Bosnia and Hercegovina - bŏzˈnēə, hĕrtsəgōvēˈnə, Serbo-Croatian Bosna i Hercegovina, country (1995 est. pop. 3,202,000), 19,741 sq mi (51,129 sq km), on the Balkan peninsula, S Europe. It is bounded by Croatia on the west and north and Serbia and Montenegro on the east. A narrow, undeveloped outlet to the Adriatic along the Neretva River in the southwest is its only outlet to the sea. The country is commonly referred to as Bosnia. Sarajevo is its capital.

Land and People

The country consists of two regions—Bosnia in the north, with Sarajevo as its chief city; and Hercegovina in the south, with Mostar as its chief city. Lying mostly in the Dinaric Alps, the nation has no port facilities. The Sava and its tributaries are the chief rivers. Much of the area is forested, and timber is an important product of Bosnia. Much of Hercegovina's terrain is denuded.

The ethnically diverse population speaks Serbo-Croatian. The country's Serbs (about 40% of the population, largely Eastern Orthodox), Bosnian Muslims (about 38%), and Croats (about 22%, mostly Roman Catholics) formerly formed a complex patchwork, but civil war and the flight of refugees forcibly segregated much of the population. Some inhabitants have gradually returned to their pre-conflict places of residence since the fighting's end.

Economy

Never particularly robust, Bosnia and Hercegovina's economy was shattered by the civil war that broke out after independence. Traditionally, the economy has depended on agriculture, although it now provides less than half of the country's food needs. Corn, wheat, oats, and barley are the principal products of Bosnia and tobacco, cotton, fruits, and grapes of Hercegovina. Mining is important, and there are significant deposits of lignite, iron ore, and copper. Steel, textiles, wood products, rugs, timber, machinery, and transportation equipment are its most significant products, and there has been some development of its hydroelectric resources. When it was part of Yugoslavia, Bosnia also had a thriving armament industry.

History

Early History

The area was part of the Roman province of Illyricum. Bosnia was settled by Serbs in the 7th cent.; it appeared as an independent country by the 12th cent. but later at times acknowledged the kings of Hungary as suzerains. Medieval Bosnia reached the height of its power in the second half of the 14th cent., when it controlled many surrounding territories. Bosnia also annexed the duchy of Hum, which, however, regained autonomy in 1448 and became known as Hercegovina. During this period the region was weakened by religious strife among Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and Bogomils. Thus disunited, Bosnia fell to the Turks in 1463. Hercegovina held out until 1482, when it too was occupied and joined administratively to Bosnia. The nobility and a large part of the peasantry accepted Islam.

Foreign Domination

Under Turkish rule, Bosnia and Hercegovina's economy declined. Physical remoteness facilitated the retention of medieval social structure, including serfdom (remnants of which lasted until the 20th cent.). Refusal by the Turkish to institute reforms led to a peasant uprising (1875) that soon came to involve outside powers and led to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. After the war, the Congress of Berlin (1878) placed Bosnia and Hercegovina under Austro-Hungarian administration and occupation, while recognizing the sovereignty of the Turkish sultan. Austria-Hungary improved economic conditions in the area but sought unsuccessfully to combat rising Serb nationalism, which mounted further when Bosnia and Hercegovina were completely annexed in 1908.

The assassination (1914) of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serb nationalist in Sarajevo precipitated World War I. In 1918, Bosnia and Hercegovina were annexed to Serbia. The dismemberment of Yugoslavia during World War II led to Bosnia and Hercegovina's incorporation into the German puppet state of Croatia. Much partisan guerrilla warfare raged in the mountains of Bosnia during the war. In 1946, Bosnia and Hercegovina became one of the six constituent republics of Yugoslavia. Under the Communist regime Bosnia remained relatively undeveloped. Economic problems and ethnic quarrels during the 1980s led to widespread dissatisfaction with the central government.

Independence and Civil War

In Oct., 1991, following the secession of Slovenia, Croatia, and Macedonia, the Croats and Muslims of Bosnia and Hercegovina, fearing Serbian domination, voted for a declaration of independence from Yugoslavia. In 1992, the sovereignty of Bosnia and Hercegovina was recognized by the European Community (now the European Union) and the United States, and it entered the United Nations. Many Bosnian Serbs opposed the new republic, in which they were a minority, and Serb troops, both from Serbia and Bosnia, began to carve out the Serb-populated areas and declared the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina. Croats in Bosnia, also fearing Muslim domination, declared their own Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna.

An arms embargo reinforced the disparity between the well-armed Serbs and their foes, and Muslims were forced from their homes and towns as part of an "ethnic cleansing" policy carried out mostly by the Serbs. Thousands were killed, many were placed in detention camps, and many more fled the country. (Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was among a number of Serbs later indicted in absentia by a United Nations tribunal for war crimes.) The major Western powers rejected military intervention but endorsed the establishment of six "safe areas" with a United Nations presence, where Muslims would supposedly not be attacked.

Fighting between Muslims and Croats intensified in 1993. Shelling, mainly by Serb forces, destroyed much of Sarajevo and laid waste to other cities throughout the country. In 1994, Yugoslavian and Croatian forces fought in support of Bosnian Serbs and Croats, respectively. The Bosnian government army launched major offensives from Bihac and elsewhere, and the balance of power among Serbs, Croats, and Muslims shifted from time to time.

In 1994, Bosnian Muslims and Croats agreed to a cease-fire and established a joint Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina. During 1995, Serb forces shelled the besieged Sarajevo and launched attacks on the UN-proclaimed "safe areas" of Tuzla, Zepa, and Srebrenica. There were mass deportations of Muslims and widespread instances of rape and execution of civilians, especially in Srebrenica. Croat and Muslim forces later made heavy inroads against Serbs in western Bosnia.

In late 1995, the Muslim-dominated Bosnian government and the leaders of Croatia and Serbia met under U.S. auspices in Dayton, Ohio, and negotiated a peace accord. It called for a Bosnian republic with a central government and two semiautonomous regions, roughly equal in size, one dominated by Serbs, the other by Muslims and Croats in federation. The accord provided for the dispatch of NATO-led troops for peacekeeping purposes; the forces originally were to stay until June, 1998. In addition, a high representative of the Peace Implementation Council (the nations overseeing the peace process) is the final authority on the civilian aspects of the settlement. Although the accord was implemented and conditions have slowly improved, much distrust remains among members of all three communities, who now typically live in ethnically homogeneous areas. NATO-led peacekeeping forces remain in the region. Bosnian disillusionment with the moderates who had held power since 1998 resulted in electoral victories for the ethnic nationalist parties in the 2002.

Bibliography

See B. E. Schmitt, The Annexation of Bosnia, 1908–1909 (1937, repr. 1971); J. G. Wilkinson, Dalmatia and Montenegro (2 vol., 1848; repr. 1971); L. J. Cohen, Political Cohesion in a Fragile Mosaic: The Yugoslav Experience (1983); H. Lydall, Yugoslavia in Crisis (1989); N. Malcom, Bosnia: A Short History (1996); D. Rohde, Endgame: The Betrayal and Fall of Srebrenica (1997).

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