|
Bosnia
Map
of former Yugoslavia
AT A GLANCE:
| Latitude/Longitude (at largest city) : |
43°52'N / 18°26'E |
| Area (km2) : |
51129 |
| Total Population, 1995 est.: |
3,524,000 |
| Population Density (pop. per square km.): |
68 |
| Capital : |
Sarajevo |
| Major Language(s) : |
Serbo-Croatian |
| Largest City : |
Sarajevo |
| Largest City Population: |
410,000 |
| Currency : |
Bosnian dinar |
| Life Expectancy (at birth): |
51 |
| Date of UN Membership : |
22 May 1992 |
| Gross Domestic Product, Canadian dollars,
1994 : |
6,220,000,000 |
| Gross Domestic Product Per Capita, Canadian
dollars, 1994 : |
1,765 |
Source: United Nations Statistics Division from the
World Statistics Pocketbook and Statistical Yearbook
Very Brief Sketch of Recent History
Under President Josip Tito, Yugoslavia was a federation of six autonomous
republics - Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia
and Slovenia, in which Bosnians, Serbs and Croats shared an uneasy alliance.
On Tito's death in 1980 and with the collapse of communism a decade later,
instability took over. Ethnic conflict, never far from the surface, emerged
in force, and was exacerbated by Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic
who made blatant appeals to nationalism. War broke out in 1991 when Slovenia
and Croatia seceded from the federation.
The bloody civil war which resulted in over a million people being driven
from their homes and hundreds of thousands of civilians killed and wounded
lasted until the signing of a US sponsored peace accord in Dayton, Ohio
in 1995.
For on-line history, maps and numerous links to related sites (primarily
American sources) check out the Bosnia
Homepage.
Land mines in Bosnia-Herzegovina
While most countries faced with a proliferation of mines are in the
developing world, the war in the former Yugoslavia has created Europeís
greatest land mine crisis since World War Two. Estimated at between three
and six million mines in the ground, land mines today are injuring or killing
one person every day in Sarajevo alone. Clearance is expected to take from
15 to 20 years. Concentrations of mines are near the border with Serbia,
on roads and mountain trails. They were laid both to hamper military resupply
efforts and to strengthen control over contested territory.
Link to the
write up of Canadian peacekeeper Mark Isfeld's death from a landmine in
Croatia.
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