Celtnet Bosnia and Herzegovinia Recipes and Cookery, Home Page

Bosnia and Herzegovina, officially: Bosna i Hercegovina (Croatian); Босна и Херцеговина (Serbian); (Bosnia and Herzegovina) is an almost landlocked country on the Balkan peninsula of South Eastern Europe (it does posess 26km of Adriatic Sea coastline). The capital and largest city is Sarajevo and official languages are: Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian. Formerly one of the six federal units constituting the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina gained its independence during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Bosnai has been constantly inhabited since at least the Neolithic age. During the Bronze Agae the region was conquered by the Illyrians with Celtic migrations into the region during the thrid and fourth centuries BCE, crating a mixed cultural and linguistic populations. Conflict between the Illyrians and Romans started in 229 BC, with Rome completing its annexation of the region in 9 CE. ollowing the split of the Roman Empire between 337 and 395, Dalmatia and Pannonia became parts of the Western Roman Empire. Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on the borders of the Byzantine empire and emperor Heraclius eventually allowed them to settle within the empires borders so that by the seventh century CE the region had come under nominal Slavic rule. Frankish penetration of the region in the ninth century CE brough Feudalism. The principalities of Serbia and Croatia split control of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the ninth and tenth century, but by the High Middle Ages political circumstance led to the area being contested between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Byzantine Empire. Following another shift of power between the two in the early twelfth century, Bosnia found itself outside the control of both and emerged as an independent state under the rule of local bans. After decades of political and social instability, Bosnia officially fell to the Ottoman Turks in in 1463. Herzegovina would follow in 1482, with a Hungarian-backed reinstated "Bosnian Kingdom" being the last to succumb in 1527. Betwen 1463 and 1878 Bosnia and Herzegovian were under control of the Ottoman Empire, but in 1875 agrarian unrest eventually sparked the Herzegovinian rebellion, a widespread peasant uprising. The conflict rapidly spread and came to involve several Balkan states and Great Powers, which eventually forced the Ottomans to cede administration of the country to Austria-Hungary through the treaty of Berlin in 1878 and the region fell under Austo-Hungarian rule until 1918. In 1914, however, when the Serb nationalist youth Gavrilo Princip assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo the Frist World War was ignited, though, unlike much of the remainder of the Balkans, Bosnia and Herzegovian emerged relatively unscathed.

Following the war, Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the South Slav kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (soon renamed Yugoslavia). On 1 December 1918, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Serbia joined the unitary Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Kingdom of Yugoslavia). King Peter I of Serbia became King Peter I of Yugoslavia. In an attempt to defend its borders the Kingdom of Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact with the Axis powers on 25 March 1941. As a result, on 27 March, Prince Paul was overthrown by a military coup d'état (with British support) and replaced by the 17-year-old King Peter II. This led directly to Germany invading Yugoslavia on 6 April and Yugoslavia capitulated on April 17th. After the invasion, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was dissolved and, with Yugoslavia partitioned, and Bosnia was ceded to the Independent State of Croatia. On 29 November 1945, the constitutional assembly established by the Yugoslav Communist party proclaimed the abolition of the Serbian-led monarchy of Yugoslavia. A communist regime was established under a dictatorship led by Yugoslavia's Communist Party leader Joseph Broz Tito, with the constitution of 1946 officially making Bosnia and Herzegovina one of six constituent republics in the new state. Slobodan Milošević rose to power in Serbia in 1989 in the League of Communists of Serbia through a serious of coups against incumbent governing members. Milošević promised reduction of powers for the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. This ignited tensions with the communist leadership of the other republics that eventually resulted in the secession of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia, and Slovenia from Yugoslavia. Following the declaration of independence of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbs attacked different parts of the country. International recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina increased diplomatic pressure for the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) to withdraw from the republic's territory which they officially did. However, in fact, the Bosnian Serb members of JNA simply changed insignia, formed the Army of Republika Srpska, and continued fighting. In March 1994, the signing of the Washington Accords between the leaders of the republican government and Herzeg-Bosnia led to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which absorbed the territory of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and that held by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Federation soon conquered the small Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia.

Today, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a member of the Council of Europe since April 24, 2002 and a founding member of the Mediterranean Union upon its establishment on July 13, 2008. The country is a federal democratic republic that is transforming its economy into a market-oriented system, and it is a potential candidate for membership in the European Union and NATO.

Bosnian cuisine is notable for its use of spices, which, however, are applied with a lightl tough to the country's various dishes. The country's cuisine is a mix of Western and Eastern Influences, with influences from both the Turkish Ottoman Empire and Central Europe via the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As a result, local specialities include ćevapi, burek, dolma, sarma, pilaf, goulash, ajvar and a whole range of Eastern sweets. Herzegovinan wines are also notable.

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