Herzegovina
Note: A true border between Bosnia and Herzegovina does not exist, and the approximate borders are disputed. Source: Bosnian Wikipedia |
Location of Herzegovina in Europe |
|
Approximate borders between Bosnia (marked light) and Herzegovina (marked dark) |
Herzegovina (natively
Hercegovina/Херцеговина) is a historical and geographical
region in the
Dinaric Alps that comprises the southern part of present-day
Bosnia and Herzegovina. The area of Herzegovina is 9,948 km² (or 10,190 km² according to other sources).
Due to political agreements in the 19th century it was decided that the Hercegovina region of Bosnia was to be mentioned in the name of the country, changing the name from only "Bosnia" to "Bosnia and Herzegovina".
In the
1991 census, Herzegovina was recorded as having a population of 437,095 inhabitants. The ethnic composition of the population was the following: 206,457 were
Croats (47.2%), 112,948
Bosniaks (25.8%), 93,047
Serbs (21.3%), 18,494
Yugoslavs (4.2%), and 6,149 were registered as 'others' (1.4%).
The Herzegovina terrain is mostly hilly,
karst except for the central valley of the river
Neretva. The largest city is
Mostar, in the center of the region. Other larger towns include
Trebinje,
Konjic and
Čapljina. Borders between Bosnia and Herzegovina are unclear and often disputed.
(See History of Bosnia and Herzegovina)In the early
Middle Ages, the territory of modern
Bosnia and Herzegovina was divided into many smaller more or less independent territories. Herzegovina encompasses the regions then known as the Land of
Hum or Zahumlje and
Travunija. The westernmost parts of Herzegovina belonged to the
Kingdom of Croatia. The book
De Administrando Imperio mentions Zahumlje and Travunija as two regions inhabited by
Serb tribes.
After the
1320s, all of these lands became a part of the
Bosnian kingdom. In a document sent to
Friedrich III on
January 20,
1448, Bosnian duke Stjepan Vukčić Kosača called himself
Herzog (duke) of Saint Sava, lord of Hum and Primorje, great duke of the Bosnian kingdom (
Herzog means
duke in
German) and so the lands he controlled became (much later) known as
Herzog's lands or
Herzegovina.
In
1482 Herzog was overpowered by
Ottoman forces led by his own son,
Ahmed Hercegović, who accepted
Islam. In the
Ottoman Empire Herzegovina was organized as a province (
sanjak) within the state (
pashaluk) of
Bosnia. The name of the country was changed to
Bosnia and Herzegovina in
1853, as a result of a twist of political events. It was part of the Ottoman Empire for a bit less than four centuries. By the end of this period, there happened a major uprising known as the
Herzegovinian rebellion.
In
1878, Herzegovina was occupied by
Austria-Hungary. This caused great resentment among its
Bosniak and
Serb populace which together resisted the invaders in smaller flare-ups that ended in
1882.
In the modern Bosnian-Herzegovinian state, Herzegovina is divided between two entities (see
Bosnia and Herzegovina and
History of Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Republika Srpska doesn't have any official administrative units within Herzegovina (though the term
Trebinje Region is often used informally). In the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Herzegovina is administratively divided between the cantons of
Herzegovina-Neretva,
West Herzegovina and partially
Canton 10.
Its western parts are inhabited mostly by
Croats, the eastern parts mostly by
Serbs, and there is a significant
Bosniak population along the flow of the
Neretva, including the cities of
Mostar,
Konjic and
Stolac.The population of Herzegovina was mixed prior to the
Yugoslav wars as well as the
Second World War, both of which saw
ethnic cleansing on a large scale.
Image:Mostar1.jpg|MostarImage:Mostarbridge2004.jpg|The "Old Bridge" ("Stari most") in Mostar, rebuilt in 2004.Image:NeumCoastBH.jpg|Neum and the Herzegovinian coast.Image:Pocitelj.PNG|Počitelj, Old townImage:IMG_0899.jpg|Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, near the mountain IvanImage:Trebinje.jpg|TrebinjeImage:TijentisteSutjeska.jpg|SutjeskaImage:Neretva in Mostar.JPG|River Neretva in Mostar, 2004*
Herceg Novi*
Bosnia (region)*
Bosanska Krajina*
Tourism in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton*
Culture of Lower Herzegovina*
Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina
