1.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, in short, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeastern Europe located on the Balkan Peninsula. Sarajevo is the capital and largest city, in the central and eastern interior of the country the geography is mountainous, in the northwest it is moderately hilly, and the northeast is predominantly flatland. The inland is a larger region and has a moderate continental climate, with hot summers and cold. The southern tip of the country has a Mediterranean climate and plain topography, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a region that traces permanent human settlement back to the Neolithic age, during and after which it was populated by several Illyrian and Celtic civilizations. Culturally, politically, and socially, the country has a rich history, the Ottomans brought Islam to the region, and altered much of the cultural and social outlook of the country. This was followed by annexation into the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which lasted up until World War I. In the interwar period, Bosnia was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and after World War II, following the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the country proclaimed independence in 1992, which was followed by the Bosnian War, lasting until late 1995. The country is home to three ethnic groups or, officially, constituent peoples, as specified in the constitution. Bosniaks are the largest group of the three, with Serbs second and Croats third, a native of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of ethnicity, is identified in English as a Bosnian. The terms Herzegovinian and Bosnian are maintained as a rather than ethnic distinction. Moreover, the country was simply called Bosnia until the Austro-Hungarian occupation at the end of the 19th century, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a bicameral legislature and a three-member Presidency composed of a member of each major ethnic group. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is itself complex and consists of 10 cantons, additionally, the country has been a member of the Council of Europe since April 2002 and a founding member of the Mediterranean Union upon its establishment in July 2008. The name is believed to have derived from the hydronym of the river Bosna coursing through the Bosnian heartland. According to philologist Anton Mayer the name Bosna could be derived from Illyrian Bass-an-as which would be a diversion of the Proto-Indo-European root bos or bogh, meaning the running water. According to English medievalist William Miller the Slavic settlers in Bosnia adapted the Latin designation Basante, to their own idiom by calling the stream Bosna, the name Herzegovina originates from Bosnian magnate Stephen Vukčić Kosačas title, Herceg of Hum and the Coast. Hum, formerly Zahumlje, was a medieval principality that was conquered by the Bosnian Banate in the first half of the 14th century. Bosnia is located in the western Balkans, bordering Croatia to the north and west, Serbia to the east and it has a coastline about 20 kilometres long surrounding the city of Neum. It lies between latitudes 42° and 46° N, and longitudes 15° and 20° E, the countrys name comes from the two regions Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have a very vaguely defined border between them
2.
Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina
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The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina itself has a federal structure and consists of 10 autonomous cantons. The Federation and the RS governments are charged with overseeing internal functions, each has its own government, flag and coat of arms, president, parliament and assembly, police force & customs, and postal system. The police sectors are overseen by the ministry of safety affairs. Since 2005, Bosnia and Herzegovina has one set of Armed forces, inter-entity borders are not determined on natural geographical features of the region. Its borders were postulated as part of the agreement that was based on ethnic division and are used to determine the extents of political jurisdictions within entities. On the ground, there is no border between RS and FBiH, and one would generally not know the difference when crossing from one entity into another. The city of Brčko in northeastern Bosnia is a seat of the Brčko district, the district remains under international supervision. The Federation is further divided into cantons, which are subdivided into municipalities. Republika Srpska is divided directly into municipalities, some interest groups have come forth with proposals for rearranging the subdivisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying the Dayton Agreements framework is outdated. The Agreement was initially designed to end the war in the nation. Some feel the divisions have made the present day bureaucracy of the country unwieldy, in general the nations Bosniak representatives want for the state to be centralized, eliminating the two entities. Republika Srpska representatives want to retain the two entities, some Serb political organizations assume that if Kosovo achieves independence, Republika Srpska will separate from Bosnia and Herzegovina, eventually joining Serbia. However, the Office of the High Representative has come out and specifically denied the prospect of any such territorial exchange
3.
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
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The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two political entities that compose Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Republika Srpska. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of 10 autonomous cantons with their own governments and it is inhabited primarily by Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats, which is why it is sometimes informally referred to as the Bosniak-Croat Federation. It is sometimes known by the shorter name Federation of B&H, the Federation was created by the 1994 Washington Agreement, which ended the part of the conflict whereby Bosnian Croats fought with Bosniaks. It established a constituent assembly that continued its work until October 1996, the Federation has a capital, government, president, parliament, customs and police departments, two postal systems and an airline. It had its own army, the Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the capital and largest city is Sarajevo with 438,443 inhabitants and the total population of 688,354 in its metropolitan area. The Serb-dominated Yugoslav Peoples Army attacked Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina and their first target was Croatian village Ravno that was attacked on 2 November 1991 and completely destroyed. Yugoslavia effected an economic blockade of Bosnia and Herzegovina, thus trying to keep it as part of Yugoslavia, later, Yugoslavia claimed territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a Serb majority and the capital Sarajevo. Serb Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was declared on 27 March 1992 with the goal to incorporate parts of Bosnia, because of superiority in armaments, support from Belgrade and an embargo on the importation of arms into Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbs achieved their goals by June 1992. The Bosniak leadership was still indecisive concerning a conflict, so the Croats were the first to participate in the war. They organized military units, Croatian Defence Forces in November 1991 and those units were partly composed of Bosniaks. The Territorial Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, later Army of the Republic of Bosnia, by November 1992 Serbs had conquered 70% of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and held Sarajevo in limbo by terrorizing its population by shelling and constant sniper fire. The creation of a Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia was a matter of dispute for Bosniaks, Croats accused Bosniaks of Islamization of the country and attempts to create Bosniak domination in all areas. So they withdrew the ethnic Croat representatives from Parliament, Government, due to expulsions by Bosnian Serbs, Bosniaks moved to other areas and thus disrupted the Croats area and altered their pre-war ratio. Political disputes and minor incidents in central and northern Bosnia and in northern, the Vance-Owen plan was presented in January 1993. It was planned to create 10 cantons on the territory of the whole of Bosnia and this plan increased conflict between Croats and Bosniaks. A number of crimes against civilians were committed on both sides, hostility between Croats and Bosniaks ended with mediation by the United States and the signing of the Washington Agreement on 18 March 1994. The cooperation between Croats and Bosniaks was renewed, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Bosniak, there was also a proposal to create a confederation of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Croatia. The joint command of ARBiH, HVO and Croatian Army was established in March 1995, after the Operation Storm, the Serbian hoop around Bihać was broken and Croatian and Bosnian armies continued to liberate western Bosnia
4.
Herzegovina-Neretva Canton
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The Herzegovina-Neretva Canton is one of 10 cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The canton mainly comprises the Neretva river valley area and parts of Herzegovina west of Mostar, the canton is split into the municipalities of Čapljina, Čitluk, Jablanica, Konjic, Mostar, Neum, Prozor-Rama, Ravno and Stolac. The canton is the canton in Bosnia and Herzegovina with access to the sea via the municipality of Neum. Neum is a town of 2,000 citizens and the area around the city is rich with historical and archeological remains of the Illyrians, the largest city in the canton and the fifth largest city in the country is Mostar. Mostar is located on the banks of the Neretva river and is divided between Croats and Bosniaks, Mostar is known for its old bridge, Stari Most, which was constructed by the areas Ottoman rulers, who also brought Islam to the region. Bosnian Croat forces bombed and destroyed the bridge on November 8,1993, upon its destruction it had stood for 427 years and had become a symbol of a shared cultural heritage and peaceful co-existence. The bridge was reconstructed in the summer of 2004, the opening ceremony was attended by several foreign delegates including Stjepan Mesić, the President of Croatia. Other notable cities in this canton are Čapljina, Konjic, Jablanica and Međugorje, Jablanica and Konjic are notable for battles which took place there during World War II and there is a large museum in Jablanica dedicated to these battles. The Neretva river runs through the cities of Konjic, Jablanica, Mostar and Čapljina before it flows through Croatia, there are large lakes in the canton such as the Jablanica lake located around the city Jablanica. The southern most municipality in the canton is the Neum municipality which borders the Adriatic sea, in ethnically mixed Cantons there are special legislative procedures for the protection of the constituent ethnic groups. Croats form a majority in the municipalities of Čapljina, Čitluk, Neum, Prozor-Rama, Bosniaks form an absolute majority in the municipalities of Jablanica and Konjic, and a relative majority in Stolac and Mostar according to the 1991 census. The municipality of Mostar in the part of the canton has a majority of Bosniaks on the east side. Čapljina Čitluk Jablanica Konjic Mostar Neum Prozor-Rama Ravno Stolac List of heads of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton
5.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
6.
