Zenica
Zenica is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and an administrative and economic center of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Zenica-Doboj Canton. It is located in the Bosna river valley, about north of Sarajevo. The city is known for its Ironworks Zenica factory but also as a significant university center. According to the 2013 census, the settlement of Zenica itself counts 70,553 citizens and the administrative area 110,663, making it the nation's fourth-largest city.
The urban part of today's city was formed in several phases, including Neolithic, Illyrian, the Roman Municipium of Bistua Nuova, with an early Christian dual basilica. Traces of an ancient settlement have been found here as well; villa rustica, thermae, a temple, and other buildings were also present. Earliest findings in the place date from the period 3000–2000 BC; they were found in the localities of Drivuša and Gradišće. Zenica's current name was first mentioned in 1415. A medieval church has been unearthed in Zenica, as well as the Franciscan Monastery of St. Mary. The independence of Medieval Bosnia is directly connected to Zenica During Ottoman rule, Zenica became a Muslim town; at the end of the 17th century, Zenica had 2,000 citizens, mostly Muslims; Orthodox and Catholic Christians are mentioned again from the end of the 18th century, and Jews in the 19th century. Modern Zenica was mostly built in the Austro-Hungarian and Yugoslavian periods. The population rose rapidly during the 20th century, and from the Bosnian War until 2013, the city lost a quarter of its population. The municipality of Zenica became the City of Zenica in 2014.
The city is geographically located in the heart of Bosnia. The settled area is and of the city proper covers. Elevation is. The rivers Bosna, Lašva, Babina, and Kočeva flow through the settlement. A moderate continental climate prevails. The city has thirteen urban local settlements and it consists of a total of 81 rural settlements.
Zenica has nine national monuments. The football club Čelik is a landmark of the city, and it also has one of the tallest buildings in Bosnia and Herzegovina—Lamela. Famous Zenicans include Semir Osmanagić, Anabela Basalo, Danis Tanović, Amar Jašarspahić Gile, Mladen Krstajić, Dejan Lovren, Mervana Jugić-Salkić, and Amel Tuka.
Etymology
There are several theories about the origins of name Zenica.According to orally transmitted tradition, the city was named after the pupil of the eye. There is also a legend that Zenica's name is derived from when Queen Katarina Kosača Kotromanić, who was leaving Bobovac during the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia in 1463, said "My pupil is left behind!". Because of its location in the center of Zenica field, the city is indeed analogous to the eye's pupil.
The name of the city can also be derived from the word zenit, meaning zenith, because it is in the center of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
History
The urban part of today's Zenica formed through several phases, which chronologically include a Neolithic community, the Illyrian 'gradina', the Roman Municipium of Bistua Nuova, and a Christian era-community.In the Bilimišće district, traces of ancient settlements have been found. In the outlying villages of Putovići and Tišina, where villa rustica dominate, thermae, a temple, and a series of other sites are also present.
Prehistory
The earliest findings in Zenica date from the period of 3000 to 2000 BC; they were found in the localities of Drivuša and Gradišće. Metal axes, arrows, ornamental fibulae, and ceramic remains were unearthed from the Orahovički stream near Nemila, Gračanica, Ravna, and other places.The Illyrians came to this region during the transition from the Bronze and the Iron Age. Their defensive buildings, "gradinas", are the best known.The urban part of today's Zenica was already formed in the younger Stone Age—the Neolithic, and especially later, during the time of the Illyrians. Toponyms of their "gradinas" demonstrate this: Gradišće, Gračanica, Gradac. A specific locality, Gradina, in Kopilo village, indicates that Zenica and its surrounding areas hosted organized human life around 2000 BC. There is a weak question of the presence of the Illyrian Old-Balkan tribe of Daesitiates in the Zenica region. The Daesitiates are a result of ethno-social development of early human life in prehistory; the transition period from the Bronze to the Iron Age resulted with Daesitiates emerging at the Lašva–Drina river belt. The Daesitiates confronted the Romans in 34 BC; the Romans did not make a long-lasting triumph, and the Illyrians were defeated in the city of Arduba, which was burnt down in 6–9 A.C. This is how the royal city of Vranduk probably existed in the time of the Illyrians, under the name Arduba.Recent international archaeological research, conducted by the Vienna, Zenica, and students and scientists from Sarajevo, using modern technology, shows that settlements with people and animals existed near Zenica over 3,100 years ago. Skeletons of pigs, cattle, and goats were found in Kopilo, an elevated place, indicating a farming settlement. Two tombs, two tumuli, and a completely new prehistorical settlement, Ravna gradina, were also found.
