Portal:Bosnia and Herzegovina

Welcome to the Bosnia and Herzegovina Portal

Bosnia and Herzegovina, often referred to as Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to the north and southwest, with a 20-kilometre-long (12-mile) coast on the Adriatic Sea in the south. Bosnia has a moderate continental climate with hot summers and cold, snowy winters. Its geography is largely mountainous, particularly in the central and eastern regions, which are dominated by the Dinaric Alps. Herzegovina, the smaller, southern region, has a Mediterranean climate and is mostly mountainous. Sarajevo is the capital and the largest city.

The area has been inhabited since at least the Upper Palaeolithic, with permanent human settlement traced to the Neolithic cultures of Butmir, Kakanj, and Vučedol. After the arrival of the first Indo-Europeans, the area was populated by several Illyrian and Celtic civilisations. Most of modern Bosnia was incorporated into the Roman province of Dalmatia by the mid-first century BCE. The ancestors of the modern South Slavic peoples arrived between the sixth and ninth centuries. In the 12th century, the Banate of Bosnia was established as the first independent Bosnian polity. It gradually evolved and expanded into the Kingdom of Bosnia, which became the most powerful state in the western Balkans by the 14th century. The Ottoman Empire annexed the region in 1463 and introduced Islam. From the late 19th century until World War I, the country was annexed into the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. In the interwar period, Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After World War II, it was granted full republic status in the newly formed Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1992, following the breakup of Yugoslavia, the republic proclaimed independence. This was followed by the Bosnian War, which lasted until late 1995 and ended with the signing of the Dayton Agreement.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has roughly 2.9 million inhabitants based on the current estimates, composed chiefly of three main ethnic groups: Bosniaks, who form more than a half of the population, followed by Serbs at one-third and Croats at one-sixth; minorities include Jews, Roma, Albanians, Montenegrins, Ukrainians and Turks, who are among 17 recognized "national minorities". Bosnia and Herzegovina has a bicameral legislature and a presidency made up of one member from each of the three major ethnic groups (directorial system). The central government's power is minimal, as the country is largely decentralised; it comprises two autonomous entities—the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska—and a third unit, the Brčko District, governed by its own local government.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a developing country and an upper-middle income economy, dominated by industry and agriculture, followed by tourism and services; tourism has increased significantly in recent years. The country has a social security and universal healthcare system, while primary and secondary education is free. It is a member of the United Nations, Council of Europe, OSCE, CEFTA, and is also a founding member of the SEECP. Bosnia and Herzegovina has been an EU candidate country since 2022, and a NATO membership candidate since 2010. (Full article...)

Selected article -

Republika Srpska (RS; Serbian Cyrillic: Република Српска, lit. 'Serbian Republic', pronounced [repǔblika sr̩̂pskaː] ⓘ) was an unrecognized geopolitical entity and a self-proclaimed quasi-state in Southeastern Europe under the control of the Army of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War. It claimed to be a sovereign state, though this claim was only partially recognized by the Bosnian government (whose territory the RS was recognized as nominally being a part of) in the Geneva agreement, the United Nations, and FR Yugoslavia. For the first six months of its existence, it was known as the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serbian: Српска Република Босна и Херцеговина / Srpska Republika Bosna i Hercegovina).

After 1995, the Republika Srpska was recognized as one of the two political entities composing Bosnia and Herzegovina. The borders of the post-1995 RS are, with a few negotiated modifications, based on the front lines and situation on the ground at the time of the signing of the Dayton Agreement on 14 December 1995. As such, the entity is primarily a result of the Bosnian War without any direct historical precedent. Its territory encompasses a number of Bosnia and Herzegovina's numerous historical geographic regions, but (due to the above-mentioned nature of the inter-entity boundary line) it contains very few of them in entirety. Likewise, various political units existed within Republika Srpska's territory in the past but very few existed entirely within the region. (Full article...)

General images

The following are images from various Bosnia and Herzegovina-related articles on Wikipedia.

More did you know

Cities

Selected biography -

Mladen Lorković (Croatian pronunciation: [mlâden lǒːrkoʋit͡ɕ]; 1 March 1909 – April 1945) was a Croatian politician and lawyer who became a senior member of the Ustaše and served as the Foreign Minister and Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) during World War II. Lorković led the Lorković-Vokić plot, an attempt to establish a coalition government between the Ustaše and the Croatian Peasant Party and align the Independent State of Croatia with the Allies.

As a student, he joined the Croatian Party of Rights but, viewed as a dissident in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, he fled the country to avoid arrest and eventually settled in Germany where he obtained a doctorate in law at the University of Berlin. In 1934, he joined the Ustaše and became a close associate of Ante Pavelić. Although he was initially commander of all Ustaše in Germany, where he sought support in creating and protecting a Croatian state, he later became leader of all Ustaše outside Italy. Soon after the establishment of the NDH, he was appointed as Foreign Minister and strongly opposed Italian influence on the state. After his cabinet chief, Ivo Kolak, was executed in 1943 for smuggling gold, Lorković was removed from office but later named Minister of Interior. As Minister of Interior, he negotiated with the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) in the hopes of establishing a coalition government. He also held secret negotiations with HSS representatives to propose having the NDH join the Allies against Germany. Although he apparently had the support of Pavelić, he and his cohorts were soon arrested as conspirators against the state and after a period in detention was executed at the end of April 1945 alongside Ante Vokić. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto-generated)

Subcategories

Select [►] to view subcategories
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina templates
Republika Srpska
Bosnia and Herzegovina-related lists
Buildings and structures in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Disasters in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Geography of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Health in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Natural history of Bosnia and Herzegovina
History of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Organizations based in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina people
Politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Transport in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Images of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina stubs

Religions in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ex-Yugoslav countries

Other countries

Topics

Recognized content

Things you can do

Web resources

Other links:

  • Bosnian National Monument - Muslibegovica House
  • "Bosnia and Herzegovina". The World Factbook (2025 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency.
  • Bosnia & Herzegovina Economy
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina Map
  • Bosnia News
  • rjecnik.ba English-Bosnian and German-Bosnian On-line Dictionary (in Bosnian, English, and German)
  • The State of Media Freedom in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Public Service Broadcasting Report by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Discover Wikipedia using portals

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.