Middle Ages In the 6th century, today's northwestern Bosnia was part of the
Roman province of Dalmatia. It fell under the jurisdiction of the
Eastern Roman Empire. Shortly thereafter,
Eurasian Avars and their
Slavic subjects from central-eastern Europe invaded Dalmatia and settled in what is now
Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the 7th century, the
Serbs and
Croats formed principalities initially under the
Eastern Roman Empire. The region was part of the
Duchy of Croatia in the
Early Middle Ages. which later became part of the
Kingdom of Croatia under
Tomislav I. Archaeological data show that
medieval cemeteries of northwestern Bosnia clearly indicate that from the first half of the 10th century this territory was under the political rule of Tomislav I. Northern parts of these territories were ruled by the
Slavonian Banate (parishes of Sana, Vrbas, and Dubica, while Lower Pounje was part of the parish of Zagreb) as lower Slavonia, where the parish of Sana served as seat of
Babonić family, and later the
Blagaj family, and southern were parts were the parishes of Pset and Pliva. In the 13th and 14th century, a region called
Donji Kraji (parish of Pliva), located in today's southern Bosanska Krajina developed, and was first mentioned as a property of the
Diocese of Bosnia and claimed by the
Bosnian Banate. By the end of the 14th century, the
Ottoman Empire had significantly expanded into the western Balkans in a
series of wars, and the Turkish westward incursions eventually made this region an Ottoman borderland.
Jajce had fallen to the
Ottoman Turks in 1463, marking the downfall of the
Kingdom of Bosnia, although was later taken from the Ottoman Turks and organized as defensive Banate of Jajce. The
Battle of Krbava Field in 1493 effectively ended the
Kingdom of Hungary's persistent hold over the entire region, restricting them to fortified cities, and when Jajce fell again in 1528, Ottoman rule persisted almost until the end of the 19th century. In the late 15th century, a local
Croatian lord (
knez), Juraj Mikuličić, erected a fort in the village of
Bužim near Bihać, fearing the advancing
Ottoman army. Mikuličić died in 1495, but the Bužim fort would not pass to Ottoman control until 1576. Bosanska Krajina was the last region in Bosnia to fall to the Ottoman Empire; the last city to
fall was
Bihać in 1592, which eventually paved the way for the
Islamization of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Ottoman period After the crucial 1526
Battle of Mohács and the
1527 election in Cetin, Croatia became part of the Austrian
Habsburg Empire. The Ottoman Empire formally established the
Eyalet of Bosnia in 1580. The Croatian lands in general were reduced to a fraction of what they encompassed, and only the westernmost parts of today's Bosanska Krajina still resisted the Ottoman rule. Nevertheless, the Ottoman armies preferred to advance towards their targets in the northwest through more easily passable terrain, such as along the river
Danube, for example
Vienna was
first besieged in 1529 after the army had gone through
Osijek,
Mohács, and
Buda. The natural obstacles in and around the region, especially at the time, included the rivers Sava, Vrbas, Una and
Sana, as well as the mountains such as
Plješevica,
Šator,
Klekovača,
Raduša,
Grmeč,
Kozara, and
Vlašić. Turkish incursions expanded further to the north, and
Charles of Styria erected a new fortified city of
Karlovac in 1579. In 1580, the Ottoman Turks responded by declaring the
Pashaluk of Bosnia which unified all the Sanjaks, including territory in modern-day Croatia. As a result of the wars and border changes, the
Catholic Croat population moved north, and was replaced with
Orthodox Serbs. The Bužim fort, under Ottoman control since 1576, was successfully held by the Ottoman Turks in numerous battles (1685, 1686, 1688, 1737) and it was also upgraded (1626, 1834) until their eventual surrender in the 19th century. The building remains to this day as a monument to the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia. But, in 1592 the Turkish army of about 20,000 under
Hasan Predojević, an Ottoman
vizier, attacked and forcefully occupied Bihać. When the Ottoman Empire lost the
War of the Holy League (1683–1690) to the
Habsburg monarchy and her allies, and ceded
Slavonia and Hungary to Austria at the 1699
Treaty of Karlowitz, the northern and western borders of the
Sanjak of Bosnia (corresponding largely to the current borders of the modern
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina), became a permanent frontier between the
Austrian and Ottoman empires.
19th century In mid-1858, an uprising known as
Pecija's First Revolt broke out in the region, resulting from Ottoman pressure against the local Serb populace. It was crushed by December. The Bosnian Frontier, like the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, participated in the
Herzegovina Uprising against the Ottoman Empire (1875–1878).
World War II During
World War II, Bosanska Krajina was known for its very strong resistance to the
Fascist regime of the
Independent State of Croatia. The
local Serb population in Bosanska Krajina was targeted in the
Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia by the regime's
Croat and
Bosniak bands, serving as an overture to future conflicts at the end of the 20th century. The anti-fascist
Yugoslav Partisan movement in the Bosanska Krajina region was more ethnically diverse than in any other part of
former Yugoslavia during World War II. In the winter of 1942–1943, the Yugoslav Partisans established the
Republic of Bihać in Bosanska Krajina. Soon afterwards, Bosanska Krajina was also the place of historical agreements that have taken place in Jajce and Mrkonjić Grad in 1943, ones that established the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in its current borders, as well as the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Bosnian War During the 1992-95
Bosnian War, Bosanska Krajina was divided between
Republika Srpska, the
Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the
Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia. The Serb entity of
SAO Bosanska Krajina was established in summer 1991. The region was also a place of concentration camps, including
Manjača and
Omarska where
Bosniaks were held, tortured, raped, and killed. ==Demography==