Some fifty years later, when the Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Isabella banished the Jews of Spain, some took refuge in Sarajevo and brought to the city its fourth religion, new langauges and a new culture. With this Bosnia became a new Babylon and Sarajevo a new Jerusalem, a city in which temples of all faiths of the Book can be seen in one glance. Under the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, established after World War 1, Bosnians became the inhabitants of a territory specifically set up to undercut claims of any unique ethnic identity for the entire ex-Yugoslavia's region. Prior to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina there was no basis for distinguishing one's ethnicity other than self-selection and this was emphasized by the fact that all three narodi , and for that matter everyone else in Bosnia, spoke the same language . This category, first introduced by Austro-Hungary at the beginning of the 20th century, today refers to the Bosnian Muslims.
Family names are often an indication of ethnicity.
Family names are passed down the male line, from father to children. Hence, someone with an Islamic-sounding root in his or her last name may be presumed to be, at least technically, a Muslim. Back to Culture Menu. All rights reserved.