Bosnia and Herzegovina is an almost landlocked country \u2013 it has a narrow coast at the Adriatic Sea<\/a>, about 12 miles long surrounding the town of Neum<\/a>. It is bordered by Croatia<\/a> to the north, west and south; Serbia<\/a> to the east; and Montenegro<\/a> to the southeast. In the central and eastern interior of the country the geography is mountainous, in the northwest it is moderately hilly, and the northeast is predominantly flatland. The inland, Bosnia<\/a>, is a geographically larger region and has a moderate continental climate<\/a>, with hot summers and cold and snowy winters. The southern tip, Herzegovina<\/a>, has a Mediterranean climate<\/a> and plain topography.<\/p>\n Bosnia and Herzegovina traces permanent human settlement back to the Neolithic<\/a> age, during and after which it was populated by several Illyrian<\/a> and Celtic civilizations. Culturally, politically, and socially, the country has a rich history, having been first settled by the Slavic<\/a> peoples that populate the area today from the 6th through to the 9th centuries. In the 12th century the Banate of Bosnia<\/a> was established, which evolved into the Kingdom of Bosnia<\/a> in the 14th century, after which it was annexed into the Ottoman Empire<\/a>, under whose rule it remained from the mid-15th to the late 19th centuries. The Ottomans brought Islam to the region, and altered much of the cultural and social outlook of the country. This was followed by annexation into the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy,<\/a> which lasted up until World War I<\/a>. In the interwar period, Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia<\/a> and after World War II,<\/a> it was granted full republic status in the newly formed Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia<\/a>. Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia<\/a>, the republic proclaimed independence in 1992, which was followed by the Bosnian War<\/a>, lasting until late 1995<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/a> has grown at double digit rates in recent years. Bosnia and Herzegovina is regionally and internationally renowned for its natural environment and cultural heritage inherited from six historical civilizations, its cuisine, winter sports, its eclectic and unique music, architecture, and its festivals, some of which are the largest and most prominent of their kind in Southeastern Europe. The country is home to three main ethnic groups or, officially, constituent peoples, as specified in the constitution. Bosniaks<\/a> are the largest group of the three, with Serbs<\/a> second, and Croats<\/a> third. A native of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of ethnicity, is usually identified in English as a Bosnian. Minorities, defined under the constitutional nomenclature “Others”, include Jews<\/a>, Roma<\/a>, Poles, Ukrainians, and Turks<\/a>. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a bicameral legislature and a three-member Presidency composed of a member of each major ethnic group. However, the central government’s power is highly limited, as the country is largely decentralized and comprises two autonomous entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/a> and Republika Srpska<\/a>, with a third unit, the Br\u010dko District<\/a>, governed under local government. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of 10 cantons<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bosnia and Herzegovina ranks highly in terms of human development, and has an economy dominated by the industry and agriculture sectors, followed by the tourism and service sectors. The country has a social security and universal healthcare system, and primary- and secondary-level education is tuition-free. It is a member of the UN<\/a>, OSCE<\/a>, Council of Europe<\/a>, PfP<\/a>, CEFTA<\/a>, and a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean<\/a> upon its establishment in July 2008. The country is a potential candidate for membership to the European Union<\/a> and has been a candidate for NATO<\/a> membership since April 2010, when it received a Membership Action Plan<\/a>.<\/p>\n The first preserved widely acknowledged mention of Bosnia is in De Administrando Imperio<\/a>, a politico-geographical handbook written by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VI<\/a>I in the mid-10th century (between 948 and 952) describing the “small land” (\u03c7\u03c9\u03c1\u03af\u03bf\u03bd in Greek) of “Bosona” (\u0392\u03bf\u03c3\u03ce\u03bd\u03b1).<\/p>\n The name is believed to have derived from the hydronym of the river Bosna<\/a> coursing through the Bosnian heartland. According to philologist Anton Mayer the name Bosna could derive from Illyrian<\/a> *”Bass-an-as”), which would derive from the Proto-Indo-European root “bos” or “bogh”\u2014meaning “the running water”. According to English medievalist William Miller<\/a> the Slavic settlers in Bosnia “adapted the Latin designation Basante, to their own idiom by calling the stream Bosna and themselves Bosniaks”.