Sarajevo
Perhaps no other city represents the promise and the tragedy of the Balkans than Sarajevo. Located in the river valley of the Bosna and Neretva Rivers (at the Miljacka River), Sarajevo stands at the crossroads between Asia Minor and Central Europe. This resulted in the greatest diversity of anywhere in Southeastern Europe, the greatest potential for peaceful co-existence of cultures and also the greatest potential for turf battles.
Quick Facts |
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| Status: | Capital
and largest city of Bosnia-Herzegovina
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| Location: | 43° N and 18° E
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| Population: | 349,000
(1997)
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Neolithic remains in the area indicate human habitation as early as 2400 B.C. However, like elsewhere in the region, the first recorded inhabitants were the Illyrians (the ancestors of today’s Albanians).
Roman and Goth settlements were followed by Slavs from Serbia in the 7th century. Bosnia was first mentioned by name in the Middle Ages and the area which would eventually encompass Sarajevo was known as Vhrbosna. When Hungary ruled Croatia in the early 12th century, it also extended its power to Bosnia, but not for long. Bosnia earned freedom from Hungarian control and start to develop as an independent kingdom.
Sarajevo and Bosnia essentially became the dividing line between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox faiths when the church divided between Rome and Byzantium. As a reaction to being caught between the Catholic and Orthodox worlds, an ascetic Christian cult developed in the 12th century. Known as the Bogumils, they were loosely linked to Manicheenism in their austerity and belief in the human aspects of Christ.
Through its history, Sarajevo's location made it become a melting pot of cultures and religions: Catholic from Croatia, Slavic Orthodox from Serbia, Sephardic Judaism from Southwestern Europe, and ultimately Islam from Turkey.
Its location at such a crossroads not only made Sarajevo a trading center, but also a prize to be conquered. In the 15th century, the Bosnian Kingdom was taken over by the Ottoman Empire. It was in this period that many of the Bogumils converted to Islam, possibly in exchange for military protection, keeping land or being free from feudal obligations.
These economic reasons for conversion meant that Bosnian Islam would develop in its own way distinct from Islam practiced in the Middle East and North Africa. Even today, Sarajevo represents an unusual duality – the faithful attend mosques, smoking and alcoholic drink are commonplace, and women dress in high fashion western clothing.
It was also during the Ottoman rule that Sarajevo officially came to be. Called Saraj Ovas (or Castle Field in Turkish), Sarajevo was first mentioned by name in the early 1500s. It became the first Turkish military base.
The Ottoman influence and
Sarajevo's unique location helped it develop into a major city for trade. The
Bascarsija became one of the city's main bazaars and center for trade, culture, and Islam
in Bosnia and Sarajevo was renowned for its skilled craftsmen.
In 1697, the city was burned by Prince Eugene of Savoy trying to regain the territory for Austria. Sarajevo once again became a turf to be fought over by both the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires.
In the early 19th century, Bosnian peasants revolted against control from either Empire, but were ultimately suppressed. Serbia and Montenegro supported the peasantry by declaring war against Turkey, with the assistance of Russia. By this time, Sarajevo was the effective capital of Bosnia.
After Austria-Hungary defeated the Ottoman Empire in 1878, Sarajevo was once again occupied under a different administration. Ostensibly it had some autonomy and Vienna invested heavily in industrializing the city. Although Bosnia was considered autonomous, Austria-Hungary officially annexed the area in 1908.
Sarajevo was first put on the world map in 1914 as the site where Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated the heir to the Austrian throne and precipitated World War I. Bosnians of Croatian origin tended to side with Austria-Hungary while Bosnians of Serbian origin were more sympathetic towards Princip's wish to unite with Serbia. Muslims were divided.
At war's end, Bosnia joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (what would ultimately become Yugoslavia). During World War II, it was occupied by the Croatian Ustashe state.
After World War II, Sarajevo became a regional capital of the Bosnian Republic within Socialist Yugoslavia. Although Bosnia was one of the poorer of the Yugoslav republics, Sarajevo developed into one of the most vibrant cultural and intellectual centers of the country. It showed off its mountainous beauty and hospitality as the host of the 1984 Winter Olympics. The multi-ethnic city in the most westernized socialist state was a symbol of unity. Less than a decade later, history would take Sarajevo and Bosnia on a different track.
After Bosnia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1992, civil war ensued. Sarajevo became a temporary refuge for thousands of Muslims forced out of rural villages. But this would not last as Bosnian Serb forces, supported by the Yugoslav National Army, surrounded Sarajevo and proceeded to bomb the valley city from the hills. Within a month, the Grbavica section of Sarajevo was occupied and the rest of it was subject to shelling, sniper attacks, and starvation.
The images associated with Sarajevo from this time: bombed buildings, bullet-ridden streetcars, an Olympic stadium full of graves, ordinary citizens trying to cross a street under sniper fire or being killed while shopping for vegetables at a market. The siege of Sarajevo lasted nearly 1400 days, ending in 1996, just a few months after the Dayton Peace Accords.
The city which boasted a 1991 population of nearly 526,000 people saw over 10,000 deaths and 50,000 injuries as a direct result of war. In addition the casualties, thousands left the city altogether – emigrating elsewhere in Europe, North America, and Australia. After four years of war, Sarajevo's population had diminished to somewhere between 349,000.
Those who stayed were a testament to ethnic cleansing. 1/4 of Sarajevo's population were internally displaced people from elsewhere in Bosnia. The Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) population -- which had been about 50% of Sarajevo's population before the war -- was now 87%. The Bosnian Serb population had been reduced from 28% to 5%.
Pre-war and current population of
Sarajevo Canton
(according to the Office of the United Nations High commissioner for Refugees)
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Personal
Accounts
Toni spent his formative years holed up in a Sarajevo neighborhood that was under constant shelling and sniper fire. The former drummer for a band called Ricochet now marches to a different beat.
Bigi lives in Sarajevo now because he simply didn't fit in anywhere else. Where else to go for a Kosovar Serb Muslim who eschews national and religious labels, but the city that was once the melting pot of Yugoslavia?
Fra. Ivo is a priest who believes what happened in Sarajevo is a lesson for the rest of the world.
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