Central European Summer Time
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It corresponds to UTC + two hours. Other names which have been applied to Central European Summer Time are Middle European Summer Time, Central European Daylight Saving Time, and Bravo Time. Since 1996 European Summer Time has been observed between 1,00 UTC on the last Sunday of March and 1,00 on the last Sunday of October, the following countries and territories use Central European Summer Time. In addition, Libya used CEST during the years 1951–1959, 1982–1989, 1996–1997, European Summer Time Other countries and territories in UTC+2 time zone Other names of UTC+2 time zone
7.
Neretva
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The Neretva, also known as the Narenta, is the largest river of the eastern part of the Adriatic basin. Four HE power-plants with large dams provide flood protection, power and water storage and it is still recognized for its natural beauty and diversity of its landscape. Freshwater ecosystems have suffered from a population and the associated development pressures. One of the most valuable resources of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia is its freshwater resource, contained by an abundant wellspring. Situated between the major rivers the Neretva basin contains the most significant source of drinking water. The Neretva is notable among rivers of the Dinaric Alps region, especially regarding its diverse ecosystems and habitats, flora and fauna, cultural, the Neretva flows through Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia until reaching the Adriatic Sea. It is the largest karst river in the Dinaric Alps in the part of the Adriatic basin/watershed. Its total length is 230 kilometres, of which 208 kilometres are in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Trebišnjica River basin is included in the Neretva watershed due to a physical link of the two basins by the porous karst terrain. The hydrological parameters of Neretva are regularly monitored in Croatia at Metković, geographically and hydrologically the Neretva is divided into three sections. Its source and headwaters gorge are situated deep in the Dinaric Alps at the base of the Zelengora and Lebršnik mountains, the river source is at 1,227 meters above sea level. 2%. Right below Konjic, the Neretva briefly expands into a valley which provides fertile agricultural land. The large Jablaničko Lake was artificially formed after construction of a dam near Jablanica, the second section begins from the confluence of the Neretva and the Rama between Konjic and Jablanica where the Neretva suddenly takes a southern course. From Jablanica, the Neretva enters the largest canyons of its course, running through the steep mountains of Prenj, Čvrsnica. Three hydroelectric dams operate between Jablanica and Mostar, when the Neretva expands for the second and final time, it reaches its third section. This area is called the Bosnian and Herzegovinian California. The last 30 kilometres form a delta, before the river empties into the Adriatic Sea. The biggest town on the Neretva River is Mostar in Bosnia, the upper course of the Neretva river is simply called the Upper Neretva. The Upper Neretva has water of Class I purity and is almost certainly the coldest river water in the world, rising from the base of the Zelengora and Lebršnik Mountain, Neretva headwaters run in undisturbed rapids and waterfalls, carving steep gorges reaching 600–800 metres in depth
8.
Mostar
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Mostar is a city and municipality in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Inhabited by 105,797 people, it is the most important city in the Herzegovina region, its capital. Mostar is situated on the Neretva River and is the fifth-largest city in the country, Mostar was named after the bridge keepers who in the medieval times guarded the Stari Most over the Neretva. Human settlements on the river Neretva, between the Hum Hill and the Velež Mountain, have existed since prehistory, as witnessed by discoveries of fortified enceintes and cemeteries, evidence of Roman occupation was discovered beneath the present town. As far as medieval Mostar goes, although the Christian basilicas of late antiquity remained in use, few historical sources were preserved, during this time it was also the seat of a kadiluk. Since Mostar was on the route between the Adriatic and the mineral-rich regions of central Bosnia, the settlement began to spread to the right bank of the river. Prior to the 1474 the names of two towns appear in historical sources, along with their later medieval territories and properties – the towns of Nebojša. In the early 15th century the county of Večenike covered the site of the present-day Mostar along the bank of the Neretva, including the sites of Zahum, Cim, Ilići, Raštani. It was at the center of area, which in 1408 belonged to Radivojević. Mostar is indirectly referred to in a 1454 charter of King Alfonso V of Aragon as Pons, prior to 1444, the Nebojša fort was built on the left bank of the Neretva, which belonged to the late medieval county still known as Večenike or Večerić. ”. In 1468 the region came under Ottoman rule and the urbanization of the settlement began and it was named Köprühisar, meaning fortress at the bridge, at the centre of which was a cluster of 15 houses. Following the unwritten rule, the town was organized into two distinct areas, čaršija, the crafts and commercial centre of the settlement, and mahala or a residential area. The town was fortified between the years 1520 and 1566, and the bridge was rebuilt in stone. The stone bridge, the Old Bridge, was erected in 1566 on the orders of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent,28 metres long and 20 metres high, quickly became a wonder in its own time. In the late 16th century, Köprühisar was one of the towns of the Sanjak of Herzegovina and it is thrown from rock to rock as high as the sky. During this period, Mostar was recognized as the capital of Herzegovina. The first church in the city of Mostar, a Serbian Orthodox Church, was built in 1834 during Ottoman rule, in 1881 the town became the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mostar-Duvno and in 1939, it became a part of the Banovina of Croatia. During World War II Mostar was also an important city in the fascist Independent State of Croatia, after World War II, Mostar developed a production of plastics, tobacco, bauxite, wine, aircraft and aluminium products
9.
Karst
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Karst topography is a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves and it has also been documented for more weathering-resistant rocks, such as quartzite, given the right conditions. Subterranean drainage may limit surface water, with few to no rivers or lakes, the English word karst was borrowed from German Karst in the late 19th century. The German word came into use before the 19th century, according to the prevalent interpretation, the term is derived from the German name for the Karst region, a limestone plateau above the city of Trieste in the northern Adriatic. Scholars disagree, however, on whether the German word was borrowed from Slovene, the Slovene common noun kras was first attested in the 18th century, and the adjective form kraški in the 16th century. The Slovene words arose through metathesis from the reconstructed form *korsъ, ultimately, the word is of Mediterranean origin, believed to derive from some Romanized Illyrian base. It has been suggested that the word may derive from the Proto-Indo-European root karra- rock, the name may also be connected to the oronym Karsádios oros cited by Ptolemy, and perhaps also to Latin Carusardius. The development of karst occurs whenever acidic water starts to break down the surface of bedrock near its cracks, as the bedrock continues to degrade, its cracks tend to get bigger. As time goes on, these fractures will become wider, if this underground drainage system does form, it will speed up the development of karst formations there because more water will be able to flow through the region, giving it more erosive power. The carbonic acid that causes karstic features is formed as rain passes through the atmosphere picking up carbon dioxide, once the rain reaches the ground, it may pass through soil that can provide much more CO2 to form a weak carbonic acid solution, which dissolves calcium carbonate. The oxidation of sulfides leading to the formation of acid can also be one of the corrosion factors in karst formation. As oxygen -rich surface waters seep into deep anoxic karst systems, they bring oxygen, sulfuric acid then reacts with calcium carbonate, causing increased erosion within the limestone formation. This chain of reactions is, This reaction chain forms gypsum, the karstification of a landscape may result in a variety of large- or small-scale features both on the surface and beneath. On exposed surfaces, small features may include solution flutes, runnels, limestone pavement, medium-sized surface features may include sinkholes or cenotes, vertical shafts, foibe, disappearing streams, and reappearing springs. Large-scale features may include limestone pavements, poljes, and karst valleys, mature karst landscapes, where more bedrock has been removed than remains, may result in karst towers, or haystack/eggbox landscapes. Beneath the surface, complex underground systems and extensive caves. Some of the most dramatic of these formations can be seen in Thailands Phangnga Bay, calcium carbonate dissolved into water may precipitate out where the water discharges some of its dissolved carbon dioxide. Rivers which emerge from springs may produce tufa terraces, consisting of layers of calcite deposited over extended periods of time, in caves, a variety of features collectively called speleothems are formed by deposition of calcium carbonate and other dissolved minerals
10.
