Sarajevo

**Sarajevo** (Serbian Cyrillic: Сарајево) is the caipital an lairgest ceety o Bosnie an Herzegovinae, 310,605 fowk in the fower municipalities that make up the ceety proper, an a metro aurie population of 436,572 fowk in the Sarajevo Canton (2010). It is an aa the caipital o the Federation o Bosnie an Herzegovinae entity, as well as the centre o the Sarajevo Canton. Sarajevo is locatit in the Sarajevo valley o Bosnie, surroondit bi the Dinaric Alps an situatit aroond the Miljacka river.

The ceety is famous for its traditional releegious diversity, wi adherents o Islam, Orthodoxy, Catholicism an Judaism coexistin there for centuries. Due tae this lang and rich history o releegious diversity an coexistence Sarajevo haes aften been cawed the "Jerusalem o Europe".

Although settlement in the aurie stretches back tae prehistoric times, the modren ceety arose as an Ottoman stranghauld in the 15t century. Sarajevo haes attractit internaitional attention several times throughoot its history: In 1914 it wis the site o the assassination that sparked Warld War I, while seiventy years later it became the host ceety o the 1984 Winter Oleempics. Mair recently, Sarajevo unnerwent the Siege o Sarajevo durin the Bosnian War. The day the ceety is recoverin an adjustin tae a post-war reality, as a major centre o cultur an economic development in Bosnie an Herzegovinae. Sarajevo wis an aa the first ceety in Europe an the seicont ceety in the warld tae hae a full-time operational electric tram netwirk runnin through the ceety, the first being San Francisco. Lonely Planet haes named Sarajevo as the 43rd best ceety in the warld, an in December 2009 leetit Sarajevo as ane o the tap ten ceeties tae visit in 2010.

## Etymology
The earliest name for a major ceety in the region o the day's Sarajevo is *Vrhbosna*. Tae claim housomeivver that Sarajevo an *Vrhbosna* are ane an the same wad be faulty, considerin that the latter seems tae hae been destroyed weel afore the Ottomans occupied the region. Rather, the ceety o Sarajevo as we ken it wis biggit directly on tap o the Bosnian veelage o *Brodac*.

Sarajevo housomeivver is the ae true historical name for the ceety. The oreegins o the wird are no mystery. Sarajevo is a Slavic wird based on *Saray*, the Turkis wird for the govrenor's palace. The ruit can be seen in the Turkis name for Sarajevo, Saraybosna, an various auries o Turkey. The letter Y daes no exist in the Bosnie version o the Laitin alphabet, an "evo" comes frae "Ovasi" ("Saray Ovasi"), giein the name the basic meanin "the field aroond the palace".

Sarajevo haes haed mony eiknames. The earliest is *Šeher*, whilk is the term Isa-Beg Ishaković uised tae descreive the toun he wis gaein tae big. Literally it is a Turkis wird indicatin an advanced ceety o key importance (*şehir*) that in turn comes frae Persian شهر *Shahr* "Ceety" . As Sarajevo developit, numerous eiknames came frae comparisons tae ither ceeties in the Islamic warld, i.e. "Damascus o the North". The maist popular o thir wis "European Jerusalem" whilk wis a comparison gien tae the ceety bi its Sephardic Jewish populace.

Some argue that a mair correct translate o 'saray' is govrenment office, or hoose; 'saray' is a common wird in Turkis for a palace or mansion; a fortified govrenment office, or hoose, thou wad still be cawed a saray, gin it maintained the general leuk o an office, itherwise it wad be cawed 'kale' (castle).

## Internaitional relations

### Twin touns – Sister ceeties

Sarajevo is twinned wi:

### Fraternity ceeties
Sarajevo's fraternity ceeties include:

## References