Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosna i Hercegovina Босна и Херцеговина
Anthem:  Državna himna Bosne i Hercegovine The National Anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Capital and largest city		Sarajevo 43°52′N 18°25′E
Official languages		Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
Ethnic groups		48% Bosniak 37% Serb 14% Croat 1% others
Demonym		Bosnians, Herzegovinians
Government		Federal democratic republic
-	High Representative	Valentin Inzko1
-	Presidency members	Nebojša Radmanović2 Željko Komšić3 Bakir Izetbegović4
-	Prime Minister	Nikola Špirić
Independence
-	First Mentioned De Administrando Imperio	950
-	Banate	1154
-	Kingdom	1377
-	Independence lost    to Ottoman Empire conquest	1463
-	Bosnian uprising	1831
-	Jurisdiction transferred    to Austro-Hungarian Empire	1878
-	Annexation of Bosnia by Austro-Hungarian Empire	1908
-	National Day	November 25, 1943 ZAVNOBIH)
-	Independence Day (from Yugoslavia)	March 1, 1992
-	Observed	April 6, 1992
Area
-	Total	51,209 km2 (127th) 19,772 sq mi
Population
-	2009 estimate	3,842,566 (127th5)
-	1991 census	4,377,053
-	Density	75/km2 (126th5) 194/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$31.492 billion
-	Per capita	$8,095
GDP (nominal)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$16.631 billion
-	Per capita	$4,275
Gini (2007)		56.2
HDI (2010)		0.710  · 68th
Currency		Convertible Mark (BAM)
Time zone		CET (UTC+1)
-	Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Drives on the		right
Calling code		387
Internet TLD		.ba
1.	Not a government member; the High Representative is an international civilian peace implementation overseer with authority to dismiss elected and non-elected officials and enact legislation
2.	Current presidency Chair; Serb.
3.	Current presidency member; Croat.
4.	Current presidency member; Bosniak.
5.	Rank based on 2007 UN estimate of de facto population.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is a state on the Balkan peninsula of Southern Europe with an area of 51,280 square kilometres (19,741 sq mi). Around 4.3 million people lived in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1991, prior to its 1992–1995 war. As of 2007 its population is estimated at over 4 million.

In 1878 the Austro-Hungarian Empire evicted the Turks from Bosnia-Herzegovina and set up what was described as a "model administration" of these provinces. However, they were open to destabilisation by neighbouring Serbia who sought a 'Greater Serbia' and into which they wanted to include these provinces. This was aggravated in 1903 when the pro-Austria Serbian Royal Family were brutally murdered in a putsch by Serbian officers who then installed the pro-Russian Karadjordjevic family at the palace. This family were far more robust in pursuing a policy of 'Greater Serbia' expansion. In 1908, some thirty years after their occupation of the provinces, Austria-Hungary formally annexed Boznia-Herzegovina into their empire.

Following The Great War, the plutocratic Western Allies removed Bosnia-Herzegovina from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which they were dismembering, and awarded the provinces to the Serbs' new 'Greater Serbia' state called the Kingdom of Jugoslavia, without a referendum.

After World War II, during which the Serbian Royal Family were exiled, Jugoslavia became a Communist client state of the Soviet Union, although this did not stand the test of time and Jugoslavia soon took an independent route under former communist terrorist-now-dictator Josip Tito. Bosnia-Herzegovina became one of the six federal units constituting the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Bosnia-Herzegovina gained its independence from Serbia/Jugoslavia during the Yugoslav wars of the early 1990s.

The country is home to three ethnic constituent peoples: Bosnians, Serbians and Croats. Regardless of ethnicity, a citizen of Bosnia-Herzegovina is often identified in English simply as a Bosnian. In Bosnia however, the distinction between a Bosnian and a Herzegovinian is maintained as a regional, rather than an ethnic distinction. The country is decentralized and comprised of two political entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, with District Brčko as a de facto third entity.

Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the south, Bosnia-Herzegovina is mostly landlocked, except for 26 kilometres of the Adriatic Sea coastline, centered around the town of Neum. The interior of the country is mountainous in the center and south, hilly in the northwest, and flat in the northeast. The nation's capital and largest city is Sarajevo, seated between several high mountains. Sarajevo was the host site of the 1984 Winter Olympic Games.

The region of Bosnia is the largest geographic region of the modern state with moderate continental climate, marked by hot summers and cold, snowy winters. Smaller Herzegovina is the southern tip of the country, with Mediterranean climate and topography. Bosnia and Herzegovina's natural resources are abundant.

References

Part of this article consists of modified text from Wikipedia, and the article is therefore licensed under GFDL.