Bihać is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of river Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosanska Krajina region. In 2013 its population was 56,261.

Bihać
Бихаћ
Grad Bihać
Град Бихаћ
City of Bihać
From top, left to right: Bihać panorama, Fethija Mosque (former Catholic Church of St. Anthony of Padua), Stećak Tombstones, Kapetanova kula (Captain's Tower; currently a museum), Bihać Türbe and the Una river.
From top, left to right: Bihać panorama, Fethija Mosque (former Catholic Church of St. Anthony of Padua), Stećak Tombstones, Kapetanova kula (Captain's Tower; currently a museum), Bihać Türbe and the Una river.
Coat of arms of Bihać
Location of Bihać within Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Location of Bihać within Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Map
Bihać is located in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bihać
Bihać
Location in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Coordinates: 44°49′N 15°52′E / 44.817°N 15.867°E / 44.817; 15.867
Country Bosnia and Herzegovina
EntityFederation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Canton Una-Sana
Geographical regionBosanska Krajina
Government
 • MayorElvedin Sedić (POMAK)
Area
 • City
900 km2 (300 sq mi)
 • Urban
163 km2 (63 sq mi)
Elevation
230 m (750 ft)
Population
 (2013 census)
 • City
43,007
 • Density48/km2 (120/sq mi)
 • Urban
56,261
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
ZIP code
77000
Area code+387 37
Websitewww.bihac.org

Settlements

edit

History

edit

According to documents and historical sources, the first medieval urban settlements and towns around the Una river, began to appear in the middle of the 13th century. Bihać, as the centre of Pounje, was first mentioned on 26 February 1260, in the charter of Hungarian King Bela IV, and was described as a town built on the river's Island of St. Ladislav, owned by the Benedictine abbey of Topusko. Just two years later, in 1262, Bela proclaimed Bihać a royal free city and placed it under the direct authority of the Hungarian throne, with all rights and privileges pertaining thereto, which ensured its ability to develop completely independent from the political powers of local lords. The following mention in the charter of 1271 confirms that Bihać at that time enjoyed the status of a free city. At the head of the municipality was the town elder or major villae, who was often called a judge, and whose decision could only be changed by the king. Bihać also had a curia or magistrates, an assembly of local citizens who took the oath of office for this duty, and notaries who kept court and other civil records.[1][2][3][4]

In 1530 Austria sent troops to defend seven key strongholds in Croatia, one of them was Bihać and another the nearby Ripač.[5]: 113  The Ottomans occupied Bihać in 1592 after a 10-day siege and from that time Bihać was the most important forts in Bosnia until the 19th century.[6] Ottoman rule was briefly interrupted by Auguste Marmont, general-governor of Illyrian Provinces on 5 May 1810.[7] He sought to prevent Ottomans from raiding French Croatia and finishing the Ottoman occupation of Cetin. After fulfilling these goals, he withdrew from Bihac. Ottoman rule in Bihac ended de facto after the Congress of Berlin.

During World War II, the town was occupied by Axis troops and was included into the Pavelić's Independent State of Croatia (NDH). The fascist Ustashe regime committed the Genocide of the Serbs and the Holocaust. From July to September 1941, some 15,000 Serbs were massacred along with some Jews and Roma victims at the Garavice, an extermination location near Bihać. The town was the capital of a short-lived territory, the Bihać Republic, for two months in late 1942 and early 1943, until it was recaptured by German forces.[8] From 1943 Judita Alargić served near to Bihać as an instructor of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.[9][10][11] Bihać returned to Bosnian territory on March 28, 1945.[8]

Bihać was besieged for three years from 1992 to 1995 during the Bosnian War.[12]

Demographics

edit
 
Bihać inner city panorama

According to the 2013 census, the city of Bihać has a population of 56,261 inhabitants.

Ethnic groups

edit

The ethnic composition of the municipality:

Ethnic group Population
2013[13]
Bosniaks 49,550 (88.1%)
Croats 3,265 (5.8%)
Serbs 910 (1.62%)
Yugoslavs 21 (0.04%)
Others/Unspecified 2,536 (4.47%)
Total 56,261 (100%)

In the 1991 population census in Bosnia and Herzegovina the ethnic composition of the municipality was 46,737 Bosniaks, 12,689 Serbs, 5,580 Croats, 4,356 Yugoslavs and 1,370 Others.[14]

Religion

edit

Majority religion in Bihać city is Islam followed by Catholic and then Orthodox.