<\/p>\n The name Herzegovina (“herzog’s [land]”, from German word for “duke”) originates from Bosnian magnate Stjepan Vuk\u010di\u0107 Kosa\u010da’s<\/a> title, “Herceg (Herzog) of Hum and the Coast” (1448). Hum, formerly Zahumlje<\/a>, was an early medieval principality that was conquered by the Bosnian Banate in the first half of the 14th century. The region was administered by the Ottomans as the Sanjak of Herzegovina<\/a> (Hersek) within the Eyalet of Bosnia<\/a> up until the formation of the short-lived Herzegovina Eyalet<\/a> in the 1830s, which remerged in the 1850s, after which the entity became commonly known as Bosnia and Herzegovina.<\/p>\n On initial proclamation of independence in 1992, the country’s official name was the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/a> but following the 1995 Dayton Agreement and the new constitution that accompanied it the official name was changed to Bosnia and Herzegovina.<\/p>\n Bosnia has been inhabited by humans since at least the Neolithic age. The earliest Neolithic population became known in the Antiquity<\/a> as the Illyrians<\/a>. Celtic migrations in the 4th century BC were also notable. Concrete historical evidence for this period is scarce, but overall it appears the region was populated by a number of different people speaking distinct languages. Conflict between the Illyrians and Romans<\/a> started in 229 BC, but Rome did not complete its annexation of the region until AD 9. It was precisely in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina that Rome fought one of the most difficult battles in its history since the Punic Wars<\/a>, as described by the Roman historian Suetonius<\/a>. This was the Roman campaign against Illyricum<\/a>, known as Bellum Batonianum<\/a>. The conflict arose after an attempt to recruit Illyrians, and a revolt spanned for four years (6\u20139 AD), after which they were subdued. In the Roman period, Latin-speaking settlers from the entire Roman Empire<\/a> settled among the Illyrians, and Roman soldiers were encouraged to retire in the region.<\/p>\n Following the split of the Empire between 337 and 395 AD, Dalmatia and Pannonia became parts of the Western Roman Empire<\/a>. The region was conquered by the Ostrogoths<\/a> in 455 AD. It subsequently changed hands between the Alans and the Huns. By the 6th century, Emperor Justinian<\/a> had reconquered the area for the Byzantine Empire<\/a>. Slavs overwhelmed the Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries. Illyrian cultural traits were adopted by the South Slavs, as evidenced in certain customs and traditions, placenames, etc.<\/p>\n From 8th century BC, Illyrian tribes evolved into kingdoms.<\/p>\n In the 4th century BC, the first invasion of Celts is recorded.<\/p>\n The Early Slavs<\/a> raided the Western Balkans, including Bosnia, in the 6th and early 7th century (amid the Migration Period<\/a>), and were composed of small tribal units drawn from a single Slavic confederation known to the Byzantines as the Sclaveni<\/a>. Tribes recorded by the ethnonyms of “Serb” and “Croat” are described as a second, latter, migration of different people during the second quarter of the 7th century who do not seem to have been particularly numerous; these early “Serb” and “Croat” tribes, whose exact identity is subject to scholarly debate, came to predominate over the Slavs in the neighboring regions. The bulk of Bosnia proper, however, appears to have been a territory between Serb and Croat rule and is not enumerated as one of the regions settled by those tribes.<\/p>\n Bosnia is first mentioned as a land (horion Bosona) in Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus’ De Administrando Imperio in the mid 10th century, at the end of a chapter (Chap. 32) entitled Of the Serbs and the country in which they now dwell. This has been scholarly interpreted in several ways and used especially by the Serb national ideologists to prove Bosnia as originally a “Serb” land. Other scholars have asserted the inclusion of Bosnia into Chapter 32 to merely be the result of Serbian Grand Duke \u010caslav’s temporary rule over Bosnia at the time, while also pointing out Porphyrogenitus does not say anywhere explicitly that Bosnia is a “Serb land”. In fact, the very translation of the critical sentence where the word Bosona (Bosnia) appears is subject to varying interpretation.<\/p>\n In time, Bosnia formed a unit under its own ruler, who called himself Bosnian. Bosnia, along with other territories, became part of Duklja<\/a> in the 11th century, although it retained its own nobility and institutions.<\/p>\n In the High Middle Ages<\/a> political circumstance led to the area being contested between the Kingdom of Hungary<\/a> and the Byzantine Empire.