Alfonso V of Aragon
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Alfonso the Magnanimous KG was the King of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica, Sicily and Count of Barcelona from 1416, and King of Naples from 1442 until his death. He was one of the most prominent figures of the early Renaissance, born at Medina del Campo, he was the son of Ferdinand I of Aragon and Eleanor of Alburquerque. He represented the old line of the counts of Barcelona through the line, and was on his fathers side descended from the House of Trastamara. By hereditary right he was king of Sicily and claimed the island of Sardinia for himself, Alfonso was also in possession of much of Corsica by the 1420s. In 1421 the childless Queen Joanna II of Naples adopted and named him as heir to the Kingdom of Naples, and Alfonso went to Naples. Here he hired the condottiero Braccio da Montone with the task of reducing the resistance of his rival claimant, Louis III of Anjou, with Pope Martin V supporting Sforza, Alfonso switched his religious allegiance to the Aragonese antipope Benedict XIII. After an attempt to arrest the queen herself had failed, Joan called on Sforza who defeated the Aragonese militias near Castel Capuano in Naples, Alfonso fled to Castel Nuovo, but the help of a fleet of 22 galleys led by Giovanni da Cardona improved his situation. Sforza and Joanna ransomed Caracciolo and retreated to the fortress of Aversa, here she repudiated her earlier adoption of Alfonso and, with the backing of Martin V, named Louis III as her heir instead. The Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, joined the anti-Aragonese coalition, on his way towards Barcelona, Alfonso destroyed Marseille, a possession of Louis III. In late 1423 the Genoese fleet of Filippo Maria Visconti moved in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, rapidly conquering Gaeta, Procida, Castellammare and Sorrento. Naples, which was held by Alfonsos brother, Pedro de Aragon, was besieged in 1424 by the Genoese ships and Joannas troops, now led by Francesco Sforza, the city fell in April 1424. Pedro, after a resistance in Castel Nuovo, fled to Sicily in August. Joanna II and Louis III again took possession of the realm, an opportunity for Alfonso to reconquer Naples occurred in 1432, when Caracciolo was killed in a conspiracy. Alfonso tried to regain the favour of the queen, but failed, in her will, she bequeathed her realm to René of Anjou, Louis IIIs younger brother. This solution was opposed by the new pope, Eugene IV, the Neapolitans having called in the French, Alfonso decided to intervene and, with the support of several barons of the kingdom, captured Capua and besieged the important sea fortress of Gaeta. His fleet of 25 galleys was met by the Genoese ships sent by Visconti, in the battle of Ponza that ensued, Alfonso was defeated and taken prisoner. Helped by a Sicilian fleet, Alfonso recaptured Capua and set his base in Gaeta in February 1436, meanwhile, papal troops had invaded the Neapolitan kingdom, but Alfonso bribed their commander, Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi, and their successes waned. In the meantime, René had managed to reach Naples on 19 May 1438, Alfonso tried to besiege the city in the following September, but failed
11.
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
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Frederick III, called the Peaceful or the Fat, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1452 until his death, the first emperor of the House of Habsburg. He was the emperor to be crowned by the Pope. Prior to his coronation, he was duke of the Inner Austrian lands of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola from 1424. He was elected and crowned King of Germany in 1440 and he was the longest-reigning German monarch when in 1493, after ruling his domains for more than 53 years, he was succeeded by his son Maximilian I. During his reign, Frederick concentrated on re-uniting the Habsburg hereditary lands of Austria, nevertheless, by his dynastic entitlement to Hungary as well as by the Burgundian inheritance, he laid the foundations for the later Habsburg Empire. Mocked as Arch-Sleepyhead of the Holy Roman Empire during his lifetime, according to the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg, the Leopoldinian branch ruled over the duchies of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, or what was referred to as Inner Austria. Only three of Fredericks eight siblings survived childhood, his younger brother Albert, and his sisters Margaret and Catherine. In 1424, nine-year-old Fredericks father died, making Frederick the duke of Inner Austria, as Frederick V, with his uncle, Duke Frederick IV of Tyrol, from 1431, Frederick tried to obtain majority but for several years was denied by his relatives. Finally, in 1435, Albert V, duke of Austria, almost from the beginning, Fredericks younger brother Albert asserted his rights as a co-ruler, as the beginning of a long rivalry. Already in these years, Frederick had begun to use the symbolic A. E. I. O. U, signature as a kind of motto with various meanings. In 1436 he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, accompanied by numerous nobles knighted by the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, upon the death of his uncle Duke Frederick IV in 1439, Frederick took over the regency of Tyrol and Further Austria for the dukes heir Sigismund. Again he had to ward off the claims raised by his brother Albert VI, likewise he acted as regent for his nephew Ladislaus the Posthumous, son of late King Albert II and his consort Elizabeth of Luxembourg, in the duchy of Austria. Frederick was now the head of the Habsburg dynasty, though his regency in the lands of the Albertinian Line was still viewed with suspicion. In 1442, Frederick allied himself with Rudolf Stüssi, burgomaster of Zurich, against the Old Swiss Confederacy in the Old Zurich War but lost. In 1448, he entered into the Concordat of Vienna with the Holy See, as a cousin of late King Albert II, Frederick became a candidate for the imperial election. In 1452, at the age of 37, Frederick III travelled to Italy to receive his bride and his fiancée, the 18-year-old infanta Eleanor, daughter of King Edward of Portugal, landed at Livorno after a 104-day trip. Her dowry would help Frederick alleviate his debts and cement his power, the couple met at Siena on 24 February and proceeded together to Rome. As per tradition, they spent a night outside the walls of Rome before entering the city on 9 March, where Frederick and Pope Nicholas V exchanged friendly greetings
12.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
13.
Qadi
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The word qadi comes from a verb meaning to judge or to decide. The term qadi was in use from the time of Muhammad, and remained the term used for judges throughout Islamic history, thus, the qadi was chosen from amongst those who had mastered the sciences of jurisprudence and law. In constructing their legal doctrine, these legal scholars took as their point of departure the precedents established by the qadis. During the period of the Abbasid Caliphate, the office of the qadi al-qudat was established, among the most famous of the early qadi al-qudat was Qadi Abu Yusuf who was a disciple of the famous early jurist Abu Hanifa. The office of the continued to be a very important one in every principality of the caliphates and sultanates of the Muslim empires over the centuries. The rulers appointed qadis in every region, town and village for judicial and administrative control, the Abbasids created the office of chief qadi, whose holder acted primarily as adviser to the caliph in the appointment and dismissal of qadis. Later Islamic states generally retained this office, while granting to its holder the authority to issue appointments, the Mamluk state, which ruled Egypt and Syria from 1250 to 1516 CE, introduced the practice of appointing four chief qadis, one for each of the Sunni legal schools. A qadi is a responsible for the application of Islamic positive law. Thus the first qadis in effect laid the foundations of Islamic positive law, once this law had been formed, however, the role of the qadi underwent a profound change. No longer free to follow the guidelines mentioned above, a qadi was now expected to adhere solely to the new Islamic law, and this adherence has characterized the office ever since. A qadi continued, however, to be a delegate of an authority, ultimately the caliph or, after the demise of the caliphate. This delegate status implies the absence of a separation of powers, on the other hand, a certain degree of autonomy was enjoyed by a qadi in that the law that he applied was not the creation of the supreme ruler or the expression of his will. What a qadi owed to the ruler was solely the power to apply the law. Similar to a qadi, a mufti is also a power of Sharia law. Muftis are jurists that give authoritative legal opinions, or fatwas, with the introduction of the secular court system in the 19th century, Ottoman councils began to enforce criminal legislation, in order to emphasize their position as part of the new executive. This creation of the hierarchical secular judiciary did not displace the original Sharia courts, until the Qadi’s Ordinance of 1856, the qadis were appointed by the Porte and were part of the Ottoman religious judiciary. This Ordinance recommends the consultation of muftis and ulama, in practice, the sentences of qadis usually were checked by muftis appointed to the courts. Other important decisions were also checked by the mufti of the Majlis al-Ahkdm or by a council of ulama connected with it and it is said that if the local qadi and mufti disagreed, it became customary to submit the case to the authoritative Grand Mufti
14.
