountains and was thus the host of the 1984 Winter Olympic Games. With an estimated population of 304,136 in 2006, it is also the capital of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity, and the legal capital of the Republika Srpska entity, as well as the center of the Sarajevo Canton. Other cities include Banja Luka, Sanski Most, Cazin, Velika Kladisa and Bihać, all in the northwest region known as Bosanska Krajina, Bijeljina and Tuzla in the northeast, Zenica in the central part of Bosnia and Mostar, the capital of Herzegovina.

History

Bosnia has been inhabited at least since Neolithic times by Illyrian tribes. In the early Bronze Age, the Neolithic population was replaced by more warlike Indo-European tribes known as the Illyres or Illyrians. Celtic migrations in the fourth century B.C.E. and third century B.C.E. displaced many Illyrian tribes from their former lands, but some Celtic and Illyrian tribes mixed. Concrete historical evidence for this period is scarce, but overall it appears that the region was populated by a number of different peoples speaking distinct languages.

Roman rule

Conflict between the Illyrians and Romans started in 229 B.C.E., but Rome would not complete its annexation of the region until 9 C.E. In the Roman period, Latin-speaking settlers from all over the Roman empire settled among the Illyrians and Roman soldiers were encouraged to retire in the region.

The land originally was part of the Illyria up until the Roman occupation. Following the split of the Roman Empire between 337 and 395, Dalmatia and Pannonia became parts of the Western Roman Empire. Some claim that the region was conquered by the Ostrogoths in 455. It subsequently changed hands between the Alans and Huns. By the sixth century, Emperor Justinian had reconquered the area for the Byzantine Empire.

Slavic settlement

Bosnia during the tenth century.
Bosnian state during Ban Kulin 1180-1204
Bosnian state during king Tvrtko 1353-1391
Borders of Bosnian state in second part of fifteenth century
Bosnia and Herzegovina in second part of nineteenth century
Bihaćka kula in the City of Bihać ("the tower of Bihać").

The Slavs, an intruding people from eastern Europe (Russia), were conquered by the Avars in the sixth century, and began to settle the Balkan region during the sixth century. A second wave of Slavs in the seventh century included two powerful tribes, the Croats and the Serbs. Croats covered most of central, western, and northern Bosnia, while Serbs extended into the Drina River valley and modern Herzegovina. The Slavs brought a tribal social structure.

Charlemagne's Franks conquered part of northwestern Bosnia during the late eighth and early ninth centuries, causing Slavic tribal structure to give way to Feudalism. It was around this time that the south Slavs were Christianized. Bosnia, due to its geographic position and terrain, was probably one of the last areas to go through this process.

Principalities of Serbia and Croatia

The principalities of Serbia and Croatia split control of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the ninth and tenth century. Tomislav I, was one of the greatest rulers of Croatia in the Middle Ages, reigned from 910 until 928. After his death in 928, a Serb princedom that acknowledged the sovereignty of the Byzantine Empire took over much of Bosnia. The first preserved mention of the name "Bosnia" is in the De Administrando Imperio, a politico-geographical handbook written by Byzantine emperor Constantine VII in 958 and he says that Bosnia was a geographical part of the populated "Baptized Serbia".

During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, political circumstance led to the area being contested between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Byzantine Empire. .

Independent Bosnia

The Charter of Kulin Ban - tretie with Dubrovnik. Now in Ermitrage in Petersburg.
Kulin Ban's plate found in Biskupići, near Visoko.

After the emperor Manuel I Comnenus died in 1180, a territory excluding much of modern Bosnia and all of Herzegovina became an independent state under the rule of local bans existed from 1180 to 1463. The state existed despite aggression from the neighbouring kingdom of Hungary, which maintained a claim to sovereignty. The first notable Bosnian monarch, Ban Kulin (1180–1204), presided over nearly three decades of peace and stability during which he strengthened the country's economy through treaties with Dubrovnik and Venice.

His rule also marked the start of a controversy with the Bosnian Church, an indigenous Christian sect considered heretical by both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. In response to Hungarian attempts to use church politics regarding the issue as a way to reclaim sovereignty over Bosnia, Kulin held a council of local church leaders to renounce the heresy and embraced Catholicism in 1203. Despite this, Hungarian ambitions remained unchanged long after Kulin's death in 1204, waning only after an unsuccessful invasion in 1254.

Under Ban Stjepan Kotromanic (1322–53), Bosnia expanded south, incorporating the principality of Hum (modern Herzegovina), and under King Tvrtko I (1353–91), Bosnia expanded further south, acquired a portion of the Dalmatian coast, and was briefly the most powerful state in the western Balkans.

Bosnian history from then until the early fourteenth century was marked by the power struggle between the Šubić and Kotromanić families. This conflict came to an end in 1322, when Stjepan II Kotromanić (1322–53) became ban. By the time of his death in 1353, he was successful in annexing territories to the north and west, as well as Zahumlje and parts of Dalmatia. He was succeeded by his nephew King Tvrtko I (1353–91), who, following a prolonged struggle with nobility and inter-family strife, gained full control of the country in 1367. Tvrtko crowned himself on October 26, 1377 as Stefan Tvrtko I by the mercy of God King of Serbs, Bosnia and the Seaside and the Western Lands.

Following his death in 1391 however, Bosnia fell into a long period of decline. Tvrtko's successor, King Ostoja, struggled against Tvrtko's illegitimate son, Tvrtko II, who was supported by the Turks and then by the Hungarians. The Ottoman Empire had already started its conquest of Europe and posed a threat to the Balkans throughout the first half of the fifteenth century. The nobleman Stefan Vukcic established his own rule over Hum and gave himself the title herceg (duke), from which the name Herzegovina is derived. Finally, after decades of political and social instability, Bosnia officially fell in 1463.

