Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine Федерација Босне и Херцеговине
Location of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (yellow) within Bosnia and Herzegovina.1
Location Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (red) inside of Bosnia and Herzegovina (camel) on the European continent (white).
Capital (and largest city)		Sarajevo
Official languages		Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian
Ethnic groups (2002)		Bosniaks: 70% Croats: 28% Serbs: 1%
Government		Parliamentary system
-	President	Borjana Krišto
-	Prime Minister	Mustafa Mujezinović
Entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina		Entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina
-	Formed	18 March 1994
-	Recognized in Bosnia and Herzegovina constitution	14 December 1995
Area
-	Total	26,110.5 km2  10,085 sq mi
-	Water (%)	N/A
Population
-	2009 estimate	2,852,732[1]
-	1996 census	2,444,6652
-	Density	117/km2  303.86/sq mi
Currency		Convertible Mark (BAM)
Time zone		CET (UTC+1)
-	Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Drives on the		right
The Flag of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Coat of arms of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been deemed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and were due to be replaced by September. On 31 March 2007, the Constitutional Court placed its decision into the "Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina" officially removing them. 2006.[2] The federation has not yet adopted a new anthem or coat of arms, but uses the symbols of the central state as a provisional solution.[3]
1	Although the Brčko District is formally held in condominium by both entities simultaneously (the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska), it is a de facto third entity, as it has all the same powers as the other two entities and is under the direct sovereignty of BiH.[4][5]
2	Refugees abroad included

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina listen (help·info) (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian: Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine Serbian Cyrillic: Федерација Босне и Херцеговине) is one of the two political entities that compose the sovereign country of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the other entity is the Republika Srpska). The two entities are delineated by the Inter-Entity Boundary Line.

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is primarily inhabited by Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats, which is why it is informally referred to as the Bosniak-Croat Federation. However, by decision of the Constitutional court in 2001, the Serbs were declared the third constituent ethnic group of the Federation. The same happened to Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats in the Republika Srpska.

The Federation was created by the Washington accords signed on 18 March 1994, which established a Constituent assembly (Ustavotvorna skupština/Ustavotvorbeni Sabor). The Constituent assembly continued its work until October 1996.

The Federation now has its own capital, government, president, parliament, customs and police departments, postal system (in fact, two of them), and airline (BH Airlines). It used to have its own army, the Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, though along with the Army of the Republika Srpska it was fully integrated into Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, controlled by the Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 6 June 2006.

Contents 1 History 2 Geography 2.1 Boundary 2.2 Cantons 2.3 Cities 3 Demographics 4 Government and politics 5 Gallery 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

[edit] History

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was formed by the Washington Agreement of March 1994. Under the agreement, the combined territory held by the Croat and Armija RBiH forces (the Bosnian Croat portion including the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia) was divided into ten autonomous cantons. The cantonal system was selected to prevent dominance by one ethnic group over another.

In 1995, Bosnian government forces and Bosnian Croat forces of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina defeated forces of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia, and this territory was added to the federation.

By the Dayton Agreement of 1995, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was defined as one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina and included 51% of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina (another entity, Republika Srpska included 49%).

On 8 March 2000, the Brčko District was formed as an autonomous entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina and it was created from part of the territory of both Bosnian entities. Brčko District is now a shared territory that belongs to both entities.

Discussions about the institutional future of Bosnia and Herzegovina include several options, one of them favored by many Croats being the possible creation of a third, Croatian entity within BIH.

[edit] Geography

[edit] Boundary

The Inter-Entity Boundary Line (IEBL) that distinguishes Bosnia and Herzegovina's two entities essentially runs along the military front lines as they existed at the end of the Bosnian War, with adjustments (most importantly in the western part of the country and around Sarajevo), as defined by the Dayton Agreement. The total length of the IEBL is approximately 1,080 km. The IEBL is an administrative demarcation and not controlled by the military or police and there is free movement across it.

[edit] Cantons

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is divided into ten cantons (kanton or županija)^[6]:

I. Una-Sana, Unsko-Sanski Kanton
II. Posavina, Posavski Kanton
III. Tuzla, Tuzlanski Kanton
IV. Zenica-Doboj, Zeničko-Dobojski Kanton
V. Bosnian Podrinje, Bosanskopodrinjski Kanton
VI. Central Bosnia, Srednjebosanski Kanton
VII. Herzegovina-Neretva, Hercegovačko-neretvanski Kanton
VIII. West Herzegovina, Zapadnohercegovački kanton
IX. Sarajevo, Kanton Sarajevo
X. Canton 10, Kanton 10

Five of the cantons (Una-Sana, Tuzla, Zenica-Doboj, Bosnian Podrinje and Sarajevo) are Bosniak majority cantons, three (Posavina, West Herzegovina and Canton 10) are Croat majority cantons, and two (Central Bosnia and Herzegovina-Neretva) are 'ethnically mixed', meaning there are special legislative procedures for protection of the constituent ethnic groups.

A significant portion of Brčko District was also part of the Federation; however, when the district was created, it became shared territory of both entities, but it was not placed under control of either of the two, and is hence under direct jurisdiction of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Currently the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has 79 municipalities.

[edit] Cities

List of the largest municipalities in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina:^{[note 1][7]}

No.	Name	Population
1.	Sarajevo	304,614
2.	Tuzla	174,558
3.	Zenica	145,000
4.	Mostar	128,488
5.	Bihać	105,000
6.	Travnik	75,000
7.	Cazin	66,881
8.	Sanski Most	60,307
9.	Bosanska Krupa	58,320
10.	Zavidovići	57,164
11.	Lukavac	56,830
12.	Gradačac	56,378
13.	Kakanj	55,857
14.	Gračanica	55,000
15.	Živinice	54,768
16.	Tešanj	52,249
17.	Srebrenik	47,938
18.	Velika Kladuša	44,350
20.	Konjic	43,878
21.	Maglaj	43,294
22.	Goražde	36,496
23.	Livno	32,454
24.	Bugojno	31,000
25.	Odžak	30,651

[edit] Demographics

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina comprises 51% of the land area of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is home to around 60% of the country's total population. All data dealing with population, including ethnic distributions, are subject to considerable error because of the lack of official census figures.^[8]

Ethnic Composition
Year	Muslims	%	Croats	%	Serbs	%	Others	%	Total
1991	1,423,593	52.3%	594,362	21.9%	478,122	17.6%	223,997	8.2%	2,720,074
1996	1,773,566	72.5%	556,289	22.8%	56,618	2.3%	58,192	2.4%	2,444,665
note1:The vast majority of Muslims by nationality today consider themselves Bosniaks. note2: "Other" is mainly people who declared themselves as Yugoslavs

Total population estimates...

• December 31st 2003. 2,323,339 total, of which 1,099,233 male and 1,224,106 female
• December 31st 2005. 2,323,992 total, of which 1,137,180 male and 1,186,812 female
• June 30th 2008. 2,327,195 total, of which 1,138,757 male and 1,188,438 female.

Ethnic composition in 1961

Ethnic composition in 1981

Ethnic composition in 1991

Ethnic composition estimate in 2006

[edit] Government and politics

There is a President of the Federation, and two Vice-presidents, identical to Republika Srpska.

From 2003 until 2007 the president was Croat, Niko Lozančić of the HDZ party, whereas both the Bosniak (Sahbaz Džihanović) and Serb (Desnica Radivojević) Vice-presidents came from the SDA party.

The current President is Croat, Borjana Krišto (HDZ), the Bosniak Vice-President is Mirsad Kebo (SDA) and the Serb Vice-President is Spomenka Mičić (SBiH).

The Cabinet has 16 members with carefully delineated nationality quotas. There are 8 Bosniak, 5 Croat and 3 Serb ministers in the current Government. As of June, 2009, the Prime Minister is Mustafa Mujezinović, Bosniak of the SDA.

The Parliament consists of two houses, the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples. The House of Representatives is an elected body of 98 MPs, whereas the House of Peoples consists of Representatives delegated by the cantonal parliaments.

Interestingly, a number of institutions in the Federation still function under the 'componental' system; there is a Croat postal system and a Bosniak postal system, a Croat telecom and a Bosniak telecom, a Croat army component and a Bosniak army component; however, recently many systems have been merged into one single public company, e.g. the pension system or the public broadcasting company of the Federation. Each of the cantons also has broad-ranging authorities, such as having its own courts and police forces.

Federation currently has its own entity police force. Police systems including entity ministries of security of both entities are to be united by 2010 into a new state-level Ministry of Security and entity level police forces are to abolished and replaced with state level police force under regional control.

Armies of both entities are under the control of a new state-level Ministry of Defense as of 1 January 2006.

[edit] Gallery

Počitelj - Old Turkish village near Mostar.	Mostar - Stari Most (Old bridge) built by Ottoman Turks.	Sarajevo - View from east.	Pliva Waterfall.
Troglav.	Vrelo Bosne.

[edit] See also

• Republika Srpska
• Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• PBSBiH
• Federalna televizija (FTV)
• Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia
• Western Bosnia

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Website of the Federal Government
• Parliament of the Federation

v • d • e Bosnian War Timeline 1991 Karađorđevo agreement · Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia 1992 Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina · Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina · Siege of Sarajevo · Graz agreement · Croat-Bosniak war · Operation Vrbas '92 · Operation Koridor 1993 Operation Neretva '93 · Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia · Operation Deny Flight 1994 Operation Bøllebank · Operation Amanda · Banja Luka incident · Washington Agreement · Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina · Operation Tiger · Operation Spider 1995 Mrkonjić Grad incident · Operations Krivaja '95 and Stupčanica '95 · Operation Summer '95 · Operation Storm · 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina · Operation Mistral · Operation Sana · Dayton Agreement · Bosnia and Herzegovina War Crimes Massacres Ahatovici · Ahmići · Čemerno  · Doljani · Foča · Grabovica  · Korićani Cliffs · Kravica (1993) · Kravica (1995) · Lašva Valley · Markale · Paklenik · Prijedor · Sarajevo · Srebrenica · Sjeverin · Tuzla · Višegrad Rape Rape in the Bosnian War Camps Čelebići · Dretelj · Gabela · Heliodrom · Keraterm · Manjača · Omarska · Trnopolje · Uzamnica · Vilina Vlas · Vojno Cases Sijekovac · Trusina · Tuzla

v • d • e Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina v • d • e Entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina · Republika Srpska · Brčko District v • d • e Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (I) Una-Sana · (II) Posavina · (III) Tuzla · (IV) Zenica-Doboj · (V) Bosnian Podrinje · (VI) Central Bosnia · (VII) Herzegovina-Neretva · (VIII) West Herzegovina · (IX) Sarajevo · (X) Canton 10 v • d • e Municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina Municipalities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Banovići · Bihać · Bosanska Krupa · Bosanski Petrovac · Bosansko Grahovo · Bugojno · Busovača · Bužim · Čapljina · Cazin · Čelić · Centar, Sarajevo · Čitluk · Drvar · Doboj East · Doboj South · Dobratići · Domaljevac-Šamac · Donji Vakuf · Foča-Ustikolina · Fojnica · Glamoč · Goražde · Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje · Gračanica · Gradačac · Grude · Hadžići · Ilidža · Ilijaš · Jablanica · Jajce · Kakanj · Kalesija · Kiseljak · Kladanj · Ključ · Konjic · Kreševo · Kupres · Livno · Ljubuški · Lukavac · Maglaj · Mostar · Neum · Novi Grad, Sarajevo · Novo Sarajevo · Novi Travnik · Odžak · Olovo · Orašje · Pale-Prača · Posušje · Prozor-Rama · Ravno · Sanski Most · Sapna · Široki Brijeg · Srebrenik · Stari Grad, Sarajevo · Stolac · Teočak · Tešanj · Tomislavgrad · Travnik · Trnovo (FBiH) · Tuzla · Usora · Vareš · Velika Kladuša · Visoko · Vitez · Vogošća · Zavidovići · Zenica · Žepče · Živinice Municipalities of Republika Srpska Berkovići · Bijeljina · Bileća · Bosanska Kostajnica · Bosanski Brod · Bratunac · Čajniče · Čelinac · Derventa · Doboj · Donji Žabar · Foča · Gacko · Grad Banja Luka · Grad Istočno Sarajevo · Gradiška · Han Pijesak · Istočni Drvar · Istočna Ilidža · Istočni Mostar · Istočni Stari Grad · Jezero · Kalinovik · Kneževo · Kozarska Dubica · Kotor Varoš · Krupa na Uni · Kupres · Laktaši · Ljubinje · Lopare · Lukavica · Milići · Modriča · Mrkonjić Grad · Nevesinje · Novi Grad · Novo Goražde · Osmaci · Oštra Luka · Pale · Pelagićevo · Petrovac · Petrovo · Prijedor · Prnjavor · Ribnik · Rogatica · Rudo · Šamac · Šekovići · Šipovo · Sokolac · Srbac · Srebrenica · Teslić · Trebinje · Trnovo (RS) · Ugljevik · Višegrad · Vlasenica · Vukosavlje · Zvornik