Geography

edit

Climate

edit
Climate data for Bihać (1961–1990, extremes 1949–present)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 21.2
(70.2)
24.2
(75.6)
27.2
(81.0)
30.8
(87.4)
33.7
(92.7)
38.9
(102.0)
41.2
(106.2)
42.0
(107.6)
36.1
(97.0)
31.5
(88.7)
26.6
(79.9)
21.0
(69.8)
42.0
(107.6)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 4.0
(39.2)
6.5
(43.7)
11.2
(52.2)
16.3
(61.3)
21.0
(69.8)
24.2
(75.6)
26.7
(80.1)
26.2
(79.2)
22.6
(72.7)
16.9
(62.4)
10.6
(51.1)
5.3
(41.5)
15.9
(60.6)
Daily mean °C (°F) 0.3
(32.5)
2.3
(36.1)
6.1
(43.0)
10.7
(51.3)
15.1
(59.2)
18.3
(64.9)
20.1
(68.2)
19.3
(66.7)
15.9
(60.6)
11.3
(52.3)
6.3
(43.3)
1.7
(35.1)
10.6
(51.1)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −3.7
(25.3)
−1.7
(28.9)
1.2
(34.2)
5.1
(41.2)
9.1
(48.4)
12.2
(54.0)
13.3
(55.9)
13.0
(55.4)
10.3
(50.5)
6.5
(43.7)
2.3
(36.1)
−1.9
(28.6)
5.5
(41.9)
Record low °C (°F) −24.8
(−12.6)
−29.2
(−20.6)
−21.0
(−5.8)
−5.4
(22.3)
−3.3
(26.1)
1.4
(34.5)
4.4
(39.9)
3.6
(38.5)
−2.4
(27.7)
−7.0
(19.4)
−18.0
(−0.4)
−18.2
(−0.8)
−29.2
(−20.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 85.8
(3.38)
90.8
(3.57)
99.2
(3.91)
115.0
(4.53)
116.3
(4.58)
109.0
(4.29)
105.9
(4.17)
109.5
(4.31)
107.9
(4.25)
109.6
(4.31)
146.2
(5.76)
113.6
(4.47)
1,308.8
(51.53)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 13.8 14.3 14.5 14.6 14.2 14.0 10.1 10.5 10.0 12.2 14.2 15.0 157.4
Average snowy days (≥ 1.0 cm) 16.2 13.4 8.4 1.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 5.0 13.1 57.5
Average relative humidity (%) 79.8 76.7 70.6 66.7 68.9 70.5 69.3 73.1 76.5 77.6 78.9 80.6 74.1
Mean monthly sunshine hours 58.3 74.0 125.4 152.1 202.1 219.7 265.6 228.2 171.6 117.4 73.2 50.3 1,737.9
Source: Meteorological Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina[15][16]

Economy

edit

The agricultural sector is significant, due to the large and fertile soil.[17]

Notable people

edit

Twin towns – sister cities

edit

Bihać is twinned with:

See also

edit

Notes

edit
  • 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.

References

edit
  1. ^ Mladen Ančić (1985). "Bihaćki kraj od 1262. do početka XV stoljeća". Glasnik arhiva i Društva arhivskih radnika Bosne i Hercegovine (in Serbo-Croatian). Društvo arhivskih radnika Bosne i Hercegovine. pp. 193–230. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  2. ^ Franjić, Živko (1999). Povijest Bihaća: od najstarijih vremena do 1878. godine (in Croatian). Napredak. p. 7. ISBN 9789958943102. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  3. ^ Stanić, Damir (5 May 2020). Bihać kao sjedište Bihaćke kapetanije i slobodni kraljevski grad (info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis) (in Croatian). University of Zagreb. University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Department of History. doi:10.17234/diss.2020.7151. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  4. ^ Hamdija Kreševljaković. "Stari bosanski gradovi. Vieux bourgs bosniaques" (PDF) (in Bosnian). p. 30. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
  5. ^ Tracy, James D. (2016). Habsburg Croatia, Ottoman Bosnia, and Venetian Dalmatia, 1499–1617.
  6. ^ Hamdija Kreševljaković. "Stari bosanski gradovi. Vieux bourgs bosniaques" (PDF) (in Bosnian). p. 31. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
  7. ^ "Kriegs-Chronik Oesterreich-Ungarns. Military leader on the war of the monarchy. III. Theil. The southern war zone in the lands of the Hungarian crown, in Dalmatia and Bosnia The field in Croatia and Dalmatia in 1813 and 1814". Supplement. 1892.
  8. ^ a b "Grad Bihać". Archived from the original on 2019-12-12. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
  9. ^ "PARTIZANKE, ŽENE KOJE SU SE BORILE PROTIV FAŠIZMA I PATRIJARHATA – Balkan Breaking News". 2016-10-11. Archived from the original on 2016-10-11. Retrieved 2024-08-03.
  10. ^ Југословенски савременици : Ко је ко у Југославији [Yugoslav contemporaries: Who is who in Yugoslavia] (in Serbian). Хронометар [Chronometer]. 1970.
  11. ^ Vujačić, Rada (1975). Žene Srbije u NOB (in Serbian). Nolit. pp. 191, 205, 527.
  12. ^ "Weary Bihac cries with joy as siege ends". The Independent. 9 August 1995. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  13. ^ "POPIS STANOVNIŠTVA, DOMAĆINSTAVA I STANOVA U BOSNI I HERCEGOVINI, 2013. REZULTATI POPISA" (PDF). popis2013.ba (in Serbian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  14. ^ "Popis stanovništva 1991 – Federalni zavod za statistiku". fzs.ba.
  15. ^ "Meteorlogical data for station Bihać in period 1961–1990". Meteorological Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Archived from the original on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  16. ^ "Bihać: Record mensili dal 1949" (in Italian). Meteorological Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  17. ^ Arnautovic, Marija (21 September 2012), Bosnian Town Preserves Coexistence Legacy: Bihać is one of the few places where conflict failed to drive a wedge between communities, vol. TRI Issue 757, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, archived from the original on 29 July 2014, retrieved 27 December 2015
  18. ^ "Bihac, gemellaggio che non va ma non per colpa nostra". lanuovaferrara.gelocal.it (in Italian). La Nuova Ferrara. 2016-03-22. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  19. ^ "Братски градови". kikinda.org.rs (in Serbian). Kikinda. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  20. ^ "Kardeş Şehirler". kusadasi.bel.tr (in Turkish). Kuşadası. Archived from the original on 2020-12-01. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  21. ^ "Testvérvárosok". nagykanizsa.hu (in Hungarian). Nagykanizsa. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  22. ^ "Mednarodno". novomesto.si (in Slovenian). Mestna občina Novo Mesto. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  23. ^ "Orașe înfrățite". primaria-resita.ro (in Romanian). Reșița. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  24. ^ "Villefranche-de-Rouergue. Le jumelage avec Sarzana encore bien actif". ladepeche.fr (in French). La Depeche. 2018-09-15. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
edit