Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Hrvati Bosne i Hercegovine (Croatian)
Flag of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, today used as an ethnic flag
Croat woman with traditional Catholic tattoos
Total population
544,780 (2013)
Regions with significant populations
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Herzegovina-Neretva Canton	118,297
Central Bosnia Canton	97,629
West Herzegovina Canton	93,725
Canton 10	64,604
Zenica-Doboj Canton	43,819
Posavina Canton	33,600
Republika Srpska	29,645
Tuzla Canton	23,592
Sarajevo Canton	17,520
Brčko District	17,252
Una-Sana Canton	5,073
Bosnian-Podrinje Canton Goražde	24
Languages
Croatian
Religion
Christianity (Catholic Church)
Related ethnic groups
Croats

The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Croatian: Hrvati Bosne i Hercegovine), often referred to as Bosnian Croats (bosanski Hrvati) or Herzegovinian Croats (hercegovački Hrvati), are native to Bosnia and Herzegovina and constitute the third most populous ethnic group, after Bosniaks and Serbs. They are one of the three constitutive nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most Croats identify themselves as Catholics and speak Croatian. The 2013 population census in Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded 544,780 residents registering as of Croat ethnicity.

Croats have been present in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the Slavic migrations to the Balkans in the 7th century and have been associated with Western Christianity. They lived in regions that were part of the Kingdom of Croatia under native rulers and, later, in personal union with Hungary, encompassing large parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the west until the 16th century. The Croats also lived under the Kingdom of Bosnia until it fell to the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 15th century. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, the Croats as Catholics were a special confessional community within the Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the majority were serfs, they dominated the trade, while the Bosnian Franciscans, the only surviving remnant of the medieval Bosnian kingdom, were the leading cultural and educational institution. However, the Catholics were often persecuted by the Ottomans, prompting many to flee the area, especially during the Great Turkish War and the Morean War in the second half of the 17th century, when their status diminished and their numbers were reduced to 30,000. At the end of the 17th century and in the early 18th century, the number of Catholics began to increase, with many of those who had fled returning.

In the second half of the 19th century, especially during the Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croats became active political subjects, participating in Croatian national revival and developing their own modern political, cultural and educational institutions. After World War I, the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later Yugoslavia. During the World War II, Bosnia and Herzegovina was incorporated into the Independent State of Croatia. Following 1945, Croats were recognised as one of the constituent peoples of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within socialist Yugoslavia. During the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the Bosnian War of the 1990s, Croat political and military institutions, including the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and its military force, the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), played a significant role in the conflict and in the establishment of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Today, Croats remain one of the three constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

History

See also: History of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

See also: Bosnia (early medieval), Duchy of Croatia, Kingdom of Croatia (925–1102), Banate of Bosnia, and Kingdom of Bosnia

The medieval Croatian state (orange) included western parts of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina

The application of modern ethnic identities to the inhabitants of the territories of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early Middle Ages is disputed in historiography and is generally considered anachronistic. The date and circumstances of the arrival or emergence of the Croats in the region are likewise disputed. Ivo Goldstein, Neven Budak and Mladen Ančić support different interpretations. Goldstein follows the mainstream theory, also associated with Bogo Grafenauer and Božidar Ferjančić, according to which the Croats settled in the 7th century and conquered Dalmatia in a war against the Pannonian Avars. This interpretation relies primarily on the De Administrando Imperio, a 10th-century work of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII. Ančić, following the late-migration theory advanced by Lujo Margetić, dates the arrival of the Croats to the late 8th or early 9th century. Budak argues that the Croats originally formed as a social elite within the Avar Khaganate, in which the Slavic element was the most important.

The Croats organised their political establishment, the Duchy of Croatia, which was divided into ten counties, called županijas. The duchy encompassed the Dalmatian coast and inland territories of present-day Lika and western and south-western present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also included the županija of Emota, near present-day Imotski, which would later become a part of the Principality of Hum Another Slavic tribe that inhabited the Croat-majority parts of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina was the Narentines, who shared borders with the Croats along the Cetina river to the Neretva river eastwards. Their polity was organised into three županijas, two maritime – Rhastotza and Mokros – and one inland – Dalen. They also controlled three Adriatic islands: Korčula, Mljet and Brač. The 9th-century sources on the identity of the Narentines, which refer to them as either the Narentines, Arentatni or Pagans, are outside sources, from the Byzantine or other contemporary Slavs. They themselves used the term Humljani and referred to their polity as Hum. The local authors, such as Thomas the Archdeacon and an anonymous author known by his demonym, were also unfamiliar with terms such as Narentines or Pagans. The third polity, which lies within the Croat-majority areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is Zachlumia. Their ethnonym is also related to Hum. The polity stretched from Dubrovnik to the west to Neretva in the east. They bordered the Croats to the north. De administrando imperio mentiones that Narentines and Zachumlians originate from the unbaptised Serbs.

According to The New Cambridge Medieval History, at the beginning of the 11th century the Croats inhabited two more or less clearly defined regions. The wider Croatian lands were divided among Slavonia or Pannonian Croatia, situated between the Sava and Drava, and the territories of Croatia and the Dalmatian littoral, extending between the Gulf of Kvarner and the Vrbas and Neretva rivers; Bosnia was centred on the Bosna River.

Until the end of the 11th century, the Principality of Hum, encompassing much of present-day Herzegovina, formed part of the broader structure of the Croatian king's authority. During the dynastic crisis and dissolution of the Croatian Kingdom at the end of the century, the knez of Hum attained almost complete independence, and his authority extended westward as far as Imotski and the surrounding župa. During the 12th century, the authority of the knez of Hum also expanded eastward into neighbouring Zahumlje. These territorial expansions were accompanied by losses, primarily on the Adriatic islands. The eastward expansion of Hum contributed to the gradual loss of Zahumlje's distinct political identity, although the name continued to appear sporadically.

In 1102, Croatia entered into a union with the Kingdom of Hungary. According to Pinson, Bosnia had previously formed part of the Kingdom of Croatia, but thereafter began gradually to separate politically from Croatia. By 1167, the Byzantine Empire had taken control of the Banate of Bosnia and parts of the Kingdom of Croatia within present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. These territories included the Croatian župas of Pliva, Luka and Vrbanja, where the zemlja of the Donji Kraji later developed. Following the death of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos in 1180, the Byzantines lost the territories they had acquired.

Bosnia was subsequently ruled by Ban Kulin, who consolidated its autonomy in relation to its more powerful neighbours. The area of Donji Kraji was granted to Kulin by King Béla III in return for his assistance in the wars against the Byzantines. Kulin's effective influence nevertheless remained concentrated in the central part of the banate, while some of the regions into which his authority expanded retained a considerable degree of de facto independence.

Following the death of King Ladislaus IV in 1290, a succession struggle broke out between the Árpád dynasty, supported by most of the Hungarian nobility, and the House of Anjou, supported by most of the Croatian nobility. During the crisis, the Croatian ban Paul I Šubić expanded his authority and assumed control over the Banate of Bosnia in 1299, replacing Stephen I as lord of Bosnia. The local Hrvatinić family of Donji Kraji submitted to his authority.

