Bosnia and Herzegovina, a province lying between Dalmatia and Slavonia, which has made very rapid progress in prosperity since the Berlin treaty of 1878 put it, till then Turkish, under the administration of Austria-Hungary. Although not formally incorporated by treaty, these provinces form virtually a part of the empire-monarchy. With the sanjak of Novi-Bazar, occupied but not administered by Austria-Hungary, the area is nearly half that of England. Bosnia, the most beautiful of the Balkan provinces, reminds one of Styria or the Tyrol in its rugged mountainous character, its dense forests, and in the picturesqueness of its valleys. The Dinaric Alps, here attaining a maximum altitude of 7663 feet, form the water-parting between the Adriatic and Danube basins; and four rivers—the Unna, the Vrbas, the Bosna (from which the province takes its name), and the Drina—flow northwards to their confluence with the Save. Herzegovina, on the other hand, is a bare, rugged, ill-watered country of limestone mountain masses, overstrewn with cyclopean rocks; its few valleys are exposed in summer to broiling heat.
Unlike Slavonia and Hungary, Bosnia offers no advantages for the growth of cereals; but, as in Switzerland and the Tyrol, flocks and herds may be reared with profit. The commerce of Bosnia is almost exclusively in the hands of the Jews, the majority of whom reside in Sarajevo or Bosna-Serai, the capital. With the exception of the Jews, Tsigans (Gypsies), a few Bulgarians and Albanians, and some Osmanli Turks, who live in the larger towns of Bosnia, all the inhabitants of the Illyrian Alps are Slavs, and in Herzegovina their characteristics are most strongly marked. The Bosnians themselves, though united by race, are divided by religion, Mussulman against Christian, Greek-Orthodox against Roman Catholic. Hence, in spite of every natural advantage, they were, unlike their Servian brethren, unable to emancipate themselves from the Turkish yoke. Although they form little over a third of the population, the Mussulmans possess more than their share of landed property.
The superficial area in square miles of Bosnia is about 16,142; of Herzegovina, 3515; and of Novi-Bazar, 3522. According to the census of 1885 the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina was 1,336,091 (Mohammedans, 492,710; Greek-Orthodox, 571,250; Roman Catholics, 265,788; Jews, 5805); in 1890, 1,505,000. Novi-Bazar has a population of 153,000. Herzegovina, Slav for 'duchy,' is formed from the German Herzog.
History.—Bosnia, in ancient times a part successively of Illyria, Pannonia, and Dalmatia, was during the great migrations occupied by Slavs or Slavonised Illyrians, at first dependent on Hungary; but it became a kingdom in 1376, under Tivartko, a native prince. Occupied by the Turks in 1401, it was annexed in 1463, but not recognised by Europe as a Turkish province till 1699. Extortionate taxation caused a rebellion of the Christians in 1849, suppressed by Omar Pasha; but a more determined rising in 1875, which the Turks failed to put down, led to the occupation of the province by the Austro-Hungarians, which the Moslem population opposed in a fierce but unavailing struggle. The treaty of Berlin formally intrusted the administration to Austria-Hungary. Since 1880 extraordinary progress has been made in roads, railways, finance, and commerce. See A. Evans, Through Bosnia and Herzegovina on Foot (1876); Strauss, Bosnien (1884); Laveleye, The Balkan Peninsula (trans. 1887); and Asbóth, Bosnia and Herzegovina (trans. 1889).