Bosnia & Herzegovina

The Dinaric Alps run through Bosnia and Herzegovina in a rugged landscape of limestone ridges, deep forested valleys, and dramatic river gorges, with peaks rising above 2,000 meters. Towns, roads, and rivers are often squeezed into narrow valleys, and the mountains historically made travel between valleys difficult, helping communities maintain distinct local traditions and identities.

Rivers cut deep valleys and gorges through Bosnia and Herzegovina's mountains. The Neretva, famous for its vivid emerald-turquoise water, flows south through Mostar toward the Adriatic Sea, while the Sava forms much of the country's northern border with Croatia. River valleys have long provided routes through the country's otherwise rugged terrain.

Southern and western Bosnia and Herzegovina contain karst landscapes filled with sinkholes, caves, disappearing rivers, and underground channels. Rainwater slowly dissolves the limestone, so rivers can vanish underground and emerge kilometers away from caves or powerful springs.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost completely enclosed by land, but a tiny Adriatic coastline around Neum gives it access to the sea. Croatia lies on both sides of this narrow corridor, separating the Dubrovnik region from the rest of Croatia's mainland coast; Croatia opened the Peljesåc Bridge in 2022 to connect the two without crossing through Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is one country whose name comes from two historic regions. Bosnia covers most of the north and center, while Herzegovina generally refers to the warmer south around Mostar and the Neretva River. The two are historic and geographic regions, not separate political divisions, and there is no official boundary between them.

Most people in Bosnia and Herzegovina identify with one of three large national communities—Bosniaks, Serbs, or Croats—known in the country's constitution as the three "constituent peoples." Bosniak identity has historically been associated mainly with Islam, Serb identity with Orthodox Christianity, and Croat identity with Catholic Christianity, although individual beliefs vary. Bosniak, Serb, and Croat communities have lived alongside one another across this region for generations, often in the same towns and cities.

Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian are so closely related that speakers can usually understand one another. Over time, different national histories and identities led people to standardize and name them separately as Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian. Bosnian and Croatian are usually written with the Latin alphabet, while Serbian uses both Cyrillic and Latin.

Sarajevo has mosques, Orthodox and Catholic churches, and synagogues built by religious communities that have lived in the city for centuries. Under Ottoman rule beginning in the 1400s, Sarajevo grew into an important Muslim center while Orthodox and Catholic Christian communities also lived and worshipped there. Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 later settled in the city, and many brought Ladino, a language based largely on the Spanish their ancestors had spoken.

Bosnia and Herzegovina was once part of Yugoslavia, a larger country in southeastern Europe that broke apart in the early 1990s. After Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence in 1992, Bosnian Serb, Bosniak, and Bosnian Croat forces fought over territory and political control until 1995. The war killed and displaced civilians on a massive scale, and Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide against Bosniak civilians at Srebrenica. The Dayton Peace Agreement ended the war in 1995 and created a complex power-sharing government designed to prevent any one national community from controlling the country.

One example of Bosnia and Herzegovina's unusual power-sharing system is its presidency: instead of one president, three people share the role. One member is Bosniak, one Croat, and one Serb, and the chair rotates among them every eight months. Few countries divide the head-of-state role this way; the arrangement was created after the war to give each of the three constituent peoples a place in national leadership.

Forests cover more than half of Bosnia and Herzegovina, supporting timber and furniture industries, while fast-flowing mountain rivers are used to generate hydroelectric power. Many of the country's metalworking and manufacturing industries also grew while Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of Yugoslavia, and factories from that industrial period still operate today.

War in the 1990s forced many people from Bosnia and Herzegovina to leave the country, while others have moved abroad more recently for jobs and higher wages. These migrations created large Bosnian communities elsewhere in Europe and around the world. Money sent home by people working abroad—called remittances—is an important source of income for many families.