BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA

SARAJEVO

Bosnia-Herzegovina Republic in the Balkan Peninsula. Before 1992 it was one of six constituent republics of Yugoslavia.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is a small country and would fit into Spain 10 times. It used to be part of the Yugoslavia and borders with other countries with similar history. Serbia on the east, Montenegro on the south and Croatia on the north and west border.

HERZEGOVINA -- NEUM COAST

DINARIC ALPS

DINARIC ALP

The country’s main mountain range is the Dinaric Alps which forms a western border on the Croatian side and cross the north of the country. From the north-west to south-easy across Bosnia are limestone ridges and gorges. There lies a barren limestone plain called the Karst. The only fertile land you will find is in the south, in green mountain hollows called poljs. The Sava and its various smaller rivers are the country’s water supply.

Bosnia has freezing cold winters because of its high altitude apart from the Adriatic coast which has milder and warmer weather. 

HISTORY

The region of Bosnia was inhabited as early as the Neolithic Age. The Illyres or Illyrians moved into the territory in the early Bronze Age. Then in 4th century BC the Celts migrated into the area and made the Illyrian either move on or integrate.

The Illyrians started a conflict with the Romans in 229 BC but the annexation was not finalized till 9th AD. During this period Romans moved in and Roman soldiers were encouraged to move there.

To begin with, the area was called Illyria till the Romans occupied it. When the Roman Empire split from 337 till 395 then Dalmatia and Pannonia became Western Roman Empire. It is also thought that the region was conquered by the Ostrogoths in 445. Then it went to the Alans and the Huns. In the 6th century the Byzantine Empire conquered the region. The Slavs, Eastern European people, were defeated by Avars in the 6th century.

Early Middle Ages the Slavs, who had a tribal social structure, migrated into the Balkan. The Frankish came into the region in the late 9th century. The South Slavs became Christians but Bosnia and Herzegovina converted later.

In the High Middle Ages the Kingdom of Hungary and the Byzantine Empire contested the area between them.

Early 12th century Bosnia emerged as an indepentent state and was ruled by a local ban (title of local rulers).

Ban Kulin ruled for three decades and brought prosperity to the region. He signed a treaty with Venice and Dubrovnik. Kulin also brought Catholicism into the country and declared the Bosnian Church as heretical which it was.

After Ban Kulin's death Bosnia became a power-struggle between the Subic and the Kotromanic families till the early 14th century. In 1322 Stjepan II Kotromanic became Ban. He died 1353 and during his reign territories in the north, west, Zahumlje and part Dalmatia was annexed.

His nephew Tvrtko was crowned on 26 October 1377 as Stefan Tvrtko I.  He was king of Rascia, Bosnia, Dalmatia and Croatia. After his death in 1391 Bosnia fell into decline.

The Ottoman Empire conquered Bosnia in 1463 and Herzegovina in 1482. The Ottoman Era lasted from 1463 till 1878. However, in 1875 a peasant uprising who led to the Russian intervening and this led to war with Turkey from 1877 till 1878.

At the Congress of Berlin it was decided that Bosnia and Herzegovina to be placed under the administration of the Austro-Hungerian Empire. The Empire formally annexed the region in 1908. The Serbian Nationalists were completely against it and it let to the assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914.

The assassination developed into the start of the First World War.

1918 Bosnia and Herzegovina were annexed to Serbia and in 1946 the two provinces became a joint republic within Yugoslavia.

After the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina voted for independence and it was established in 1992.

Soon they were plunged into a civil war because Bosnia Serbs were being help by Serbia and took provinces for themselves, ejecting all Bosnia Muslim and Croats.

United Nation and NATO intervened but had little effect. 1995 the US managed a peace settlement between Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia at Dayton, Ohio.

As you can see Bosnia and Herzegovina always had, for some unknown, a very turbulent history. In spite of all that it is a beautiful country worthwhile for a visit. It also has many monuments and sight seeing due to its ever changing invaders.

BOSNIA -- IGMAN MOUNTAIN

WILDLIFE

Bosnia is half covered with forest. They still have a great wildlife and it includes wildcats, wolves, grey bears and mufflons, lynxes, weasels and otters but it is no doubt endangered.

BOSNIA - MOSTAR

POPULATION

Before the civil war the republic had three main ethnic groups. 44 per cent Muslim, 31per cent Serbians and 17 per cent Croatians but today it is hard to get a correct statistics. They all speak Serbo-Croatians. The Muslims and Croats use the Latin alphabet and the Serbs use the Cyrillic alphabet. They are also various religions. Muslims practise Islam; the Serbs Serbian Orthodoxy; and the Croats are mostly Roman Catholic.

The population used to be mainly in agriculture but during the civil war they fled to town and cities for safety. Bosnia economy was ruined with the civil war and the money has no value. However, the black market is more than flourishing.  Both results are always the end product of wars. Yet will people ever learn. Now a lot of the farmland had been destroyed.

The country’s industry was mainly in Serp occupied areas but 80 per cent of it had been destroyed. From the 1990 a small textile and food-processing industries started again but not so significant that the country could recover from the civil war. It would better to use its natural recourse such as agriculture, timber and valuable mineral recourse. 

BEGIN OF DEMOCRACY

The 1991 constitution of Bosnia allows for a government structure. There are two chambers: a 130-seat Chamber of Citizens and a 100-seat Chamber of Communes. The voting age is 18 and the election is won by a majority. A collective seven-member presidency serves four years. The there is a president of the presidency who will voted again after one year.

Like other surrounding countries Bosnia was also part of the Ottoman Empire and then of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. After 1946 it became part of Yugoslavia, under the Croatian Communist, Josip Broz Tito. The Bosnian Serbians wanted Bosnia to be province rather than a republic. Tito war a good leader and Yugoslavia was easiest communist country and open to West to be visit. Tito died in 1980 and ethnic tension grew. At the beginning of 1990 Bosnia Serbs declared alliance to the Serb-dominated federal Yugoslavia. The rest of the country demanded independence. Bosnia-Herzegovina became independent in 1992 was recognized by the EU and the USA.

Civil war broke out between the Muslims, The Bosnian Serbs (supported by Serbia) and the Bosnia Croats (supported by Croatia). This war has been going on and caused nothing but heart break and ruins. There were cease-fire but no peace-plan could be established. Muslims were heavily attacked by Serbian soldiers. The city of Sarajevo was under siege by Serbian troops from 1992 till 1996. NATO bombarded the Serbian troops heavily.

SARAJEVO THE OLD CITY