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jackHistory
The area was settled by Slavic tribes some time in the last thousand years. For much of the last 500 years it was part of the Turkish Empire, then briefly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
This means it has an eastern/mediterranean, but with a lot of Turkish influence. The touristy old bit of Sarajevo is the old town, with many mosques and amenities first built by a famous ottoman ruler. And when we were parched for tea, we went to one of the little cafes to find turkish tea.
Ethnic composition
There are traditionally Croats, who are Catholic, Serbs, who are Eastern Orthodox, and Bosniaks, who are Muslim. I think they all come from very similar stock, so the differences are mostly cultural, but quite distinct.
Multiculturalism
Bosnia has been proudly multicultural for a long time (despite recent awful happenings). It's somewhere where there historic mosques, catholic churches and eastern orthodox churches all coexisting. And two synagogues, one in active use, mostly Sephardi, though Ashkenazi too.
The multiculturalism is the first thing people mention, and it's really nice to see somewhere actively proud of it. We didn't share much common language with the taxi driver on the first night, but when he described London, the first complement he gave was "multicultural".
Even when people are describing war crimes by serbian forces, they immediately stress that many important Bosnian Serbs defected from the Yugoslavian/Serbian army to defend Bosnia.
Although, while positive, this sometimes doesn't leave room for anyone who doesn't fit neatly into the three boxes.
The area was settled by Slavic tribes some time in the last thousand years. For much of the last 500 years it was part of the Turkish Empire, then briefly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
This means it has an eastern/mediterranean, but with a lot of Turkish influence. The touristy old bit of Sarajevo is the old town, with many mosques and amenities first built by a famous ottoman ruler. And when we were parched for tea, we went to one of the little cafes to find turkish tea.
Ethnic composition
There are traditionally Croats, who are Catholic, Serbs, who are Eastern Orthodox, and Bosniaks, who are Muslim. I think they all come from very similar stock, so the differences are mostly cultural, but quite distinct.
Multiculturalism
Bosnia has been proudly multicultural for a long time (despite recent awful happenings). It's somewhere where there historic mosques, catholic churches and eastern orthodox churches all coexisting. And two synagogues, one in active use, mostly Sephardi, though Ashkenazi too.
The multiculturalism is the first thing people mention, and it's really nice to see somewhere actively proud of it. We didn't share much common language with the taxi driver on the first night, but when he described London, the first complement he gave was "multicultural".
Even when people are describing war crimes by serbian forces, they immediately stress that many important Bosnian Serbs defected from the Yugoslavian/Serbian army to defend Bosnia.
Although, while positive, this sometimes doesn't leave room for anyone who doesn't fit neatly into the three boxes.