The Disintegration of Settlements in Bosnia and Herzegovina – The Example of Sarajevo/East Sarajevo

Abstract

There were some big political, economic, demographic and administrative changes in Bosnia and Herzegovina primarily caused by the war in the period from 1992 to 1995 Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided into two entities -the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic of Srpska. The entity's boundary did not respect the boundaries of settlements system, and did not respect the boundaries of the settlements itself as the network of settlements, which led to the division of settlements between the two entities. It was perhaps one of the biggest problems when it comes to the data comparability of population census in 1991 and 2013. It can be said that it is almost impossible to determine which number of inhabitants of these divided settlements in 1991 lived on the territory of the Republic of Srpska and which lived in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Major changes and disintegration settlements occurred in the area of the capital city of the Bosnia and Herzegovina-Sarajevo, where, in 1992, the city of East Sarajevo is founded. The work will present the kind of changes that occurred at the area of Sarajevo -East Sarajevo, what happened to the settlement system and how it creates problems regarding the comparability of the census. The aim is to point out the level of disintegration of settlements in the researched area. Keywords: Sarajevo, East Sarajevo, disintegration settlements, census INTRODUCTIONThe formation of a settlement system in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a long historical process which took place under very specific political and social conditions. According the census from 1991 in Bosnia and Herzegovina were 5 825 settlements, of which 5 572 were in the category of other settlements, and settlements or smaller settlements of the transition type which makes 95.7% of the total number of settlements, while 253 settlements belonged into the category of urban settlements and it makes 4.3% of the total. At the end of the twentieth century the Balkan peninsula went through a difficult period of the war that was followed by the political, economic and demographic changes. After the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995) and the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement in November in 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided into two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with 51% of pre-war territory and the Republic of Srpska, with 49% of pre-war territory [3]. The entity boundary did not respect the boundaries of settlements system, and did not respect the boundaries of settlement itself and the network of settlements, which led to the division of settlements between the two entities. (Figure 1 [9])

Урбана И Рурална Насеља На Простору Града Источно Сарајево

“…In the area of pre-war Sarajevo, 43 settlements were distributed to the entity border. About 30 % of the settlements изражена депопулација и нестајање насеља, а сигурно да је један од разлога таквог стања линија разграничења (Lukić Tanović & Marinković, 2017 (Стевановић, 2008).…”

“…Код јасног дефинисања урбаних и руралних насеља Града Источно Сарајево, главни проблем представља недостатак адекватних података. Попис становништва и коначни резултати пописа по насељеним местима are settlements of up to 50 inhabitants, rural settlements where depopulation and the disappearance of settlements are expressed today, and certainly one of the reasons for such a state of demarcation lines is (Lukić Tanović & Marinković, 2017).…”