The eponymous founder of the Hrvatinić family, Hrvatin Stjepanić, was also related by blood to the Šubić family. He bore the title knez of Donji Kraji of the Bosnian land. A charter issued in 1299 by the Angevin king Charles II of Naples to the Hrvatinić and Šubić families named Hrvatin and his brothers as feudal lords of Donji Kraji. In 1301, Paul I Šubić issued another charter confirming his protection of Hrvatin and his possessions. In it, Hrvatin was styled knez of the Donji Kraji of Bosnia (de inferioribus Bosne confinibus).

Paul appointed his brother, Mladen I Šubić, ban of Bosnia in 1302. Mladen and Hrvatin repeatedly came into conflict over Hrvatin's possessions in Donji Kraji and other matters. In 1304, Paul intervened in favour of Hrvatin and provided him with additional guarantees for his possessions. At the time, Hrvatin held the Lušci and Banjica župas.

Hrvatin died before 1315 and was succeeded by his sons Vukoslav, Pavao and Vukac. They supported the Croatian nobles who rebelled against Mladen II Šubić, who had served as ban of Bosnia since 1304 and succeeded his father Paul as head of the Šubić family in 1312. The revolt ended with Mladen's defeat at the Battle of Bliska in 1322 by forces led by the Slavonian ban John Babonić. Babonić subsequently became ban of Croatia, while in Bosnia Stephen II Kotromanić, formerly a vassal of the Šubići, restored the Kotromanić dynasty as the ruling house of the medieval Bosnian state.

Stephen II held the title of ban of Bosnia from 1314 and exercised effective rule from 1322 until 1353; his brother Vladislav Kotromanić participated in the government between 1326 and 1353. In the second half of 1322, Stephen regained control of Donji Kraji and styled himself "lord of all the Bosnian lands, Soli, Usora, Donji Kraji and Hum". Between 1322 and 1325, the Hrvatinići recognised his authority.

Around 1326, Stephen granted Vukoslav Hrvatinić the Banjica župa with the town of Ključ and the Vrbanja župa with the town of Kotor. Until 1322, these territories had been held by the Babonići. The local nobles of Banjica and Vrbanja had previously supported Mladen II and resisted Stephen's authority as ban. The charter therefore confirmed Vukoslav's ancestral župas. In the following years, different branches of the Hrvatinić family gained control of most of Donji Kraji.

Stephen granted the Hrvatinić brothers several župas in Donji Kraji. Although the family collectively controlled much of the area, no individual member ruled the entire zemlja. Vukoslav, for example, styled himself knez of Ključ and governed only the territories granted to him. Hrvatin's third son, Vukac, ruled the Vrbanja župa. In Stephen's final charter, issued in 1351, the ban confirmed the inherited estates of Pavao and Vuk, the heirs of Knez Vukoslav. Ključ passed to Vukoslav's third son, Vlatko Vukoslavić, while the Vukoslavić and Pavlović branches later advanced competing claims to the Banjica župa.

Stephen II was succeeded in 1353 by Tvrtko I. In a charter issued on 11 August 1366, Tvrtko granted Vukac Hrvatinić the Pliva župa and the town of Sokol for his loyalty during the war against King Louis I of Hungary. Vukac's support contributed to the rise of the Hrvatinići within the Bosnian state. His eldest son, Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić, later received extensive possessions in Donji Kraji and Tropolje and the title of Grand Duke of Bosnia.

In the 14th century, Bosnia developed into a powerful state. Tvrtko conquered parts of western Serbia and subsequently parts of the Kingdom of Croatia. He did so by defeating several Croatian nobles while supporting Hungary. The consolidation and expansion of Tvrtko's realm accompanied the emergence of the Kingdom of Bosnia, although parts of the territory of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina remained within the Kingdom of Croatia. Until Tvrtko's death, western Hum was governed by Croatian bans acting as royal viceroys. Parts of the area were later conquered by Sandalj Hranić and, to a greater extent, by his nephew Stjepan Vukčić Kosača.

Hrvoje Vukčić was married to Jelena Nelipčić, a granddaughter of the Croatian noble Ivan I Nelipac and sister of Ivan III Nelipac. He is first mentioned in 1376 as a knez and knight in the service of King Louis I and later bore the title knez of Donji Kraji.

With Hrvoje's support, Ostoja became king of Bosnia in 1398. When Sigismund invaded Donji Kraji, his forces were repelled by Hrvoje. In 1403, Ladislaus of Naples appointed Hrvoje duke of Split and granted him the islands of Brač, Hvar and Korčula. Hrvoje also served as Ladislaus's viceroy in Dalmatia and bore the titles of duke of Split, grand duke of Bosnia and knez of Donji Kraji, becoming one of Sigismund's principal opponents in Bosnia.

Sigismund again attacked Donji Kraji in 1407 but was unable to subdue it. The political turning point followed Sigismund's victory over the Bosnian forces at the Battle of Dobor in 1408. Although Hrvoje did not personally participate in the battle, the defeat compelled him to reconcile with the Hungarian king. He consequently lost the privileges granted to him by Ladislaus, and his political power declined. Hrvoje later sought Ottoman military assistance, contributing to the circumstances that culminated in the Hungarian defeat near Doboj in 1415. He died in 1416, after which his possessions rapidly fragmented: some remained with members of the family, while others were incorporated into the royal demesne.

Hrvoje's widow Jelena later married King Ostoja. Jajce, whose fortified castle had been built in the 14th century and had served as Hrvoje's seat, subsequently became one of the royal centres of the Kingdom of Bosnia. After Hrvoje's death, Jajce returned to the royal domain. King Stephen Thomas referred to it as a "royal seat", and the citadel's portal bears the Kotromanić royal coat of arms.

Ključ fortress, the last stronghold of the final Bosnian king, Stephen Tomašević

In cultural and religious terms, medieval Bosnia was more closely connected to Croatia than to the Eastern Orthodox lands to the east. The Catholic Diocese of Bosnia is attested in the 11th century. It was associated with the Croatian Archdiocese of Split and later came under the jurisdiction of Dubrovnik. Bosnian rulers also used the political title of ban, as did their Croatian counterparts. Because medieval political affiliation, religious identity and modern ethnicity do not correspond directly, the religious composition of medieval Bosnia cannot by itself establish the number of inhabitants who would have identified as Croats in the modern national sense.

Ottoman Empire

See also: Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina

Catholic dioceses in the 15th century covering the territory of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ottoman conquest and the decline of Catholic institutions

In the mid-15th century, the Ottoman Empire began its conquest of Bosnia. The Ottomans took the province of Vrhbosna in 1451 and conquered most of the Kingdom of Bosnia in 1463. Herzegovina was conquered in 1481, while parts of northern Bosnia remained under Croatian rule until 1527. In 1528, the Ottomans also captured Jajce and Banja Luka, destroying the remaining Croatian defensive line along the Vrbas River.

