Bihać

Bihać
Bihać
	Coat of arms of Bihać Coat of arms
	Location of Bihać within Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Country	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Government
• Municipality president	Hamdija Lipovača (SDP)
Area
• Total	900 km2 (300 sq mi)
Population (est. 2006)
• Total	105,000
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Area code	+387 37
Website	http://www.bihac.org

Bihać is a city and municipality on the Una River in the north-western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, center of the Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

History

The town was first mentioned as early as 1260 as property of a church in Topusko, Croatia in a document by the Hungarian-Croatian king Bela IV, and became a free city in 1262. Bihać was the temporary capital of the Croatian Kingdom. It lost its civic status in the 14th century following dynastic struggles in the kingdom, and became a property of the Frankopan nobles. In the 16th century it passed under direct royal rule, when battles with the Ottoman Empire had begun. The town of Bihać, in the region of the same name, withstood the Ottoman attacks until it fell with the Bosnia sanjak (in 1592).

The Bihać fort would become the westernmost fort taken by the Ottoman army over a hundred years later, in 1592 under the Bosnian vizier Hasan-pasha Predojević, previous orthodox Bosnians - Valacchi (Vlah in Bosnian). The city was initially made the center of the Bihać sanjak, part of the Bosnian pashaluk. It was demoted in 1699 to become part of the sanjak of Bosnia, during the period of intense border wars between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire. In 1865 it became the center of its own sanjak, but this lasted only until 1878, when all of Bosnia was occupied by Austria-Hungary.

A period of peace followed, marked by the 1888 bringing down of the fortress walls that separated the inner city from the outskirts. The new government had several schools and civic facilities built, which boosted the city's growth. It remained prosperous after the establishment of Yugoslavia, the center of the western Bosnian region, though its growth was impaired by the Great Depression in the 1930s.

During World War II it served as headquarters for the liberation army of Josip Broz Tito, the seat of the first AVNOJ session in 1942 and the center of the anti-fascist resistance. As such, it became a target of the occupying powers and the Germans retook it in 1943 and held it until 1945 and their final defeat.

Bihać suffered the destruction of many buildings during the recent Bosnian War, when the area around the city was under siege by the Bosnian Serb forces for over three years, until the summer of 1995 when the siege was broken in the beginning of the Croats' Operation Storm conjoined with Bosnian forces under General Atif Dudaković.

Demographics

Population of Bihać municipality
year of census	1991.	1981.	1971.
Bosniaks	46,737 (66.07%)	40,041 (61.09%)	37,325 (64.14%)
Serbs	12,689 (17.93%)	11,093 (16.92%)	12,096 (20.78%)
Croats	5,580 (7.88%)	5,855 (8.93%)	6,824 (11.72%)
Yugoslavs	4,356 (6.15%)	7,364 (11.23%)	1,133 (1.94%)
others and unknown	1,370 (1.93%)	1,191 (1.81%)	807 (1.38%)
total	70,732	65,544	58,185

2006

Ethnically speaking, in the estimation of 2006, the whole Bihać municipality had 105,000 residents, including:

85% Bosniaks
5% Serbs
10% Croats

2005

In 2005, 91% of population of the municipality were ethnic Bosniaks.

Settlements

Bihać

Total: 45,553

27,418 - 60.18% Bosniaks
8,218 - 18.04% Serbs
4,805 - 10.54% Croats
4,020 - 8.82% Yugoslavs
1,092 - 2.42% others and unknown

Orašac

Total: 2,574

2,498 - 97.04% Bosniaks
49 - 1.90% Serbs
1 - 0.03% Croats
11 - 0.42% Yugoslavs
15 - 0,58% others and unknown

Brekovica

Total: 1,833

1,779 - 97.05% Bosniaks
1 - 0.05% Croats
1 - 0.05% Serbs
4 - 0.21% Yugoslavs
48 - 2.61% others and unknown

Ripač

Total: 1,724

1,297 - 75.23% Bosniaks
339 - 19.66% Serbs
12 - 0.69% Croats
70 - 4.06% Yugoslavs
6 - 0.34% others and unknown

Features

The city and the region are now becoming a viable tourist destination for its natural beauty. The Una river valley where Bihać is situated provides the best route from Zagreb to Dalmatia so the traffic position is also favorable.

There's also a yearly regatta held on the Una, as well as the Bihać Summer theatrical event.

Border crossings

Border crossings with Croatia are located nearby at Izačić to the west of the city (with the Croatian border post at Licko Petrovo Selo), and Ripac to the south of Bihać (with the Croatian border post at Uzljebic). Bihać is located on the shortest route between Zagreb and the southern part of Croatia's Dalmatian coast.

Education

The University of Bihać was opened in 1997 and it has seven faculties: technical, economics, law school, biotechnical, pedagogical, medical college, Islamic pedagogical academy.

Sport

The local football club is NK Jedinstvo.

Economy

Bihać is home to a beer brewery which makes the award winning Preminger.

Bihać is currently going through a reconstruction of its main buildings and streets.

References

Official results from the book: Ethnic composition of Bosnia-Herzegovina population, by municipalities and settlements, 1991. census, Zavod za statistiku Bosne i Hercegovine - Bilten no.234, Sarajevo 1991.