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Bosnia
has been inhabited at least since Neolithic times.
In the early Bronze Age, the Neolithic population
was replaced by more warlike Indo-European tribes
known as the Illyres or Illyrians. Celtic migrations
in the 4th and 3rd century BCE displaced many Illyrian
tribes from their former lands, but some Celtic
and Illyrian tribes mixed.Concrete historical evidence
for this period is scarce, but overall it appears
that the region was populated by a number of different
peoples speaking distinct languages. Conflict between
the Illyrians and Romans started in 229 BCE, but
Rome wouldn't complete its annexation of the region
until 9 CE. In the Roman period, latin-speaking
settlers from all over the Roman Empire settled
among the Illyrians and Roman soldiers were encouraged
to retire in the region.
The 1990
parliamentary elections led to a national assembly
dominated by three ethnically-based parties, which
had formed a loose coalition to oust the communists
from power. Croatia and Slovenia's subsequent
declarations of independence and the warfare that
ensued placed Bosnia and Herzegovina and its three
constituent peoples in an awkward position. A
significant split soon developed on the issue
of whether to stay with the Yugoslav federation
(overwhelmingly favored among Serbs) or seek independence
(overwhelmingly favored among Bosniaks and Croats).
A declaration of sovereignty in October of 1991
was followed by a referendum for independence
from Yugoslavia in February and March 1992 boycotted
by the great majority of Bosnian Serbs. With a
voter turnout of 64%, 98% of which voted in favor
of the proposal, Bosnia and Herzegovina became
an independent state. Following a tense period
of escalating tensions and sporadic military incidents,
open warfare began in Sarajevo on April 6.
International
recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina meant that
the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) officially withdrew
from the republic's territory, although their
Bosnian Serb members merely joined the Army of
Republika Srpska. Armed and equipped from JNA
stockpiles in Bosnia, supported by volunteers
and various paramilitary forces from Serbia, and
receiving extensive humanitarian, logistical and
financial support from the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, Republika Srpska's offensives in 1992
managed to place much of the country under its
control. By 1993, when an armed conflict erupted
between the Sarajevo government and the Croat
statelet of Herzeg-Bosnia, about 70% of the country
was controlled by the Serbs.
In March
1994, the signing of the Washington accords between
the leaders of the republican government and Herzeg-Bosnia
led to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat Federation
of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This, along with international
outrage at Serb war crimes and atrocities (most
notably the genocidal killing of 8,000 Bosniak
males in Srebrenica in July, 1995), eventually
turned the tide of war. The signing of the Dayton
Agreement in Dayton, Ohio by the presidents of
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Alija Izetbegovi?), Croatia
(Franjo Tu?man), and Yugoslavia (Slobodan Miloševi?)
brought a halt to the fighting, roughly establishing
the basic structure of the present-day state.
The three years of war and bloodshed had left
102,000 people killed and more than 2 million
displaced.
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