Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina) is a Balkan country that was formerly part of Yugoslavia. It borders Croatia to the north, west and southwest, Serbia to the east and Montenegro to the southeast. Mostly mountainous, it has access to a tiny portion of the Adriatic Sea coastline in the south.

Understand

Until recently, the idea of a Bosnian nationality was exclusive only to the nation's muslims or the Bosniaks. Bosnia's Croatians and Serbs looked to Serbia and Croatia for guidance and as the mother country and both had aspiratons for political union with either Serbia or Croatia once the Yugoslav state began to fall apart in the early 1990's. This of course spelled disaster for the state of Bosnia and as a result a bloody civil war was fought between all three groups. In the end the Croatian-Muslim alliance fought the Serbian forces to a stalemate and all three groups were forced to sue for peace with a heavy handled role of the U.S. Clinton Administration helping seal the deal. Things have rapidly improved since then but the two regions of Bosnia still have a long way to go towards complete political and social union. As of now, it could be said Bosnia functions as one country with two or even three different parts. However, the central government lies in Sarajevo and there is one common currency, the Mark. The Serbian region or Serb Republic/Republika Srbska is most notably autonomous both culturally and politically.