Geography Now! Bosnia and Herzegovina

Hehe, you thought Belgium was confusing? Brother, please, if you want complication-made addicts, come to Bosnia and Herzegovina. It's time to learn geography. No! Hey everybody, I'm your host Paul Barbato. If you're ever on a game show and there's a million-dollar question, chances are this country will be on that million-dollar question. So pay attention, you might win some money. Bosnia and Herzegovina have what seems like a very simple flag, but there's a lot hidden underneath it. First of all, the flag has a blue field with a yellow triangle and seven full stars and two half stars at the top and bottom of the hypotenuse of the triangle. The triangle represents the three constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats. It also respectively represents the map of Bosnia, which kind of looks like a triangle. The stars represent Europe and are meant to go on forever, hence the half stars at the bottom and the top. Some say the flag was even partially adapted from the European Union flag. The colors white and blue and yellow are traditionally seen as colors representing peace. Now let's find out how peaceful this country is, shall we? Remember Belgium and how confusing that whole Flanders-Wallonia thing was? Well, get ready because we're gonna conquer one place with two regions, two entities, and a weird third semi-rogue autonomous region district. Just fair warning, you might have a seizure trying to understand all of this stuff, so if your brain's not that strong, just fast forward to the physical geography part and we'll have some nice pretty pictures for you to look at. First of all, Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in that lovely area of mass confusion in South Europe known as the Balkans, located to the south of Croatia, west of Serbia, and north of Montenegro. You would think that Bosnia and Herzegovina is landlocked, but if you look very close, you'll notice they have the smallest little panhandle that touches the Adriatic Sea for only about 25 kilometers or about 15 miles. Now, here's where things get tricky. When you hear the name Bosnia and Herzegovina, you would think it kind of sounds like two separate nationalistic entities, kind of like the UK or the United Arab Emirates, but that's not really the case. So, first of all, what exactly is Bosnia and what exactly is Herzegovina? Well, in the shortest, simplest way I can put it, they're just regions. Although the borders are vague and not clearly defined, Bosnia is generally located in this area, and Herzegovina is generally located in the south in this area. Culturally, the people of Bosnia are the same as the people in Herzegovina, except there are more ethnic Croats living in the south by Herzegovina, especially on the border of Croatia. The only reason why it's separate is because some guy in the 1400s created his own country. He had the title of Herzog, which is where the name Herzegovina comes from, but other than that, it's just the same country. Now, here's where things do get divided, though. Bosnia and Herzegovina is kind of divided into two separate entities, each one with about half the land of the country that served the three different people groups known as the constituent peoples, a unique term that only applies to Bosnia and Herzegovina. We'll explain more about this in the demographics. Essentially, Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided into the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Republika Srpska. I know, it looks like it's pronounced S-R-P-L-I-N-P-S-K-A. It's pronounced S-R-P-S-K-A. Triple diphthongs are an amazing linguistic phenomena. Most of the ethnic Serbs live in the Republika Srpska, and each side has its own capital. Sarajevo for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Banja Luka for the Republic of Srpska. However, Sarajevo acts as a national capital for the entire country as well. Furthermore, the Republika Srpska is split into two regions, and then they are both divided into cantons, or counties, and municipalities. Ten for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and seven for the Republic of Srpska. Keep in mind, Bosnia and Herzegovina has two small municipal exclaves on the Sava river, on the border of Croatia, known as the Posavina Canton County. These belong to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and make the smallest cantons. Then you have the weird Brčko district. I know, it looks like Brčko. It's pronounced Brčko. That was a quadruple diphthong. Gotta love these Slavic words. This place is kind of seen as like a neutral ground, and kind of belongs to both entities, and it kind of governs itself. All of this was done to kind of alleviate the demographical tensions in the country after the Yugoslav wars in the 90s. However, the strategy behind it has always been kind of shaky in its foundations. Speaking of war, this place has a lot of lingering reminders of its brutal past. Like in Sarajevo, there's a tunnel museum, and the Sarajevo Roses, which are mortar blasts in the sidewalk that were filled up with pink concrete. They do have a little small sense of humor though. They made an ironic Icar canned beef monument, dedicated to the longest airlift raid attempt in history for nearly three years, in which humanitarian airlifts from all over Europe, and especially in the UK, would drop off food supplies that were often expired leftovers from previous wars that nobody wanted to eat. Many times, the food contained pork that many of the Muslims in the country had to abstain from eating, so it was useless to them. It was literally the world's most sarcastic monument ever. Now, if you thought Bosnia and Herzegovina was pretty quirky with their land borders, then you'll notice that the actual land has a lot more tricks and gimmicks. First of all, the country is mostly mountainous or hilly, as it lies on the Dinaric Alps in the Balkan Peninsula, with flatter lands in the northeast by the Pannonian Basin. About half of the country is forested, and about 30% of the land is arable, mostly in the northeast regions, whereas the south, mostly in Herzegovina, is more rocky and dry than the rest of the country. Now, this is where things get a little interesting. Yes, the country does have a lot of potential arable land, but the problem is, due to its war past, the country still has about 200,000 landmines that they have to clear from the ground. But I mean, hey, that's only like a third of the amount from Albania, remember? Woohoo! Slightly less danger! Then, in the Republika Srpska, you can find the last jungle or primeval forest in southern Europe, the