The conquest substantially altered the religious and demographic composition of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many Catholics converted to Islam, while others left the country because of warfare, insecurity, persecution or fear of conversion. In the first 50 years of Ottoman rule, a significant number of Catholics fled from Bosnia.

Between 1516 and 1524, Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina were subjected to persecution and forced Islamisation. Franciscan monasteries at Kraljeva Sutjeska, Visoko, Fojnica, Kreševo and Konjic, and later the Catholic institutions in Mostar, were among those affected. Some accounts estimate that approximately 100,000 Croats converted to Islam during this period.

Before the Ottoman conquest, there were 35 Franciscan monasteries in Bosnia and four in Herzegovina. Some were destroyed, while others were converted into mosques. By the 1680s, only ten Franciscan monasteries remained in Bosnia.

Legal and ecclesiastical position of Catholics

The activity of the Catholic Church was restricted under Ottoman rule. Catholicism was associated with the Ottoman Empire's political and military rivals, particularly the Habsburg Monarchy, Venice and Rome. The Ottoman authorities consequently tended to regard the Eastern Orthodox Church as less politically threatening, especially because Eastern Orthodoxy was more widespread among the Christian population under Ottoman rule.

The Franciscans were the principal Catholic clergy permitted to remain active in Ottoman Bosnia. Catholic ecclesiastical administration was divided between a diocese serving the Croatian-controlled parts of Bosnia and the Franciscan province of Bosna Srebrena in Ottoman territory.

Relations between the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches were complicated by disputes over ecclesiastical jurisdiction and taxation. Ottoman authorities sometimes granted Orthodox bishops the right to collect ecclesiastical dues from Catholics, although Catholic representatives occasionally succeeded in appealing such decisions.

Between 1498 and 1779, Catholics were also subjected to pressure from members of the Eastern Orthodox hierarchy. Orthodox bishops sought to persuade the Ottoman authorities that Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy constituted the same religion and that Catholics therefore fell under Orthodox ecclesiastical jurisdiction. In addition to collecting dues from Catholics, some Orthodox clergy promoted the conversion of Catholics to Eastern Orthodoxy, particularly in eastern Herzegovina.

Conversions and confessional change

Conversion to Islam was a major cause of the decline in the number of Catholics in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy also contributed to the decline, although to a significantly lesser extent.

Conversions from Catholicism to Eastern Orthodoxy were particularly associated with mixed marriages and the absence of Catholic churches and clergy in areas affected by the Ottoman conquest. A number of Catholics converted to Eastern Orthodoxy during the Ottoman period. Such conversions were more frequent in areas where Catholics lacked regular access to Franciscan or diocesan clergy and where Orthodox ecclesiastical institutions had a stronger local presence.

Catholics in the 17th century

In 1624, Pjetër Mazreku estimated the population of Bosnia, excluding Herzegovina and the Adriatic hinterland. Historian Nenad Moačanin revised this estimate in 2013, concluding that the population comprised approximately 225,000 Muslims, or 50 per cent; 150,000 Eastern Orthodox Christians, or 33.3 per cent; and 75,000 Catholics, or 16.7 per cent.

Bishop Marijan Maravić, who governed the Diocese of Bosnia, which covered most of the Bosnian region, recorded 75,196 Catholics under his jurisdiction in 1650. His successor, Bishop Nikola Ogramić Olovčić, estimated that the diocese contained approximately 80,000 Catholics in 1675.

Until the end of the 17th century, Catholics, together with the Jewish population, formed a prominent part of the merchant class in Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their commercial position was partly connected to their relations with the Republic of Ragusa in the south.

The wars of 1683–1699 and demographic collapse

The Ottoman campaign against the Habsburg Monarchy and the attempt to conquer Vienna initiated the Great Turkish War of 1683–1699. The conflict had particularly severe consequences for the Catholic population of northern and central Bosnia, whose numbers declined sharply.

After the successful defence of Vienna in 1683, Christians in Dalmatia, Herzegovina and Bosnia rose against Ottoman rule. Insurgents plundered Ottoman estates and forced Ottoman garrisons into fortified positions. Supported by Venetian arms and supplies, local hajduks conducted raids into Ottoman territory.

Allied with the Habsburg Monarchy, the Republic of Venice entered the Morean War of 1684–1699, which spread into Dalmatia, Herzegovina and western Bosnia. The war caused substantial migrations from Herzegovina, western Bosnia and Dalmatia into territories reconquered by Venice. Venetian authorities resettled refugees, recruited them into military service and offered them land and exemptions from taxation. By the end of the war, more than 30,000 Christians, including both Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians, had migrated to Dalmatia.

The 1697 campaign of Prince Eugene of Savoy had an especially destructive effect on Catholic communities. Eugene ordered the destruction of Ottoman property during his advance through Bosnia. Fearing Ottoman reprisals after his withdrawal, nearly 40,000 Christians followed his forces into Catholic-controlled Slavonia. Most of the refugees were Catholics from northern and central Bosnia.

During the Great Turkish War and the Morean War, approximately two-thirds of the Catholic population emigrated from Bosnia and Herzegovina, amounting to around 70,000 people. The Catholic population of Bosnia and western Herzegovina fell to approximately 30,000, while only around 2,200 Catholics remained in eastern Herzegovina.

The wars caused a demographic, social and urban catastrophe for the Catholic population. The Catholic merchant class almost completely disappeared, and its economic position was increasingly assumed during the 18th century by Eastern Orthodox merchants, including Serbs, Greeks and Armenians.

The Treaty of Karlowitz, concluded in 1699, ended the war between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy and contributed to the establishment of the boundaries from which the present-day borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina developed. In the south, the Republic of Ragusa agreed to cede territory around Neum to the Ottoman Empire, creating a buffer between Ragusan and Venetian territory.

Recovery during the 18th century

Following the Treaty of Karlowitz, the Catholic population of Bosnia and Herzegovina began to recover during the first half of the 18th century. Numerous families that had fled during the wars returned from Dalmatia and Slavonia.

Ottoman authorities encouraged their return by granting amnesty, restoring abandoned land and providing returnees with tools and seed. Recovery was considerably faster in Bosnia and western Herzegovina, where Catholic communities were served by the Franciscans.

Return migration from Dalmatia to south-western Bosnia and western Herzegovina accelerated following the plague of 1733, when local Muslim landowners encouraged Catholic families to return and cultivate abandoned estates. Nevertheless, the long-term increase in the Catholic population was caused primarily by natural growth rather than migration.

The bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Bosnia, Mato Delivić, was unable to record every part of his jurisdiction in 1737 because of the Austro-Turkish War. He collected information from western and central Bosnia and recorded 16,504 Catholics. His successors conducted a census of the entire jurisdiction in 1743 and recorded 39,942 Catholics.

