History of the demographics of Bosnia and Herzegovina

This article is about the Demographic history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and deals with the country's documented demographics over time. For an overview of the various ethnic groups and their historical development, see Nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The country's rich historical ethnocultural corpus includes a mix of Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Muslims, Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, Turks, Jews, Austrians, Hungarians, Vlachs, etc.

= Prehistoric = The oldest traces of mankind in Bosnia and Herzegovina were during the Paleolithic period near Doboj, Prnjavor and in the Valley of the River of Usora. During the Neolithic period there were three cultural zones: the Adriatic in Herzegovina; the Pannonian-Balkan in Bosnia and the transitional zone between the two in the headwaters of the river of Bosnia. Bosnia and Herzegovina is full of archealogical foundings from the Bronze to Iron Age. Throughout the Classical Age cultural and civilization layers of the Illyrians (Daorsi in eastern Herzegovina, Ardijejci, Dalmatians, Japodi, etc), Celts, Ostrogoths and others were formed, though the majority of the populace was Romanized during the conquests at the beginning of the New Era. The Eastern Goths thrusted into the area during the early Middle Ages, while Avars and Slavs came in the 6th century.

Medieval

Due to a variety of factors (such as frequent boundary shifts and a relative isolation from the rest of Europe) there are no detailed statistics dealing with Bosnia's population during the Middle Ages. It is generally estimated that the population of the Bosnian Kingdom at the height of its power was between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people [http://www.bosna-hercegovina.info/povijest.htm] . There were very few significant urban centers in Bosnia at this time, and even these paled in comparison to the far more urbanized areas along the nearby Dalmatian coast. Among the more notable cities were Jajce, Srebrenica, and Visoko. The overwhelming majority of the population was rural and the social organization of Medieval Bosnia developed into what was called "Zadruga". In this system, communities were organized by a few families of common interests usually situated in a cluster housing formation. Leaders of the community were selected according to their age and high ethical standards. Zadruga was primarily an agrarian community greatly dependent on natural resources.

Pre-modern

Migrations and other

Throughout the 15th - 19th century there were many demographic changes. Frequent wars, religious persecutions, rebellions, uprisings, taking of children as tribute, high tributes, high taxes, years of bad crops, epidemics, violence, and oppression have caused a high mortality rate and suffering of the whole population and instigated the migration flows that changed the ethnic structure of the population. So, with arrival of Ottoman empire coincided with the process of Christian population emigration from these regions, which has remained the main feature of the demographic development of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina until the present day. At the same time, intense internal shifting of the population together with recurrent migrations and also immigrations changed the distribution of some ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Ottoman period. The later stages saw particularly Moslem migrations from the region.

In the Bosnia proper the population started to move out first from lower regions (Posavina and the river valleys) and then from highlands. The most intensive migration flows originated in the karst Dinaric regions of Herzegovina and western Bosnia. For centuries, the population from these regions, mostly Christian, headed towards sourounding contries):

*The migrations from Western Bosnia (from Glamoč and Unac, Kupres, Grahovo, Knežpolje) were heading towards Lika, Croatia proper, and Slovenia, and steady emigration flows from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dalmatia, and Lika headed towards Slavonia, Syrmia, Banat, Bačka, and Baranja.

*Migrations from eastern Herzegovina and Upper Podrinje headed towords western Serbia and Šumadija.

*Migrations from the southern Dinaric region of Bosnia and Herzegovina headed towards Dalmatia. Jovan Cvijić states that the first migrations to Dalmatia from the Dinaric hinterland started already at the end of the 12th century, and they became stronger in the Ottoman period from the 15th to the 18th century. Also these migrations shifted the medieval population of Dalmatia that had previously migrated mostly towards Croatia, Slavonija, and Italy. According to Cvijić, almost all of the population of Makarska, Omiš, Split, Šibenik and Bukovica originated from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

*Of the Herzegovina origin were the inhabitants of the city of Dubrovnik and the vicinity, while the population of the Bay of Kotor originated from the Montenegrin and Herzegovina Dinaric regions.

Throughout the 15th - 19th century, with coming of Ottoman empire on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina first significant demographic change took place as almost all followers of than Bosnian Church converted to Islam as a method of keeping the ownership of the land they owned before the Ottoman conquest. Their conversions were also of a political nature while Orthodox and Catholic portions of the Bosnian population had their base in the Serbian Orthodox Church and Catholic Church, Bosnian church followers had no representation on a larger geopolitical scene. Added motivation were also tax relief's for conversions to Islam.There were also great influx of Ortodox belivers, due to the constant imigrations from Montegro and Serbia, freaquent wars (orthodox population participated as soldiers on both sides), and shortage of catholic preachers.