Matthias Corvinus
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Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and he was the son of John Hunyadi, Regent of Hungary, who died in 1456. In 1457, Matthias was imprisoned along with his brother, Ladislaus Hunyadi. Ladislaus Hunyadi was executed, causing a rebellion that forced King Ladislaus to flee Hungary, after the King died unexpectedly, Matthiass uncle Michael Szilágyi persuaded the Estates to unanimously proclaim Matthias king on 24 January 1458. He began his rule under his uncles guardianship, but he took control of government within two weeks. As king, Matthias waged wars against the Czech mercenaries who dominated Upper Hungary and against Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, in this period, the Ottoman Empire conquered Serbia and Bosnia, terminating the zone of buffer states along the southern frontiers of the Kingdom of Hungary. Matthias signed a treaty with Frederick III in 1463, acknowledging the Emperors right to style himself King of Hungary. The Emperor returned the Holy Crown of Hungary with which Matthias was crowned on 29 April 1464, in this year, Matthias invaded the territories that had recently been occupied by the Ottomans and seized fortresses in Bosnia. He soon realized he could expect no aid from the Christian powers. Matthias introduced new taxes and regularly collected extraordinary taxes and these measures caused a rebellion in Transylvania in 1467, but he subdued the rebels. The next year, Matthias declared war on George of Poděbrady, the Hussite King of Bohemia, and conquered Moravia, Silesia, and Lausitz, but he could not occupy Bohemia proper. The Catholic Estates proclaimed him King of Bohemia on 3 May 1469, instead, they elected Vladislaus Jagiellon, the eldest son of Casimir IV of Poland. A group of Hungarian prelates and lords offered the throne to Vladislauss younger brother Casimir, having routed the united troops of Casimir IV and Vladislaus at Breslau in Silesia in late 1474, Matthias turned against the Ottomans, who had devastated the eastern parts of Hungary. He sent reinforcements to Stephen the Great, Prince of Moldavia, in 1476, Matthias besieged and seized Šabac, an important Ottoman border fort. He concluded a treaty with Vladislaus Jagiellon in 1478, confirming the division of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown between them. Matthias waged a war against Emperor Frederick and occupied Lower Austria between 1482 and 1487, Matthias patronized art and science, his royal library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, was one of the largest collections of books in Europe. With his patronage, Hungary became the first country to embrace the Renaissance from Italy, as Matthias the Just, the monarch who wandered among his subjects in disguise, he remains a popular hero of Hungarian folk tales. Matthias was born in Kolozsvár on 23 February 1443 and he was the second son of John Hunyadi and his wife, Elisabeth Szilágyi
15.
Maktab
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Maktab or Maktabeh or Maktabkhaneh, also called a Kuttab “school” is an Arabic word meaning elementary schools. Though it was used for teaching children in reading, writing, grammar and Islamic studies such as Qiraat. Until the 20th century, maktabs were the means of mass education in much of the Islamic world. Maktab refers to only elementary schools in Arabic, Maktab is used in Dari Persian in Afghanistan as an equivalent term to school, including both primary and secondary schools. Avicenna used the word maktab in the same sense, maktabs or kuttābs are an old-fashioned method of education in Egypt and Muslim majority countries, in which a sheikh teaches a group of students who sit in front of him on the ground. The curriculum includes Islam and Quranic Arabic, but focused mainly on memorising the Quran, with the development of modern schools, the number of kuttabs has declined. Kuttāb means writers, plural katatīb / katātīb, in common Modern Arabic usage, maktab means office while maktabah means library or study and kuttāb is a plural word meaning books. In the medieval Islamic world, a school was known as a maktab. Like madrasahs, a maktab was often attached to a mosque, in the 16th century, the Sunni Islamic jurist Ibn Hajar al-Haytami discussed Maktab schools. Ibn Sina described the curriculum of a school in some detail. Ibn Sina wrote that children should be sent to a school from the age of 6. During which time, he wrote that they should be taught the Quran, Islamic metaphysics, language, literature, Islamic ethics, and manual skills. Ibn Sina refers to the secondary stage of maktab schooling as the period of specialization. In medieval times, the Caliphate experienced a growth in literacy, having the highest literacy rate of the Middle Ages, the emergence of the Maktab and Madrasah institutions played a fundamental role in the relatively high literacy rates of the medieval Islamic world. Madrasah, meant for higher education Maktab Anbar Maktab Encyclopædia Britannica
16.
Madrasa
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Madrasa is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious. The word is variously transliterated madrasah, medresa, madrassa, madraza, medrese, in the West, the word usually refers to a specific type of religious school or college for the study of the Islamic religion, though this may not be the only subject studied. In countries like India, not all students in madrasas are Muslims, the word madrasah derives from the triconsonantal Semitic root د-ر-س D-R-S to learn, study, through the wazn مفعل, mafʻal, meaning a place where something is done. Therefore, madrasah literally means a place where learning and studying take place, for example, in the Ottoman Empire during the Early Modern Period, madaris had lower schools and specialised schools where the students became known as danişmends. The usual Arabic word for a university, however, is جامعة, the Hebrew cognate midrasha also connotes the meaning of a place of learning, the related term midrash literally refers to study or learning, but has acquired mystical and religious connotations. However, in English, the term usually refers to the specifically Islamic institutions. A regular curriculum includes courses in Arabic, tafsir, sharīʻah, hadiths, mantiq, in the Ottoman Empire, during the Early Modern Period, the study of hadiths was introduced by Süleyman I. Depending on the demands, some madaris also offer additional advanced courses in Arabic literature, English and other foreign languages, as well as science. Ottoman madaris along with religious teachings also taught styles of writing, grammary, syntax, poetry, composition, natural sciences, political sciences, people of all ages attend, and many often move on to becoming imams. The certificate of an ʻālim, for example, requires approximately twelve years of study, a good number of the ḥuffāẓ are the product of the madaris. The madaris also resemble colleges, where people take evening classes, an important function of the madaris is to admit orphans and poor children in order to provide them with education and training. Madaris may enroll female students, however, they study separately from the men, the term Islamic education means education in the light of Islam itself, which is rooted in the teachings of the Quran - holy book of Muslims. Islamic education and Muslim education are not the same, because Islamic education has epistemological integration which is founded on Tawhid - Oneness or monotheism. The first institute of education was at the estate of Hazrat Zaid bin Arkam near a hill called Safa, where Hazrat Muhammad was the teacher. After Hijrah the madrasa of Suffa was established in Madina on the east side of the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi mosque, ubada ibn as-Samit was appointed there by Hazrat Muhammad as teacher and among the students. In the curriculum of the madrasa, there were teachings of The Quran, The Hadith, faraiz, tajweed, genealogy, treatises of first aid, there were also trainings of horse-riding, art of war, handwriting and calligraphy, athletics and martial arts. The first part of madrasa based education is estimated from the first day of nabuwwat to the first portion of the Umaiya caliphate and it was founded by Fāṭimah al-Fihrī, the daughter of a wealthy merchant named Muḥammad al-Fihrī. This was later followed by the establishment of al-Azhar in 959 in Cairo, niẓām al-Mulk, who would later be murdered by the Assassins, created a system of state madaris in various ʻAbbāsid cities at the end of the 11th century
17.
Turkish bath
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A Turkish bath is the Islamic variant of the Roman bath, steambath, sauna, or Russian banya, distinguished by a focus on water, as distinct from ambient steam. In Western Europe, the Turkish bath as a method of cleansing, the process involved in taking a Turkish bath is similar to that of a sauna, but is more closely related to ancient Greek and ancient Roman bathing practices. The Turkish bath starts with relaxation in a room that is heated by a flow of hot, dry air. Bathers may then move to an even hotter room before they wash in cold water, after performing a full body wash and receiving a massage, bathers finally retire to the cooling-room for a period of relaxation. The difference between the Islamic hammam and the Victorian Turkish bath is the air, the hot air in the Victorian Turkish bath is dry, in the Islamic hammam the air is often steamy. The bather in a Victorian Turkish bath will often take a plunge in a pool after the hot rooms. In the Islamic hammams the bathers splash themselves with cold water and it is not wet air, nor moist air, nor vapoury air, it is not vapour in any shape or form whatever. It is an immersion of the body in hot common air. One of the Five Pillars of Islam is prayer and it is customary before praying for Muslims to perform ablutions. The two Islamic forms of ablution are ghusl, a cleansing, and wudu, a cleansing of the face, hands. In the most extreme of cases, cleansing with pure soil or sand is also permissible, often, hammams are located close to mosques and other places for prayer for those who wish to perform deeper cleansing. Islamic hammams, particularly in the Moroccan case, evolved from their Roman roots to adapt to the needs of ritual purification according to Islam, for example, in most Roman-style hammams, one finds a cold pool for full submergence of the body. The style of bathing is less preferable in the Islamic faith, for al-Ghazali, the hammam is a primarily male experience, and he cautions that women are to enter the hammam only after childbirth or illness. Even then al-Gazali finds it admissible for men to prohibit their wives or sisters from using the hammam, the major point of contention surrounding hammams in al-Ghazalis estimation is nakedness. In his work he warns that overt nakedness is to be avoided, … he should shield it from the sight of others and second, guard against the touch of others. He focuses extensively in his writing on the avoidance of touching the penis during bathing and he writes that nakedness is decent only when the area between the knees and the lower stomach of a man are hidden. For women, exposure of only the face and palms is appropriate, according to al-Gazali, the prevalence of nakedness in the hammam could incite indecent thoughts or behaviours and so it is a controversial space. Ritual ablution is also required before or after sexual intercourse, during those centuries of war, peace, alliance, trade and competition, the two cultures had tremendous influence on each other
18.