Ottoman conquest

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The Ottoman province of Bosnia in the seventeenth century.

Turkish forces captured the settlement of Vrhbosna (which later became Sarajevo) in central Bosnia in 1448, and in 1463 conquered the rest of Bosnia proper, although parts of Herzegovina and northern Bosnia were taken over by Hungary. Herzegovina would follow in 1482, with a Hungarian-backed reinstated "Bosnian Kingdom" being the last to succumb in 1527.

The Ottoman conquest of Bosnia marked a new era in the country's history and introduced tremendous changes in the political and cultural landscape of the region. Although the kingdom had been crushed and its high nobility executed, the Ottomans nonetheless allowed for the preservation of Bosnia's identity by incorporating it as an integral province of the Ottoman Empire with its historical name and territorial integrity - a unique case among subjugated states in the Balkans.

Within this sandžak (and eventual vilayet) of Bosnia, the Ottomans distributed land according to the Ottoman feudal system. The holder of a timar (estate) had to report for military duty, bringing other soldiers. Taxes were imposed, including the harac, a graduated poll tax on non-Muslims. The system called devsirme was introduced, under which Christian children were taken for training in the elite Janissary corps.

Widespread conversions to Islam

The four centuries of Ottoman rule also had a drastic impact on Bosnia's population make-up, which changed several times as a result of the empire's conquests, frequent wars with European powers, migrations, and epidemics. Bosnia differed from the other Balkan lands (except Albania) in that a large part of the Slavic-speaking population converted to Islam to become the largest of the ethno-religious groups. Also, a significant number of Sephardi Jews arrived following their expulsion from Spain in the late fifteenth century.

The Bosnian Christian communities underwent changes. The Bosnian Franciscans (and the Catholic population as a whole) were protected by official imperial decree, although on the ground these guarantees were often disregarded and their numbers dwindled. The Orthodox community in Bosnia, initially confined to Herzegovina and Podrinje, spread throughout the country during this period and went on to experience relative prosperity until the nineteenth century. Meanwhile, the schismatic Bosnian Church disappeared altogether.

The city castle of Gradačac.
The Višegrad bridge crossing the river Drina, built during the Ottoman Era.

Bosnia prospers

As the Ottoman Empire thrived and expanded into Central Europe, Bosnia was relieved of the pressures of being a frontier province and experienced a prolonged period of general welfare and prosperity. A number of cities, such as Sarajevo and Mostar, were established and grew into regional centers of trade and urban culture. Within these cities, various Sultans and governors financed the construction of many important works of Bosnian architecture (such as the Stari most and Gazi Husrev-beg's Mosque). Furthermore, numerous Bosnians played influential roles in the Ottoman Empire's cultural and political history during this time. Bosnian soldiers formed a large component of the Ottoman ranks in the battles of Mohács and Krbava field, two decisive military victories, while numerous other Bosnians rose through the ranks of the Ottoman military bureaucracy to occupy the highest positions of power in the Empire, including admirals, generals, and grand viziers. Many Bosnians also made a lasting impression on Ottoman culture, emerging as mystics, scholars, and celebrated poets in the Turkish, Arabic, and Persian languages.

Defeats, revolts

However, by the late seventeenth century the Empire's military misfortunes caught up with the country, and the conclusion of the Great Turkish War with the treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 once again made Bosnia the Empire's westernmost province. The following hundred years were marked by further military failures, numerous revolts within Bosnia, and several outbursts of plague. The Porte's efforts at modernizing the Ottoman state were met with great hostility in Bosnia, where local aristocrats stood to lose much through the proposed reforms. This, combined with frustrations over political concessions to nascent Christian states in the east, culminated in a famous (albeit ultimately unsuccessful) revolt by Husein Gradaščević in 1831. Related rebellions would be extinguished by 1850, but the situation continued to deteriorate. Later agrarian unrest eventually sparked the Herzegovinian rebellion, a widespread peasant uprising, in 1875. The conflict rapidly spread and came to involve several Balkan states and Great Powers, which eventually forced the Ottomans to cede administration of the country to Austria-Hungary through the treaty of Berlin in 1878.

Austro-Hungarian rule

National Library in Sarajevo

Though an Austro-Hungarian occupying force quickly subjugated initial armed resistance upon take-over, tensions remained in certain parts of the country (particularly Herzegovina) and a mass emigration of predominantly Muslim dissidents occurred. Some think that it was a planned Austro-Hungarian takeover of the land called Herzegovina because many Croats from Croatia were settled there. However, a state of relative stability was reached soon enough and Austro-Hungarian authorities were able to embark on a number of social and administrative reforms which intended to make Bosnia and Herzegovina into a "model colony".

With the aim of establishing the province as a stable political model that would help dissipate rising South Slav nationalism, Habsburg rule gradually did much to codify laws, to introduce new political practices, and generally to provide for modernization. A public works program was initiated, mines and factories developed, and agriculture was promoted with model farms and training colleges. Three high schools and nearly 200 primary schools were built, as were the three Roman Catholic churches in Sarajevo.

