OFFICIAL NAME:

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Government

Type: Parliamentary democracy.
Constitution: The Dayton Agreement, signed December 14, 1995, included a new constitution now in force.
Independence: April 1992 (from Yugoslavia).

Geography

Area: 51,129 sq. km
Cities: Capital--Sarajevo (est. pop 387,876); Banja Luka (220,407); Mostar (208,904); Tuzla (118,500); Bihac (49,544).
Terrain: Mountains in the central and southern regions, plains along the Sava River in the north.
Climate: Hot summers and cold winters; areas of high elevation have short, cool summers and long, severe winters; mild, rainy winters in the southeast.

People

Nationalities: Bosniak (Muslim), Bosnian Croat, Bosnian Serb.
Population (July 2004 est.): 4,007,608 (note: all data dealing with population are subject to considerable error because of the dislocations caused by military action and ethnic cleansing).
Population growth rate (2004 est.): 0.45%.
Ethnic groups: Bosniak 48.3%, Serb 34.0%, Croat 15.4%, others 2.3%. (Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2002--Bosnia-Herzegovina)
Religions: Muslim (40%); Orthodox (31%); Catholic (15%); Protestant (4%); other (10%).
Languages: Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian (formerly "Serbo-Croatian").
Education: Mandatory 8-9 years of primary school (depending on region), 3-4 years in secondary school (vocational/liberal arts), and 3-5 years in universities (depending on major). In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are 1,089 primary schools with 350,000 students and 289 secondary schools with 162,000 students. The main public universities are in larger cities (Sarajevo, Mostar, Banja Luka, Tuzla, Bihac, Zenica) and there are a number of private institutions of higher education. Adult literacy rate--male 94.1%, female 78.0%.
Health: Infant mortality rate (2005 est.)--21.05 deaths/1,000 live births. Life expectancy (2005 est.)--male 70.09, female 75.8.
Work force (2001 est.): 1.026 million.


The three main ethnic groups in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina are Bosniak, Serb, and Croat, and languages are Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian (formerly "Serbo-Croatian"). Nationalities are Bosniak (Muslim), Bosnian Serb, and Bosnian Croat. Religions include Islam, Serb Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, some Protestant sects, and some others.

For the first centuries of the Christian era, Bosnia was part of the Roman Empire. After the fall of Rome, Bosnia was contested by Byzantium and Rome's successors in the west. Slavs settled the region in the 7th century, and the kingdoms of Serbia and Croatia split control of Bosnia in the 9th century. The 11th and 12th centuries saw the rule of the region by the kingdom of Hungary. The medieval kingdom of Bosnia gained its independence around 1200 A.D. Bosnia remained independent until 1463, when Ottoman Turks conquered the region.

When To Go

The best time to visit is spring or summer; skiers should come between December and February. The weather is a mix of Mediterranean and Central European and is more or less agreeable year round, though both summer and winter extremes can sometimes be daunting. You needn't worry about any seasonal crush of tourists just yet.


source: wikipedia.org, lonelyplanet.com, about.com