Southeastern
Europe, bordering Adriatic Sea and Croatia
Type
of Government:
Emerging
Democracy
Independence:
March
1, 1992
Total
Area:
51,129
sq. km (19,741 sq. mi)
History
Previously
part of the Roman Empire, Bosnia was settled by the Slavs in
the 6th and 7th centuries, and Christianized in the 9th and
10th centuries. By the latter part of the 15th century, Ottoman,
or Turkish, armies had conquered Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many
Christians converted to Islam, and Sarajevo became an administrative
and trade connecting point between Europe, Persia, and China.
By
the 19th century, Bosnia was unstable. Attempts at reform in
the Ottoman Empire had failed, and revolts grew, especially
by Christian peasantry. The Austro-Hungarian Empire at first
occupied Bosnia, developing transport systems, craft guilds,
and agriculture; and then annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina to
the Austro-Hungarian throne. Europeans began to take sides,
and a movement for independence developed into World War I.
After
World War I, Bosnia became a part of the Serbian ruled Kingdom
of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. When conflicts between Croats
and Serbs became national conflicts, the kingdom was renamed Yugoslavia,
meaning Land of South Slavs.
In
1943, a Croatian Communist by the name of Josip Broz Tito reconciled
the various parts of Yugoslavia and created a Yugoslav federation,
bringing hope for end to the ethnic tensions. From the 1950's
to the late 1970's, Yugoslavia grew and prospered. In 1980
Tito died, and the experiment began to unravel.
Bosnia
and Herzegovina's declaration of sovereignty of October of
1991, was followed by a referendum for independence from Yugoslavia
in February of 1992. Declaration of sovereignty triggered violence
and a terrible Civil War began. In March 1994, Bosnia's Bosnians
and Croats reduced the number of warring factions from three
to two by signing an agreement creating a joint Bosnian/Croat
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On
November 21, 1995, in Dayton, Ohio, the warring parties signed
a peace agreement that brought to a
halt the three years of interethnic civil strife (the final
agreement was signed in
Paris on December 14, 1995). The Dayton Agreement divides Bosnia
and Herzegovina roughly equally between the Federation of Bosnia
and Herzegovina and the Bosnian Serb Republic. In 1995-1996,
a NATO-led international peacekeeping force (IFOR) of 60,000
troops served in Bosnia to implement and monitor the military
aspects of the agreement. IFOR was succeeded by a smaller,
NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) whose mission is to deter
renewed hostilities. SFOR remained in place, with troop levels
to be reduced to about 19,000, by spring 2000.
Geography
Bosnia
and Herzegovina are on the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern
Europe. An American might most easily find it on the map by
looking eastward across the Adriatic Sea from Italy, and south
of Hungary. Mountains traverse much of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia, in the north is heavily forested, and Herzegovina,
in the south has flatter regions of fertile soil. Most of Bosnia
has hot summers and cold winters.
Bosnia-Herzegovina
consists of two land regions. Bosnia, the northern part, is
a mountainous land covered with thick forests. Herzegovina,
the southern part, is composed largely of rocky hills and flat
farmland. The country's major rivers include the Bosna, Drina,
Neretva, and Vrbas.
People
and Religion
Bosnian
Muslims make up the largest ethnic group. Serbs make up
the second largest group, and Croats the third largest.
Bosnia also has small numbers of Albanians, Gypsies, and
Ukrainians.
Most
of the people of Bosnia speak a language called Serbo-Croatian.
In writing, Serbs traditionally employ the Cyrillic alphabet,
the system that is used in writing Russian. But Bosnian Muslims,
Croats, and others use the Roman alphabet.
About a third of Bosnia's people live in cities. The rest of the population lives
in small rural villages.
Bosnian cooking reflects Turkish and Muslim influences. Popular dishes include
musaka (roasted meat and eggplant) and kapama (mutton with spinach and green
onions). Mostar produces an excellent white wine.
Children in Bosnia-Herzegovina must attend eight years of elementary school.
There are universities in Banja Luka, Mostar, Sarajevo, and Tuzla.
Bosnian
Muslims have traditionally practiced the Islamic faith. The
religious heritage of most Serbs is Serbian Orthodoxy, and
that of most Croats is Roman Catholicism. For Catholic Croats,
traditional Catholic observances and pilgrimages are important.
For example, thousands of people each year make pilgrimages
to the village of Medjugorje, near Mostar in southern Bosnia.
