Romanija
The Romanija ( Serbian - Cyrillic Романија ) is a mountain range and a region in the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina . It is located about 20 km east of Sarajevo between the adjacent Ozren mountain ranges in the north and Jahorina in the south. The largest cities in the region are Pale and Sokolac . The region is now part of the Republika Srpska , one of two entities of the south-eastern European country.
The highest peak of the Romanija is the mountain Lupoglav ( 1652 m ) about 8 km northeast of Pale. The mountains are also the headwaters of the Miljacka , which rises on its western slope and later flows through Sarajevo, and the Prača , which flows into the Drina .
history
Remains of 27 fortified settlements of the Illyrians who settled here 2000 years ago have been found on the Glasinac plateau on the eastern edge of the Romanija .
The name Romanija refers to the Romanesque population that has lived there since it belonged to the Roman Empire and was later Slavicized.
During the Second World War , the Romanija was a center of partisan struggle against the Ustaše and the German and Italian occupiers.
During the Bosnian War , the Romanija was the center of power for the Bosnian Serbs. Pale was the capital of the Republika Srpska until 1996 . Even before the beginning of the Bosnian War, the self-proclaimed "Serbian Autonomous Region Romanija" was founded in the region on September 18, 1991 , and later merged into the Republika Srpska. In addition, the corps of the Army of the Republika Srpska , which besieged Sarajevo, was named after the mountains. The football stadium in Pale is also called Romanija .
Pale and Sokolac are still considered strongholds of the former Karadžić party SDS .
population
The Romanija is mainly located in the municipalities of Pale and Sokolac. Before the Bosnian War, a total of 31,238 inhabitants lived here; 69% of them described themselves as Serbs and 28% as Bosniaks . In the course of the war and the establishment of the Republika Srpska, most of the Muslims were expelled from the area or fled.
traffic
Two Bosnian main roads cross the Romanija. The M19 runs from Sarajevo to Vlasenica or Rogatica , while the M5 runs via Pale and the Vitez tunnel down into the Prača valley. The latter mostly uses the former route of the Bosnian Eastern Railway (Sarajevo- Višegrad ), which is now closed. The two roads used to run over the Nadromanija ("on the Romanija", 1368 m) and Vitez (1050 m) passes .
swell
- ^ JJ Wilkes: The Illyrians , Blackwell Publishing, 1995, p. 205
- ↑ Enver Redžić: Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Second World War , Routledge, 2005
- ↑ Steven L. Burg, Paul S. Shoup: The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention , p. 73
- ↑ 1991 census, municipalities of Pale and Sokolac
Web link
Coordinates: 43 ° 53 ' N , 18 ° 41' E