Nationalism rises

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Ethnic map from 1910; ██ Croats ██ Serbs ██ Bosniaks[citation needed]

Although successful economically, Austro-Hungarian policy - which focused on advocating the ideal of a pluralist and multi-confessional Bosnian nation (largely favored by the Muslims) - failed to curb the rising tides of nationalism. The concept of Croat and Serb nationhood had already spread to Bosnia and Herzegovina's Catholics and Orthodox communities from neighboring Croatia and Serbia in the mid nineteenth century, and was too well-entrenched to allow for the wide-spread acceptance of a parallel idea of Bosnian nationhood. By the latter half of the 1910s, nationalism was an integral factor of Bosnian politics, with national political parties corresponding to the three groups dominating elections.

World War I sparked

The idea of a unified South Slavic state (typically expected to be spear-headed by independent Serbia) became a popular political ideology in the region at this time, including in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Austro-Hungarian government's decision to formally annex Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908 added to a sense of urgency among these nationalists. The First Balkan War (1912–13), in which Serbia expanded southward, driving Turkish forces out of Kosovo, Novi Pazar, and Macedonia, heightened tension. In May 1913, the military governor of Bosnia declared a state of emergency, dissolved the parliament, and suspended civil courts.

The political tensions culminated on June 28, 1914, when Serb nationalist youth Gavrilo Princip assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo; an event that proved to be the spark that set off World War I. Although some Bosnians died serving in the armies of the various warring states, Bosnia and Herzegovina itself managed to escape the conflict relatively unscathed.

The first Yugoslavia

The building of the Assembly of the City of Banja Luka.

After World War I, Bosnia joined other southern Slavs in the First Yugoslavia. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) was born out of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Political life in Bosnia at this time was marked by two major trends: social and economic unrest over property redistribution, and formation of several political parties that frequently changed coalitions and alliances with parties in other Yugoslav regions.

The dominant ideological conflict of the Yugoslav state, between Croatian regionalism and Serbian centralization, was approached differently by Bosnia's major ethnic groups and was dependent on the overall political atmosphere. Even though there were over three million Bosnians in Yugoslavia, outnumbering Slovenes and Montenegrins combined, Bosnian nationhood was denied by the new kingdom. Although the initial split of the country into 33 oblasts erased the presence of traditional geographic entities from the map, the efforts of Bosnian politicians such as Mehmed Spaho (1883-1939), an influential Bosniak political figure, ensured that the six oblasts carved up from Bosnia and Herzegovina corresponded to the six sanjaks from Ottoman times and, thus, matched the country's traditional boundary as a whole.

The establishment of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929, however, brought the redrawing of administrative regions into banates that purposely avoided all historical and ethnic lines, removing any trace of a Bosnian entity. Serbo-Croat tensions over the structuring of the Yugoslav state continued, with the concept of a separate Bosnian division receiving little or no consideration.

The famous Cvetković-Maček agreement that created the Croatian banate in 1939 encouraged what was essentially a partition of Bosnia between Croatia and Serbia. However, outside political circumstances forced Yugoslav politicians to shift their attention to the rising threat posed by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. Following a period that saw attempts at appeasement, the signing of the Tripartite Pact (in 1940 by Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy), and a coup d'état, Yugoslavia was finally invaded by Germany on April 6, 1941.

World War II

File:TijentisteSutjeska.jpg
Monument commemorating the Battle of Sutjeska in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Once the kingdom of Yugoslavia was conquered by Nazi forces in World War II, all of Bosnia was ceded to the Independent State of Croatia. The Nazi rule over Bosnia led to widespread persecution of Jewish, Serbian and Gypsy civilians. The Jewish population was nearly exterminated and 129,114 Serbs died as a result of genocide perpetrated by the Croatian Ustasha in the Independent State of Croatia, which included present day Bosnia and Herzegovina) between 1941 and 1945.

The list of victims of the 1941-1945 war, is kept in the Federal Bureau of Statistics in Belgrade. It contains the names of 179,173 persons killed in the war born in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This list is not complete. The ethnic structure in this list of the war victims confirms that the Serbian population had greatest losses. The war victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the above mentioned excerpt from the census, were 72.1 percent Serbs (129,114), 16.5 percent Muslims (29,539), 4.4 percent Croats (7850) and 7.0 percent of other nationalities.

Many Serbs in the area took up arms and joined the Chetniks; a Serb nationalist and royalist resistance movement that conducted guerrilla warfare against the Nazis but then switched to fight the Partisans.

Starting in 1941, Yugoslav communists under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito organized their own multi-ethnic resistance group, the partisans, who fought against both Axis and Chetnik forces. On November 25, 1943, the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia with Tito at its helm held a founding conference in Jajce where Bosnia and Herzegovina was reestablished as a republic within the Yugoslavian federation in its Ottoman borders. Military success eventually prompted the Allies to support the Partisans, but Josip Broz Tito declined their offer to help. Eventually the end of the war resulted in the establishment of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with the constitution of 1946 officially making Bosnia and Herzegovina one of six constituent republics in the new state. The total number of deaths in Bosnia during the war was estimated at 164,000 Serbs, 75,000 Muslims, and 64,000 Croats.

Tito's Yugoslavia

Bosnia underwent the social, economic, and political changes that the new communist government imposed on Yugoslavia, but Bosnia was uniquely affected by the abolition of traditional Muslim Qur'anic primary schools, rich charitable foundations, and dervish religious orders. However, by 1968 Muslims were deemed a distinct nation, by 1971 Muslims formed the largest single component of the Bosnian population, and in the 1991 census Muslims made up more than two-fifths of the Bosnian population. From the mid-1990s, the term Bosniak had replaced the term Muslim.

