Ancient History of Bosnia

Since Neolithic times, Bosnia has been inhabited by different tribes. During the Bronze Age, Bosnia's Neolithic population was dominated by more warlike Indo-European tribes known as the Illyres or Illyrians. In the 4th and 3rd century BCE, many Illyrian natives were displaced from their former domain by Celtic exodus. Both Celtic and Illyrian tribes then blended with each other.

Definite historical facts were very limited but it proved that the locality was inhabited by diverse people with different speaking languages. Disputes between Illyrians and Romans happened in 229 BC. Rome was then not able to take control of the region for over two centuries. During the Roman period, Latin-speaking colonizers from all over the Roman Empire dwelled among the Illyrians. Roman soldiers were persuaded to retire in the area.

Many artifacts and relics dated back from the last part of the 1st century showed evidence that Christianity arrived in the region. Dalmatia and Pannnia were integrated in the Western Roman Empire after the empire come apart between the years 337 and 395. The Ostrogoths conquered the region in 455 and further swapped between the Alans and Huns in the years that followed. In the 6th century, the area was conquered by Emperor Justinian for the Byzantine Empire.

The Slavs, a nomadic people from northeastern Europe, were ruled by the Eurasian Avars in 6th century. They formed into an alliance and invaded in the Eastern Roman Empire in the 6th and 7th centuries. They settled in their conquered land which is now called Bosnia and Herzegovina. Additionally South Slavs, came in the second wave and based on some scholars, they were called by Emperor Heraclius to drive the Avars from Dalmatia.

There is limited information about the west Balkans from these times. Upon the arrival of the Slavs, they brought with them a tribal social structure which collapsed and gave way to feudalism with Frankish dissemination into the region in the late 9th century. Bosnia perhaps originated as a pre-feudal Slavic entity. It was during this time that the South Slavs were converted to Christianity. Bosnia, due to its topographic location and terrain, was probably one of the last regions to undergo the process of Christianity which apparently originated from the urban centers along the Dalmatian coast. Jurisdiction over Bosnia was contested between the Hungarian Kingdom and the Byzantine Empire, with Byzantine originally claiming it.

Kulin a local ruler, was in charge for around three decades of peace and solidity during which he bolstered the country's economy through treaties with Dubrovnik and Venice. His reign marked a controversy with the Bosnia Church. The Bosnia Church was an indigenous Christian sect considered unorthodox by both Rome and the Eastern Orthodox churches. Kulin convened a council of local church leaders to reject the sacrilege in 1203. This was in response to Hungarian efforts to use church politics regarding the issue as a mean to reclaim sovereignty over Bosnia.

Bosnian history was marked by power struggles between the 12th to the early 14th century, and then later Bosnia fell into a prolonged period of decline. The invasion of Europe from the South posed a major question to the Balkans throughout the first half of the 15th century and caused remarkable changes in the political and cultural environment of the region. The kingdom of Bosnia was allowed to preserve its identity with its historical name and territorial integrity.