Caravanserai
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A caravanserai (/kærəˈvænsəri/, was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the days journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of routes covering Asia, North Africa. Major urban caravanserais were built along the Grand Trunk Road in the Indian subcontinent. The word is rendered as caravansary, caravansaray, caravanseray. The Persian word کاروانسرای kārvānsarāy is a word combining kārvān caravan with sarāy palace, building with enclosed courts. Here caravan means a group of traders, pilgrims, or other travelers, the word serai is sometimes used with the implication of caravanserai. The Persian caravanserai was built as a road station, outside of towns. An inn built inside a town would be smaller and was known in Persian as a khan, in the Middle-East the term khan covers both meanings, of roadside inn as well as of inner-town inn. In Turkish the word is rendered as han, the same word was used in Bosnian, having arrived through Ottoman conquest. Welcoming all, thus meaning inn, led to funduq in Arabic, pundak in Hebrew, fundaco in Venice, fondaco in Genoa and alhóndiga in Spanish. Guards were stationed at every gate to ensure that taxes for these goods be paid in full, most typically a caravanserai was a building with a square or rectangular walled exterior, with a single portal wide enough to permit large or heavily laden beasts such as camels to enter. Caravanserais provided water for human and animal consumption, washing, and ritual purification such as wudu and they also kept fodder for animals and had shops for travelers where they could acquire new supplies. In addition, some shops bought goods from the traveling merchants, turkishhan. org, The Seljuk Han in Anatolia. Encyclopædia Iranica, p. 798-802 Erdmann, Kurt, Erdmann, berlin, Mann,1976, ISBN 3-7861-2241-5 Hillenbrand, Robert. Islamic Architecture, Form, function and meaning, reprinted from, Traditions Architecturales en Iran, Tehran, No.2 &3,1976. Caravanserai, Traces, Places, Dialogue in the Middle East, milan,5 Continents Editions, ISBN 978-88-7439-604-7 Yavuz, Aysil Tükel. The Concepts that Shape Anatolian Seljuq Caravansara, muqarnas XIV, An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World. Shah Abbasi Caravanserai, Tishineh Caravansara Pictures Consideratcaravanserai. net, Texts and photos on research on caravanserais and travel journeys in Middle East, caravanserais in Turkey The Seljuk Han in Anatolia
19.
Gabela, Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Gabela is a village in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina,5 kilometres south of Čapljina and 4 kilometers from Metković, in Croatia. It is situated in the lower course of the Neretva. The word Gabela comes from Arabic word for tax, according to history, Gabela was first mentioned in a contract between Nemanja, the ruler, and Dubrovnik as Drijeva. Drijeva rapidly became a port for trading, along with Brštanik. Under the name Gabela the town was mentioned in 1399, the Turks occupied the town in 1529 and built the Sedislam Fortress on the right-hand bank of the Neretva. It became the center of the Gabela captany, in 1537 Gabela becomes part of Nevesinje kadiluk. In the middle of 17th century Ali-Pasha Cengic rebuilt and reinforced the fort, in 1718 the Turks themselves rebuilt part of the settlement. Until 1878 it was an important border town between Herzegovina and Dalmatia, but the role of Gabela as the fort was taken by the town of Pocitelj, Gabela camp was a concentration camp run by the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia and Croatian Defence Council. The camp consisted of detention facilities and a munitions warehouse, outside observers were not allowed to visit Gabela until August 1993. At this time the ICRC registered 1,100 inmates, official results from the book, Ethnic composition of Bosnia-Herzegovina population, by municipalities and settlements, Zavod za statistiku Bosne i Hercegovine - Bilten no.234, Sarajevo 1991. Roberto Salinas Price, Homeric whispers, intimations of orthodoxy in the Iliad and Odyssey, Scylax Press, visoko Bosnian pyramids Gabela, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
20.
Dalmatia
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Dalmatia is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea. The hinterland ranges in width from fifty kilometres in the north, to just a few kilometres in the south,79 islands run parallel to the coast, the largest being Brač, Pag and Hvar. The largest city is Split, followed by Zadar, Dubrovnik, the name of the region stems from an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae, who lived in the area in classical antiquity. Later it became a Roman province, and as result a Romance culture emerged, along with the now-extinct Dalmatian language, later largely replaced with related Venetian. With the arrival of Croats to the area in the 8th century, who occupied most of the hinterland, Croatian and Romance elements began to intermix in language and the culture. During the Middle Ages, its cities were conquered by, or switched allegiance to. The longest-lasting rule was the one of the Republic of Venice, between 1815 and 1918, it was as a province of Austrian Empire known as the Kingdom of Dalmatia. It was the Romans who first gave Dalmatia its name, inspired by the Illyrian word “delmat”, meaning a proud and its Latin form Dalmatia gave rise to its current English name. In the Venetian language, once dominant in the area, it is spelled Dalmàssia, the modern Croatian spelling is Dalmacija, pronounced. Dalmatia is referenced in the New Testament at 2 Timothy 4,10 so its name has been translated in many of the worlds languages. In antiquity the Roman province of Dalmatia was much larger than the present-day Split-Dalmatia County, Dalmatia is today a historical region only, not formally instituted in Croatian law. Its exact extent is uncertain and subject to public perception. According to Lena Mirošević and Josip Faričić of the University of Zadar, simultaneously, the southern part of Lika and upper Pounje, which were not a part of Austrian Dalmatia, became a part of Zadar County. From the present-day administrative and territorial point of view, Dalmatia comprises the four Croatian littoral counties with seats in Zadar, Šibenik, Split, Dalmatia is therefore generally perceived to extend approximately to the borders of the Austrian Kingdom of Dalmatia. The Encyclopædia Britannica defines Dalmatia as extending to the narrows of Kotor, other sources, however, such as the Treccani encyclopedia and the Rough Guide to Croatia still include the Bay as being part of the region. This definition does not include the Bay of Kotor, nor the islands of Rab, Sveti Grgur and it also excludes the northern part of the island of Pag, which is part of the Lika-Senj County. However, it includes the Gračac Municipality in Zadar County, which was not a part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia and is not traditionally associated with the region, the inhabitants of Dalmatia are culturally subdivided into two or three groups
21.
Bosnian War
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The Bosnian War was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following a number of violent incidents in early 1992, the war is commonly viewed as having started on 6 April 1992, the war ended on 14 December 1995. The war was part of the breakup of Yugoslavia and this was rejected by the political representatives of the Bosnian Serbs, who had boycotted the referendum. The Croats also aimed at securing parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Croatian, Events such as the Siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre later became iconic of the conflict. After the Srebrenica and Markale massacres, NATO intervened in 1995 with Operation Deliberate Force targeting the positions of the Army of the Republika Srpska, which proved key in ending the war. The war was brought to an end after the signing of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia, Peace negotiations were held in Dayton, Ohio and were finalised on 21 November 1995. According to a report compiled by the UN, and chaired by M, the report echoed conclusions published by a Central Intelligence Agency estimate in 1995. By early 2008, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia had convicted 45 Serbs,12 Croats and 4 Bosniaks of war crimes in connection with the war in Bosnia, the most recent estimates suggest that around 100,000 people were killed during the war. Over 2.2 million people were displaced, making it the most devastating conflict in Europe since the end of World War II, in addition, an estimated 12, 000–20,000 women were raped, most of them Bosniak. There is debate over the date of the Bosnian War. Mulaj reports that Misha Glenny gives a date of 22 March, Tom Gallagher gives 2 April, while Mary Kaldor and Laura Silber, philip Hammond claimed that the most common view is that the war started on 6 April 1992. The Sijekovac killings of Serbs took place on 26 March and the Bijeljina massacre on 1–2 April. Some Bosniaks consider the first casualties of the war to be Suada Dilberović and Olga Sučić, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina came about as a result of the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A crisis emerged in Yugoslavia as a result of the weakening of the system at the end of the Cold War. In Yugoslavia, the national communist party, the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, was losing its ideological potency, meanwhile, ethnic nationalism experienced a renaissance in the 1980s, after violence broke out in Kosovo. While the goal of Serbian nationalists was the centralisation of Yugoslavia, other nationalities in Yugoslavia aspired to the federalisation, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a former Ottoman province, has historically been a multi-ethnic state. According to the 1991 census, 44% of the population considered themselves Muslim,32. 5% Serb and 17% Croat, with 6% describing themselves as Yugoslav. In March 1989, the crisis in Yugoslavia deepened after the adoption of amendments to the Serbian Constitution which allowed the government of Serbia to dominate the provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina
22.
