Gradiška, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Gradiška

Градишка
Gradiška Градишка
	The town.
	Coat of arms
Country	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Entity	Republika Srpska
Region	Bosanska Krajina
Government
• Mayor	Zoran Latinović (SDS)
Area
• Total	76,174 km2 (29,411 sq mi)
Elevation	163 m (535 ft)
Population (2013 census)
• Total	56,727
• Density	745/km2 (1,930/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	78400
Area code	+387 51
Website	Official website of the municipality

Gradiška (Serbian Cyrillic: Градишка)^[1]^[2]^[3] is a town and municipality in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, part of the Republika Srpska entity. The municipality is geographically located in eastern Krajina region, and the town is situated on the Lijevče plain, on the right bank of the Sava river across from Stara Gradiška, Croatia, and about 40 km (25 mi) north of Banja Luka.

History

In the Roman period, the municipium of Serbinum existed on the location of the present-day town. It was of strategical importance; a port of the Roman fleet was situated here. Among notable archaeological findings are a viaduct.

Gradiški Brod is mentioned for the first time as a town in c. 1330. It had a major importance as the location where the Sava river used to be crossed. By 1537, the town and its surroundings came under Ottoman rule.

The Ottoman built a fortress, which served as the Bosnia Eyalet's northern defense line.

Following the outbreak of the First Serbian Uprising (1804), in the Sanjak of Smederevo (modern Central Serbia), the Jančić's Revolt broke out in the Gradiška region against the Ottoman government in the Bosnia Eyalet, following the erosion of the economic, national and religious rights of Serbs. Hajduks also arrived from Serbia, and were especially active on the Kozara. Jovan Jančić Sarajlija organized the uprising with help from Metropolitan Benedikt Kraljević. The peasants took up arms on 23 September 1809, in the region of Gradiška, beginning from Mašići. The fighting began on 25 September, and on the same night, the Ottomans captured and executed Jančić. The rebels retreated to their villages, except those in Kozara and Motajica who continued, and offered strong resistance until their defeat in mid-October, after extensive looting and burning of villages by the Ottomans.^[4] Another revolt broke out in 1834, in Mašići.^[5]

Ottoman rule ended with the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1878), following the Herzegovina Uprising (1875–77). Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina ended in 1918, when the South Slavic Austro-Hungarian territories proclaimed the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which subsequently joined the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

From 1929 to 1941 Gradiška was part of the Vrbas Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

During Yugoslavia, the town was known as Bosanska Gradiška. During the Bosnian War, the town was incorporated into Republika Srpska (RS). After the war, the RS National Assembly changed the name, omitting bosanska ("Bosnian"), as was done with many other towns (Kostajnica, Dubica, Novi Grad, Petrovo, Šamac).