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Brief Introduction to the History of Bosnia and its modern-day Peoples
editThe earliest well-known inhabitants of Bosnia and Herzegovina were the Illyrians. This ancient people were influential to Bosnia for thousands of years before eventually losing control of the Illyrian kingdom as the consequence of several wars with the Roman empire.
The Roman province of Illyricum was established and the Illyrians proceeded with life under Roman rule. The Illyrians were renowned for their military prowess and they became an important source of recruitment for the Roman army. Several notable Roman emperors came from Illyria, including Aurelian, Claudius II, Constantine I and Diocletian as well as the Byzantine emperor Justinian.
The Western Roman Empire fell approximately year 480, and the Illyrians in Bosnia enjoyed a brief period of relative independence cut short in the 7th century by the arrival of Slavic tribes (with mixed Iranian origin) settling the area which was under Byzantium at the time. The Illyrians, who had been under foreign rule for several centuries prior, lacked the necessary strength and organization to protect their culture and language from the invading Slavic tribes.
During the course of the following three centuries the Illyrians, in what would become Bosnia, were assimilated into Slavic customs and western south Slavic language was developed amongst them.
As a distinct political entity, the country of Bosnia presumably originated sometime during the early Dark Ages with the collapse of the traditional tribal social structure and advent of feudalism. The name Bosnia (Bosna) originates from the Illyrian word of Bosona which translates into running water, this name was presumably established by the Slav-influenced Illyrians who inhabited the lands surrounding the river Bosna, located in the Bosnian heartland.
This people would later come to be called, in old Bosnian language, Bosnjani (In Latin: Bosniensis). Over the next centuries, 10th and on, the Bosnjani dwelled in their own bogomil Bosnian church which was distinct from Catholic and Orthodox Christianity. This was a reason for the neighboring Christians to launch crusades against the "heretic Bogomil" Bosnjanins.
Being under constant persecution many of the Bosnjani abandoned the Bosnian Church and converted primarily to Catholicism, and to a lesser extent Orthodox Christianity. There are many documented examples of Bosnian regents aligning with the Bogomil religion but converting to Catholicism in order to avoid persecution and remain at the power. However, the Bogomil religion had persisted among the rulers of Bosnia as late as the 15th century. One example is the last Bosnian queen, Katarina Kosača-Kotromanić, who confessed herself to "heretic beliefs" but turned to Catholicism at the dawn of Ottoman invasion of Bosnia, this in order to seek allies in Rome that could guarantee the continued independence of Bosnia - she did however not receive any adequate support.
As Bosnia was occupied by the Ottomans, almost all of the Bogomil Bosnjani converted to Islam in a rapid speed. Also catholic and orthodox Bosnjani converted to a certain extent, but many stayed catholic or orthodox.
Importantly, The Bosnjani found protection from the Catholic and Orthodox churches under the rule of Ottomans who brought with them a new religion, Islam, that had striking likenesses with the Bosnian Church. Many of the Bosnjani also converted to Islam because they wished to retain their power and influence under the new Muslim rule.
As the Ottomans ruled Bosnia, the name "Bosnjanin" was transformed into "Bosnjak" (In English, Bosniak). Despite the proper translation being Bosnians, the name Bosniaks has been establihed as the preferred name, much because the citizenry nation Bosanci is commonly but incorrectly translated as Bosnians. Compare with Spanish versus Spaniard.
After 420 years of rule, the Ottomans lost control of Bosnia, and the Bosniaks lost a strong ally and protector. Bosnia was now an exposed country dominated by Muslim Bosniaks, whereas the Catholic and Orthodox Bosniaks were immediately incorporated into the Slavic neighbors of Catholic Croatia and Orthodox Serbia by fierce national campaign by respective church.
Eventually Orthodox Bosniaks began to go by the name of "Bosnian Serbs" and Catholic Bosniaks as "Bosnian Croats". The remaining Bosniaks, i.e. Muslim, became the target of discrimination during Yugoslavia as they were even denied to be designated as Bosniaks with the name subsequently abolished by the Serbs and Croats. In the early 90's, when Bosniaks, as well as Bosnian Croats, voted for Bosnian independence, Serb and Croat leaders Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo Tudman, agreed upon the division of the "Serbian and Croatian land" of Bosnia into two parts: one Croat and one Serb, each which would be connected to Greater Croatia and Greater Serbia, respectively. No space was left for the Bosniaks (still the majority population of Bosnia), or "Muslims by nationality" as they were designated by the Serb and Croat leaders. In the eyes of Croat and Serb nationalists, the Bosniak people were either "Muslim Croats" or "Muslim Serbs" who had betrayed the Christian religion during the Ottomans, and needed to be penalized accordingly.
In the light of this, the aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina was instigated, with the ensuing genocide, ethnic cleansing and systematic war rape of Bosniak men, women and children on the sovereign territory of Bosnia, in outcome extinguishing the lives of 100.000-200.000 Bosniaks. The Bosniaks had before the aggression inhabited a majority of Bosnia's areal, but are in post-war Bosnia reduced to a rough 30 per cent, though they still constitute a majority of the population.
Countries/Cities Visited (Sorted By Year)
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USA - New York City, Baltimore, San Diego, Los Angeles
Norway - Oslo, Lillehammer, Trondheim
Denmark - København
Netherlands - Amsterdam, Den Haag
Germany - Munich, Berlin, Dresden
Hungary - Budapest
Croatia - Hvar
Austria - Innsbruck, Vienna
Sweden - Stockholm
Italy - Torino, Brescia
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