Because of its central geographic position within the Yugoslavian federation, post-war Bosnia was strategically selected as a base for the development of the military defense industry. This contributed to a large concentration of arms and military personnel in Bosnia; a significant factor in the war that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. However, Bosnia's existence within Yugoslavia, for the large part, was peaceful and prosperous.

Though considered a political backwater of the federation for much of the 50s and 60s, the 70s saw the ascension of a strong Bosnian political elite fueled in part by Tito's leadership in the non-aligned movement and Bosniaks serving in Yugoslavia's diplomatic corps. While working within the communist system, politicians such as Džemal Bijedić, Branko Mikulić and Hamdija Pozderac reinforced and protected the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Communism crumbles

In 1980, after Tito's death, the presidency of the subsequent communist regime rotated between representatives of each of the six republics and two provinces. This system contributed to growing political instability, and the rapid decline of the Yugoslav economy, which in turn added to widespread public dissatisfaction with the political system. A crisis in Kosovo, the emergence of Serb nationalist Slobodan Milošević (1941-2006) in Serbia in 1986, and the manipulation of nationalist feelings by politicians, further destabilized Yugoslav politics. Independent political parties appeared in 1988.

In 1989, Milosevic, with his vision of a "Greater Serbia" free of all other ethnicities, won the presidency in Serbia. In early 1990, multiparty elections were held in Slovenia and Croatia. On the first multi-party elections that took place in November 1990 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bosniak Party of Democratic Action, the Serbian Democratic Party and the Croatian Democratic Union formed a coalition government. Bosniak politician Alija Izetbegovic led a tripartite coalition government, but growing tension, both within and outside Bosnia, made cooperation with Radovan Karadzic's Serbian Democratic Party increasingly difficult.

Independence

File:Momo i Uzeir.jpg
Momo and Uzeir towers in Sarajevo
File:Zgrada Lamela.jpg
Lamela, the tallest building in Zenica

Croatia and Slovenia's subsequent declarations of independence and the warfare that ensued placed Bosnia and Herzegovina and its three constituent peoples in an awkward position. A significant split soon developed on the issue of whether to stay with the Yugoslav federation (overwhelmingly favored among Serbs) or seek independence (overwhelmingly favored among Bosniaks and Croats). Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its sovereignty in October of 1991 and organized a referendum on independence in March 1992. The decision of the Parliament of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on holding the referendum was taken after most Bosnian Serb members had left the assembly in protest.

The Bosnian Serb assembly members asked the Bosnian Serb population to boycott the referendum held on February 29 and March 1, 1992. The turnout in the referendum was 64-67 percent and the vote was 98 percent in favor of independence. The controversy lies in the fact that the referendum failed to surpass the constitutional two-third required majority, so legally it failed. Independence was declared on March 5, 1992. The referendum and the murder of a member of a wedding procession on the day before the referendum was utilized by the Bosnian Serb political leadership as a reason to start road blockades in protest. The Bosnian War followed.

The 1992-1995 Bosnian War

File:BiH territory posession just before Dayton.png
Situation on the ground in the closing days of the war. Serb-controlled territory shown in red, Croat in blue, Bosniak in green.
The parliament building in the centre of Sarajevo burns after being hit by tank fire during the siege in 1992.
Main article: Bosnian War

Following a tense period of escalating tensions and sporadic military incidents, open warfare began in Sarajevo on April 6, 1992. The Serb army forced Muslims out of northern and eastern Bosnia, the areas nearest to Serbia, in a process called "ethnic cleansing". Serbs destroyed villages and systematically raped Bosnian women — entire villages at a time.

International recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina increased diplomatic pressure for the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) to withdraw from the republic's territory which they officially did. However, in fact, the Bosnian Serb members of JNA simply changed insignia, formed the Army of Republika Srpska, and continued fighting. Armed and equipped from JNA stockpiles in Bosnia, supported by volunteers and various paramilitary forces from Serbia, and receiving extensive humanitarian, logistical and financial support from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Republika Srpska's offensives in 1992 managed to place much of the country under its control. By 1993, when an armed conflict erupted between the Sarajevo government and the Croat statelet of Herzeg-Bosnia, about 70 percent of the country was controlled by Republika Srpska.

In March 1994, the signing of the Washington accords between the leaders of the republican government and Herzeg-Bosnia led to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The signing of the Dayton Agreement in Dayton, Ohio by the presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Alija Izetbegović), Croatia (Franjo Tuđman), and Yugoslavia (Slobodan Milošević) brought a halt to the fighting, roughly establishing the basic structure of the present-day state.

The most recent research places the number of victims at around 100,000 to 110,000 killed (civilians and military) and 1.8 million displaced. This is being addressed by the International Commission on Missing Persons.

The Bosnian government charged Serbia of complicity in genocide in Bosnia during the war at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In its verdict (2007), the Court found that Serbia had not committed or conspired to commit genocide. It also concluded that Serbia was not complicit in genocide. It also dismissed Bosnian claims that genocide has been committed on the whole territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It did, however, find that Serbia had violated the obligation under the Genocide Convention to prevent the specific instance of genocide that occurred at Srebrenica in 1995.

Politics and government

Bosnia and Herzegovina's government building.

The system of government set up by an agreement negotiated in Dayton, Ohio, U.S., in November 1995, established Bosnia and Herzegovina as an emerging federal democratic republic. The system of government is an example of consociationalism, as representation is by elites who represent the countries' three major groups, with each having a guaranteed share of power.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided into two entities - the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska, as well as the district of Brčko. Each entity has its own legislature and president.

