Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country situated on the Balkan peninsula of South Eastern Europe and formerly one of the 6 federal units of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and gained independence in 1992. It composes of 3 ethnic “constituent groups” which are the Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats. In spite of the ethnicity a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina is frequently identified as a Bosnian. The distinction between a Bosnian and a Herzegovinian is maintained as a regional instead of ethnic difference. The government of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a parliamentary representative democratic republic in which the Council of Ministers is the head of government. It is somewhat politically decentralized and consists of 2 governing bodies – the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Repubika Srpska.
The conventional songs in Bosnia and Herzegovina include ganga, rera,a and sevdalinka which comes from the Ottoman era. The Sarajevo Film Festival, which was established in 1994, has become to be one of the most influential and awaited in southeast Europe. Basketball, handball, chess, boxing, football are the most popular sports in the country. Bosnia and Herzegovina hosted the 14th Winter Olympics in February 1984 and declared world champion of volleyball in the 2004 Summer Paralympics; most of those participating athletes lost their legs during the Bosnian War. Bosnian foods normally use several spices, natural sauces, and cooked in lots of water. Meat dishes typically compose of beef and lamb while widely used vegetables include tomatoes, onions, potatoes, carrots, and cucumbers.