<\/p>\n Bosnian history from then until the early 14th century was marked by a power struggle between the \u0160ubi\u0107 and Kotromani\u0107 families. This conflict came to an end in 1322, when Stephen II Kotromani\u0107<\/a> 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 ambitious nephew Tvrtko<\/a> who, following a prolonged struggle with nobility and inter-family strife, gained full control of the country in 1367. By the year 1377, Bosnia was elevated into a kingdom with the coronation of Tvrtko as the first Bosnian King in Mile near Visoko<\/a> in the Bosnian heartland.<\/p>\n Following his death in 1391 however, Bosnia fell into a long period of decline. The Ottoman Empire had started its conquest of Europe<\/a> and posed a major threat to the Balkans throughout the first half of the 15th century. Finally, after decades of political and social instability, the Kingdom of Bosnia ceased to exist in 1463 after its conquest by the Ottoman Empire.<\/p>\n The Ottoman conquest of Bosnia marked a new era in the country’s history and introduced drastic changes in the political and cultural landscape. The Ottomans incorporating Bosnia as an integral province of the Ottoman Empire with its historical name and territorial integrity.<\/p>\n Within Bosnia the Ottomans introduced a number of key changes in the territory’s socio-political administration; including a new landholding system, a reorganization of administrative units, and a complex system of social differentiation by class and religious affiliation.<\/p>\n 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, forced and economic migrations, and epidemics. A native Slavic-speaking Muslim community emerged and eventually became the largest of the ethno-religious groups due to lack of strong Christian church organizations and continuous rivalry between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, while the indigenous Bosnian Church disappeared altogether (ostensibly by conversion of its members to Islam). The Ottomans referred to them as kristianlar while the Orthodox and Catholics were called gebir or kafir, meaning “unbeliever”. The Bosnian Franciscans<\/a> (and the Catholic population as a whole) were protected by official imperial decrees and in accordance and full extent of Ottoman laws, however in effect, these often merely affected arbitrary rule and behavior of powerful local elite.<\/p>\n As the Ottoman Empire continued their rule in the Balkans (Rumelia<\/a>), Bosnia was somewhat relieved of the pressures of being a frontier province, and experienced a period of general welfare. A number of cities, such as Sarajevo and Mostar<\/a>, were established and grew into regional centers of trade and urban culture and were then visited by Ottoman traveler Evliya \u00c7elebi<\/a> in 1648. Within these cities, various Ottoman Sultans financed the construction of many works of Bosnian architecture such as the country’s first library in Sarajevo, madrassas, a school of Sufi philosophy, and a clock tower (Sahat Kula), bridges such as the Stari Most<\/a>, the Tsar’s Mosque<\/a> and the Gazi Husrev-beg’s Mosque<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, by the late 17th century the Empire’s military misfortunes caught up with the country, and the end of the Great Turkish War<\/a> with the treaty of Karlowitz<\/a> in 1699 again made Bosnia the Empire’s westernmost province. The 18th century was marked by further military failures, numerous revolts within Bosnia, and several outbursts of plague.<\/p>\n The Porte’s efforts at modernizing the Ottoman state were met with distrust growing to hostility in Bosnia, where local aristocrats stood to lose much through the proposed Tanzimat<\/a> reforms. This, combined with frustrations over territorial, political concessions in the north-east, and the plight of Slavic Muslim refugees arriving from the Sanjak of Smederevo<\/a> into Bosnia Eyalet, culminated in a partially unsuccessful revolt by Husein Grada\u0161\u010devi\u0107<\/a>, who endorsed a Bosnia Eyalet autonomous from the authoritarian rule of the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II<\/a>, who persecuted, executed and abolished the Janissaries<\/a> and reduced the role of autonomous Pashas in Rumelia. Mahmud II sent his Grand Vizier<\/a> to subdue Bosnia Eyalet and succeeded only with the reluctant assistance of Ali-pa\u0161a Rizvanbegovi\u0107<\/a>. Related rebellions were extinguished by 1850, but the situation continued to deteriorate.<\/p>\n New nationalist movements appeared in Bosnia by the middle of the 19th century. Bolstered by Serbia’s breakaway from the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century, Serbian nationalists began making contacts and sending nationalist propaganda claiming Bosnia as a Serbian province. In the neighboring Habsburg Empire across the Ottoman border, Croatian nationalists made similar claims about Bosnia as a Croatian province. The rise of these competing movements marked the beginning of nationalist politics in Bosnia, which continued to grow in the rest of the 19th and 20th centuries.<\/p>\n Agrarian unrest eventually sparked the Herzegovinian rebellion<\/a>, a widespread peasant uprising, in 1875. The conflict rapidly spread and came to involve several Balkan states and Great Powers, a situation that led to the Congress of Berlin<\/a> and the Treaty of Berlin<\/a> in 1878.<\/p>\n At the Congress of Berlin in 1878, the Austro-Hungarian<\/a> Foreign Minister Gyula Andr\u00e1ssy<\/a> obtained the occupation and administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and he also obtained the right to station garrisons in the Sanjak of Novi Pazar<\/a>, which remained under Ottoman administration until 1908, when the Austro-Hungarian troops withdrew from the Sanjak.<\/p>\n Although Austro-Hungarian officials quickly came to an agreement with Bosnians, tensions remained and a mass emigration of Bosnians occurred. 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 they intended would make Bosnia and Herzegovina into a “model” colony.<\/p>\n Habsburg rule had several key concerns in Bosnia. It tried to dissipate the South Slav nationalism by disputing the earlier Serb and Croat claims to Bosnia and encouraging identification of Bosnian or Bosniak identity. Habsburg rule also tried to provide for modernisation by codifying laws, introducing new political institutions, and establishing and expanding industries.<\/p>\n Austria\u2013Hungary began to plan annexation of Bosnia, but due to international disputes the issue was not resolved until the annexation crisis of 1908. Several external matters affected status of Bosnia and its relationship with Austria\u2013Hungary. A bloody coup occurred in Serbia in 1903, which brought a radical anti-Austrian government into power in Belgrade. Then in 1908, the revolt in the Ottoman Empire raised concerns the Istanbul government might seek the outright return of Bosnia-Herzegovina. These factors caused the Austro-Hungarian government to seek a permanent resolution of the Bosnian question sooner, rather than later.<\/p>\n Taking advantage of turmoil in the Ottoman Empire, Austro-Hungarian diplomacy tried to obtain provisional Russian approval for changes over the status of Bosnia Herzegovina and published the annexation proclamation on 6 October 1908. Despite international objections to the Austro-Hungarian annexation, Russians and their client state, Serbia, were compelled to accept the Austrian-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia Herzegovina in March 1909.<\/p>\n In 1910, Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph proclaimed the first constitution in Bosnia, which led to relaxation of earlier laws, elections and formation of the Bosnian parliament, and growth of new political life.<\/p>\n On 28 June 1914, a Yugoslav nationalist youth named Gavrilo Princip<\/a>, a member of the secret Serbian-supported movement, Young Bosnia<\/a>, assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand<\/a>, in Sarajevo\u2014an event that was the spark that set off World War I. At the end of the war, the Bosniaks had lost more men per capita than any other ethnic group in the Habsburg Empire whilst serving in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Infantry<\/a> (known as Bosniaken) of the Austro-Hungarian Army<\/a>. Nonetheless, Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole managed to escape the conflict relatively unscathed.<\/p>\n Following World War I, Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the South Slav Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes<\/a> (soon renamed Yugoslavia). 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.<\/p>\n Although the initial split of the country into 33 oblasts<\/a> erased the presence of traditional geographic entities from the map, the efforts of Bosnian politicians such as Mehmed Spaho<\/a> ensured 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.<\/p>\n The establishment of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929, however, brought the redrawing of administrative regions into banates or banovinas 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.<\/p>\n The Cvetkovi\u0107-Ma\u010dek Agreement<\/a> that created the Croatian banate<\/a> in 1939 encouraged what was essentially a partition of Bosnia between Croatia and Serbia<\/a>. However the rising threat of Adolf Hitler’s<\/a> Nazi Germany<\/a> forced Yugoslav politicians to shift their attention. Following a period that saw attempts at appeasement, the signing of the Tripartite Treaty<\/a>, and a coup d’\u00e9tat, Yugoslavia was finally invaded by Germany on 6 April 1941.<\/p>\n Once the kingdom of Yugoslavia was conquered by German forces in World War II, all of Bosnia was ceded to the Nazi puppet regime, the Independent State of Croatia (NDH<\/a>). The NDH leaders embarked on a campaign of extermination of Serbs, Jews, Romani as well as dissident Croats, and, later, Josip Broz Tito’s<\/a> Partisans<\/a> by setting up a number of death camps.<\/p>\n An estimated 209,000 Serbs and Montenegrins were killed on the territory of Bosnia\u2013Herzegovina during the war. The Usta\u0161e<\/a> recognized both Roman Catholicism and Islam as the national religions, but held the position Eastern Orthodoxy<\/a>, as a symbol of Serbian identity, was their greatest foe. Although Croats were by far the largest ethnic group to constitute the Usta\u0161e, the Vice President of the NDH and leader of the Yugoslav Muslim Organization D\u017eafer Kulenovi\u0107<\/a> was a Muslim, and Muslims (Bosniaks) in total constituted nearly 12% of the Usta\u0161e military and civil service authority.<\/p>\n Many Serbs themselves took up arms and joined the Chetniks, a Serb nationalist movement with the aim of establishing an ethnically homogeneous ‘Greater Serbian<\/a>‘ state.<\/p>\n The Chetniks, in turn, persecuted and killed a large number of non-Serbs and Communist sympathizers, with the Muslim population of Bosnia, Herzegovina and Sand\u017eak<\/a> being a primary target. Once captured, Muslim villagers were systematically massacred by the Chetniks. Of the 75,000 Muslims who lost their lives in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war, approximately 30,000 (mostly civilians) were killed by the Chetniks.<\/p>\n A percentage of Muslims served in Nazi Waffen-SS units<\/a>. Between 64,000 and 79,000 Bosnian Croats were killed between April 1941 to May 1945. Of these, about 18,000 were killed by the Chetniks.<\/p>\n On 12 October 1941, a group of 108 prominent Sarajevan Muslims signed the Resolution of Sarajevo Muslims<\/a> by which they condemned the persecution of Serbs organized by the Usta\u0161e, made distinction between Muslims who participated in such persecutions and the Muslim population as a whole, presented information about the persecutions of Muslims by Serbs, and requested security for all citizens of the country, regardless of their identity.<\/p>\n 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 29 November 1943 the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia<\/a> 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 Habsburg borders.<\/p>\n Military success eventually prompted the Allies to support the Partisans, resulting in the successful Maclean Mission<\/a>, but Tito declined their offer to help and relied on his own forces instead. All the major military offensives by the antifascist movement of Yugoslavia against Nazis and their local supporters were conducted in Bosnia\u2013Herzegovina and its peoples bore the brunt of fighting. More than 300,000 people died in Bosnia and Herzegovina in World War II. At the end of the war the establishment of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with the constitution of 1946<\/a>, officially made Bosnia and Herzegovina one of six constituent republics in the new state.<\/p>\n Due to its central geographic position within the Yugoslavian federation, post-war Bosnia was 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<\/a> in the 1990s. However, Bosnia’s existence within Yugoslavia, for the large part, was a peaceful and very prosperous country, with high employment, a strong industrial and export oriented economy, good education system and social and medical security for every citizen of S. R. Bosnia and Herzegovina. Several international corporations operated in Bosnia\u2014 Volkswagen<\/a> (car factory in Sarajevo, from 1972), Coca-Cola<\/a> (from 1975), SKF Sweden (from 1967), Marlboro, (a tobacco factory in Sarajevo), and Holiday Inn hotels<\/a>. Sarajevo was the site of the 1984 Winter Olympics.<\/a><\/p>\n During the 1950s and 1960s Bosnia was a political backwater of the Republic of Yugoslavia. In the 1970s a strong Bosnian political elite arose, fueled in part by Tito’s leadership in the Non-Aligned Movement<\/a> and Bosnians serving in Yugoslavia’s diplomatic corps. While working within the Socialist system, politicians such as D\u017eemal Bijedi\u0107<\/a>, Branko Mikuli\u0107<\/a> and Hamdija Pozderac<\/a> reinforced and protected the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their efforts proved key during the turbulent period following Tito’s death in 1980, and are today considered some of the early steps towards Bosnian independence. However, the republic did not escape the increasingly nationalistic climate of the time. With the fall of communism and the start of the break-up of Yugoslavia, doctrine of tolerance began to lose its potency, creating an opportunity for nationalist elements in the society to spread their influence.<\/p>\n On 18 November 1990, multi-party parliamentary elections were held throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. A second round followed on 25 November, resulting in a national assembly where communist power was replaced by a coalition of three ethnically-based parties. Following Slovenia and Croatia’s declarations of independence from Yugoslavia, a significant split developed among the residents of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the issue of whether to remain within Yugoslavia (overwhelmingly favored by Serbs) or seek independence (overwhelmingly favored by Bosniaks and Croats).<\/p>\n The Serb members of parliament, consisting mainly of the Serb Democratic Party<\/a> members, abandoned the central parliament in Sarajevo, and formed the Assembly of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/a> on 24 October 1991, which marked the end of the tri-ethnic coalition that governed after the elections in 1990. This Assembly established the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 9 January 1992, which was renamed Republika Srpska<\/a> in August 1992. On 18 November 1991, the party branch in Bosnia and Herzegovina of the ruling party in the Republic of Croatia, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)<\/a>, proclaimed the existence of the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia<\/a>, with the Croatian Defence Council (HVO)<\/a> as its military branch. It went unrecognized by the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which declared it illegal.<\/p>\n A declaration of the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 15 October 1991 was followed by a referendum for independence on 29 February\/1 March 1992, which was boycotted by the great majority of Serbs. The turnout in the independence referendum was 63.4 percent and 99.7 percent of voters voted for independence. Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence on 3 March 1992 and received international recognition the following month on 6 April 1992. The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was subsequently admitted as a member state of the United Nations on 22 May 1992. Serbian leader Slobodan Milo\u0161evi\u0107<\/a> and Croatian leader Franjo Tu\u0111man<\/a> are believed to have agreed on a partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 1991, with the aim of establishing Greater Serbia and Greater Croatia<\/a>.<\/p>\n Following Bosnia and Herzegovina’s declaration of independence, Bosnian Serb militias mobilized in different parts of the country. Government forces were poorly equipped and unprepared for the war. International recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina increased diplomatic pressure for the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA)<\/a> to withdraw from the republic’s territory, which they officially did in June 1992. The Bosnian Serb members of the JNA simply changed insignia, formed the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS)<\/a>, 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. The Bosnian Serb advance was accompanied by the ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats from VRS-controlled areas. Dozens of concentration camps were established in which inmates were subjected to violence and abuse, including rape. The ethnic cleansing culminated in the Srebrenica massacre<\/a> of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in July 1995, which was ruled to have been a genocide by the ICTY. Bosniak and Bosnian Croat forces also committed war crimes against civilians from different ethnic groups, though on a smaller scale. Most of the Bosniak and Croat atrocities were committed during the Bosniak-Croat war<\/a>, a sub-conflict of the Bosnian War that pitted the ARBiH against the HVO. The Bosniak-Croat conflict ended in March 1994, with the signing of the Washington Agreement<\/a>, leading to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which amalgamated HVO-held territory with that held by the ARBiH.<\/p>\n Following the Srebrenica massacre, NATO launched a bombing campaign<\/a> against Republika Srpska in August 1995. The bombing, together with a joint HV\/HVO\/ARBiH ground offensive in western Bosnia, convinced the Bosnian Serb leadership to consider a negotiated settlement, which manifested itself in the Dayton Agreement of December 1995. It brought an end to active combat and roughly established the basic political structure of the present-day state. A NATO-led peacekeeping force <\/a>was immediately dispatched to the country to enforce the agreement. An estimated 100,000 people were killed in the war, about two-thirds of whom were Bosniak. An additional 2.2 million citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina of all ethnicities were displaced. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)<\/a> has ruled the conflict involved the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (subsequently Serbia and Montenegro), as well as Croatia. Dozens of Bosnian Serb officials and soldiers have been convicted for their role in war crimes and crimes against humanity during the conflict, as well as for the genocide in Srebrenica. Several high-ranking Croat and Bosniak officials have also been convicted. Victims’ remains continue to be unearthed. After the war, the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina brought a lawsuit against Serbia before the International Court of Justice (ICJ)<\/a>, accusing the country of genocide. In 2007, the ICJ exonerated Serbia of direct responsibility for the genocide committed by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica, but concluded the country had not done enough to prevent the massacre.<\/p>\n On 4 February 2014, the protests against the government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the country’s two entities, dubbed the Bosnian Spring, the name being taken from the Arab Spring<\/a>, began in the northern town of Tuzla<\/a>. Workers from several factories that had been privatised and had gone bankrupt united to demand action over jobs, and unpaid salaries and pensions. Soon protests spread to the rest of the Federation, with violent clashes reported in close to 20 towns, the biggest of which were Sarajevo, Zenica<\/a>, Mostar, Biha\u0107<\/a>, Br\u010dko<\/a> and Tuzla. The Bosnian news media reported hundreds of people had been injured during the protests, including dozens of police officers, with bursts of violence in Sarajevo, in the northern city of Tuzla, in Mostar in the south, and in Zenica in central Bosnia. The same level of unrest or activism did not occur in the Republika Srpska, but hundreds of people also gathered in support of protests in the town of Banja Luka<\/a> against its separate government.<\/p>\n The protests marked the largest outbreak of public anger over high unemployment and two decades of political inertia in the country since the end of the Bosnian War in 1995.<\/p>\n Bosnia is in the western Balkans, bordering Croatia to the north and west, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast. It has a coastline about 12 miles long surrounding the city of Neum.<\/p>\n The country is mostly mountainous, encompassing the central Dinaric Alps<\/a>. The northeastern parts reach into the Pannonian Plain<\/a>, while in the south it borders the Adriatic<\/a>. The Dinaric Alps generally run in a southeast-northwest direction, and get higher towards the south. The highest point of the country is the peak of Magli\u0107<\/a> at 7,828 feet, on the Montenegrin border. Major mountains include Kozara<\/a>, Grme\u010d<\/a>, Vla\u0161i\u0107<\/a>, \u010cvrsnica<\/a>, Prenj<\/a>, Romanija<\/a>, Jahorina<\/a>, Bjela\u0161nica<\/a> and Treskavica<\/a>. The geological composition of the Dinaric chain of mountains in Bosnia consists primarily of limestone (including Mesozoic<\/a> limestone), with deposits of iron<\/a>, coal<\/a>, zinc<\/a>, manganese<\/a>, bauxite<\/a>, lead<\/a>, and salt<\/a> present in some areas, especially in central and northern Bosnia.<\/p>\n Overall, nearly 50% of Bosnia and Herzegovina is forested. Most forest areas are in the center, east and west parts of Bosnia. Herzegovina has drier Mediterranean climate, with dominant karst topography. Northern Bosnia (Posavina<\/a>) contains very fertile agricultural land along the River Sava and the corresponding area is heavily farmed. This farmland is a part of the Pannonian Plain stretching into neighboring Croatia and Serbia. The country has only 12 miles of coastline, around the town of Neum in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton. Although the city is surrounded by Croatian peninsulas, by international law, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a right of passage to the outer sea.<\/p>\n Sarajevo is the capital and largest city. Other major cities are Banja Luka and Biha\u0107 in the northwest region known as Bosanska Krajina<\/a>, Bijeljina and Tuzla in the northeast, Zenica in the central part of Bosnia and Mostar, the largest city in Herzegovina.<\/p>\n There are seven major rivers in Bosnia and Herzegovina:<\/p>\n The Sava<\/a> is the largest river of the country, and forms its northern natural border with Croatia. It drains 76% of the country’s territory into the Danube<\/a> and then the Black Sea<\/a>. The Drina<\/a> flows through the eastern part of Bosnia, and for the most part it forms a natural border with Serbia. During the Bosnian War, the economy suffered \u20ac200 billion in material damages. Bosnia and Herzegovina faces the dual-problem of rebuilding a war-torn country and introducing transitional liberal market reforms to its formerly mixed economy. One legacy of the previous era is a strong industry; under former republic president D\u017eemal Bijedi\u0107 and SFRY President Josip Broz Tito, metal industries were promoted in the republic, resulting in the development of a large share of Yugoslavia’s plants; S.R. Bosnia and Herzegovina had a very strong industrial export oriented economy in the 1970s and 1980s, with large scale exports worth millions of US$.<\/p>\n For most of Bosnia’s history, agriculture has been conducted on privately owned farms; Fresh food has traditionally been exported from the republic.<\/p>\n The war in the 1990s, caused a dramatic change in the Bosnian economy.<\/p>\n The national currency is the (Euro-pegged) Convertible Mark (KM)<\/a>, controlled by the currency board.<\/p>\n Sarajevo International Airport<\/a>, also known as Butmir Airport, is the main international airport in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 3.8 miles southwest of the Sarajevo main railway station<\/a> in the city of Sarajevo in the suburb of Butmir<\/a>.<\/p>\n Railway operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina are successors of the Yugoslav Railways<\/a> within the country boundaries following independence from the Former Yugoslavia in 1992.<\/p>\n The flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina contains a wide medium blue vertical band on the fly side with a yellow right triangle abutting the band and the top of the flag. The remainder of the flag is medium blue with seven full five-pointed white stars and two half stars top and bottom along the hypotenuse of the triangle.<\/p>\n The three points of the triangle stand for the three main ethnic groups (or “constituent peoples”) of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks<\/a>, Croats<\/a>, and Serbs<\/a>. The triangle represents the approximate shape of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The stars, representing Europe, are meant to be infinite in number and thus they continue from top to bottom. The flag features colors often associated with neutrality and peace \u2013 white, blue, and yellow. They are also colors traditionally associated with Bosnia. The blue background is suggestive of the flag of Europe<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Bosnia-and-Herzegovina-on-the-Globe-300x252.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Kravice-Waterfalls-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Etymology:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Ottoman-Bosnia-Map-300x232.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>History:<\/h2>\n
Early History:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Mogorjelo-Roman-Villa-300x189.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Middle Ages:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Roman-Glass-From-Bosanski-Novi-162x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Ottoman Bosnia (1463\u20131878):<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Sarajevo-Mosque-Dating-From-1531-200x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Bosnia-in-the-Late-Middle-Ages-300x226.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Austro-Hungarian Rule (1878\u20131918):<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Austro-Hungarian-Troops-Enter-Sarajevo-1878-300x217.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Assassination-of-Archduke-Ferdinand-248x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918\u20131941):<\/h3>\n
World War II (1941\u201345):<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Jablanica-Railway-Bridge-Destroyed-in-World-War-II-300x201.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (1945\u20131992):<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Bosnia-and-Herzegovinas-Flag-While-in-the-Socialist-Federative-Republic-of-Yugoslavia-300x150.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Bosnian War (1992\u20131995):<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Parliament-Building-on-Fire-From-Tank-Attack-1992-229x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Bosnia and Herzegovina After the Dayton Agreement:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Map-of-Bosnia-and-Herzegovina-After-Dayton-Agreement-279x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Protests in 2014:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Tuzla-Government-Building-Burning-February-2014-300x169.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Geography:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Train-Tracks-on-Neretva-River-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>
\nThe Una<\/a>, Sana<\/a> and Vrbas<\/a> are right tributaries of Sava river. They are in the northwestern region of Bosanska Krajina<\/a>.
\nThe Bosna river gave its name to the country, and is the longest river fully contained within it. It stretches through central Bosnia, from its source near Sarajevo to Sava in the north.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Bosna-River-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>
\nThe Neretva<\/a> is the major river of Herzegovina and the only major river that flows south, into the Adriatic Sea.<\/p>\nEconomy:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Export-Map-for-Bosnia-and-Herzegovina-300x235.jpeg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Transportation:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Sarajevo-Airport-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina:<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Flag-of-Bosnia-and-Herzegovina-300x150.png\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a>