The central institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina include a directly elected tripartite presidency with one Bosniac, one Serb, and one Croat member. The presidency rotates among three members (Bosniak, Serb, Croat), each elected for an eight-month term within their four-year term as a member. The three members of the presidency are elected directly by the people (Federation votes for the Bosniak/Croat, Republika Srpska for the Serb).

The presidency appoints a multiethnic Council of Ministers with one Bosniac and one Serb cochairman, rotating weekly, and one Croat vice-chairman, who are approved by the House of Representatives. The cochairmen are responsible for appointing a Foreign Minister, Minister of Foreign Trade, and others as appropriate.

The parliamentary assembly, the lawmaking body, consists of two houses: the House of Peoples and the House of Representatives. The House of Peoples includes 15 delegates, two-thirds of whom come from the Federation (five Croat and five Bosniaks) and one-third from the Republika Srpska (five Serbs). The House of Representatives is composed of 42 Members, two-thirds elected from the Federation and one-third elected from the Republika Srpska. There is a multi-party system, and suffrage is universal to those age 18 and over.

However, the highest political authority in the country is the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the chief executive officer for the international civilian presence in the country. Since 1995, the High Representative was able to bypass the elected parliamentary assembly or to remove elected officials. The methods selected by the High Representative are often seen as dictatorship.

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the supreme, final arbiter of legal matters. It is composed of nine members: four members are selected by the House of Representatives of the Federation,two by the Assembly of the Republika Srpska, and three by the President of the European Court of Human Rights after consultation with the Presidency.

The State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of three divisions - Administrative, Appellate and Criminal - having jurisdiction over cases related to state-level law and appellate jurisdiction over cases initiated in the entities. A War Crimes Chamber was added in January 2005, and has currently adopted two cases transferred from the ICTY, as well as dozens of war crimes cases initiated in cantonal courts. The State Court also deals with organized crime, economic crime and corruption cases.

The Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina was active between March 1996 and December 2003. It was a judicial body established under Annex 6 to the Dayton Peace Agreement.

Administrative divisions

Bosnia and Herzegovina comprises the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), Republika Srpska (RS), and Brčko District (BD).
The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of ten cantons.
File:Bosniadivisions3.PNG
Republika Srpska is split into sixty-three municipalities, while the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is split into seventy-four.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has several levels of political structuring under the federal government level. Most important is the division of the country into Republika Srpska, which covers around 49 percent of Bosnia and Herzegovina's total area, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which covers some 51 percent. The entities were based largely on the territories held by the two warring sides at the time, were formally established by the Dayton peace agreement in 1995.

The Brčko federal district in the north of the country was created in 2000 out of land from both entities. It officially belongs to both, but is governed by neither, and functions under a decentralized system of local government.

The third level comprises 10 cantons, each of which have their own cantonal government. Some cantons are ethnically mixed and have special laws implemented to ensure the equality of all constituent peoples. Municipalities make up the fourth level of political division. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided in 74 municipalities, and Republika Srpska in 63. Municipalities also have their own local government, and are typically based around the most significant city or place in their territory.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has four "official" cities. These are: Banja Luka, Mostar, Sarajevo, and East Sarajevo. The territory and government of the cities of Banja Luka and Mostar corresponds to the municipalities of the same name, while the cities of Sarajevo and East Sarajevo officially consist of several municipalities. Cities have their own city government whose power is in between that of the municipalities and cantons (or the entity, in the case of Republika Srpska).

Economy

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200 KM (Convertible Mark) bill. The Convertible Mark is Bosnia and Herzegovina's currency.

Bosnia and Herzegovina ranked next to Macedonia as the poorest republic in the old Yugoslav federation. Although agriculture is almost all in private hands, farms are small and inefficient, and the republic traditionally is a net importer of food. The private sector is growing and foreign investment is slowly increasing, but government spending, at nearly 40 percent of adjusted GDP, remains unreasonably high.

Yugoslavia's foreign debt and rampant inflation reduced the standard of living in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1980s. Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito had pushed the development of military industries in the republic with the result that Bosnia was saddled with a host of industrial firms with little commercial potential.

The interethnic warfare in Bosnia caused production to plummet by 80 percent from 1992 to 1995 and unemployment to soar. Hikes in the price of oil, falling imports and exports, hyperinflation, shortages of food and medicine, insolvent banks, and unpaid pensions stimulated a black market. With an uneasy peace in place, output recovered in 1996-99 at high percentage rates from a low base; but output growth slowed in 2000-02. Part of the lag in output was made up in 2003-06 when GDP growth exceeded 5 percent per year.

Bosnia faces the dual problem of rebuilding a war-torn country and introducing market reforms to its formerly centrally-planned economy. One legacy of the previous era is a greatly overstaffed military industry; under former leader Josip Broz Tito, military industries were promoted in the republic, resulting in the development of a large share of Yugoslavia's defense plants but fewer commercially viable firms.

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Legal tender coins from Bosnia-Herzegovina. (Missing: 5KM Coin)

National-level statistics are limited and do not capture the large share of black market activity. The konvertibilna marka (convertible mark or BAM)- the national currency introduced in 1998 - is pegged to the euro, and confidence in the currency and the banking sector has increased.

Implementing privatization, however, has been slow, particularly in the Federation, although it is increasing in the Republika Srpska. Banking reform accelerated in 2001 as all the Communist-era payments bureaus were shut down; foreign banks, primarily from Western Europe, now control most of the banking sector.