Recovery was considerably slower in eastern Herzegovina. The bishop of the Diocese of Trebinje-Mrkan, Antonio Righi, reported that the diocese contained only 2,200 Catholics in 1708. His successor, Sigismund Tudišić, recorded 3,009 Catholics in 1751. By 1858, the number had increased to 8,760.

Approximately 40,000 Catholics lived in Bosnia and western Herzegovina during the 1740s. Major demographic disruptions during this period included the Austro-Turkish War of 1737–1739 and the epidemic of 1742–1743. During the following six decades, the Catholic population increased to approximately 100,000, representing growth of about 150 per cent.

The decline recorded between the 1779 and 1786 censuses was largely caused by the epidemic of 1782–1783. The epidemic spread throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and reportedly killed approximately 20,000 Catholics and 100,000 other inhabitants.

Continued Catholic population growth during the second half of the 18th century was facilitated by the prolonged periods of peace between the Ottoman Empire and its Christian neighbours. The final Austro-Turkish War (1788–1791) was relatively brief and did not have a major long-term effect on Catholic demography in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The increase in the Catholic population was primarily the result of natural growth. Immigration from Dalmatia played a more limited role and occurred particularly at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century in connection with the Napoleonic conquests. Smaller-scale emigration to Austrian-controlled territories also continued.

Catholics on the territory of the Apostolic Vicariate of Bosnia (Bosnian region and western Herzegovina)
Year	Persons	Households
1743	39,942	4,920
1762	58,804	6,812
1768	60,061	7,128
1776	73,053	8,661
1779	76,737	8,771
1786	68,052	9,029
1798	82,422	11,177
1801	90,547	11,946
1806	98,932	13,864

Catholics in the 19th century

The Ottoman census of 1851 counted only male inhabitants and recorded 440,733 males in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based on these figures, historian Muhamed Hadžijahić estimated that the total population was approximately 1,077,956, including 173,200 Catholics, who represented approximately 16.07 per cent of the population.

The Ottoman census of 1870 recorded 220,353 Catholics in the Eyalet of Bosnia, excluding the Sanjak of Novi Pazar. This represented an increase of approximately 27.2 per cent from the estimated number recorded in 1851. Catholics nevertheless accounted for a smaller proportion of the total population in 1870, comprising approximately 14.6 per cent.

Catholics in the Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina
Year	Persons	%	Total population
1851	173,200	16.07%	1,077,956
1870	220,353	14.59%	1,510,307

Reforms, unrest and the end of Ottoman rule

Between 1815 and 1878, Ottoman authority in Bosnia and Herzegovina gradually weakened. The reorganisation of the Ottoman army and the abolition of the Janissaries provoked resistance among sections of the Bosnian Muslim nobility. The resulting revolt was led by Husein Gradaščević, who sought autonomy for Bosnia and Herzegovina and opposed further centralising reforms.

During the 19th century, the Ottoman government introduced reforms intended to centralise state administration and formally expand the religious and civil rights of non-Muslims. These reforms contributed to changes in relations between Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians and Muslims, but also intensified political, social and economic tensions. Ottoman authority was further weakened by administrative disorganisation, economic decline and the growing influence of national movements among the Christian population.

On 19 June 1875, Catholic Croats in western Herzegovina, led by Don Ivan Musić, revolted against high taxation. The insurgents sought to place Bosnia and Herzegovina under the authority of the Austrian emperor, who also held the title of King of Croatia. During the revolt, Bosnian Croats used the Croatian flag for the first time in an organised uprising.

The Eastern Orthodox population of eastern Herzegovina soon also revolted, leading to the broader Herzegovina Uprising. Ottoman authorities were unable to suppress the insurgency. Serbia and Montenegro entered the conflict against the Ottoman Empire in 1876, followed by the Russian Empire.

The Ottoman defeat in 1878 resulted in the displacement of more than 150,000 refugees, many of whom fled towards Croatia. Under the decisions of the Congress of Berlin, Bosnia and Herzegovina was placed under the administration of Austria-Hungary, bringing more than four centuries of Ottoman rule to an end.

Austria-Hungary

Croats of Sarajevo with their priest, ca. 1900

During Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1878–1918), the number of Croats gradually increased, mainly through natural growth, with additional support from approximately 38,000 Croats who immigrated from present-day Croatia between 1878 and 1910. According to the Croatian author Vjekoslav Klaić, in 1878 there were 646,678 Eastern Orthodox Christians (48.4%, mostly ethnic Serbs), 480,596 Muslims (35.9%), 207,199 Latin Catholics (15.5%, mostly ethnic Croats), and about 3,000 Jews (0.2%).

According to the 1910 census, there were 434,061 Latin Catholics, of whom 390,009 declared Serbo-Croatian as their native language (i.e., ethnic Croats); the remainder were Germans, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, and others. By 1910, 114,591 immigrants had settled in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The immigrants' religious and ethnic backgrounds were heterogeneous.

Ethnic totals and percentages
Year	Catholics	%	Total population
1879	209,391	18.08%	1,158,440
1885	265,788	19.89%	1,336,091
1895	334,142	21.31%	1,568,092
1910	434,061	22.87%	1,898,044
Official Population Census Results

Even after the fall of Ottoman rule, the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina was divided. In the Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia, Croatian politicians strived for the unification of the Kingdom of Dalmatia with Croatia. Another ambition of Croatian politicians was to incorporate the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the Kingdom of Croatia. The Habsburg Governor Béni Kállay resorted to co-opting religious institutions. Soon, the Austrian Emperor gained support to appoint Eastern Orthodox metropolitans and Catholic bishops, as well as to select the Muslim hierarchy. The first Catholic archbishop was Josip Stadler. Both apostolic vicariates, Bosnian and Herzegovinian, were abolished, and instead, three dioceses were founded; Vrhbosna diocese with a seat in Sarajevo, Banja Luka diocese with a seat in Banja Luka and Mostar-Duvno diocese with a seat in Mostar.

At the time, Bosnia and Herzegovina were facing a Habsburg attempt at modernisation. There were 1.1 million inhabitants in Bosnia and Herzegovina; the majority were Croats, Serbs, and Muslims, with smaller percentages of Slovenes, Czechs, and others. During this period, the most significant event is the Bosnian entry into European political life and the shaping of ethnic Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina into a modern nation. At the end of the 19th century, Bosnian Croats established various reading, cultural, and singing societies. By the beginning of the 20th century, a new Bosnian Croat intelligentsia had emerged, playing a significant role in the political life of Croats. The Croatian Support Society for Needs of Students of Middle Schools and High Schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina was founded in 1902, and in 1907 it was merged with the Croatian Society for Education of Children in Craft and Trade, also founded in 1902, into Croatian Cultural Society Napredak (Progress). Napredak educated and gave scholarships to more than 20,000 students. Students of Napredak were not only Bosnian Croats but also Croats from other regions.

