Šamac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Šamac
Шамац Bosanski Šamac Босански Шамац | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Location of Šamac within Republika Srpska | |
| Country |  Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Entity | Republika Srpska |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Savo Minić (SNSD) [1] |
| Area | |
• Total | 17,754 km2 (6,855 sq mi) |
| Population (2013 census) | |
• Total | 19,041 |
| • Density | 10,725/km2 (27,780/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
| Area code | 54 |
| Website | [1] |
Šamac (Serbian Cyrillic: Шамац, pronounced [ʃâmat͡s])[2] is a town and municipality in the northeastern part of the Republika Srpska entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina, located on the right bank of the Sava river. Across the river is Slavonski Šamac in Croatia.
History
The city was founded by Bosnian settlers from Ottoman province of Smederevo in 1862. It was part of the Ottoman province of Bosnia by the time it was annexed by Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1887.[citation needed] After World War I, the city became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. From 1929 to 1939, it was part of Drina Banovina; and from 1939 until 1941 it was part of the Banovina of Croatia. During World War II, Šamac, as all the rest of Bosnia-Herzegovina, was included into Nazi-controlled Independent State of Croatia. After 1945, the city was reintegrated within the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Tito's Yugoslavia.
In the early stages of the Bosnian war the town was occupied by Bosnian Serbs who established the provisional municipal government. Most Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats were ethnically cleansed.[3][4] During the war, a semi-permanent front line was established against Croatian and Bosniak forces towards the neighboring Orašje. In 2003, three Bosnian Serb town leaders at the time of the Yugoslav Wars were sentenced in ICTY for crimes against humanity.[5]
A monument in Šamac for the Serbs who fought and died during war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has the Serbian eagle in the center, the years which war occurred (1992–1995) and the Serbian slogan: "Samo Sloga Srbina Spasava" on the left and right sides.[6]
The town lies on an important strategic position in Republika Srpska, near Brčko. As with most other places under Serbian control, Srpska authorities removed the "Bosnian" adjective from the town's official name and changed it to "Šamac". Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats continued to refer to it by its historical name of "Bosanski Šamac" (Serbian Cyrillic: Босански Шамац, pronounced [bǒsanskiː ʃâmat͡s])[2] causing tension among the inhabitants. A court order had the official name changed to simply Šamac removing any ethnic divisions in its previous names.
-
Main square -
Monument over serbs fallen in the Bosnian War
Settlements
- Batkuša
- Bazik
- Brvnik
- Crkvina
- Domaljevac
- Donja Slatina
- Donji Hasić
- Gajevi
- Gornja Slatina
- Gornji Hasić
- Grebnice
- Kornica
- Kruškovo Polje
- Novo Selo
- Obudovac
- Pisari
- Prud
- Šamac
- Srednja Slatina
- Škarić
- Tišina
- Zasavica
Demographics
1887
Total: 17,686
1971
31,374 total
- Croats - 14,336 (45.69%)
- Serbs - 14,230 (45.35%)
- Bosniaks - 2,192 (6.98%)
- Yugoslavs - 481 (1.53%)
- others - 135 (0.45%)
1991
Municipality
Total: 32,960
- Croats - 14,731 (44.69%)
- Serbs - 13,628 (41.34%)
- Bosniaks - 2,233 (6.77%)
- Yugoslavs - 1,755 (5.32%)
- others and unknown - 613 (1.85%)
Town
Total: 6,239
- Bosniaks - 2,178 (34.90%)
- Serbs - 1,755 (28.12%)
- Yugoslavs - 1,195 (19.15%)
- Croats - 827 (13.25%)
- others and unknown - 284 (4.55%)
Sport
The local football club, FK Borac Šamac, plays in the First League of the Republika Srpska.
Notable people
- Alija Izetbegović, first President of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Darijo Srna, footballer
- Mario Mandžukić, footballer
- Dario Damjanović, footballer
- Predrag Nikolić, chess Grand Master
- Stevo Nikolić, footballer
- Srebrenko Repčić, former football player
- Sulejman Tihić, Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Zoran Đinđić, former prime minister of Serbia
- Nataša Popović, Folk Singer
See also
Notes
- ^ From Centralna izborna komisija Bosne i Hercegovine — in Serbo-Croatian
- ^ a b Mangold (2005:212)
- ^ War Crimes in Bosnia-Hercegovina: Bosanski Samac — Six War Criminals Named by Victims of “Ethnic Cleansing”, Human Rights Watch, April 1994
- ^ FACE TO FACE WITH EVIL, Time magazine, May 13, 1996
- ^ International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (Trial Chamber II): Prosecutor v. Blagoje Simic, Mirolsav Tadic and Simo Zadic (October 17, 2003)
- ^ Jean-Arnault Derens, EU plans trade routes across the continent
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.
- Mangold, Max (2005), Das Aussprachewörterbuch, Duden, ISBN 9783411040667
External links