A sizeable current account deficit and high unemployment rate remain the two most serious economic problems. On 1 January 2006 a new value-added tax (VAT) went into effect. The VAT has been successful in capturing much of the gray market economy and has developed into a significant and predictable source of revenues for all layers of government. The question of how to allocate revenue from VAT receipts is not completely resolved. Bosnia and Herzegovina became a member of the Central European Free Trade Agreement in December 2006.

The country receives substantial reconstruction assistance and humanitarian aid from the international community but will have to prepare for an era of declining assistance.

Political corruption is one of the more acute problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the main one that accounts for low amount of tax money used for the population, due to government inefficiency and corruption, especially at the lowest levels.

Neum, on the Bosnian-Herzegovinian coastline.
Waterfalls in Jajce.

The tourism sector has been recovering and helping the economy altogether in the process, with popular winter skiing destinations as well as summer countryside tourism. An estimated 500,000 tourists visit Bosnia and Herzegovina every year and contribute much of the foreign currency in the country. Of particular note is the diaspora population which often returns home during the summer months, bringing in an increase in retail sales and food service industry. Tourist arrivals have grown by an average of 24 percent annually from 1995 to 2000 (360,758 in 2002, 500,000 in 2006).

Exports totalled $3.5-billion in 2006. Export commodities included metals, clothing, and wood products. Export partners included Croatia 19.8 percent, Slovenia 16.9 percent, Italy 15.5 percent, Germany 12.4 percent, Austria 8.8 percent, Hungary 5.3 percent.

Imports totalled $8.25 billion in 2006. Import commodities included machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, and foodstuffs. Import partners included Croatia 24 percent, Germany 14.5 percent, Slovenia 13.2 percent, Italy 10 percent, Austria 5.9 percent, and Hungary 5.2 percent.

Per capita GDP was estimated at $9168 in 2007, or Unemployment rate was officially 45.5 percent in 2004, although the grey economy may reduce actual unemployment to 25-30 percent. In that year, 25 percent were below the poverty line.

Demographics

Population

Around 4.3 million people lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1991, before the 1992–1995 war, while in 2007 its population was estimated at four million. No census has been taken since 1991, and none is planned due to political disagreements. Therefore, almost all of the post-war data is an estimate. Life expectancy at birth for the total population was estimated at 78 years in 2006. Large population migrations during the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s have caused a large demographic shift in the country.

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Ethnic map based on the 1991 census. The different colors show majority in every settlement: ██ Serbs ██ Muslims ██ Croats ██ no majority
Ethnic map based on 2006 municipality data (estimated - not necessarily accurate). The different colours show the largest single ethnic group in each municipality: ██ Croats ██ Serbs ██ Muslims by nationality

Ethnicity

Regardless of ethnicity, a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina is often identified in English as a Bosnian. In Bosnia however, the distinction between a Bosnian and a Herzegovinian is maintained as a regional, rather than an ethnic distinction. According to the 1991 census, Bosnia and Herzegovina had a population of 4,377,053. Ethnically, 41.47 percent were Muslims by nationality, 33.21 percent Serbs, and 17.38 percent Croats, with 5.54 percent declaring themselves Yugoslavs. According to 2000 data from the CIA World Factbook, Bosnia and Herzegovina is ethnically 48 percentBosniak, 37.1 percent Serb, 14.3 percent Croat, 0.6 percent other.

While the Balkan region has been characterized by volatile relations among local groups and with outside forces, Bosnia has had a long history of peaceful coexistence among its three main ethnic groups. Before 1990, intermarriage was common, as were mixed communities. However, Milosevic's extremist politics stirred latent distrust, and "ethnic cleansing" left millions dead, wounded, or homeless.

Religion

There is a strong correlation between ethnic identity and religion in Bosnia and Herzegovina. as is shown by the fact that 99 percent of Bosniaks are Muslims, 98 percent of Croats are Catholics whilst 99 percent of Serbs are Orthodox Christians. Tensions between the three constitutional peoples remain high in Bosnia and Herzegovina and often provoke political disagreements. According to the CIA World Factbook, 40 percent of population are (Sunni) Muslims, 31 percent are Orthodox Christians, 15 percent are Roman Catholics, and 14 percent are atheists or have other religious affiliation.

Language

Languages spoken are Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian,


Men and women

Marriage and the family

Education

Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo.


Primary education lasts for nine years. Secondary education is provided by general and technical secondary schools where studies last for four years. All forms of secondary schooling include an element of vocational training. Pupils graduating from general secondary schools obtain the Matura and can enroll in any faculty or academy by passing a qualification examination prescribed by the institution. Students graduating technical subjects obtain a Diploma.[1]

As part of the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia enjoyed a highly-developed educational system. Two of Bosnia’s natives were awarded Nobel Prizes: Vladimir Prelog, for chemistry in 1975 , and Ivo Andrić, for literature in 1961 .

The recent war created a "brain drain" and resulted in many Bosnians working in high-tech, academic and professional occupations in North America, Europe and Australia.[citation needed] Such situation is viewed as an economic opportunity for building a vibrant economy in today’s Bosnia.[citation needed] However, only few of Bosnia's diaspora are returning to Bosnia and Herzegovina with their experience, Western education and exposure to modern business practices. Most still lack professional incentives to justify widespread and permanent return to their homeland.[citation needed]

Bosnia's current educational system with seven universities, one in every major city, plus satellite campuses—continues to turn out highly-educated graduates in math, science and literature. However, they have not been modernized in last 15 years due to war, various political and economic reasons and as a result do not meet Western educational standards which are part of criteria for EU membership. The need for reform of current Bosnian education system is generally acknowledged although specific methods for its change have still not been formulated.[citation needed]

Class

Before World War II, society consisted of a large class of peasants, a small upper class of government workers, professionals, merchants, and artisans and an even smaller middle class. Communism brought education, rapid industrialization, and a comfortable lifestyle for most. The civil war created extreme differences between the rich and the poor, and left most of the population destitute. In 2007, luxuries were rare, people wear Western-style clothing, although Muslim women tend to cover their heads with scarves.

