Ottoman period in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina began in 1384, and then the "Ottoman invasion" spread to the so-called Bosansko Kraishte. The Kingdom of Bosnia finally fell in 1463; Herzegovina came under the control of Istanbul in 1482. It took about one more century for the western parts of today's Bosnia to also be part of the Ottoman Empire.

Bosnia continued to officially exist in the reign of the Berislavić dynasty and finally fell only in 1527 - with the fall of its capital, Jajce. In the same year, the first Ottoman administration was created in the country.

The Turks conquered Slavonia and most of Hungary by 1541, so in the next century, most of the Bosnian province of the empire was not a border strip and developed in the relative world. The territory of the region was divided into two parts: Bosnian Eylet and Herzegovina Eyalet (Herzegovina Eyalet).

However, when the Ottoman Empire lost the war with Austria , which lasted from 1683 to 1697, and ceded to Slavonia and Hungary to the Austrians, the northern and western borders of Bosnia became the border between the Austrian and Ottoman empires. Already in 1716, Austria occupied northern Bosnia and northern Serbia - this continued until 1739, when both regions were again transferred to the Ottoman Empire under the agreements of the Belgrade Treaty. The established borders existed for another one and a half centuries, although border wars continued.

Wars between the Ottoman Empire, Austria and Venice ravaged Bosnia and contributed to the further migration of its population; Muslim refugees from Hungary and Slavonia moved to Bosnia, assimilated with the indigenous population of Bosnians - while many Orthodox Christians of the region moved to Slavonia at the invitation of the Austrian emperor.

The most famous of the uprisings of the 19th century in the region was the uprising of 1831-1832 led by Captain Hussein Gradashevich, nicknamed the "Bosnian dragon" (Zmaj od Bosne). The captain managed to raise a full-scale uprising in the province, which was joined by thousands of local Bosnian soldiers. Despite winning several battles, the rebels were ultimately defeated at the battle of Sarajevo in 1832. Internal disagreements contributed to the failure of the rebellion - in particular, Gradashchevich was not supported by a significant part of the Herzegovinian nobility. The uprising was finally “put out” by 1850, but the Empire continued to decline.

The Ottoman sultans at the beginning of the XIX century repeatedly tried to implement various economic and military reforms aimed at solving serious problems caused mainly by border wars. However, the reforms, as a rule, met with resistance from the military in Bosnia. As a result, Ottoman rule lasted more than four hundred years - until 1878.

During the Ottoman Empire, construction was actively underway in Bosnia: new cities were created and developed, including Sarajevo and Mostar . The empire also contributed to the establishment of "close relations" between the Turks and the Bosnians, and during the Ottoman Empire, many Turks had confidence in the Bosnians.

Administrative

The region of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina was originally part of the Ottoman province of Rumelia (beylerbeylik) and was divided between three sanjaks (administrative units of the second level): Bosnia, Herzegovina (Hersek) and Zvornik ( Izvornik ). In 1580, Istanbul authorities created a separate Bosnian eyelash, which in turn was divided into the sanjaks of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The authorities of the empire also introduced the so-called “sludge” system, which markedly changed the local administration and agricultural relations - in general, it looked like European feudal possessions .

Later, as part of the reforms of the entire Empire, the region became two ejalets: Bosnian and Herzegovina - which together covered modern Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with the Sandzak region (then Sandzak Novi Pazar).

Ultimately, over the centuries of Ottoman rule, almost all the supporters of the Bosnian church converted to Islam . There are conflicting statements about the exact ratio of representatives of different faiths in the region - as well as how voluntary the adoption of Islam was.

Ottoman rule also changed the ethnic and religious image of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many Bosnian Catholics left for Croatia , which was controlled by the Austrian Habsburgs . At the same time, Muslims from the north and west of Croatia massively migrated to Bosnia.

• Bataković, Dušan T. The Serbs of Bosnia & Herzegovina: History and Politics. Dialogue Association .. - 1996.
• Markus Koller and Kemal H. Karpat, Ottoman Bosnia: A History in Peril, University of Wisconsin Press. - 2004. - ISBN 0-299-20714-5 .
• Matija Mazuranic. A Glance into Ottoman Bosnia, Saqi Books. - 2007.