Antiquity
The Romans tried to conquer the region at the end of the 3rd century BC Bellum Batonianum and were present in the area from the 6th to the 9th centuries. They ruled continuously in many areas until close to the end of the 4th century.Today's area of Zenica had its peak in the first six centuries of the Common Era, when it included one the most important municipiums and centers of Christian dioceses in Bosnia: Bistua Nuova—seat of the Bistuenska diocese and the seat of Roman Christianity in the Bosnian area prior to the Slavs' arrival. Data suggesting that Bistua Nuova's bishop Andrew took part in and was a signer of Solin sinodas in 530 and 533 underlines its importance. Ancient tombstone monuments date from ancient Bistua Nuova, as well as remains of old Christian basilicas. In the urban settlement of Odmut and the rural settlements of Putovići and Tišina, archaeologists have found epigraphs that have led them to conclude that Bistua Nuova was in the Zenica area.
An important road towards Salona, Argentarium, and Sirmium also passed through Bistua Nuova.
Barbarian invasions from the north forced Christianity to retreat from these areas. During the invasions, at the beginning of the 7th century, Bistua Nuova was destroyed, along with its basilica.
It is believed that the barbarian invasions destroyed a huge part of the ancient inheritance. Goths, Avars, and Slavs passed through this location. The Slavs came in the 6th and 7th centuries and inhabited the middle part of the Bosna river stream—where Zenica Field is located. They formed tribal communities and were organized into a tribal ruling unit called a "župa". After their invasions, almost one century was needed for the first Slavic countries to form.
Medieval Bosnia
The history of medieval Zenica is not well recorded. There is but a single item of evidence from 1244 about Croatian-Hungarian king Béla IV's charter. According to the documents that have so far been studied, the city's current name was first mentioned on 16 March 1436 and later—Zenica is mentioned in a series of documents related to the Republic of Ragusa. Among other Bosnian parishes, Bored parish, which includes "Bilina poila", is mentioned in the charter. The place refers to one part of the town of Zenica, today known as Bilino polje. The same place is mentioned in another document, dated 8 April 1203; it records a group of Bogomil chiefs who renounced paternalism before Innocent III's court chaplain John of Casamaris. Bogomilism's presence in the Zenica area and its status as a seat of the Bogomil Church is supported not only by written documents but also by headstones that illuminate the church's hierarchy.In the Middle Ages, specifically in 1370, the settlement of Klopče was mentioned, as well as a family of that name. On 8 January 1404, the Bosnian bishop from Janjići sent dispatches to the Ragusan prince Vlaho Sorkočević. In the Zenica settlement of Varošište, a medieval church has been unearthed, as well as a Franciscan monastery to St. Mary, which was built by sculptor Ivan Hrelić, a student of Juraj Dalmatinac.
Ottoman era
Bosnia experienced Ottoman incursions starting in 1386. The first Ottoman entry into Zenica relates to their victory over Hungarian warriors near Doboj in 1415. Zenica has been mentioned under today's name since that event. The first official record of the city's name is in a document dated 16 March 1436, which relates to the invasion and robbery of Zachlumia by the Ottoman Duke Barak, who retreated towards Zenica and there received Ragusan money in the name of redemption. From the time of that event until the complete establishment of Ottomans rule in Bosnia in 1463, there is no mention of Zenica in relevant documents. For that reason, this era of the city's history cannot be covered in detail.After administrative changes introduced in the first years of the rule, Zenica became part of Brod kadiluk in the newly formed Sanjak of Bosnia. Nahya of Zenica was first mentioned in 1485. It bore that name until the end of the 18th century and later became Zenica srez.
During Ottoman rule, the change of direction in the main trade route in turn changed the city and, except for a short period when it was a seat of the Brod judge Qadii, Zenica was a kasbah that included mosques, a madrasa, several mektebs, shadirvans, caravanserais, and other types of Islamic architecture.
In one description from 1697, Zenica had 2,000 citizens, the majority of them Muslim. At the end of the 18th century, Orthodox and Catholic Christians are mentioned again, as are Jews in the 19th century.
After the ruin and exodus following the intrusion of Eugene of Savoy in 1697, a time of stabilization began in Zenica.