The capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a small country in Eastern Europe, Sarajevo lies in the valley of the Miljacka River at the foot of Mount Trebevic. Once a thriving center of culture and business, Sarajevo was devastated by civil war during the 1990s. The city's recovery continued into the early 21st century.

Places of interest

Although the war left many of Sarajevo's buildings in ruins, a number of historic sites survived the fighting. Among them are several places of worship in the old part of the city. The Bey's Mosque and the Emperor's Mosque, both built in the 16th century, are the main Islamic houses of worship in Sarajevo. A nearby synagogue dating from the 1560s now houses a Jewish museum. Also in this part of the city are a 16th-century Orthodox church and a 19th-century Roman Catholic cathedral. The National Museum traces the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina from ancient to modern times. Sarajevo also has a university and an Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Economy

Before the civil war broke out, Sarajevo was a busy industrial city. Its factories produced automobiles, metal goods, furniture, chemicals, medicines, textiles, food and beverages, and tobacco products. The war destroyed many of the city's industries, however, and the economy struggled to recover for years after the fighting ended. International aid helped to repair much of the structural damage Sarajevo suffered during the war. Tourists slowly started to return to the city within a few years after the fighting ended.

History

People have lived on the site of present-day Sarajevo since prehistoric times. Ancestors of the Slavic people who today dominate the region began arriving in about the 7th century. The city became part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the 15th century. The Turks converted much of the population to Islam and made the city a center of Muslim culture.

In 1878 Austria-Hungary drove out the Turks and took over Sarajevo. In the following decades resistance to Austrian rule grew in the city, especially among the ethnic Serb population. In 1914 a Bosnian Serb shot and killed the Austrian leader Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo. The assassination led to the outbreak of World War I (1914–18). After the war Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the new country of Yugoslavia. Sarajevo was damaged when Germans occupied the city during World War II (1939–45), but it was repaired quickly.

In 1992 Bosnia and Herzegovina tried to break away from Yugoslavia and become an independent nation. This began a brutal civil war as the country's Serb population fought to prevent the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Much of the fighting occurred in Sarajevo, causing thousands of deaths and widespread destruction. Tens of thousands of people fled the city. In 1995 the warring sides agreed to a cease-fire. By the early 21st century much of Sarajevo had been rebuilt. Population (1997 estimate), 360,000.