Kállay attempted to unify all Bosnians into a single nation of Bosniaks, but he failed to do so after Bosnians established their national political parties. Before the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, the Croat People's Union (HNZ) became a political party; its ideology was very similar to that of the Croatian-Serbian Coalition in Croatia. In 1909, Stadler opposed such a policy and founded a new political party, the Croat Catholic Association (HKU), an opponent of the secular HNZ. HKU emphasised clerical ideals and religious exclusivity. However, Bosnian Croats mostly supported the secular nationalist policy of the HNZ. HNZ and the Muslim Nation Organisation formed a coalition that ruled the country from 1911 until the dissolution of the Bosnian parliament in 1914.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

See also: Banovina of Croatia

People gathered waiting for Stjepan Radić to arrive in Mostar in 1925

After World War I, Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the internationally unrecognised State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which existed between October and December 1918. In December 1918, this state united with the Kingdom of Serbia as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes,which was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. This new state was characterized by Serbian nationalism, and was a form of "Greater Serbia". Serbs held control over the armed forces and the state's politics. With around 40% of Serbs living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian leadership of the state wanted to implement a Serbian hegemony in this region. Bosnian Croats constituted around a quarter of the total Bosnian population, but they did not have a single municipality president. The regime of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was characterized by limited parliamentarian, drastic elective manipulations and later King Alexander's 6 January Dictatorship, state robbery present outside Serbia and political killings (Milan Šufflay, Ivo Pilar) and corruption. Yugoslavia was preoccupied with political struggles, which led to the collapse of the state after Dušan Simović organized a coup in March 1941 and after which Nazi Germany invaded Yugoslavia.

King Alexander was killed in 1934, which led to the end of the dictatorship. In 1939, faced with killings, corruption scandals, violence, and the failure of centralised policy, the Serbian leadership agreed on a compromise with the Croats. On 24 August 1939, the president of the Croatian Peasant Party, Vladko Maček and Dragiša Cvetković made an agreement (Cvetković-Maček agreement) according to which Banovina of Croatia was created on territory of Sava and Littoral Banovina and on districts of Dubrovnik, Šid, Brčko, Ilok, Gradačac, Derventa, Travnik and Fojnica. Around 30% of the present-day territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the Banovina of Croatia. Those parts had a Croatian majority. The creation of the Banovina of Croatia was one of the solutions to the "Croatian issue".

World War II

Further information: World War II in Yugoslavia and Independent State of Croatia

Territory under the control of Yugoslav Partisans in November 1943

After the collapse of Yugoslavia amidst German and Italian invasion in April 1941, the Axis puppet state, which encompassed the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina, Independent State of Croatia (NDH) under the radical Croatian nationalist Ustaše regime was established. The Bosnian Croats were divided, with some supporting the NDH, and others actively opposing it by joining or supporting the Yugoslav Partisans. In contrast, others chose to wait, not attracted to either the fascist Ustaše or the communist-led resistance. After the Ustaše campaign of genocide and terror, targeting Serbs, Jews, and Roma, a brutal civil war ensued. At the same time, a parallel genocide against Croats and Bosniaks was carried out by the Yugoslav Royalist and Serbian nationalist Chetniks. The Ustaše regime also persecuted any opponents or dissidents among Bosnian Croats, especially communists, pre-war members of the now-banned Croatian Peasant Party, and those connected with the partisan resistance. The Ustaše executed many Bosnian Croats, for instance, resistance fighters and supporters Jakov Dugandžić, Mostar's Ljubo Brešan and 19-year old Mostar gymnasium student Ante Zuanić, as well as a prominent Mostar CPP member Blaž Slišković (in Jasenovac concentration camp). Prominent Croat communist intellectual from Bosnia, Ognjen Prica, was shot by Ustaše in Kerestinec prison. Families of Bosnian Croats who left to join the partisan resistance were usually interned or sent to concentration camps by Ustaše authorities.

Numerous Bosnian Croats joined the partisan movement, fighting against the Axis forces and the Ustaše regime. Some of them included people's heroes such as Franjo Kluz, Ivan Marković Irac, Stipe Đerek, Karlo Batko, Ante Šarić "Rade Španac", and others. From the very beginning of the uprising against the Axis, many Bosnian Croats became commanders of partisan units (e.g., Josip Mažar-Šoša, Ivica Marušić-Ratko etc.), even though the units themselves were predominantly composed of Serbs. The territory that partisans liberated and managed to keep under their control from November 1942 to January 1943 (dubbed the Republic of Bihać) included all of rural Western Herzegovina west of Neretva and Široki Brijeg, including Livno. Livno and its area, under partisan control from August to October 1942, was very important for Bosnian Croat resistance, as key CPP members Florijan Sučić and Ivan Pelivan joined the resistance and mobilized many other Croats. Bosnian Croats' representatives, among which Mostar lawyer Cvitan Spužević, also actively participated in the provisional assembly of the country, ZAVNOBiH (State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). ZAVNOBiH proclaimed the statehood of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the equality of Muslims, Croats, and Serbs in the country in its historic session in 1943. The first government of People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1945 included several prominent Croats - Jakov Grgurić (deputy prime minister), Cvitan Spužević (minister of construction), Ante Babić (education), and Ante Martinović (forestry).

After the partisans liberated most of Yugoslavia and the NDH collapsed in May 1945, some NDH soldiers and civilians retreated to the British-occupied zone in Austria. Many of them were killed in the Bleiburg repatriations. In the closing stages of the war and the immediate aftermath, some Bosnian Croats who previously supported the Ustaše regime or were merely perceived as potential opponents of the new communist Yugoslavia were persecuted or executed (notably, Herzegovina friars).

Total casualties and losses of Bosnian Croats in World War II and the aftermath are estimated at 64–79,000. According to the statistician Bogoljub Kočović, the relative war losses of Bosnian Croats, compared to their expected population in 1948, were 11.4%. According to the demographer Vladimir Žerjavić, 17,000 Bosnian Croats died in partisan ranks, 22,000 in NDH forces, while 25,000 lost their lives as civilians; of civilians, almost ¾ or 19,000 died as a result of Axis terror or in Ustaše concentration camps.

At the end of 1977, 8.8% of Bosnian recipients of veterans' pensions were Croats, while during WWII Croats composed around 23% of the country's population.

Socialist Yugoslavia

Main article: Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

After the war, Bosnia and Herzegovina became one of the six constitutive republics of Socialist Yugoslavia. Intensive state campaigns of nationalisation of property, followed by industrialisation and urbanisation, variously affected Bosnian Croats. While some centres and areas prospered, other rural areas underwent depopulation and urban flight, as well as (most notably in western Herzegovina) high rates of emigration to the Western world.

Officeholders usually rotated among the three ethnic communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the 1980s, many Bosnian Croat politicians held high positions, including Ante Marković, Branko Mikulić, and Mato Andrić.