World Monuments Watch
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Founded in 1965, WMF is headquartered in New York, and has offices and affiliates around the world, including Cambodia, France, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In addition to management, the affiliates identify, develop, and manage projects, negotiate local partnerships. WMF describes its mission as to preserve important historic architectural sites, the International Fund for Monuments was an organization created by Colonel James A. Gray after his retirement from the U. S. Army in 1960. Even though this project did not materialize, an opportunity arose for the organization to participate in the conservation of the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia. In 1966 Gray secured the support of philanthropist Lila Acheson Wallace, the project continued until the Communist overthrow of Haile Selassie I and the subsequent expulsion of foreigners from Ethiopia. After Ethiopia, Grays interests shifted to Easter Island in Chile, Gray formed the Easter Island Committee, with Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl as its honorary chairman. Gray arranged to have one of the human figures known as moai exhibited in the United States. C. An important chapter for the organization started with its involvement in the international effort led by UNESCO for the protection of the city of Venice. After the extremely high tide of 4 November 1966, the city, the International Fund for Monuments set up a Venice Committee, with Professor John McAndrew of Wellesley College as Chairman and Gray as Executive Secretary. On the part of the Committee, appeals were made to the American public and these efforts helped establish a reputation for IFM. In Spain, the organization formed a Committee for Spain under the leadership of American diplomat, at the invitation of UNESCO in the 1970s IFM became involved in architectural conservation in Nepal, where the organization adopted the Mahadev temple complex in Gokarna, in Nepals Kathmandu Valley. The 14th-century temple building was surveyed, rotten timbers were replaced, sculpted wooden architectural elements were painstakingly cleaned of layers of a motor oil coating that had been applied annually for protection. Also at the request of UNESCO, IFM launched a project for the preservation of the Citadelle Laferrière, the site was the keystone of a defensive system constructed in the early period of Haitian independence to protect the young state from French attempts to reclaim it as a colony. Local artisans reconstructed wooden and tile roofs over the gallery and batteries using traditional carpentry methods. IFM also sponsored an exhibition and a film about the history of the Citadelle. Through donations and matching funds, WMF has worked with community and government partners worldwide to safeguard. To date, WMF has worked at more than 500 sites in 91 countries, WMF has worked at internationally famous tourist attractions as well as lesser-known sites. Every two years WMF publishes the World Monuments Watch, through the World Monuments Watch, WMF fosters community support for the protection of endangered sites, and attracts technical and financial support for the sites
23.
Vittorio Miele
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Vittorio Miele was an Italian painter. Vittorio Miele was born in Cassino in 1926 and he lived the tragedy of the Second World War, during the Battle of Monte Cassino where his father and his mother later died of her injuries. Vittorio Miele survived and he went to Northern Italy, in 1958 he participated in the Mantova City National Art Exhibition and in 1966 he had his first one-man exhibition in Frosinone. In 1971 the Administration of the Republic of San Marino invited him to hold an exhibition at the Ridotto of the Titano Theatre. In July 1971, thousands of people visited this exhibition and his international experience enriches after only one year. In June 1973, with Lultimo Gradino and Passaggio Ciociaro he is present in the Arts Pavillon in Sarajevo, in October, the Provincaial Tourist Organization in Frosinone awarded him the gold medal for having contributed to the revival of Art in Ciociaria. In Autumn 1974 was ready for his first trip to North America, the Canadian press and television present the exhibitions Miele holds in the major Canadian cities. In October he exhibited, with success, over one hundred paintings in Place Bonaventure in Montreal. In November he held an exhibition in Toronto at the Hilton Hotel. Vittorio Miele works hard during two months, even outdoors, trying to physically capture the harsh climate in his paintings. The Nordic houses become Ciociaria countryside cottages, in 70s he was invited to Yugoslavia, guest of the State Artist Colony in Počitelj. There he discovered the freshness of the archaic culture. He began to paint outdoors again, the style become less harsh, the Bosnian mountains become rounded and he discovered a luminosity lost in his years of travelling. After a lot of expositions in Italy and in the USA. He died in his home in Cassino on 18 November 1999, gavino Còlomo, Nuovissimo dizionario dei pittori, poeti, scrittori, artisti dei nostri giorni, Edizioni della Nuova Europa,1975 Studi meridionali, Anno 5, fasc
24.
Muslims (nationality)
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Notably, Muslims were one of the constitutive nations of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, the Austrian administration officially endorsed Bošnjaštvo as the basis of a multi-confessional Bosnian nation, after World War I, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed and it recognized only those three nationalities in its constitution. After World War II, in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as a compromise, the Constitution of Yugoslavia was amended to list Muslims in a national sense, recognizing a constitutive nation, but not the Bosniak name. The use of Muslim as an ethnic denomination was criticized early on, however, to quote Bosnian president Hamdija Pozderac at the time, They dont allow Bosnianhood but they offered Muslimhood. We shall accept their offer, although the name is wrong, sometimes other terms, such as Muslim with capital M were used. On the other hand, some use the old name Muslimani, especially outside Bosnia. The election law of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Serbia, according to the 2011 census there were 22,301 Muslims by nationality and 145,278 Bosniaks. In Montenegro census of 2011,20,537 of the population declared as Muslims by nationality, while 53,605 declared as Bosniaks, while 11,110 Muslims by confession declared as Montenegrins. In 2002 Slovenia census,21,542 persons identified as Bosniaks,8,062 as Bosnians, in the Republic of Macedonia, the census of 2002 registered 17,018 Bosniaks and 2,553 Muslims by nationality. It is also important to note that most members of Pomaks, http, //www. savjetMuslimanacg. com Bosniaks Slavic Muslims Muslim minority of Greece
25.