Culture

Architecture

File:Ferhadija.jpg
Ferhat-Pasha "Ferhadija" mosque in Banja Luka

The architecture of Bosnia and Herzegovina falls into four major periods — medieval, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Communist. Under the medieval Zadruga social system, families with common interests would live in clusters of Dinaric houses, which were simple structures build of natural materials (usually timber and wickerwork). Interior space was organized around the hearth in a central room with separate private quarters for men and women. Most military fortresses in Bosnia and Herzegovina were built between the twelfth and fifteenth century.

Ottoman residences from the seventeenth century consisted of: a fence, a courtyard usually built of pebble or flat stone pattern for easier maintenance, an outdoor fountain (Šadrvan) for hygenic purposes, a lower level "semi-public" private space called the Hajat where the family would gather, and the Divanhan, an upper-level semi-private/private space used for relaxation and enjoyment.

National Library in Sarajevo

The Austrian Empire introduced a new building code that required building permits, life safety and fire protection requirements, regulated wall thickness and building heights. Stylistically, Bosnia was to be assimilated into the European mainstream.

Communist Yugoslavia underwent industrialization that required an emphasis on development of public housing to accommodate people who migrated from rural to urban areas.

Art

Radimlja necropolis of stećak in Stolac

Visual Arts in Bosnia and Herzegovina was always constant; from prehistoric era, through original medieval tombstones (stecak) to paintings in Kotromanić court. However, only with arrival of Austro-Hungarians in Bosnia real painting renaissance have begun. First artists that were educated in Europe academies appeared with the beginning of 20th century. With their talent and imaginative force we can point out: Gabrijel Jurkić, Petar Tiješić, Karlo Mijić, Špiro Bocarić, Petar Šain, Đoko Mazalić, Roman Petrović i Lazar Drljača. Their ascenders are: Ismet Mujezinović, Vojo Dimitrijević, Ivo Šeremet, Mica Todorović and others. After World War II we have artists like: Virgilije Nevjestić, Bekir Misirlić, Ljubo Lah, Meha Sefić, Franjo Likar, Mersad Berber, Ibrahim Ljubović, Dževad Hozo, Affan Ramić, Safet Zec, Ismar Mujezinović, Mehmed Zaimović ... ARS AEVI (founded in Sarajevo 1995) is international cultural project of Visual Arts and includes famous world artist.

Literature

Bosnia has a rich culture, including poets such as Antun Branko Šimić, Aleksa Šantić, Jovan Dučić and Mak Dizdar and writers such as Ivo Andrić, Meša Selimović, Branko Ćopić, Miljenko Jergović, Petar Kočić and Nedžad Ibrišimović. Ivo Andrić (Born in Travnik) won the Nobel Prize for Literature while Vladimir Prelog won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1975.

Performing arts

The National Theater, located in Sarajevo.

National Theater was founded 1919 in Sarajevo and its first director was famous drama-play writer Branislav Nušić. Sarajevo philharmonic orchestra was founded in 1923. From 1946 Sarajevo opera and Sarajevo Balet started; until year 2000, it had over 1000 theater shows and 300 ballets and operas. The Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo was founded in 1981. MESS is International theater festival founded during the war in 1992.

Music

Bosnian music continues despite the nation's sometimes-troubled history.

Bosnian music is a mixture of ethnic Bosniak, Croat, Serb, Greek , Roma (Gypsy), Turkish, Hungarian and Macedonian influences along with influences from the western part of the world. Traditional Bosnian and Herzogovinian songs are ganga, rera, using instruments like a droneless bagpipe, wooden flute and sargija. The gusle, an instrument found throughout the Balkans, is also used to accompany ancient epic poems.

From the Ottoman era comes sevdalinka. It is a kind of emotional folk song, typically led by a vocalist accompanied by the accordion along with snare drums, upright bass, guitars, clarinets or violins. Sevdalinka is a mixture of Turkish and Bosnian music, especially Muslim religious melodies called ilahije alongside Jewish songs like "Kad ja pođoh na Benbašu", the unofficial anthem of the city of Sarajevo.

Bosnian composers of European classical music include Edin Dino Zonić, Mirsad (Giga) Jelesković, Ališer Sijarić, Igor Karača, and Goran Bregović.

Famous musicians are: Davorin Popović, Kemal Monteno, Zdravko Čolić, Johnny Štulić, Edo Maajka, Dino Merlin and Tomo Miličević.

Rock music has been very popular in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the mid-20th century. Popular and influential rock bands and artists have included Indexi, Bijelo dugme, Divlje jagode, Plavi orkestar, Crvena jabuka, Zabranjeno pušenje and others from the Sarajevo school of pop rock.

Bosnia is also home to the composer Dušan Šestić, the creator of the current national anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina and father of singer Marija Šestić.

Film

Noted Bosnian film-makers are Mirza Idrizović, Aleksandar Jevdjević, Ivica Matić, Danis Tanović (oscar winner for his script of movie No Man's Land), Ademir Kenovic, Pjer Žalica, Dino Mustafić, Srdjan Vuletić, and finally most awarded Emir Kusturica. Sarajevo Film Festival, founded in 1994, has become the biggest and most influencing in southeast Europe.

