波士尼亚赫塞哥维纳(Bosnia and Herzegovina)
正式名称波士尼亚赫塞哥维纳共和国（Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina）
巴尔干半岛中西部国家，与克罗埃西亚、塞尔维亚与蒙特内哥罗为界。面积51,129平方公里。人口约3,922,000（2001，不包括在邻国和西欧地区的近三十万难民）。首都︰塞拉耶佛。主要种族是波士尼亚穆斯林（约占人口的2/5）、塞尔维亚人（约占1/3）和克罗埃西亚人（约占1/5），他们在种族上是难以分辨的。语言︰塞尔维亚-克罗埃西亚语（官方语）。宗教：伊斯兰教、东正教和天主教。货币︰第纳尔（Din）。该国地形主要是山地，一般高度在1,800公尺以上。但往南高度陡降，向下倾斜到亚得里亚海。主要河流有萨瓦、德里纳和内雷特瓦等河及其支流。虽然拥有多种矿物资源，但仍是前南斯拉夫地区最贫穷的国家之一。政府形式为多党制共和国，两院制。国家元首暨政府首脑是主席团。
在罗马统治时期以前很久就已有人居住，当时该国的大部分地区都被包括在达尔马提亚省内。西元6世纪时斯拉夫人开始来此定居。接下来几个世纪里，该地区的一些部分先後落入塞尔维亚人、克罗埃西亚人、匈牙利人、威尼斯人和拜占庭人手里。14世纪时鄂图曼土耳其人入侵波士尼亚，经过多次战役後，1463年成为土耳其的一个省。1482年赫塞哥维纳（当时称Hum）也被土耳其占有。16～17世纪，该地区是土耳其的重要出口港，在与哈布斯堡和威尼斯的战争後依然如此。在这个时期，许多本地居民都转而信奉伊斯兰教。1877～1878年俄土战争後，在柏林会议上，将波士尼亚赫塞哥维纳划归奥匈帝国，1908年合并。塞尔维亚人的民族主义情绪不断增长，1914年一个波士尼亚的塞尔维亚人在塞拉耶佛刺杀了奥地利大公斐迪南，爆发了第一次世界大战。战後，该地区并入塞尔维亚。第二次世界大战後，这两个领土成为共产主义南斯拉夫的一个共和国。随着东欧共产主义政权的解体，波士尼亚赫塞哥维纳在1992年宣布独立；但它的塞尔维亚人民反对，於是在塞尔维亚人、克罗埃西亚人以及穆斯林之间发生了冲突（参阅Bosnian conflict）。1995年的和平协定建立了一个松散的联邦政府，大概划分为一个穆斯林克罗埃西亚联邦及一个塞尔维亚人共和国。1996年北大西洋公约组织的维和部队驻紮在那里。
English version：
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Country, Balkan Peninsula, bounded by modern Yugoslavia and Croatia. Area: 19,904 sq mi (51,750 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 3,124,000 (excludes about 1,000,000 refugees in adjacent countries and elsewhere). Capital: Sarajevo. Major ethnic groups include Bosnian Muslims (about two-fifths of the population), Serbs (about one-third), and Croats (about one-fifth); they are racially indistinguishable. Language: Serbo-Croatian (official). Religions: Islam, Orthodox Christian, Roman Catholic. Currency: dinar. The country's relief is largely mountainous, and elevations of more than 6,000 ft (1,800 m) are common; the land drops abruptly southward toward the Adriatic Sea; it is drained by the Sava, Drina, and Neretva rivers and their tributaries. Agriculture is a mainstay of the economy; though the area possesses a variety of minerals, it remains one of the poorest regions of the former Yugoslavia. A republic with two legislative houses, its chief of state is the chairman of the tripartite presidency, and the heads of government are the two cochairmen of the Council of Ministers. Habitation long predates the era of Roman rule, when much of the country was included in the province of Dalmatia. Slav settlement began in the 6th century AD. For the next several centuries, parts of the region fell under the rule of Serbs, Croats, Hungarians, Venetians, and Byzantines. The Ottoman Turks invaded Bosnia in the 14th century, and after many battles it became a Turkish province in 1463. Herzegovina, then known as Hum, was taken in 1482. In the 16th-17th century the area was an important Turkish outpost, constantly at war with the Habsburgs and Venice. During this period much of the native population converted to Islam. At the Congress of Berlin after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, Bosnia and Herzegovina was assigned to Austria-Hungary and annexed in 1908. Growing Serb nationalism resulted in the 1914 assassination of the Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand at Sarajevo by a Bosnian Serb, an event that precipitated World War I. After the war the area was annexed to Serbia. Following World War II the twin territory became a republic of communist Yugoslavia. With the collapse of communist regimes in eastern Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence in 1992; its Serbian population objected, and conflict ensued among Serbs, Croats, and Muslims (see Bosnian conflict). The 1995 peace accord established a loosely federated government roughly divided between a Muslim Croat federation and a Serb republic. In 1996 a NATO peace-keeping force was installed there.
