History of Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes referred to simply as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe on the Balkan Peninsula. It has had permanent settlement since the Neolithic Age. By the early historical period it was inhabited by Illyrians and Celts. Christianity arrived in the 1st century, and by the 4th century the area became part of the Western Roman Empire. Germanic tribes invaded soon after, followed by Slavs in the 6th century. In 1136, Béla II of Hungary invaded Bosnia and created the title "Ban of Bosnia" as an honorary title for his son Ladislaus II of Hungary.
Multinational stateA multinational state or a multinational union is a sovereign entity that comprises two or more nations or states. This contrasts with a nation state, where a single nation accounts for the bulk of the population. Depending on the definition of "nation" (which touches on ethnicity, language, and political identity), a multinational state is usually multicultural or multilingual, and is geographically composed of more than one country, such as the countries of the United Kingdom.
Muslims (ethnic group)"Muslims" (Serbo-Croatian Latin and Muslimani, Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic and Муслимани) is a designation for the ethnoreligious group of Serbo-Croatian-speaking Muslims and people of Muslim heritage, inhabiting mostly the territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The term, adopted in the 1971 Constitution of Yugoslavia, groups together a number of distinct South Slavic communities of Islamic ethnocultural tradition.
Serbian nationalismSerbian nationalism asserts that Serbs are a nation and promotes the cultural and political unity of Serbs. It is an ethnic nationalism, originally arising in the context of the general rise of nationalism in the Balkans under Ottoman rule, under the influence of Serbian linguist Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and Serbian statesman Ilija Garašanin. Serbian nationalism was an important factor during the Balkan Wars which contributed to the decline of the Ottoman Empire, during and after World War I when it contributed to the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and again during the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s.
YugoslavsYugoslavs or Yugoslavians (Југославени/Југословени; Jugoslovani; Jugosloveni) is an identity that was originally designed to refer to a united South Slavic people. It has been used in two connotations: the first in a sense of common shared ethnic descent, i.e. panethnic or supraethnic connotation for ethnic South Slavs, and the second as a term for all citizens of former Yugoslavia regardless of ethnicity.
BosniaksThe Bosniaks (Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, boʃɲǎːtsi; Bošnjak, Bošnjakinja) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo as well as in Austria, Germany, Turkey and Sweden. They also constitute a significant diaspora with several communities across Europe, the Americas and Oceania.
HerzegovinaHerzegovina (ˌhɛərtsɪˈɡoʊvɪnə or ˌhɜːrtsəɡoʊˈviːnə; Херцеговина, xɛ̌rt͡se̞ɡoʋina) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geographical, cultural or historical borders, nor has it ever been defined as an administrative whole in the geopolitical and economic subdivision of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia, the larger of the two regions, lies to the north of Herzegovina; the Croatian region of Dalmatia lies to the southwest; the Montenegrin region of Old Herzegovina lies to the southeast.
Bosnian WarThe Bosnian War (Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started on 6 April 1992, following a number of earlier violent incidents. The war ended on 14 December 1995 when the Dayton accords were signed. The main belligerents were the forces of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, those of Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and Republika Srpska, proto-states led and supplied by Croatia and Serbia, respectively.
Bosnian ChurchThe Bosnian Church (Црква босанска) was a Christian church in medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina that was independent of and considered heretical by both the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox hierarchies. Historians traditionally connected the church with the Bogomils, although this has been challenged and is now rejected by the majority of scholars. Adherents of the church called themselves simply Krstjani ("Christians") or Dobri Bošnjani, Usorani, Humljani... ("Good Bosnians, Usorans, Humlians...").
ZachlumiaZachlumia or Zachumlia (Захумље, zǎxuːmʎe), also Hum, was a medieval principality located in the modern-day regions of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia (today parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, respectively). In some periods it was a fully independent or semi-independent South Slavic principality. It maintained relations with various foreign and neighbouring powers (Byzantine Empire, First Bulgarian Empire, Kingdom of Croatia, Principality of Serbia) and later was subjected (temporarily or for a longer period) to Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Serbia, Kingdom of Bosnia, Duchy of Saint Sava and at the end to the Ottoman Empire.
