Šamac, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Šamac (Serbian Cyrillic: Шамац, pronounced [ʃâmat͡s]),^[1] formerly Bosanski Šamac (Serbian Cyrillic: Босански Шамац), is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Small uninhabited parts of the settlement are also located in the municipalities of Odžak^[2] and Domaljevac-Šamac in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[3]

As of 2013, the town has a population of 5,390 inhabitants, while the municipality has 17,273 inhabitants. It is situated on the right bank of the Sava river. Across the river is Slavonski Šamac in Croatia.

The modern town was founded by Bosnian Muslim refugees expelled from the Sanjak of Smederevo in 1862, after the Principality of Serbia gained autonomy from the Ottoman Empire and during the ethnic conflicts surrounding the Čukur Fountain incident. These refugees came mainly from Užice and Sokol. At the time, Šamac was initially called Gornja Azizija, meaning "Upper Azizija", after Sultan Abdulaziz.^[4] It was part of the Vilayet of Bosnia before the area was occupied by Austria-Hungary in 1878 and later annexed in 1908. After World War I, the town became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. From 1929 to 1939, it was part of the Drina Banovina, and from 1939 until 1941 it was part of the Banovina of Croatia. During World War II, Šamac, like the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was occupied by the Nazi-controlled Independent State of Croatia. After 1945, the town was reintegrated within the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Tito's Yugoslavia.

In the early stages of the Bosnian War, the town was occupied by Bosnian Serb forces, who established a provisional municipal government. Most Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats were ethnically cleansed between April and November 1992.^[5][6] During the war, a semi-permanent front line was established against Croatian and Bosniak forces towards neighbouring Orašje. In 2003, three Bosnian Serb town leaders at the time of the Yugoslav Wars were sentenced by the ICTY for crimes against humanity.^[7]

The town lies in an important strategic position in Republika Srpska, near Brčko. As with most other places under Serb control, Republika Srpska authorities removed the "Bosnian" adjective from the town's official name and changed it to "Šamac". Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats continued to refer to it by its historical name, "Bosanski Šamac" (Serbian Cyrillic: Босански Шамац, pronounced [bǒsanskiː ʃâmat͡s]),^[1] causing tension among the inhabitants. A court order had the official name changed to simply Šamac, removing ethnic divisions in its previous names.^[8]

Aside from the town of Šamac, the municipality includes the following settlements:

===Ethnic composition===

The following table gives a preview of the total number of registered employed people by core activity, as of 2016:^[9]

The local football club, FK Borac Šamac, plays in the third tier, the Second League of the Republika Srpska.

• Milica Babić-Jovanović (1909–1968), costume designer at the Serbian National Theatre
• Ljubo Miloš (1919–1948), Croatian World War II official and concentration camp commander; executed for war crimes
• Alija Izetbegović (1925–2003), first President of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Sulejman Tihić (1951–2014), Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Zoran Đinđić (1952–2003), former Prime Minister of Serbia
• Srebrenko Repčić (born 1954), former footballer
• Predrag Nikolić (born 1960), chess grandmaster
• Stevo Nikolić (born 1984), footballer
• Mario Mandžukić (born 1986), former footballer

• Municipalities of Republika Srpska
• Šamac oil field

• Official results from the book: Ethnic composition of Bosnia-Herzegovina population, by municipalities and settlements, 1991 census, Zavod za statistiku Bosne i Hercegovine, Bilten no. 234, Sarajevo, 1991.
• Mangold, Max (2005), Das Aussprachewörterbuch, Duden, ISBN 9783411040667

• Official website