Sports

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The greatest event in B&H Sport was hosting of 14th Winter Olympics that were held in Sarajevo from 8th till 23th of February 1984. There were many sport heroes like: Katharina Witt, brothers Maire, and Slovenian Jure Franko.

File:Vucko.jpg
Vučko, the official mascot of the 1984 Winter Olympics held in Sarajevo.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has produced many athletes. Many of them were famous in the Yugoslav national teams before Bosnia and Herzegovina's independence. For example in the Olympics, the golden Yugoslavian athletes from B&H were: ROME 1960 – Tomislav Knez and Velimir Sombolac (football), MUNCHEN 1972 – Abaz Arslanagić, Milorad Karalić, Nebojša Popović, Đorđe Lavrinić, Dobrivoje Seleć (handball), MOSKVA 1980 – Mirza Delibašić and Ratko Radovanović (basketball), and LOS ANGELES 1984 - Zdravko Rađenović, Zlatan Arnautović (handball) and Anto Josipović (boxing. Handball Club Borac (founded in Banja Luka in 1950) has won seven tittles as Yugoslavian Champion, and greatest achievement is winner of European Championship Cup in 1976 and International Handball Federation Cup in 1991. Basketball Club Bosna from Sarajevo has become European Champion in 1979. The Yugoslav national basketball team, which medaled in every world championship from 1963 through 1990, has included Bosnian stars like Dražen Dalipagić and Mirza Delibašić. Bosnia and Herzegovina regularly qualifies for the European Championship in Basketball. Women’s Basketball Club Jedinstvo from Tuzla has become Europe Champion in Florence, 1979. Karate Club Tuzla-Sinalco from Tuzla is most awarded club in B&H. Only in 2003 their members have won 207 medals, from that 73 was gold, 57 silver, and 77 bronze. They also have four European Championships and one World Championship. Chess club Bosnia has been seven times Champion of Yugoslavia, and they have won four titles of Europe Champions: 1994 in Lyon, 1999 in Bugojno, 2000 in Neum, and 2001 in Kalitea. Borki Predojević (from Teslić) won two European Championships: Litohoreu (Greece) in 1999, and Kalitei (Greece) in 2001.

Middle-weight boxer Marjan Beneš, won several B&H Championships, Yugoslavian Championships and Europe Championship. In 1978 he won World Title against Elish Obeda from Bahamas. Middle-weight boxer Ante Josipović won Olympic Gold in Los Angeles, 1984. He also won Yugoslavian Championship in 1982, Championship of the Balkans in 1983, and Beograd Trophy in 1985.

There is a theory that alpinism was founded in Bosnia and Herzegovina when Bosnian knights were returning from Knightly Championship in Hungary in early 15th century. They stopped at one mountain and climbed on its top, just for fun of it. However, Boris Kovačević from Sarajevo, together with Branko Puzak Campi from Croatia, is the first to claim the Himalaya top Ngojumbo Kang, November 11th 1987.

Football is most popular sport in B&H. It dates from 1903, but real affirmation of football is after the World War II. Greatest achievements have been winning the Yugoslavian Championship: Sarajevo (1967 and 1984), Željezničar (1972). The former Yugoslav national football team included famous Bosnian players, such as Josip Katalinski, Dušan Bajević, Ivica – Ćiro Blaževć, Ivica Osim, Safet Sušić, and Mirsad Fazlagić. In football, independent Bosnia and Herzegovina has not qualified for a European or World Championship. Mirsad Hibić, Elvir Bolić, Elvir Baljić, Mirsad Bešlija, Meho Kodro, Sergej Barbarez, and Hasan Salihamidžić are famous B&H football players who have played for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team. B&H national teams struggle to draft the best national players. Many players born in Bosnia and Herzegovina choose to play for other countries due to their ethnic identification and because of higher salaries offered by other teams. For example Mario Stanić and Mile Mitić were both born in Bosnia, but choose to play for Croatia and Serbia respectively. Other internationally famous players from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who have made similar choices, are: Zoran Savić, Vladimir Radmanović, Zoran Planinić , Aleksandar Nikolić and Savo Milošević.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is the current world champion in paralympic volleyball. Many of the players lost their legs in the War of 1992-1995.

References: The book: The Best in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo 2004.


References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Benedek, Wolfgang. 1999. Human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina after Dayton: from theory to practice. The Hague: M. Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 9789041110626
  • Bildt, Carl. 1998. Peace journey: the struggle for peace in Bosnia. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 9780297841319
  • Campbell, David. 1998. National deconstruction: violence, identity, and justice in Bosnia. Minneapolis, Minn: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 9780816629374
  • Chandler, David. 1999. Bosnia: faking democracy after Dayton. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 9780745314082
  • Doubt, Keith. 2000. Sociology after Bosnia and Kosovo: recovering justice. Postmodern social futures. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9780847693771
  • Filipović, Zlata. 1994. Zlata's diary: a child's life in Sarajevo. New York: Viking. ISBN 9780670857241
  • Malcolm, Noel. 1994. Bosnia: a short history. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 9780814755204
  • Mazower, Mark. 2000. The Balkans: a short history. Modern Library chronicles. New York: Modern Library. ISBN 9780679640875
  • Mojzes, Paul. 1998. Religion and the war in Bosnia. AAR the religions, no. 3. Atlanta, Ga: Scholars Press. ISBN 9780788504280

External links

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