Dear visitor, we are pleased to welcome you to hercegbosna.org!

This is the largest Croatian-speaking forum in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We have nearly 6000 members and over 10 000 different topics, ranging from serious stuff like political discussions, analysis and data that our members collect (historical, geographical, demographic data), to relaxing sub-forums with less formal topics.
This forum is a part of hercegbosna.org, an influential Bosnian-Herzegovinian news portal.

Basic facts

Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina are ethnic Croats living in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are the third most populous ethnic group in the country, after Bosniaks and Serbs; although they constitute a minority of the total population, as a constitutive nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they are not legally considered a minority group. They are also a native ethnic group of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as their presence there dates back to the 7th century. Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina have made significant contributions to the culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their mother tongue is Croatian, and most identify as Roman Catholic, though there is significant minority of atheist or agnostic Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina (me for example).

From the 15th to the 19th century, many Croats in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina were persecuted under the Ottoman Empire, causing many of them to flee the area. In the 20th century, political turmoil and poor economic conditions caused more to emigrate. There is no precise data regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina's population since the Bosnian War. Ethnic cleansing within Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s saw the vast majority of its Croats move to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina or to Croatia. It is estimated that there are approximately 571,317 Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, down from 835,170 before the war. According to 2000 data from the CIA World Factbook, the ethnic composition of Bosnia and Herzegovina is 14.3 percent Croat, and it is now stable. The largest city having Croatian majority is Mostar, a major economic, cultural, financial and educational center.

Dobar uvod, svidja mi se!