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Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) - Herzegovina

Herzegovina, or Herczegovina, takes its name from Stephen Vukcic, who in 1448 became Duke of Primorija. For his title he adopted the German "Herzog" Serbized into Hercega, hence his realm became known as the Hercegovina "the Duchy ", the name which it has always since borne. In 1463 Bosnia fell before the Turks, and a few years later, about 1482, the Hercegovina fell likewise. The Hercegovina nomenclature has persisted into modern times, but does not appear to have much practical significance today.

Although there are many similarities in language, ethnicity, culture and identity, Herzegovina's history is quite distinct from Bosnia's. This cultural heritage, coupled with the impressive natural beauty of Herzegovina, makes it the most diverse and attractive tourist area in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many tend to characterize Herzegovina as an arid moonscape. Though some areas of Herzegovina are indeed like that, it also possesses some of the greatest freshwater springs, crystal-clear rivers and endemic types of flora and fauna.

Bosnia and the Herzegovina are twin sisters of almost equal though varied charms. Nature never intended them to be separated, for the inland countries need the outlet to the sea, and the coast land needs the supplies of the back country. From the purely aesthetic point of view even they supply each other's deficiencies - Bosnia has the primeval forests, Herzegovina the grandest mountain scenery. At the beginning of the 20th Century this was a land of green pastures and rushing waters, of wooded hills and forest-clad mountains, a primitive pastoral land, where shepherds still played upon their flutes and shepherdesses wandered with distaff in hand spinning as they watch their flocks; a land untouched by the fret and hurry of modern life, still wrapped in ancient peace.

From the purely aesthetic point of view Bosnia and Herzegovina supply each other's deficiencies — Bosnia has the primeval forests, Herzegovina the grandest mountain scenery. September and October are delightful months for Bosnia, as the autumn tints are at their best during the latter month, and are only equalled by those of the American continent. Herzegovina sees d blue skies and sunshine throughout November.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Western life and Western culture formerly flourished—first under Roman and afterwards under Italian and Hungarian influences — were severed by the Turkish Conquest, not only from Europe as a Continent, but from all European life. Lacking those powers of attraction which Constantinople, Syria, and Egypt have always possessed as fields for European adventure, whether in times of peace or in times of war—and which not even the rule of Islam could diminish—Bosnia and Herzegovina, in spite of their proximity to Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, have «rown to be almost less known than the remotest districts under Mohammedan rule.

The only way in which the country has for centuries come into contact with the rest of Europe has been through the incessant border wars waged against their Christian neighbours, by the Begs and the Agas on their own account, even in times of profound peace. These being the circumstances, Islam, with its peculiar spirit and peculiar customs, has here, so to speak, been preserved in greater and more unbroken purity even than in the very centre and focus of the Mohammedan world; on the other band, however, while effectually closing the country against all Western influence, it has, at the same time, preserved to it the manners and customs of the Middle Ages, with their society and social conditions in full activity, so that here is to be seen, on the one hand, a pure, unshaken Mohammedanism, and on the other the life of the European Middle Ages, brought down to the present day and permeating one another.

Bosnia and Herczegovina were never united in the past. Their origin can be traced to a conglomeration of various political bodies, drifting together during centuries, the changes being influenced at times by fate, or again by administrative policies. The greatest number of these bodies were integral parts of the Croatian, rather than of the Serbian State. From the tenth century on, Herczegovina had formed a so-called buffer district between the Dalmatic coast and Bosnia on the one side and Serbia on the other. The territory of Hum (Chulm) along the river Neretva (Narenta) and extended to the Adriatic Sea. Within its ancient confines are the cities of Konjice, Mostar, Blagaj, Nevesinje and Stolac, and also the Dalmatian frontier city of Ston with the peninsula of Peljesac (Punta Stagno). In the second half of the fourteenth century Hum became united to parts of Pogorye and Travunya, and this territory was afterward called Herczegovina. The southern part of Bosnia in 1448 took the name of Herczegovina, from Herzeg or Duke, the land of the Duke. Herczegovina and Bosnia came under Turkish rule like so many other parts of the Croatian kingdom.

There were the same conditions and changes in Herczeg-Bosna as in Dalmatia, except that the kingdom or province of Dalmatia was restricted for a time to the cities lying along the Adriatic coast, as Zadar (Zara), Dubrovnik (Ragusa), Trogir (Trau), Split (Spalato), Kotor (Cattaro) and the islands adjacent thereto, Krk (Veglia), Cres (Cressa), Osor (Apsorus) and Rab (Arbe). The remainder of the territory belonged to the kingdom of Croatia. Ten years after the fall of Constantinople, Bosnia fell (1463) into the hands of the Turks and became a Turkish pashalic. Its last monarch, Stephen Tomashevich, surrendered, and was beheaded near Jajce (Yaytza) by the order of the Sultan Mohammed II. Herczegovina resisted up to 1543.

When these territories fell under Turkish sway, and later on were acquired by the Venetians under the treaty at Karlovci in 1699, and by that at Pozarevac in 1718, Dalmatia broadened, and thenceforth included all the territory from the Velebit mountains to the river Neretva (Narenta). The Turks joined all these divisions into one government district, called a pashalic.