Bosnian War

HVO soldier fires a 122mm Howitzer D-30J

Citizens of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina voted for the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the referendum, which was held between 29 February and 1 March 1992. The referendum question was: "Are you in favour of a sovereign and independent Bosnia-Herzegovina, a state of equal citizens and nations of Muslims, Serbs, Croats, and others who live in it?" Independence was strongly favoured by Muslim and Bosnian Croat voters, but the referendum was boycotted mainly by Bosnian Serbs. The total turnout of voters was 63.6% of which 99.7% voted for the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On 5 April 1992, Serb forces began the Siege of Sarajevo. On 12 May, Yugoslav People's Army left Bosnia and Herzegovina and left most of the arms to the Army of Republika Srpska, headed by Ratko Mladić. The first unit to oppose Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina was the Croatian Defence Forces (HOS) founded by Croatian Party of Rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 18 December 1991. The Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia established its own force, the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) on 8 April 1992. HVO consisted of 20 to 30% of Muslims who joined HVO because local Muslim militias were unable to arm themselves. The Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia was founded on 18 November 1991 as a community of municipalities where the majority of the population was Croats. In its founding acts, Herzeg-Bosnia had no separatist character. The Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia was declared by the Bosnian Croat leadership as a temporary region, which, after the war ended, would again become part of a united Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Slobodan Milošević, Alija Izetbegović and Franjo Tuđman signing the Dayton Peace Accords on 14 December 1995

At the beginning of the Bosnian War, Bosnian Croats were the first to organise themselves, especially Croats in western Herzegovina who were already armed. At the end of May 1992, Croats launched a counter-offensive, liberating Mostar after a month of fighting. Also, in central Bosnia and Posavina, Croatian forces stopped the Serbian advance, and in some places, they repelled the enemy. On 16 June 1992, the president of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman, and the president of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegović, signed an alliance according to which, Bosnia and Herzegovina legalised the activity of the Croatian Army and the Croatian Defence Council on its territory. The Bosnian Croat political leadership and the Croatian leadership urged Izetbegović to form a confederation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. However, Izetbegović denied this, as he sought to represent the interests of Muslims and Croats, as well as those of Serbs. The Bosnian Croat leadership was irritated by Izetbegović's neutrality, so Mate Boban threatened to withdraw the HVO from operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since the UN implemented an embargo on Bosnia and Herzegovina on the import of arms, Muslim and Croat forces had difficulties fighting Serbian units, which were supplied with arms from the Middle East, just before the outbreak of war. However, after Croat and Muslim forces reorganised in late May 1992, the Serbian advance was halted, and their forces mostly remained in their positions during the war. The tensions between Croats and Muslims started on 19 June 1992, but the real war began in October.

The Croat-Muslim War was at its peak in 1993. In March 1994, the Muslim and Croat leadership signed the Washington Agreement, according to which the areas controlled by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH) and the HVO were united into the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the Washington Agreement was signed, the Croatian Army, HVO, and ARBiH liberated southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina through seven military operations. In December 1995, the Bosnian War came to an end with the signing of the Dayton Agreement. However, the same agreement caused problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina and was largely ineffective. According to the information published by the Research and Documentation Centre in Sarajevo, 7,762 Croats were killed or missing. From the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 230,000 Croats were expelled, while from the territory of Republika Srpska, 152,856 Croats were expelled.

Demographics

5.4%

3.2%

91.4%

Demographic distribution of Croats of BiH. 91% of country's Croats live in the Federation

2013 census

Geographical distribution of Croats (2013): share of Croats living in a municipality in the total number of Croats

Share of Croats in settlements of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1991 census

Bosnian Croats make up 15.43% of the country's population. Currently, according to the 2013 census, 91% of them live in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while just 5.4% and 3.2% live in Republika Srpska and Brčko District, respectively. In Republika Srpska, the Croats make up just 2% (29,645) of the entity's population, while in Brčko, their share stands at 20.7% (17,252). On the other hand, in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croats form 22.4% of the entity's population. Four out of ten Federal cantons have a Croat majority. All Croat-majority municipalities are also located within this entity.

According to the Croatian Ministry of Interior, 384,631 Croatian citizens had registered residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina in July 2019.

Municipalities

Most of the municipalities with a clear Croat majority form two compact regions. One is in the southwest of the country, along the border with Croatia, from Kupres and Livno in the northwest along West Herzegovina to Ravno in the southeast (Široki Brijeg, Ljubuški, Livno, Čitluk, Tomislavgrad, Čapljina, Posušje, Grude, Prozor-Rama, Stolac, Neum, Kupres, Ravno). Around 40% of the country's and 45% of the Federation's Croats live here. The second is Posavina Canton in the north (Orašje, Odžak, Domaljevac-Šamac). This canton's share of the Croat population is 6%. Other Croat-majority or -plurality municipalities are enclaves in Central Bosnia and around Zenica (Dobretići, Vitez, Busovača, Kiseljak, Usora, Kreševo, Žepče). In ethnically mixed Jajce and Novi Travnik in Central Bosnia, Croats comprise 46% of the population.

In Mostar area, Croats comprise the plurality of the population both in the municipality (48.4%) and the city itself (49%). Mostar is the largest city in Herzegovina and the city with the largest Croat population in the country (51,216 in the area and 29,475 in the urban district). Croats comprise an overwhelming majority in the western part of both the city and the entire municipality.

Croats comprise 41% of the population in Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje, a third in Vareš and Pelagićevo, and a quarter in Glamoč and Donji Žabar. In Bosansko Grahovo, Croats make up approximately 15% of the population.

Additionally, 762 Croats form the plurality (40.4%) in the ethnically diverse small town of Glamoč.

Cantons

There are four Croat-majority cantons and, in total, six cantons in which Croats form more than 10% of the population.

Canton	Croats	%	Share in total Croat population
West Herzegovina	93,783	96.82%	17.21%
Canton 10	64,604	76.79%	11.86%
Posavina Canton	33,600	77.32%	6.17%
Central Bosnia Canton	97,629	38.33%	17.92%
Herzegovina-Neretva Canton	118,297	53.29%	21.71%
Zenica-Doboj Canton	43,819	12.02%	8.04%

Demographic history

A Croat from Central Bosnia (1901)

Ethnic totals and percentages
Year	Catholics	%	Total population
1851	173,200	16.07%	1,077,956
1870	220,353	14.59%	1,510,307
1879	209,391	18.08%	1,158,440
1885	265,788	19.89%	1,336,091
1895	334,142	21.31%	1,568,092
1910	434,061	22.87%	1,898,044
1921	444,309	23.50%	1,890,440
1931	547,949	23.58%	2,323,555
Year	Croats	%	Total population
1948	614,123	23.93%	2,565,277
1953	654,229	22.97%	2,847,790
1961	711,666	21.71%	3,277,948
1971	772,491	20.62%	3,746,111
1981	758,140	18.39%	4,124.008
1991	760,852	17.38%	4,377,053
2013	544,780	15.43%	3,531,159
Official Population Census Results

Yugoslavia

Several thousand of these settlers and their descendants returned to their respective countries, either voluntarily or due to persecution which occurred between 1918 and 1921 after the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was created. Those most impacted by expulsion were Germans, Hungarians and Italians. After World War II, almost all Germans and Italians were expelled from the country, while Poles were the subject of organised emigration in 1946.

According to the 1931 census, Bosnia and Herzegovina had 2,323,787 inhabitants, of whom the Eastern Orthodox made 44.25%, Muslims 30.90%, Catholcs 23.58%, and others made 1.02% of the total population.

The first Yugoslav census recorded a decreasing number of Croats; from the first census in 1948 to the last one in 1991, the percentage of Croats decreased from 23% to 17.3%, despite an increase in the total number. According to the 1953 census, Croats were in the majority in territories which became part of the Banovina of Croatia in 1939. Their total number was 654,229, which is 23,00% of the total population of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the 1961 census, Croats comprised 21.7% of the total population, with a population of 711,660. After that, districts were divided into smaller municipalities.

According to the 1971 census, Croats comprised 20.6% of the total population, with a population of 772,491. According to the 1981 census, Croats comprised 18.60% of the total population, with a population of 767,247. In comparison to the 1971 census, for the first time, the percentage of Croats was below 20%, and after 1981, their percentage continued to fall. Between 1971 and 1991, the population of Croats declined due to emigration to Croatia and Western Europe. Nevertheless, the fall in population percentage is only absent in western Herzegovina municipalities where Croats account for more than 98% of the population. According to the 1991 census, Croats comprised 17.3% of the total population, with a population of 755,895.

Bosnian War

The total number of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina continued to fall, especially after the Bosnian War broke out in 1992. Soon, an exodus of Bosnian Croats occurred when a large number of Croats were expelled from central Bosnia and Posavina. According to the 1996 census, made by UNHCR and officially unrecognized, there were 571,317 Croats in the country (14.57%).

Education

The Napredak Palace Board members in 1911

The first educational institutions of Bosnian Croats were monasteries, of which the most significant were those in Kreševo, Fojnica, Kraljeva Sutjeska and Tolisa, and later monasteries in Herzegovina, of which the most significant are those in Humac and Široki Brijeg. The most substantial individuals working for the elementary education of Bosnian Croats in the 19th century were Ivan Franjo Jukić and Grgo Martić, who founded and organised elementary schools throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1887, many elementary schools were founded in Bosnia and Herzegovina along with the Order of Sisters of St. Francis, whose classes were led methodologically and professionally, so Bosnian Croat schools were, at the end of the Ottoman era and beginning of Austrian-Hungarian occupation, the same as elementary schools in rest of Europe. The educational system of Bosnia and Herzegovina during communism was based on a mixture of nationalities and the suppression of Croat identity. With the establishment of the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, Bosnian Croat schools adopted the Croatian educational system.

At the same time, University Džemal Bijedić of Mostar was renamed the University of Mostar, with Croatian as the official language. This university is the only one in Bosnia and Herzegovina that uses Croatian as its official language. After signing the Dayton Accords, jurisdiction over education in Republika Srpska was given to the RS Government, while in the Federation, jurisdiction over education was given to the cantons. In municipalities with a Croat majority or significant minority, schools with Croatian as an official language also exist. In territories where there is only a small number of Croats, Catholic centres perform educational functions. Other educational institutions include HKD Napredak, the Scientific Research Institute of the University of Mostar, the Croatian Lexicographic Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Institute for Education in Mostar.

Language

Main articles: Croatian language and Younger Ikavian

Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina speak mostly the Younger Ikavian dialect, but widely use the standardised Croatian language for official purposes.

Politics

See also: Politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Proposed Croat federal unit in Bosnia and Herzegovina

State level

Building of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2004

Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the other two constitutive nations, have their representative in the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Presidency has three members, one Bosniak, one Croat, and one Serb. Bosniak and Croat are elected in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Serb is elected in the Republika Srpska.

The current Croat member of the Presidency is Željko Komšić of the Democratic Front.

The Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina has two chambers: the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples. The House of Peoples has 15 members: five Bosniaks, five Croats, and five Serbs. Bosniak and Croat members of the House of Peoples are elected in the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In contrast, five Serb members are elected in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. The 42 members of the House of Representatives are elected directly by voters, two-thirds are from the Federation, while one-third is from the Republika Srpska.

Federal level

Flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1996 and 2007 showing a controversial Bosniak and a Croatian symbol

The Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists also of two chambers, House of Representatives, which consists of 98 members, and House of Peoples that consists of 58 members.

Members of the House of Representatives are elected directly by the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In contrast, members of the House of Peoples are selected by the cantonal assemblies. There are 17 representatives in the House of Peoples of each constitutive nation, Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs. The Other seven representatives are those of national minorities.

In electing the president and two vice-presidents of the Federation, at least one-third of the delegates of the respective Bosniak, Croat or Serb caucuses in the House of Peoples may nominate the president and two vice presidents of the Federation. The election for the president and two vice presidents of the Federation shall require the joint approval of the list of three nominees by a majority vote in the House of Representatives, and then by a majority vote in the House of Peoples, including the majority of each constituent people's caucus. The current president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Marinko Čavara of the Croatian Democratic Union.

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina should be composed of 16 ministers, with 8 Bosniaks, 5 Croats, and 3 Serbs.

In January 2017, Croatian National Assembly stated that "if Bosnia and Herzegovina wants to become self-sustainable, then it is necessary to have an administrative-territorial reorganization, which would include a federal unit with a Croatian majority. It remains the permanent aspiration of the Croatian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina."

Political parties

Currently, several Croatian political parties are active in Bosnia and Herzegovina, many of which correspond to parties within Croatia itself. The Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), Croatian Democratic Union 1990 (HDZ 1990) are the most popular parties.

HDZ was founded in 1990 and is a major political party among the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina, being the most powerful during the Bosnian War (1992–1995) and the existence of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia (1991–1994). HDZ is Christian democratic, conservative and pro-Europeanist political party.

HDZ 1990 is a split party of the Croatian Democratic Union, founded in 2006, however, their ideology is very similar to one of the HDZ. HDZ 1990 is also Christian democratic and pro-Europeanist.

Open issues

A conference was held in Neum, Bosnia and Herzegovina on October 27 and 28, 2005, under the title "Constitutional position of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina - language, education, culture, and media" (Croatian: Ustavno-pravni položaj Hrvata u BiH - jezik, obrazovanje, kultura i mediji).

It was organised by the University of Mostar and the Croatian Society of Arts and Science. It produced the Declaration of the constitutional-law position of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (The words "constitutional-law position" refer to the position of Croats as one of the constitutive nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina). Croat member of the Presidency Ivo Miro Jović sponsored the conference, and it also received support from numerous other organisations.

