History of Bosnia and Herzegovina (until 958)
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Bosnia and Herzegovina has been inhabited at least since Neolithic Period (before 10,000 years ago). In the early Bronze Age, the Neolithic population was replaced by more warlike Indo-European tribes, the Illyrians. Celtic migrations in the 4th and 3rd century BC displaced many Illyrian tribes from their former lands, but some Celtic and Illyrian tribes mixed. Concrete historical evidence for this period is scarce, but overall it appears that the region was populated by a number of different peoples speaking distinct languages.
Conflict between the Illyrians and ancient Romans started in 229 BC. In the year 168 BC the land of Illyrians became the Roman province of Illyricum. Rome complete its annexation of the region in 9 AD, ending a three-year rebellion of Illyrians against Romans. In year 10 AD, Illyria was divided and the northern strip of today's Bosnia along the south side of the Sava River became part of the new province of Pannonia. The rest of what is today Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Dalmatia, and western Serbia became part of the Roman province of Dalmatia. In the Roman period, latin-speaking settlers from all over the Roman Empire settled among the Illyrians and Roman soldiers were encouraged to retire in the region. The town of Blagaj on the Buna River is built on the site of the Roman town of Bona.
Christianity had already arrived in the region by the end of the 1st century, and numerous artifacts and objects from the time testify to this. Following events from the years 337 and 395, when the Roman Empire split, Dalmatia and Pannonia were included in the Western Roman Empire. The region was conquered by Huns, and later by the Ostrogoths in 455. The Ostrogoth Kingdom was defeated by Byzantine Empire in the Gothic War (535–553) by the Emperor Justinian I, and the area was re-conquered for the Byzantine Empire.
This is a history of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 7th century until 1000. Very little is known about this period of history.
[edit] Early Ages
The Slavs, who had originated in areas spanning modern-day southern Poland, were subjugated by the Eurasian Avars. Together, they invaded the Byzantine Empire since the 6th century, settling in Bosnia, the Hum, and the surrounding lands. The two powerful Slavic tribes, Serbs and Croats, came in the 630s, Serbs inhabiting the lands east of Livno and Cetina; the Croats the lands to the west as explained in the 950 De Administrando Imperio of Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos. They were invited by Eastern Roman Emperor Heraclius to drive the Avars off Dalmatia.
In the early Middle Ages, the term Bosnia described the region of the upper Bosna river valley, roughly Bosnia proper. Later this term spread to cover most of what is today Bosnia and Herzegovina. Around this time dates the earliest preserved mention of the name Bosnia. The book De Administrando Imperio, Heading 32, mentions one of the territories Baptised Serbia as a "small region" (χοριον) of "Bosona" (Βοσωνα), in which lie the two inhabited cities, Kotor and Desnik. Though the location of Desnik is still unknown, Kotor was located to the south of present day Sarajevo (not to be confused with Kotor at the seaside). Vrhbosna arised out of Kotor.
The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja from 1172-1196 of Bar's Roman Catholic Christian Archbishop Grgur names Bosnia, and references an earlier source from the year of 753 - the De Regno Sclavorum (Of the Realm of Slavs). Bosnia was ruled by local Bans and together with Rascia formed Zagorje (Serbs call it Serbian Zagorje), which was referred to as Surbia in Latin. The Zachlumian coastal lands were a part of Red Croatia.
Modern knowledge of the political situation in the west Balkans during the Dark Ages is patchy and confusing. Upon their arrival, the Slavs brought with them a tribal social structure and Slavic paganism, which probably fell apart and gave way to feudalism only with Frankish penetration into the region in the late 9th century. Bosnia probably originated as one such pre-feudal Slavic entity. It was also around this time, during the reigns of Grand Princes Petar and Stefan and the baptising missions of Cyril and Methodus that the local Slavs were Christianized. Bosnia, due to its geographic position and terrain, was probably one of the last areas to go through this process, which presumably originated from the urban centers along the Dalmatian coast.
[edit] Later Early Ages
Bosnia and Herzegovina was in control of the many kingdoms, Serbia, Croatia, and Bulgaria in the 9th and 10th century, and also Kingdom of Hungary and the Byzantine Empire.
Liudevit TransSavian, the Croatian Prince of Pannonia, initiated a movement for uniting Slavs in his rebellion against the Frankish Empire (819–822). In 822 he was pushed to western Bosnia by the Frankish forces, centered around the City of Srb on Una, where he was accepted to the court of the Serbian Prince, but tricked him, killed him and took his area for himself. It later turned out that the Serbian ruler was a Frankish ally, seeing in the Franks the only way to liberate himself from Byzantine rule and Ljudevit thought that he was going to betray him. The small strip of Bosnian soil between the rivers of Bosna and Drina became subjected under the Serb Grand Principality of Rascia.
The Serbs soon fell under the control of the First Bulgarian Empire at the end of the 9th century, causing mass Serbian refugees to Croatia. Croats' Dalmatian Duke Trpimir I has fought successful wars against the Bulgarians in the 9th century, under Boris I and their Serbian subjects. He succeeded to expand his realm to the Drina River and include the entire Bosnia into his Realm. His successor, Tomislav (910–928), the first King of Croatia, held Bosnia to the Bosna River and Croatian Kingdom was bordering in the east with the First Bulgarian Empire, ruled by Czar Simeon I. Simeon I annexed the Serbian lands into his Empire, and attacked Croatia. Tomislav decisivly defeated Simeon I in battle of the Bosnian Highlands. The border withdrew to the river of Bosna. Large parts of Bosnia were held up to Croatia's King Miroslav (945–949), when the Croatian Kingdom fell into a civil war.
Serbian Prince Časlav Klonimirović (927–960) re-established Serbian state, after the death of Simeon I in 927. He liberated the Serbs from Bulgarian empire, by 931 the Bosnian Chiefs joined his Realm. By 949, Prince Časlav used the Croatian Civil War and pushed the border between Serbia and Croatia to the river of Vrbas. The Drina became the core of Serb statehood. The Hungarians invaded Serbia on several occasions, and hard, long fights occurred often. Česlav's death in a battle against the Hungarians north of Bosnia meant the end of his realm, as it was subjected by the Byzantine Empire, while the territories of Bosnia dissolved into statelets ruled by various Bosnian chiefs. Technicly, Bosnia became a part of the theme of Serbia with Constantin Diogenes as its first strategos.
In 968, most of Bosnia was regained by the Croatian king Mihajlo Krešimir II in his war against the Byzantine Empire and after the Bosnian chiefs were put down, it was incorporated into the Croatian state. It is unclear whether it remained so during the rule of his son Stjepan Držislav, and during the dynastic struggle that arose after his death in 997.