Preottoman Catholic population had a great share in the emigrations from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The emigration flows were directed towards Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Baranja and north-west Bačka. At the same time, after the victorious wars of Austria against Turkey and the shifting of the border south of the Sava and Danube rivers, a portion of previous Croatian emigrants came back to Bosnia. In this period up to the migrations, the Bosnian Krajina region (western half of modern-day Bosnia) was known as "Turkish Croatia" and had an overwhelming Catholic and Croat majority.

According to the findings of many an author, the Moslem population, in the period of the Ottoman rule, did not emigrate much compared to the migrations of the Orthodox and Catholic population. The Moslem population was characteristic of return migrations as soon as the political and economic situation again became stable or the state borders were shifted. The return movements of the Moslem population from the Seaside, Lika, Slavonia, Hungary, and other places are well known. For example, after the Siege of Vienna (1683-1699), territorial losses of the Ottoman Empire and the conquest of Lika and Krbava by the Austrian Imperial Army, mass movements of the Moslem population from those regions took place; the Moslem population headed towards Bihać, Cazin, and Bosanska Krupa where they created an enclave in the vast region of Bosnian Frontier. More intensified immigrations of the Moslem population were noticed in 1690 when they moved from Hungary and Slavonia to the region around the mountain of Majevica.

In the Ottoman period, the Moslem population increased in number in Bosnia and Herzegovina somewhat due to immigrations of Moslems from the Sanjaks of Smederevo and Novi Pazar, and especially from some regions of Montenegro, Sjenica, and Pester. Immigrations of the Turkish population from Asia Minor also had an impact upon the growth of the Moslem population in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the 15th to 19th century.

However, the increase of the Moslem population was mostly due to their high natality rate given the patriarchic nature of the family structure. In such family structure the duties of the family members were strictly divided where female member of the family almost solely were bearing many children and taking care of the household while male members were engaged in running the land and the politics of the community.

Patriarchal structure was also evident in Orthodox and Catholic families but the statistics do not tend to show as high natality rates. The difference (according to some literary sources of the time) was in the social levels of Moslems relative to their Christian counterparts where the former were landowners and hence upper and upper middle class who could afford to have more offspring and latter were land workers and hence lower middle to lower class. Such social organization corresponded to a feudal system of the time.

Ottoman Empire

During and shortly after the Ottomans' conquest of Bosnia, between 1463 - 1557, it is estimated that the Ottoman forces took around 100,000 of Bosnia's inhabitants into captivity and 30,000 young into the Janissaries as a result of the "devshirmeh" (also known as "blood tax").

The Official population census by religion in Bosnia:

Final results of ottoman administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina was rearranging most of its religious and ethnical map. New empire created mostly muslim elites which made up the majority in most of the cities, as in the westernmost and easternmost borderparts of Bosnia (Cazin area, parts of Drina valley and larger area around Tuzla).Prewar catholic majority west of Vrbas (area was part of Croatian Kingdom before the ottomans) had disappeared and was exchanged by orthodox majority , due to constant immigration of Orthodox, sortage of Catholic priesthood and emigrations of catholics from that area.Catholics also mostly disappeared from Eastern Bosnia (Srebrenica region was one of Hungarian banates) and dropped to a minority in northern Bosnia (except for large parts of Bosnian Posavina). In central Bosnia Catholics dropped roughly to about one half of the population, and Herzegovina was basically divided into Catholic and Orthodox parts with a muslim majority in most of the cities.

Territorial distribution

The Moslem population was mostly urban and comprised the majority in most of Bosnia and Herzegovina towns(Sarajevo, Tuzla, Banja Luka) as in western (Cazin) and estern borderparts (parts of Drina valley) of the country due to religius wars with neighbouring countries. In general, Moslems were the dominant group in most developed urban centers of the country.

Most of western parts of Bosnia, eastern parts of Herzegovina and parts of Drina valley had Ortodox majority. Those were large, but mostly mountainous regions. The re-establishment of the Pec Patriarchate in 1557 and sortage of catholic priesthood contributed greatly to preservation of Serbian presence in these areas.

The Catholic population comprised majority in the most of the Herzegovina, Posavina and Central Bosnia . The preservation of a Catholic presence in these areas was greatly contributed by the establishment of the Franciscian Order, which acted against Catholic emigration.

Due to the frequent migrations and religious wars, a lot of those areas contained few (or more) of small enclaves of peoples of other religions.

