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Bosnia and Herzegovina is today a small Balkan state commonly referred to as just Bosnia. The country is located in the Balkans with Sarajevo as the capital. It is bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast. Monenegran Sebs are closely linked to Bosnia's historty. Bosnia is nearly landlocked, except for 20 kilometres (12 miles) of coastline on the Adriatic Sea near Neum. The central and eastern interior of the country is mountainous, the northwest is hilly, and the northeast is rather flat. Boisnia has had with a very complicated history. After the fall of Rome, Slav tribes moved into the Balans and several Slave kingdoms developed.Herzegovina was a medieval duchy that became associated with Bosnia. Historians disagree as to political developments during the medieval era. Some claim that for a time there was an independent Bosnian kingdom. Other historians maintain that Bosnia like Croatia was from an early pont a fiefdom of Hungary. The Hungaria influence introduced a degree of diversity among the most Orthodox Slavs. Bosnia thus developed a tolerance for religious diversity that was unusual in Europe. The country is best known in modern history as the place where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot by Serbian terrorists launching World war I. At the end of the Cold War, Serbs launched an effort to annex large areas of Bosnia leading to a vicious civil war. The country is the most diverse religiously in the Balkans. Most Christians in the Balkans during Ottoman rule resisted conversion. Substabtial numbers of Bosnias converted to Islam.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is today a small Balkan state commonly referred to as just Bosnia. The country is located in the Balkans with Sarajevo as the capital. It is bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast. Monenegran Sebs are closely linked to Bosnia's historty. Bosnia is nearly landlocked, except for 20 kilometres (12 miles) of coastline on the Adriatic Sea near Neum. The central and eastern interior of the country is mountainous, the northwest is hilly, and the northeast is rather flat.
Boisnia has had with a very complicated history. After the fall of Rome, Slav tribes moved into the Balans and several Slave kingdoms developed.Herzegovina was a medieval duchy that became associated with Bosnia. Historians disagree as to political developments during the medieval era. Some claim that for a time there was an independent Bosnian kingdom. Other historians maintain that Bosnia like Croatia was from an early pont a fiefdom of Hungary. The Hungarian influence introduced a degree of diversity among the most Orthodox Slavs. Bosnia thus developed a tolerance for religious diversity that was unusual in Europe. The country is best known in modern history as the place where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot by Serbian terrorists launching World War I. At the end of the Cold War, Serbs launched an effort to annex large areas of Bosnia leading to a vicious civil war.
The wrenching political changes experienced in what is now called Bosnia have resulted in enormous cultural changes which among many other matters include fahion and clothing. After being incorprated in the Roman world the area was part of the European nainstrem and European culture and fashion. This changed with the arrival of Slavic tribes, but they were evntually Chritinizd and became part of medieval Christindom with its culture and fashion. This changed with the Ottoman conauests and annexation. Bosnis was cut off from Western Chtristendom and major develipments like the Renaissance, Reformation, and Enligtenment. Ottoman fashions and cultural influences became widespread--more so than mny other areas of the Ottoman-controlled Balkans. Quite a numbr of Bosnians converted to Islam. Austrian control brought Western namely German influences. Several centuries of Ottoman control, however, meant that the Balkans including Bosnia lagged behind the rest of Europe. This included the economy. And of course poveryy and backward economies has a major impact on fashion and clothing. Important strides were made after World War I as part of royal Yugoslabia. But then the horror of World War II followed by Communism. This mean that the economy lagged behind Western Europe, but Bosnians and Yugoslavs gradually adopted the same pan-European fashions that became standard in the West.
We do not know much about garments in Bosnia yet. For several centuries Bosnia was goverbed by the Ottoman Empire and thus Ottoman garments were commonly worn. The photograph here shows people in Sarajevo about 1910 wearing traditional clothing wih a strong Ottoman influence. This was just about the time Austria annexed Bosnia (1908), although Austria had been admninistering Bosnia-Herzogavina since the Congress of Vienna (1878). Only a very short period later we notice children in Sarajevo wearing fashionable European fashions. We see all of the fashions that were commonly worn in Europe. It is impossible to identify these photographs as Bisnia or Yugoslav unless there is some information associated with the images. As might be expected, we see a lot of Austrian influence. We have no information yet about the countryside.
Bosnia is the most religiously diverse country in the Balkans. There are Christians, Muslims, and atheists.
Atheists as mentioned in Bosnian sources tends to refer to the non-religious members of the population, noy so much people who are strident atheists. Bosnia as part of the Roman Empire was Christianized along with the rest of the Empire (300s AD). When the Great Schism occured, Bosnian Christians split into Orthodox and Roman Catholics. The Ottomans brought Islam to the region, and altered much of the cultural and social outlook of the country (14th centuty). Most Christians in the Balkans during Ottoman rule resisted conversion. Substantial numbers of Bosnias, however, converted to Islam and there was an influk of Moslem migrants/refugees over time as aeslt of the turblent history of the Balkns. Over time Bosnia has experienced many wars that have affected changes in the religious composition. Islam became the major faith of Bosnians during the Ottoman era and has remained so to this day. Here ethnicity is a factor. The country is also split along ethnic lines.
There were four principal ethnic/e=rekigious groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats, and Jews. The small Jewish community was murdered during World War II by the Gernans and their allies. The Bosniaks are primarily Muslim. erbs are mostly Eastern Orthodox Church and the Croats are mostly Roman Catholic.
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