Definition of Bosnia-Herzegovina

The dissolution of the former Yugoslavia took place over 15 years, specifically between 1991 and 2006. During this period there were two outstanding and directly related events: different armed conflicts and the independence of the six republics integrated into Yugoslavia. The Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina is one of the new nations that emerged after the war in the Balkans.

The creation of a new state

During the Cold War the territory Yugoslavia consisted of six republics. It was held together by the politics Marshal Tito's unit. After his death in 1980, nationalist secessionist movements began to emerge.

Slovenia and Croatia were the first republics to proclaim their independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. The following year the territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina approved their independence in a referendum, but this decision provoked the reaction of the Serbian minority.

For three years the Serbs of tradition orthodox submitted to the population Muslim Bosnia and there was bloody ethnic cleansing and a mass exodus of Bosnians.

The "Srebrenica Massacre" and the "Siege of Sarajevo" were the most prominent episodes during the war. The peace was achieved in 1995 with the Dayton agreements (one of the consequences of these agreements was the distribution of the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina according to the representation of the three ethnic groups that inhabit the country). Since then, the international community has exercised a protectorate system to maintain peace and stability.

Data of interest

- The territory is made up of three political entities: to the north Bosnia, to the south Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska scattered throughout the country.

- The population reaches 3.5 million inhabitants and the country's surface is slightly over 50,000 square kilometers.

- There are three major ethnic groups: Bosnians (50%), Bosnian Serbs (30%) and Bosnian-Croats (15%).

- The Muslim religion is the majority and this fact is related to the Ottoman rule in the region during the 19th century. On the streets of Sarajevo you can see the complexity religious region of the country, since there are Muslim mosques, Jewish synagogues and Orthodox and Catholic churches.

- World War I broke out in the current capital of the country, the city of Sarajevo. A young Bosnian who was active in the ranks of the anarchism in 1914 he assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Photos: Fotolia - StudioDin / Peter Hermes Furian