The Declaration produced several demands about the equal treatment of the Croatian population in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most significant of these was the creation of three republics within the nation:

• "Starting from the scientific cognition and practical experiences, we think that in consultation with the representatives of Serbian and Bosniak people and the International Community, we should organise Bosnia and Herzegovina as a compound federal state, composed of three federal units and three levels of government. Since only the republic, as a democratic form of the rule of nations, includes and guarantees the highest level of democracy, political, cultural, and every other autonomy, we pledge for the establishment of three republics for three sovereign nations, which is in full accordance with the provisions of the United Nations Pact on the civil, social and cultural rights to the equality of all nations regardless of their numerousness."

The Declaration upheld the right to learn Croatian in school as well as the need for the preservation of their people's culture. Another critical issue was the need for a Croat television station within the country.

Culture

See also: Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Art

See also: Croatian art

In the area near the Neretva River, a Hellenized Illyrian tribe, the Daorsi, spread cultural influences from Greece. Their capital Daorson on Oršćani near Stolac is today the most significant centre of ancient culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The complex of the terraced shrine near Gradac near Posušje, built in 183, was dedicated to a dead Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Late Roman art in Bosnia and Herzegovina was characterised by the building of villas, Christian mausoleums, basilicas, and oratories like Vila "Mogorjelo" near Čapljina (early 4th century). The influence of Romanesque architecture arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina through Croatia, but it was never entirely accepted; only its elements were incorporated. Such buildings include St. Luke's Tower in Jajce (15th century) or motifs of stećak tombstones. Valuable manuscripts of Bosnian origin occur at this time.

Hrvoje's Missal is the most significant medieval Bosnian Croatian artwork, written in the 15th century. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Ottoman rule, which destroyed the influence of the Renaissance and Baroque, the impact of which was only present in Franciscan monasteries in Visoko, Kreševo, Fojnica, and Kraljeva Sutjeska. The first Bosnian Croat painters were educated in European academies in Vienna, Munich, Prague, Kraków, Budapest and Paris. Their education was funded by HKD Napredak. The most famous Bosnian Croat painters are Gabrijel Jurkić, Karlo Mijić, Branko Radulović, and Petar Šain. Statuary was reduced to the memorial portraits, of which the most famous is that of Robert Frangeš-Mihanović and Sputani genije, a statue on the grave of Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević built by Rudolf Valdec. After World War II, the Association of Artists of Bosnia and Herzegovina was founded along with the Painting State School and the Sarajevo Art Gallery. Architectural Regionalism is evident in buildings such as the department stores "Razvitak" in Mostar (1970) and Jajce (1976). The best example of Functionalism is the multiple award-winning hotel Ruža in Mostar (1979).

Literature

See also: Croatian literature

Bosnian Croat literature comprises works written in Croatian by authors originating from Bosnia and Herzegovina and considered part of Croatian literature. It consists of pre-Ottoman literature (first written monuments, texts of the Bosnian Church, diplomatic and law documents, manuscripts on tombstones), Bosna Srebrena literature (prayer books, catechisms, collections of sermons, biographies of saints, monastery yearbooks, first historical works, poems and memoirs, travel books, grammars of Latin and Croatian, and lexicographic works), national awakening literature (the foundation of various associations, reading rooms, libraries in which writing courses were held), the literature of Bosnian Muslims (various Bosniak writers made a significant impact on Croatian literature and were influenced by other Croat authors) and modern Bosnian Croat literature.

The best known contributors to the Bosnian Croat literature are Ivan Aralica, Matija Divković, Mirko Kovač, Ivo Kozarčanin, Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević, Tomislav Ladan, Vitomir Lukić, Grgo Martić, Matija Mažuranić, and Antun Branko Šimić.

Music

Gusle

The traditional music of Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina is related to ganga, klapa, gusle, tamburica and šargija. Those ways of singing and the use of musical instruments are part of the Bosnian Croat national identity. Ganga, klapa, and gusle are most widespread in the territory of western Herzegovina, although they can also be found in eastern Herzegovina and Bosnia. Tamburica is popular in Posavina and central Bosnia. Šargija is widespread in northern Bosnia, from Posavina to Olovo and Vareš.

The most well-known singers of modern Bosnian Croat music are Željko Bebek and Jura Stublić. Some new known singers include Mate Bulić, Ivan Mikulić, Nikša Bratoš, Ivana Marić, the Feminnem girl band, and others. Some other well-known Croatian singers originate from Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Ivo Fabijan, Boris Novković, Vesna Pisarović, and others. There are two significant music festivals, Melodije Mostara (Melodies of Mostar) and Etnofest Neum on which musicians from Croatia also participate. Alongside traditional music, some other musical genres also developed, like heavy metal, hip hop, house and techno.

Religion

Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Vinko Puljić in front of the Sarajevo cathedral

Main article: Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Croats are the core of the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The metropolitan diocese is the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna. There are also dioceses centred in Banja Luka and Mostar, of which Mostar is the largest. Vinko Puljić is the current Cardinal and Archbishop of Vrhbosna. The Sacred Heart Cathedral in Sarajevo is the largest cathedral in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vrhbosna. The other three Roman Catholic cathedrals in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the Cathedral of Saint Bonaventure in Banja Luka, the Cathedral of Mary, Mother of the Church in Mostar, and the Cathedral of the Birth of Mary in Trebinje.

There are numerous monasteries throughout the region. The oldest is the 14th-century Friary of the Holy Spirit, located in Fojnica, central Bosnia, which houses an extensive library filled with numerous historical documents dating back to medieval Bosnia. Two other well-known monasteries are the Guča Gora Monastery near Travnik and Kraljeva Sutjeska Monastery near Kakanj, both located in central Bosnia. The rest of the monasteries in the region are the Monastery of St. Anthony in Sarajevo, the Monastery of St. Mark in Derventa, Gorica Monastery in Livno, and the Čajniče Monastery in Prozor-Rama. The oldest preserved church in Bosnia is the Old Church of St. Michael in Vareš. It was built before the 16th century.

The parish of Međugorje is a significant Marian shrine that attracts approximately one million visitors each year. It became a popular site of religious pilgrimage due to reports of apparitions of the Virgin Mary to six local Catholics in 1981. Over a thousand hotel and hostel beds are available for religious tourism.

Sports

Croatian-run clubs are well represented in terms of national championships, considering the percentage of Croats in the population. In football, HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, NK Široki Brijeg, NK Žepče, HŠK Posušje, and HNK Orašje are some of the most successful. Collectively, they have won three national Cups and five national Championships since the national competition began in 2000. Other Croatian-run clubs are NK Brotnjo, NK SAŠK Napredak, NK Ljubuški, HNK Sloga Uskoplje. The clubs are often among the nation's most multi-ethnic.

Before 2000, the Croats ran their own unapproved football league. However, they have joined the UEFA-approved Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina's league system. Bosnia and Herzegovina has produced many successful internationals, both for the Croatia national team and the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

See also

• Bosnia and Herzegovina–Croatia relations
• List of Croats
• Turkish Croatia
• Sicanje

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