Croats
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Croats are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group at the crossroads of Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean Sea. Croats mainly live in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but are a recognized minority in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have migrated throughout Europe, evidence is rather scarce for the period between the 7th and 8th centuries, CE. Archaeological evidence shows population continuity in coastal Dalmatia and Istria, in contrast, much of the Dinaric hinterland appears to have been depopulated, as virtually all hilltop settlements, from Noricum to Dardania, were abandoned in the early 7th century. Although the dating of the earliest Slavic settlements is still disputed, the origin, timing and nature of the Slavic migrations remain controversial, however, all available evidence points to the nearby Danubian and Carpathian regions. Much uncertainty revolves around the circumstances of their appearance given the scarcity of literary sources during the 7th and 8th century Dark Ages. Traditionally, scholarship has placed the arrival of the Croats in the 7th century, as such, the arrival of the Croats was seen as a second wave of Slavic migrations, which liberated Dalmatia from Avar hegemony. However, as early as the 1970s, scholars questioned the reliability of Porphyrogenitus work, rather than being an accurate historical account, De Administrando Imperio more accurately reflects the political situation during the 10th century. The major basis for this connection was the similarity between Hrvat and inscriptions from the Tanais dated to the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, mentioning the name Khoroathos. Similar arguments have been made for an alleged Gothic-Croat link and they appear to have been based around Nin and Klis, down to the Cetina and south of Liburnia. Here, concentrations of the Old Croat culture abound, marked by very wealthy warrior burials dating to the 9th century CE. Other, distinct polities also existed near the Croat duchy and these included the Guduscans, the Narentines and the Sorabi who ruled some other eastern parts of ex-Roman Dalmatia. Also prominent in the territory of future Croatia was the polity of Prince Liutevid, however, soon, the Croats became the dominant local power in northern Dalmatia, absorbing Liburnia and expanding their name by conquest and prestige. In the south, while having periods of independence, the Naretines also merged with Croats later under control of Croatian Kings, with such expansion, Croatia soon became dominant power and absorb other polities between Frankish, Bulgarian and Byzantine empire. Each vied for control of the Northwest Balkan regions, nevertheless, two independent Slavic dukedoms emerged sometime during the 9th century, the Croat Duchy and Principality of Lower Pannonia. Having been under Avar control, lower Pannonia became a march of the Carolingian Empire around 800, aided by Vojnomir in 796, the first named Slavic Duke of Pannonia, the Franks wrested control of the region from the Avars before totally destroying the Avar realm in 803. After the death of Charlemagne in 814, Frankish influence decreased on the region, the Frankish margraves sent armies in 820,821 and 822, but each time they failed to crush the rebels. Aided by Borna the Guduscan, the Franks eventually defeated Ljudevit, for much of the subsequent period, Savia was probably directly ruled by the Carinthian Duke Arnulf, the future East Frankish King and Emperor
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Serbs
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The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group that formed in the Balkans. The majority of Serbs inhabit the state of Serbia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. They form significant minorities in Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia, there is a large Serb diaspora in Western Europe, and outside Europe there are significant communities in North America and Australia. The Serbs share many traits with the rest of the peoples of Southeast Europe. They are predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christians by religion, the Serbian language is official in Serbia, co-official in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is spoken by the majority in Montenegro. The modern identity of Serbs is rooted in Eastern Orthodoxy and traditions, in the 19th century, the Serbian national identity was manifested, with awareness of history and tradition, medieval heritage, cultural unity, despite living under different empires. When the Principality of Serbia gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, Orthodoxy became crucial in defining the national identity, instead of language which was shared by other South Slavs. The tradition of slava, the family saint feast day, is an important ethnic marker of Serb identity, the origin of the ethnonym is unclear. Serbia has among the tallest people in the world, after Montenegro and Netherlands, Slavs invaded and settled the Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries. Up until the late 560s their activity was raiding, crossing from the Danube, the Danube and Sava frontier was overwhelmed by large-scale Slavic settlement in the late 6th and early 7th century. What is today central Serbia was an important geo-strategical province, through which the Via Militaris crossed and this area was frequently intruded by barbarians in the 5th and 6th centuries. The numerous Slavs mixed with and assimilated the descendants of the indigenous population, numerous small Serbian states were created, located in modern Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. With the decline of the Serbian state of Duklja in the late 11th century, Raška separated from it, prince Stefan Nemanja conquered the neighbouring territories of Kosovo, Duklja and Zachlumia. The Nemanjić dynasty ruled over Serbia until the 14th century, over the next 140 years, Serbia expanded its borders. Its cultural model remained Byzantine, despite political ambitions directed against the empire, the medieval power and influence of Serbia culminated in the reign of Stefan Dušan, who ruled the state from 1331 until his death in 1355. Ruling as Emperor from 1346, his territory included Macedonia, northern Greece, Montenegro, when Dušan died, his son Stephen Uroš V became Emperor. With the death of two important Serb leaders in the battle, and with the death of Stephen Uroš that same year, hrebeljanović was subsequently accepted as the titular leader of the Serbs because he was married to a member of the Nemanjić dynasty. In 1389, the Serbs faced the Ottomans at the Battle of Kosovo on the plain of Kosovo Polje, both Lazar and Sultan Murad I were killed in the fighting
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Ohrid
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Ohrid is a city in the Republic of Macedonia and the seat of Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, Ohrid is notable for once having had 365 churches, one for each day of the year, and has been referred to as a Jerusalem. The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant and it is located southwest of Skopje, west of Resen and Bitola. In 1979 and in 1980 respectively, Ohrid and Lake Ohrid were accepted as Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, Ohrid is one of only 28 sites that are part of UNESCOs World Heritage that are Cultural as well as Natural sites. In Macedonian and the other South Slavic languages, the name of the city is Ohrid, in Albanian, the city is known as Ohër or Ohri and in modern Greek Ochrida and Achrida. The earliest inhabitants of the widest Lake Ohrid region were the Dassaretae, an ancient Greek tribe and the Enchelei, according to recent excavations by Macedonian archaeologists it was a town way back at the time of king Phillip II of Macedon. They conclude that Samuils Fortress was built on the place of an earlier fortification, during the Roman conquests, towards the end of 3rd and the beginning of 2nd century BC, the Dassaretae and the region Dassaretia were mentioned, as well as the ancient Greek city of Lychnidos. It was located along the Via Egnatia, which connected the Adriatic port Dyrrachion with Byzantium, archaeological excavations prove early adoption of Christianity in the area. Bishops from Lychnidos participated in ecumenical councils. The South Slavs began to arrive in the area during the 6th century AD, by the early 7th century it was colonized by a Slavic tribe known as the Berziti. The Bulgars conquered the city in 867, the name Ohrid first appeared in 879. The Ohrid Literary School established in 886 by Clement of Ohrid became one of the two cultural centres of the First Bulgarian Empire. Between 990 and 1015, Ohrid was the capital and stronghold of the Bulgarian Empire, from 990 to 1018 Ohrid was also the seat of the Bulgarian Patriarchate. The higher clergy after 1018 was almost invariably Greek, including during the period of Ottoman domination, as an episcopal city, Ohrid was a cultural center of great importance for the Balkans. Almost all surviving churches were built by the Byzantines and by the Bulgarians, bohemond leading a Norman army took the city in 1083. In the 13th and 14th century the city changed hands between the Despotate of Epirus, the Bulgarian, the Byzantine and the Serbian Empire and local Albanian rulers. In the middle of the 13th century Ohrid was one of the cities ruled by Paul Gropa, in 1334 the city was captured by Stefan Uroš IV Dušan and incorporated in the Serbian Empire. After Dusans death the city came under the control of Andrea Gropa, in the early 1370s Marko lost Ohrid to Paul II Gropa, another member of the Gropa family and unsuccessfully tried to recapture it in 1375 with Ottoman assistance
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Republic of Macedonia
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Macedonia, officially the Republic of Macedonia, is a country in the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the states of the former Yugoslavia. A landlocked country, the Republic of Macedonia has borders with Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, the countrys geography is defined primarily by mountains, valleys, and rivers. The capital and largest city, Skopje, is home to roughly a quarter of the nations 2.06 million inhabitants, the majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25 percent, followed by Turks, Romani, Serbs, Macedonias history dates back to antiquity, beginning with the kingdom of Paeonia, a Thracian polity. In the late sixth century BCE the area was incorporated into the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Romans conquered the region in the second century BCE and made it part of the much larger province of Macedonia. Macedonia remained part of the Byzantine Empire, and was raided and settled by Slavic peoples beginning in the sixth century CE. Following centuries of contention between the Bulgarian and Byzantine empires, it came under Ottoman dominion from the 14th century. Between the late 19th and early 20th century, a distinct Macedonian identity emerged, although following the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, Macedonia remained a constituent socialist republic within Yugoslavia until its peaceful secession in 1991. Macedonia is a member of the UN and of the Council of Europe, since 2005 it has also been a candidate for joining the European Union and has applied for NATO membership. Although one of the poorest countries in Europe, Macedonia has made significant progress in developing an open, the countrys name derives from the Greek Μακεδονία, a kingdom named after the ancient Macedonians. The name is believed to have meant either highlanders or the tall ones. However, Robert S. P. Beekes supports that both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology, the Republic of Macedonia roughly corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Paeonia, which was located immediately north of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia. In the late 6th century BC, the Achaemenid Persians under Darius the Great conquered the Paeonians, following the loss in the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 479 BC, the Persians eventually withdrew from their European territories, including from what is today the Republic of Macedonia. In 356 BC Philip II of Macedon absorbed the regions of Upper Macedonia, the Romans established the Province of Macedonia in 146 BC. Roman expansion brought the Scupi area under Roman rule in the time of Domitian, and it fell within the Province of Moesia. Whilst Greek remained the dominant language in the part of the Roman empire. Slavic peoples settled in the Balkan region including Macedonia by the late 6th century AD, during the 580s, Byzantine literature attests to the Slavs raiding Byzantine territories in the region of Macedonia, later aided by Bulgars. Historical records document that in c.680 a group of Bulgars, Slavs and Byzantines led by a Bulgar called Kuber settled in the region of the Keramisian plain, presians reign apparently coincides with the extension of Bulgarian control over the Slavic tribes in and around Macedonia