Prussica Forest, which is only accessible to explore in the company of rangers. The world's tallest Norwegian spruce tree can be found here, and many captivating waterfalls and ancient trees that take you back years in the past. Now, here's the funny thing. Many people in Bosnia around Sarajevo will tell you that they're pretty certain that the country has the world's largest man-made ancient pyramid. Located near the town of Bisoko, the hills in the region seem to have an almost perfect geometric shape that creepishly resembles a pyramid with almost equal sides and angles. Modern archaeologists are skeptical, but if you look at the pictures from above, I mean, it does kind of look like a pyramid. I don't know. You be the judge. Also, thanks to its mountainous terrain, Bosnia-Herzegovina was selected and hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. However, since then, the entire area, including the bobsledding trail, is all but completely abandoned and tagged with graffiti. It's actually kind of a popular tourist spot these days. Bosnia-Herzegovina just doesn't stop when it comes to the strange atmosphere, but the people here are even more complex. Here's the rule of Bosnia-Herzegovina. You always have to constantly think in threes. Never refer to everybody in the country as just Bosnians. Half of everybody will get super mad at you. First of all, the country has about 4 million people, about 48% of whom are Bosnians, 33% Serbs, and 15% Croats, with the remaining 4% from other nations. The three main people groups of this country are pretty much what make it function in such a weird way. Now, here's the funny thing. Bosnians, Croatians, Serbians, and even Montenegrins can all pretty much understand each other with their languages. Their languages are all pretty much the same Slavic-based dialect with a few differential nuances. The only difference is that typically Serbian is written with a Cyrillic alphabet, and Bosnian and Croatian is written with a Latin-based alphabet. However, they will fiercely tell you that the languages are separate and distinct languages, Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian. They even put warning signs in all three languages on cigarette packs. So essentially, it's like this. Hi, I'm speaking American. Hello, I'm speaking British. Hi, I'm speaking Irish. You know, you guys all pretty much understand each other, and you're all kind of like saying the same thing. Aren't you all speaking the same? NO! Now, here's where things get really confusing. Bosnia-Herzegovina has a bicameral legislature that includes a three-member presidency, one for each of the people groups. Serbs, the Croatians, and the Bosnians. That's right. A country has three presidents. You don't see anything like this anywhere else in the world. However, the state government is highly decentralized, and a lot of the legislation just goes to the respective entities. Culturally, this place sticks out. As a former part of the Ottoman Empire, Islam spread to the nation and today is still part of the religious majority. Muslims make up about 45% of the population, most of whom are non-denominational Muslim, about 36% are Serb Orthodox Christian, 15% Catholic, mostly from the Croats. It's kind of strange because Bosnia is one of the few places in the world where you can find the whitest Muslims you will ever see in your life. It's funny though because for a long time, Bosnia-Herzegovina was also under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so you kind of get this weird European-Muslim-Eastern mix in terms of culture. It's also kind of known as the place where World War I started. Remember Archduke Franz Ferdinand? Yeah, that's kind of how the country interacts with itself. Now, how does it interact with the outsiders? Now, this is where things get very politically divisive because the country has a very deep history in alliances and enemies. Without getting into too much detail, essentially in the 90s, the country was in a straight-up war internally and it was basically against all three people groups. After the war ended and the Dayton Agreement was signed, the country cooled off, kind of, and the people agreed to calm down a bit and stop killing each other and make a new country that had a full sovereign status as one, but with divided regions that were somewhat segregated. Did you get that? This was the best they could do, and I mean, honestly, with a country with that much internal animosity, it worked kind of well. It's like, look, we all hate each other, and we still do, but things have gotten a little too crazy, so let's just agree to stop all the chaos and hate each other in a distant yet constructive way so that our country can still make money and not get ridiculed by everyone else outside. Deal? Deal. In terms of outside friends, Bulgaria was the first country to recognize Bosnia and Herzegovina's sovereignty and immediately stepped in with bilateral relations, and the two get along just fine today. Surprisingly, Malaysia is also a huge supporter of the country and during the war became the only country in Asia to accept Bosnian refugees. To this day, many Bosnian students study abroad and live in Malaysia. Now, when it comes to best friends, it really depends on who you ask in the country. Of course, the Croats will tell you Croatia, the Bosnians will most likely say Turkey, and the Serbs will say Serbia. In a weird way, though, the division of peoples kind of inadvertently increases the diplomatic relations that the country as a whole has access to. For example, Bosnians may not like the Russians, but the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina do. Therefore, the country as a whole benefits from the relations that one people group engage in, regardless of how the second feels. Isn't that weird? It's like the friend of my enemy is by default my friend too. Welcome to Bosnia and Herzegovina! Many Bosnians have actually tried to contend for a unified central government all under one legislation. However, the Republic of Srpska is fiercely opposed to this. They only kind of reluctantly agreed to be under Bosnian-Herzegovina's sovereignty just by a few strands of hair, and they've even threatened that if Kosovo gains complete independence, they will have no problem annexing themselves back to Serbia, which would make Serbia look like this. In conclusion, Bosnia and Herzegovina is like the Belgium of the Balkans, but with stranger conflicts, quieter controlled anger, slightly dysfunctional politics, but with a pinch of sarcasm and dry humor that gives the country its spicy appeal. Stay tuned, Botswana is coming up next.