Bosnia and Herzegovina is a small country located on the Balkan Peninsula in Southern Europe. Formerly, it was one of the federal units of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, but gained independence during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Three constituent ethnic peoples make up the country’s population, the Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, but they are generally considered Bosnians. The territory of the country is mountainous in the north, covered with thick forests. In the south, it is flat and mainly farmland. The capital, Sarajevo, is the largest city of the country situated between high mountains.

Today’s Bosnia and Herzegovina was once called Illyricum, ruled by the Romans in the 2nd and 1st Centuries BC. Later, it became the Roman province of Dalmatia, occupied for a short time by the Goths. It was ruled as a semi-autonomous part of the Byzantine Empire for the next 600 years.

The Slavs moved to the Balkans around AD 600, migrating from the north and invading Bosnia. In the 7th Century, these Slavic settlers mixed with Croatian and Serbian tribes to help the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius resist the Avars. The territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was populated by Croats in the western part and by Serbs in the east. The Croatians, Serbians and Bulgarians established their first states, and fighting for territories, Bosnia became the battleground among them and the Byzantine Empire.

By the 9th Century, the Christianisation of the area was completed. Most of the population of Bosnia fell under the influence of Rome and the Croats became Catholics, while most of the Serbs, under the influence of the Byzantine Empire, became Eastern Orthodox. When the Slavs settled in the region, they brought their tribal social structure but gradually gave way to feudalism in the late 9th Century. It is possible that Bosnia originated from such pre-feudal Slavic entity.