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Safranbolu
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Safranbolu is a town and district of Karabük Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is about 9 km north of the city of Karabük,200 kilometres north of Ankara, the towns historic names in Greek were Theodoroupolis and later Saframpolis. Its former names in Turkish were Zalifre and Taraklıborlu and it was part of Kastamonu Province until 1923 and Zonguldak Province between 1923 and 1995. According to the 2000 census, the population of the district was 47,257, the district covers an area of 1,000 km2, and the town lies at an elevation of 485 m. The Old Town preserves many historic buildings, with 1008 registered historical artifacts and these are,1 private museum,25 mosques,5 tombs,8 historical fountains,5 Turkish baths,3 caravanserais,1 historical clock tower,1 sundial and hundreds of houses and mansions. Also, there are mounds of ancient settlements, rock tombs, the Old Town is situated in a deep ravine in a fairly dry area in the rain shadow of the mountains. The New Town can be found on the plateau about two kilometers west of the Old Town, the name of the town derives from saffron and the Greek word polis meaning city, since Safranbolu was a trading place and a center for growing saffron. Today, saffron is grown at the village of Davutobası to the east of Safranbolu. Safranbolu was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1994 due to its well-preserved Ottoman era houses, archived from the original on 2012-10-26. Safranbolu travel guide from Wikivoyage Governors official web site UNESCO World Heritage - Safranbolu Safranbolu, A Town of Traditional Houses
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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
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Geography of Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in Southeastern Europe, in the western Balkans. It has a 932 km border with Croatia to the north and southwest, a 357 km border with Serbia to the east, and it borders the Adriatic Sea along its 20 km coastline. The most striking features of the terrain are valleys and mountains which measure up to 2386 m in height. The country is mountainous, encompassing the central Dinaric Alps. The northeastern parts reach into the Pannonian basin, while in the south it borders the Adriatic sea, Bosnia occupies the northern areas which are roughly four fifths of the entire country, while Herzegovina occupies the rest in the southern part of the country. The south part of Bosnia has Mediterranean climate and a deal of agriculture. Central Bosnia is the most mountainous part of Bosnia featuring prominent mountains Vlašić, Čvrsnica, Eastern Bosnia also features mountains like Trebević, Jahorina, Igman, Bjelašnica and Treskavica. It was here that the 1984 Winter Olympics were held, Eastern Bosnia is heavily forested along the river Drina, and overall close to 50% of Bosnia and Herzegovina is forested. Most forest areas are in Central, Eastern and Western parts of Bosnia, northern Bosnia contains very fertile agricultural land along the river Sava and the corresponding area is heavily farmed. This farmland is a part of the Parapannonian Plain stretching into neighbouring Croatia and Serbia, the river Sava and corresponding Posavina river basin hold the cities of Brčko, Bosanski Šamac, Bosanski Brod and Bosanska Gradiška. The northwest part of Bosnia is called Bosanska Krajina and holds the cities of Banja Luka, Prijedor, Sanski Most, Jajce, Cazin, Velika Kladuša, kozara National Park and Mrakovica World War II monument is located in this region. By United Nations law, Bosnia has a right of passage to the outer sea, neum has many hotels and is an important tourism destination. It is a beautiful river and popular for rafting and adventure sports. The Sana flows through the city of Sanski Most and Prijedor and is a tributary of the river Una in the north, the Vrbas flows through the cities of Gornji Vakuf – Uskoplje, Bugojno, Jajce, Banja Luka, Srbac and reaches the river Sava in the north. The Vrbas flows through the part of Bosnia and flows outwards to the North. The River Bosna is the longest river in Bosnia and is contained within the country as it stretches from its source near Sarajevo to the river Sava in the north. It gave its name to the country, the Drina flows through the eastern part of Bosnia, at many places in the border between Bosnia and Serbia. The Drina flows through the cities of Foča, Goražde Višegrad, the Neretva river is a large river in Central and Southern Bosnia, flowing from Jablanica south to the Adriatic Sea
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Geography of Croatia
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The geography of Croatia is defined by its location— it is described as a part of Central and Southeast Europe, a part of the Balkans and Mitteleuropa. Croatias territory covers 56,594 km2, making it the 127th largest country in the world, Croatias territorial waters encompass 18,981 square kilometres in a 12 nautical miles wide zone, and its internal waters located within the baseline cover an additional 12,498 square kilometres. The Pannonian Basin and the Dinaric Alps, along with the Adriatic Basin, lowlands make up the bulk of Croatia, with elevations of less than 200 metres above sea level recorded in 53. 42% of the country. Most of the lowlands are found in the regions, especially in Slavonia. The plains are interspersed with horst and graben structures, believed to have broken the Pliocene Pannonian Seas surface as islands. The greatest concentration of ground at high elevations is found in the Lika and Gorski Kotar areas in the Dinaric Alps. The Dinaric Alps contain the highest mountain in Croatia—1, 831-metre Dinara—as well as all other mountains in Croatia higher than 1,500 metres. Croatias Adriatic Sea mainland coast is 1,777.3 kilometres long, while its 1,246 islands, karst topography makes up about half of Croatia and is especially prominent in the Dinaric Alps, as well as throughout the coastal areas and the islands. 62% of Croatias territory is encompassed by the Black Sea drainage basin, the area includes the largest rivers flowing in the country, the Danube, Sava, Drava, Mur and Kupa. The remainder belongs to the Adriatic Sea drainage basin, where the largest river by far is the Neretva, most of Croatia has a moderately warm and rainy continental climate as defined by the Köppen climate classification. The mean monthly temperature ranges between −3 °C and 18 °C, Croatia has a number of ecoregions because of its climate and geomorphology, and the country is consequently among the most biodiverse in Europe. The permanent population of Croatia by the 2011 census reached 4.29 million, the population density was 75.8 inhabitants per square kilometre, and the overall life expectancy in Croatia at birth was 75.7 years. The country is inhabited mostly by Croats, while minorities include Serbs, since the counties were re-established in 1992, Croatia is divided into 20 counties and the capital city of Zagreb. The counties subdivide into 127 cities and 429 municipalities, the average urbanisation rate in Croatia stands at 56%, with a growing urban population and shrinking rural population. The largest city and the capital is Zagreb, with an urban population of 686,568 in the city itself. The populations of Split and Rijeka exceed 100,000, Croatias territory covers 56,594 square kilometres, making it the 127th largest country in the world. The physical geography of Croatia is defined by its location—it is described as a part of Central Europe and Southeast Europe, a part of the Balkans and Mitteleuropa. Croatia borders Bosnia–Herzegovina and Serbia in the east, Slovenia for 667.8 km in the west, Hungary for 355.5 km in the north and Montenegro for 22.6 km and it lies mostly between latitudes 42° and 47° N and longitudes 13° and 20° E
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Konjic
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Konjic is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in northern Herzegovina, around 50 kilometres southwest of Sarajevo and it is a mountainous, heavily wooded area, and is 268 m above sea level. The municipality extends on both sides of the Neretva River, the town of Konjic, housed about a third of the total municipality population. The city is one of the oldest permanent settlements in Bosnia, dating back almost 4000 years, today, the population of Konjic municipality is estimated at 26,000 people. The area near the town is believed to be settled up to 4000 years ago, Konjic was earliest recorded by name in the records of the Republic of Ragusa on 16 June 1382. After World War I, the town, long with the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes later renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. During World War II, the became part of the Independent State of Croatia. The town grew significantly and prospered as a vibrant, multi-ethnic city with good transport links and these factors became one of the main reasons for the conflict in the 1990s. During conflict in Yugoslavia, Konjic municipality was of importance as it contained important communication links from Sarajevo to southern Bosnia. During the siege of Sarajevo the route through Konjic was of importance to the Bosnian government forces. The SDS, in co-operation with the JNA, had also been active in arming the Serb population of the municipality and in training paramilitary units and militias. According to Dr. Andrew James Gow, a witness for the Prosecution. The Croatian Army units were established and armed in the municipality by April 1992, between 20 April and early May 1992 Bosnian government forces seized control over most of the strategic assets of the Municipality and some armaments. However, Serb forces controlled the access points to the municipality. On 4 May 1992, the first shells landed in Konjic town, fired by the JNA and other Serb forces from the slopes of Borasnica and Kisera. With the town swollen from the influx of refugees, there was a shortage of accommodation as well as food. Charitable organisations attempted to supply the people with enough food. A clear priority for the Konjic authorities was the de-blocking of the routes to Sarajevo and this objective required that the Serbian forces holding Bradina and Donje Selo, as well as those at Borci and other strategic points, be disarmed
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