Bosnia accepted a wave of immigrants of Jews that were expelled from Spain since the 15th century. They settled in Sarajevo, Travnik, Banja Luka and Bihac. The immigration of the Romanies, Cincars, Cerkez, in small numbers, coincided with the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina. None of these groups considerably influenced the overall population structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During the liberational wars fought by the Serbs between 1875 and 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina lost "13,64%" of its population (150,000 out of total 1,100,000) of whom most were Serbs.

Modern

Austro-Hungary

During 1879 the first thorough population census stated that there were 1,158,164 citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1879, by religion:

There were 5,388 settlements, 11 of which had more than 5,000 inhabitants. Over 4,689 of those settlements contained less than 500 inhabitants.

The Ethnic structure was:

Territorial distribution

The Urban population was:
* Sunni Muslims "50.76%"
* Catholics "24.49%"
* Greek Orthodox Christians "19.92%"

Conducted in 1910 by Austro-Hungary. Percentages land ownership:
* Muslims owning "91.1%"
* Orthodox Serbs owning "6%"
* Catholic Croats owning "2.6%"
* "others" owned "0.3%"

First World War

The First World War left Bosnia and Herzegovina without a total figure of "360,000 citizens" or "19%" of its population; predominantly Serbs.

In war camps and prisons 320,000 Bosnians and Herzegovinians perished, of whom 200,000 were Serbs.

Migrations

As soon as the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs was formed, a number of earlier colonized families started to emigrate and return to their homelands: Germans, Czechs, Poles, Slovaks, Hungarians, Ruthenians,...

The new planned resettlement plans hit most the Orthodox Serb population, as large masses were moved from passive regions of Herzegovina and Bosnia to Vojvodina, eastern Banat in presice; while some left to Kosovo and Metohia: inhabiting the region from Kačanik to Vučitrn, around Priština, Lipljan, Peć, Istok, Đakovica, and in Drenica. Somealso left to Macedonia.

The earlier emigrational tendency of the Moslim population towards Ottoman-held territories continued.

A great number of the population, among whom the Serbs and Croats from the karst regions of Herzegovina and Western Bosnia were most numerous, moved to the northern regions of Yugoslavia and abroad (North and South America, Canada, France, Belgium, etc.)

State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

1921 population census

The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes conducted a population census in the territorial entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 31 January 1921. There were 1,890,440 persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The people were split among two nationalities:
* Serbs and Croats
* "undecided" and "others" (mostly Muslims)

By religion:
* Serbian Orthodox Christians 829,290 ("43.87%")
* Sunni Muslims 588,244 ("31.07%")
* Catholic Christians 444,308 ("23.58%")
* "others" 28,595 ("1.58%")

Territorial distribution

Following the "Agrarian reforms" of 1918 and 1919 [http://www.hic.hr/books/seeurope/010e-semiz.htm] , the government confiscated numerous lands owned by Moslem Bosnians. The entire land was split among the people based on territorial distribution. Serbs got the most, while Croats the least.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

1931 population census

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia has conducted a population census on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 31 March 1931 which stated that there were 2,323,555 persons. The population was given several nationalities:
* Yugoslavs (Slavs, the majority)
* Germans
* Ukrainians
* Poles
* Hungarians
* Roma
* Turks

By religion:

Serbian

Totally 1,475,288

See also

* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Republika Srpska
* Herzeg-Bosnia
* Western Bosnia
* History of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bosnians
* Serbs
* Croats
* Muslims by nationality
* Bosniaks
* Croatian percentage in Bosnian municipalities 1971-1991
*1991 Bosnia and Herzegovina Population Census

References

External links

* [http://josip.purger.com/other/bih/index.htm 1991 Census in BIH - census data for all municipalities]
* [http://www.hdmagazine.com/bosnia/census/ 1991 Census in BIH - census data for settlements]
* [http://www.fzs.ba/Dem/Popis/NacStanB.htm Census data]
* [http://www.rastko.org.yu/istorija/srbi-balkan/spasovski-kicosev-zivkovic-sfry.html Serbs of SFRJ]
* [http://www.rastko.org.yu/rastko-bl/istorija/batakovic/batakovic-serbs_bih_uvod_en.html The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina]
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02694a.htm Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Catholic Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.srpska-mreza.com/Yugoslavia/views/Ekmecic-NYT.html The historical aspect of the Serbian question in the Yugoslav crisis]
* [http://www.hic.hr/books/seeurope/010e-semiz.htm Agrarian reform of 1918]
* [http://www.bosna-hercegovina.info/stanovnistvo.htm Population of Bosnia and Herzegovina] (in Croatian and Bosnian)
* [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bk.ht CIA World Fact book - Bosnia and Herzegovina]
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5387898247546021019&q=bosnia Short documentary on Displaced people and refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina]