Coinage of Bosnia and Herzegovina

[<k>]

The successor states of Yugoslavia. 'Macedonia' is now the Republic of North Macedonia.

From Wikipedia:

Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country in south-east Europe, located within the Balkans. Sarajevo is the capital and largest city. In the 12th century the Banate of Bosnia was established, which evolved into the Kingdom of Bosnia in the 14th century, after which it was annexed into the Ottoman Empire. This was followed by occupation by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy from 1878 onward. Austria-Hungary unilaterally annexed the state in 1908. A Bosnian Serb assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary during his visit to Sarajevo in 1914 - an event that ultimately led to the outbreak of World War I.

Following World War I, Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the South Slav Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (soon renamed Yugoslavia). The establishment of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929, however, brought the redrawing of administrative regions into banates that purposely avoided all historical and ethnic lines, removing any trace of a Bosnian entity. Serbo-Croat tensions over the structuring of the Yugoslav state continued, with the concept of a separate Bosnian division receiving little or no consideration.

The Cvetković-Maček Agreement that created the Croatian banate in 1939 encouraged what was essentially a partition of Bosnia between Croatia and Serbia. However the rising threat of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany forced Yugoslav politicians to shift their attention. Yugoslavia was finally invaded by Germany on 6 April 1941. At the end of the Second World War, Marshal Tito's establishment of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1946 officially made Bosnia and Herzegovina one of six constituent republics in the new state.

Tito turned Yugoslavia into a unified federal communist state. He avoided the brutal oppression often seen in other communist countries, and he was careful to respect the different nationalities of his citizens. His popularity with the majority of Yugoslavs meant that he was a unifying force, but after his death ethnic tensions rose once more.

[<k>]

Slobodan Milosevic in 1989.

In 1987 Slobodan Milosevic began to champion Serb domination within Yugoslavia. This, combined with the new freedoms in Communist Europe (a response to the democratic reforms of Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev), caused a rise in nationalism in the other republics of Yugoslavia, who did not wish to be dominated by Milosevic and his Serbs. Additionally, the Slovenes, along with the Croats, were the most modern and prosperous of the Yugoslav republics, and they resented having to subsidise the other republics.

Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991. Macedonia did likewise on 8 September 1991. However, because the ethnic Serb population of Slovenia and of Macedonia was less than 2%, Milosevic left those countries alone. Initially, Milosevic had aimed to keep Yugoslavia together under Serb dominance. From then on, Milosevic pursued a policy of a "Greater Serbia". This entailed the annexation of ethnically Serb areas in Croatia and Bosnia by military means.

[<k>]

The Mostar bridge in Bosnia was destroyed by tank fire in 1993.

From Wikipedia:

In November 1990, multi-party parliamentary elections were held in Bosnia and Herzegovina, resulting in a national assembly where communist power was replaced by a coalition of three ethnically-based parties. Following Slovenia and Croatia's declarations of independence from Yugoslavia, a split developed among the residents of Bosnians over whether to remain within Yugoslavia (overwhelmingly favored by Serbs) or seek independence (overwhelmingly favored by Muslims and Croats).

The Serb members of parliament abandoned the central parliament in Sarajevo and formed the Assembly of the Serb People of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 24 October 1991. This Assembly established the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in part of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 9 January 1992. It was renamed Republika Srpska in August 1992. On 18 November 1991, the party branch in Bosnia and Herzegovina of the ruling party in the Republic of Croatia, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), proclaimed the existence of the Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia in a separate part of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It went unrecognized by the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which declared it illegal.

Bosnia held a referendum for independence on 29 February/1 March 1992, which was boycotted by most Serbs. The turnout was 63.4 percent and 99.7 percent of voters voted for independence. Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence on 3 March 1992 and received international recognition  on 6 April 1992. It was admitted as a member state of the United Nations on 22 May 1992.

Bosnian Serb militias now mobilized in different parts of the country. Government forces were poorly equipped and unprepared for the war. International recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina increased diplomatic pressure for the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) to withdraw from the republic's territory, which they officially did in June 1992. The Bosnian Serb members of the JNA simply changed insignia, formed the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), and continued fighting. Armed and equipped from JNA stockpiles in Bosnia, supported by volunteers and various paramilitary forces from Serbia, and receiving extensive support from the rump Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Republika Srpska's offensives in 1992 managed to place much of the country under its control.

The Bosnian Serb advance was accompanied by the ethnic cleansing of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats. Dozens of concentration camps were established in which inmates were subjected to violence and abuse, including rape. The ethnic cleansing culminated in the Srebrenica massacre of more than 8000 Bosniak men and boys in July 1995, which was later ruled to have been a genocide. Bosniak and Bosnian Croat forces also committed war crimes against civilians. Most of the Bosniak and Croat atrocities were committed during the Bosniak-Croat war, a sub-conflict of the Bosnian War. The Bosniak-Croat conflict ended in March 1994, with the signing of the Washington Agreement, leading to the creation of a joint Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Following the Srebrenica massacre, NATO launched a bombing campaign against Republika Srpska in August 1995. The bombing convinced the Bosnian Serb leadership to consider a negotiated settlement, resulting in the Dayton Agreement of December 1995. It brought an end to active combat and roughly established the basic political structure of the present-day state. A NATO-led peacekeeping force was immediately dispatched to the country to enforce the agreement. An estimated 100,000 people were killed in the war, about two-thirds of whom were Bosniak.

[<k>]

Bosnian flag from 1992 to 1998.

Let us rewind briefly to 1992, when newly independent Bosnia introduced its first flag.

The coat of arms adopted in 1992 is seen at the centre of the flag.

[<k>]

Obverse of a Bosnian collector coin of 1994.

From Wikipedia:

The first Bosnian dinar was issued in July, 1992, replacing the 1990 version of Yugoslav dinar at the rate of 1 Bosnia dinar = 10 Yugoslav "1990 dinara". Consequently, the Bosnian dinar was at par with the 1992 version of the Yugoslav dinar when it was introduced.

The first issues were overstamps on Yugoslav banknotes. After the first Bosnian suffered from high inflation, a second dinar was introduced in 1994. It replaced the first dinar at a rate of 1 "new" dinar = 10 000 "old" dinara. Both these dinars were restricted in their circulation to the areas under Bosniak control. The Croat areas used the Croatian dinar and kuna, whilst the Serb areas used the Republika Srpska dinar.

Only banknotes were issued by Bosnia at this time. From 1993 onwards, Bosnia began issuing collector coins. They denominated in now defunct Bosnian dinars.

The obverse of the collector coins showed the bridge at Mostar, which had been destroyed by tank fire in 1993. These collector coins were produced by the Pobjoy Mint, based in England.

[<k>]

After the end of the Bosnian wars in 1994, the country was restructured along ethnic lines, in an attempt to avoid any future trouble. This was done as part of the Dayton Agreements.

From Wikipedia:

Bosnia and Herzegovina has a bicameral legislature and a three-member Presidency composed of a member of each major ethnic group. However, the central government's power is highly limited, as the country is largely decentralized and comprises two autonomous entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, with a third unit, the Brčko District, governed under local government. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of 10 cantons.

Brčko District, officially the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is a self-governing administrative unit in north-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Officially a condominium of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, it was formed in 1999 to reflect Brčko and the surrounding areas' multi-ethnic nature and special status within the newly independent Bosnia. In reality, it functions as a local self-government area, much like the other municipalities in the country. The seat of the district is the city of Brčko.

[<k>]

A more detailed political map of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[<k>]

The approximate outline of Herzegovina.

From Wikipedia:

Herzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It never had strictly defined geographical or cultural borders and it is not an administrative division in modern Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is generally taken to border larger Bosnia to the north, Dalmatia to the southwest and Montenegro to the southeast. Measurements of the area range widely from c. 11,500 km2 (4,400 sq mi), or around 23% of the total area of the present-day country, to circa 12,300 km2 (4,700 sq mi), around 25% of the country.

The name Herzegovina itself stems from the archaic Serbo-Croatian term borrowed from German, hercegovina, a land ruled by a Herzog (the German term for a duke) thus literally meaning 'duchy' or 'dukedom'; it first bore the name during the medieval Duchy of Saint Sava (Serbo-Croatian: Hercegovina Svetog Save) of duke Stjepan Vukčić Kosača.

Mostar is the best-known urban area and the official capital. It is the only city with over 100,000 citizens. There are no other large cities in Herzegovina. Borders between Herzegovina and Bosnia are unclear and often disputed.

[<k>]

Bosnian flag since February 1998.

From Wikipedia:

The Bosnian Serbs who lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the signing of the Dayton Agreement viewed the flag with the six fleurs-de-lys as only representing the Bosniaks (i.e. Bosnian Muslims) of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The flag of the state was eventually changed into the current, post-1998 flag. The current flag was introduced by the UN High Representative after the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina could not decide on a solution that was acceptable to all parties. Aside from the colors, the current flag contains no historical or other references to the Bosnian state. The flag is rarely ever seen in the Republika Srpska, whose residents prefer to fly either that entity's regional flag or the Serbian national flag instead. Some Bosniaks dislike or have no particular affinity for the flag, preferring the former Bosnian national flag used from 1992 to 1998 (which remains used by some Bosniaks as a sort of ethnic flag), or the former socialist-era Yugoslav flag instead.

[<k>]

Bosnian coat of arms since May 1998.

From Wikipedia:

The coat of arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted in 1998, replacing the previous design that had been in use since 1992 when Bosnia and Herzegovina gained independence. It follows the design of the national flag. The three pointed shield is used to symbolize the three major ethnic groups of Bosnia, as well as allude to the shape of the country.

[<k>]

From Wikipedia:

The convertible mark was established by the 1995 Dayton Agreement. It replaced the Bosnia and Herzegovina dinar, Croatian kuna and Republika Srpska dinar as the single currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1998. Mark refers to the German mark, the currency to which it was pegged at par.

The names derive from the German language. The three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian) have adopted the German nouns Mark and Pfennig as loanwords marka and pfenig.

The misspelling feninga has never been corrected, and it took that much hold that is now officially adopted and not recognised as an incorrect name.

[<k>]

Common obverse of the 10, 20 and 50 feninga coins.

In 1998 the first Bosnian circulation coins were issued: 10, 20 and 50 feninga.

The coins were made of copper-plated steel and produced by the Royal Mint (UK).


The common obverse features the country's flag.

The country name is shown in both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.

[<k>]

The reverse design of the 10 feninga coin.

The denominational numerals are superimposed over a map of Bosnia.

Unusually, the country name appears on both sides of these coins.

[<k>]

The very similar reverse design of the 20 feninga coin.

[<k>]

And the similar reverse design of the 50 feninga coin.