Bosnia-Hercegovina

Abstract

Having been a part of the Eastern Roman province of Illyria since 168 BC, Bosnia did not become a magnet for the Slavs until the sixth century AD. The following century two new Slav tribes arrived: the Croats and the Serbs. The Croats settled in the north, centre and the west, while the Serbs moved into the Drina River Valley in the east and further south into Hum (now Hercegovina). Between the tenth and 12th centuries Bosnia experienced Serb, Croat, Byzantine and Hungarian domination. In 1180, when the Byzantine emperor died, an independent Bosnian state was established for the first time by Kulin, who assumed the Hungarian title of Ban (Governor).