Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Infobox Settlement

settlement_type =
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name =Bosnia and Herzegovina

subdivision_type1 =
subdivision_name1 =
subdivision_type2 =
subdivision_name2 =

timezone=CET
utc_offset=+1
timezone_DST = CEST
utc_offset_DST = +2

unit_pref=
map_caption =Location of PAGENAME within Bosnia and Herzegovina
latNS=N
longEW=E
population_as_of= 2006
native_name = Пале
official_name = Pale
other_name =
image_shield =

---

area_total_km2 = 492|population_blank1 = 6900|population_blank1_title=Municipality
population_total = 30,000
|parts_type=Settlements
parts =
latd=43|latm=82
longd=18|longm=57
area_code = 57
website =
footnotes =
leader_name = Slobodan Savić (SDS) [http://www.izbori.ba/documents/Rezultati%20izbora%202004/Utvrdjeni/2004NacelniciRS.pdf]
leader_party =
|

Pale (Cyrillic: Пале) is a town and a municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, located southeast of Bosnia's capital Sarajevo. The municipality of Pale is one of the municipalities of the City of Istočno Sarajevo.

History

Pale was known as the capital of Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian war, as the Constitution of Republika Srpska sets out that Sarajevo is the capital of Republika Srpska which was recognized as an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Dayton Peace Agreement. The capital has now transferred to Banja Luka.

Prior to the Dayton Peace Accord, Pale was a remote suburb of Sarajevo; following the population redistribution on the basis of ethnicity in Bosnia during and after the Bosnian War, it began to more closely resemble a proper town, which it does, today.

Population

1971

16.119 total
* Serbs - 11.230 (69,66)
* Muslims - 4.508 (27,96)
* Croats - 142 (0,88)
* Yugoslavs - 80 (0,49)
* Others - 159 (1,01)

1991

In the census of 1991, the Municipality of Pale had 16,310 residents, including:
*11,269 Serbs (See: Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
*4,356 Muslims by nationality (Bosniaks)
*394 Yugoslavs
*126 Croats (See: Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
*165 others

The town of Pale itself had a population of 6,797, including:
*4,915 Serbs
*1,438 Muslims by nationality (Bosniaks)
*271 Yugoslavs
*88 Croats
*85 others

The pre-war Bosniak part of the Pale municipality known as Pale-Prača is now in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Bosnian Podrinje Canton).

Nowadays

Today there are about 30,000 inhabitants in Pale, many of them Bosnian Serbs that moved from Sarajevo.

Name and geography

Pale is additionally referred to by its Serb inhabitants, and in fact by many of the inhabitants of the Republika Srpska (Serb Republic), as 'Srpsko Sarajevo', or 'Serb Sarajevo'. However, the distance of about convert|10|km|mi|0|abbr=on separates the borders of the actual city of Sarajevo and Pale itself. Pale continues to be referred to as Serb Sarajevo due to the fact that, after the Dayton Peace Accords, Sarajevo-proper was designated as belonging to the Muslim-Croat Federation, but Bosnian Serbs, having lived in Sarajevo for generations themselves, wanted to retain some claim to their city. As a result, in an attempt to echo belonging to Sarajevo, and stake some claim to it, Pale, the closest Serb settlement to Sarajevo (within the Serb Republic), became known as and referred to as Serb Sarajevo, albeit with a hint of sarcasm by many people, without regard to their ethnicity. The town is, in reality, removed geographically from the city of Sarajevo and shares no metropolitan features with the city itself. It is home to its own post office, University buildings, etc.

External links

* [http://www.pale.rs.ba/ Official Website]