In Medjugorje in 1981, six Croat children reported that the
Virgin Mary had appeared to them.
In
addition, there are also religious minorities of Protestants,
Greek or Uniate Catholics and a small number of Jews.
Land
and Climate
Bosnia-Herzegovina
has exceptionally cold and snowy winters. Heavy rains fall
in early summer. Summers are warm in the mountain valleys
but cool at higher elevations. The far northern part of
Bosnia has cold winters and dry, hot summers. The average
January temperature in Sarajevo is 30 °F (-1 °C).
The average July temperature is 68 °F (20 °C).
Economy
Bosnia
and Herzegovina ranked next to The Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia as the poorest republic in the old Yugoslav federation.
Although agriculture has been almost all in private hands,
farms have been small and inefficient, and the republic traditionally
has been a net importer of food. Industry has been greatly
overstaffed, one reflection of the socialist economic structure
of Yugoslavia. Tito had pushed the development of military
industries in the republic with the result that Bosnia hosted
a large share of Yugoslavia's defense plants. The bitter interethnic
warfare in Bosnia caused production to plummet by 80% from
1990 to 1995, unemployment to soar, and human misery to multiply.
With an uneasy peace in place, output recovered in 1996-98
at high percentage rates on a low base; but output growth slowed
appreciably in 1999, and GDP remains far below the 1990 level.
Economic data are of limited use because, although both entities
issue figures, national-level statistics are not available.
Moreover, official data do not capture the large share of activity
that occurs on the black market. In 1999, the convertible mark
- the national currency introduced in 1998 - gained wider acceptance,
and the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina dramatically
increased its reserve holdings. Implementation of privatization,
however, faltered in both areas. Banking reform is also lagging.
The country receives substantial amounts of reconstruction
assistance and humanitarian aid from the international community
but will have to prepare for an era of declining assistance.
Languages
Each
ethnic group has its own language or dialect with the national
language Serbo-Croatian. The religious differences between
the ethnic groups accounts for the two alphabets that are used:
a Latin alphabet which is used by the Croats; a Cyrillic alphabet
which is used by the Serbs. Serbo-Croatian is basically the
same language with some minor differences reflecting religious
and cultural characteristics. German is also widely understood.
Education
Education
is considered to be very important. Everybody is required to
finish elementary school, and this takes eight years. Children
start elementary school at age seven. At 15, children can enter
a three-year program at vocational school, and receive training
for skilled jobs in factories or business. Other options include
two types of secondary schools, which are available to students
wanting to study either science (for technical careers), or
liberal arts (literature, languages or music). The secondary
school course lasts four years. During the Communist era, many
students studied pure science, but with the introduction of
a free-market economy, applied sciences, economics and modern
languages have been becoming more popular.
There are four universities - Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Mostar and Tuzla. Each university
holds its own entrance examination. The competition for admission is intense.
As in many countries, teachers are highly respected but poorly paid.
Holidays & Celebrations
In
B-H, public holidays include New Year's Day, International
Women's Day (March 8), Labour Day, Victory Day (May 9), Independence
Day (March 1), and B-H Day (November 25).
Many
traditions are associated with New Year celebrations including
parties at home with special meals and table settings. On the
stroke of midnight fireworks break out.
Many
traditions are associated with New Year celebrations including
parties at home with special meals and table settings. On the
stroke of midnight fireworks break out.
This
is the night that children receive presents, hoping it is something
from the wish list they placed under the pillow a few days
before.
Thanks
to multiculturalism, different religious holidays are also
celebrated. The Muslims celebrate the holy month of Ramadan
and the Eid. Ramadan is the traditional Islamic month of fasting.
People visit mosques, family and friends. Eid is celebrated
at the end of Ramadan and is an occasion to help the less fortunate.
The
Catholic and Orthodox populations celebrate Easter and Christmas,
although on different dates. For instance December 25 is the
Catholic Christmas, while the Orthodox church celebrates it
on January 7.
Traditionally,
Christmas trees are decorated on Christmas Eve.
Easter
is a day for social celebrations; most of the day is spent
visiting relatives and friends. Eggs, a symbol of life, are
specially decorated at Easter.
People
of other faiths, like Jews, also have their own religious holidays.
Bibliography
"Bosnia
and Herzegovina," Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2000.
1993-1999, Microsoft Corporation
"Bosnia," http://www.emulateme.com/.
1997-2001, Emulate Me
"Bosnia
and Herzegovina," http://www.cia.gov/. 2001, Central
Intelligence Agency
"Bosnia
and Herzegovina," http://www.lonelyplanet.com/.
2001, Lonely Planet Publication
Suggested
Reading
Love
Thy Neighbor: A Story of War
By:
Peter Maass
Publisher:Random
House Inc., 1997
A journalist's
remarkably penetrating and unapologetically opinionated
account of the war in Bosnia and how it changed the
way he perceives himself and humankind. Enough time
has elapsed for a steady stream of journalistic accounts
of fighting in the former Yugoslavia to have appeared.
The Washington Post Maass offers unusual and striking
addition to this group. More than just a recounting
of the Bosnian horrors that are by now familiar--the
wretched scenes from concentration camps, the misery
in hospitals, terror of sniper fire, slow starvation,
war profiteering--Maass' work is profoundly introspective
and honest. While the reader senses these qualities
throughout the book, it is only in the final pages
that the author spells out the way the war has changed
him. Describing his vague sense of Jewishness (his
family celebrated Christmas and sent him to an Episcopal
school) and his complacency about his religious identity,
Maass eloquently captures the personal, national,
and universal implications of this brutal civil war: "I
am now more aware of what being a Jews versus non-Jews,
whites versus blacks, poor versus rich--there are
so many seams along which a society can be torn apart
by the manipulators."
Maass was
only in Bosnia for about a year, from 1992 to 1993,
but he saw a great deal. And he displays extraordinary
sensitivity to the ambiguities of his position….
There are stories of unimaginable horror, like that
Dr. Mujkanovic, a young surgery intern infiltrated
by the Bosnian Army into the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica,
where he performed 1,400 operations in nine months,
without anesthetics, antibiotics, disinfectants,
blood transfusions and much more. Maass leaves Bosnian
for the Geneva peace talks.
Blood
and Vengeance: One family's story of the
war in Bosnia
By:
Chuck Sudetic
Publisher:
Viking Penguin, 1999
Srebenica--the
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee of the Bosnian conflict.
In July 1995 approximately 7,000 Muslim men, women
and children died at Serbian hands in and around
the old Bosnian mining town of Srebenica. It was
the largest mass execution in Europe since the Nazi
era; a stunning failure for the United Nations and
the Western powers; and the grim watershed that led,
finally, to massive NATO air strikes and the current
fragile peace. How and why this shocking act of genocide
was allowed to take place is still imperfectly understood.
Blood and vengeance puts a human face on the grim
statistics and tangled politics of this event.
Journalist
Chuck Sudetic tells the epic and tragic story of
a people and a nation. His narrative reaches as far
back as the battle of Kosovo in 1389, where the Turks
conquered the Serbs, and unfolds with sweeping and
inexorable power toward the Celiks' rendezvous with
history in the so-called "safe area" of
Srebenica.
The
Bridge on the Drina
By:
Ivo Andric (Translated by : Lovett F. Edwards)
Publisher:
University of Chicago Press, 1977
A
great stone bridge built three centuries ago in the
heart of the Balkans by a Grand Vezir of the Ottoman
Empire dominates the setting of Ivo Andric's novel.
Spanning generations, nationalities, and creeds,
the bridge stands witness to the countless live played
out upon it: to Radisav, the workman, who tries to
hinder its construction and it impaled alive on its
highest point; to the lovely Fata, who throws herself
from its parapet to escape a loveless marriage; to
Milan, the gambler, who risks everything in one last
game on the bridge with the devil his opponent; the
Fedun, the young soldier, who pays for a moment's
spring forgetfulness with his life. War family destroys
the span, and with it the last descendant of that
family to which the Grand Vezir confided the care
of his pious bequest the bridge.
Contribution
by:
INTERNATIONAL SERVICE CENTER
21 South River Street Harrisburg, PA 17101
Phone: (717) 236-1523 Fax: (717) 236-3821
Email: isc1976@aol.com http://hometown.aol.com/isc1976
This
handout was prepared to accompany a workshop by Almira C. Rzehak
presented December 8, 2000 at the PA Department of Education.
Ms. Rzehak is a refugee from Bosnia and Herzegovina where she
was a professor of philosophy and sociology at the
University
of Sarajevo. Since coming to the United States, Ms. Rzehak
has been a journalist, teacher, and cultural consultant.
She
currently lives in Hershey, PA.
Administration Building, 4900 Curry Road,
Pittsburgh, PA 15236
