Bosnia (region)
Bosnia (Serbo-Croatian: Bosna / Босна, pronounced [bɔ̂sna]) is the northern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, encompassing roughly 81% of the country; the other region, the southern part, is Herzegovina.
For other uses, see Bosnia (disambiguation).
Bosnia
Bosna
Босна
Босна
39,021 km2 (15,066 sq mi)
c. 3 million
The two regions have formed a geopolitical entity since medieval times, and the name "Bosnia" commonly occurs in historical and geopolitical senses as generally referring to both regions (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The official use of the combined name started only in the late period of Ottoman rule.
Geography[edit]
Bosnia lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders.
The area of Bosnia comprises approximately 39,021 km2,[1] and makes up about 80% of the territory of the present-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are no true borders between the region of Bosnia and the region of Herzegovina. Unofficially, Herzegovina is south of the mountain Ivan planina. According to another unofficial definition, Herzegovina encompasses the watersheds of the Neretva and Trebišnjica rivers.
Regional identity[edit]
Within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the region of Bosnia has a traditional regional identity, distinctive from the regional identity of the neighboring Herzegovina. Bosnian regional identity was attested as early as the 10th century, when Constantin VII Porphyrogenetos referred to Bosnia as a particular region.[7] Development of Bosnia's regional identity continued throughout the Middle Ages,[8] and it was also acknowledged in the 15th century by the Ottoman conquerors, who created the Sanjak of Bosnia in 1463, giving it a regional name, which was not always the case. By the end of the Ottoman rule (1878), regional Bosnianhood became a distinctive mark of local identity, that transcended traditional ethnic and religious distinctions within the general population of Bosnia, and the same notion of regional Bosniandom was preserved throughout the periods of Austro-Hungarian (1878–1918) and Yugoslav (1918–1992) rule.[9]