Šamac, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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 the ethnic conflicts surrounding the Čukur Fountain incident. These refugees hailed mainly from Užice and Sokol. At the time Šamac was initially called Gornja Azizija (Upper Azizija after Sultan Abdulaziz).{{Cite book |last=Krpic |first=Amir |url=https://praguepapers.ff.cuni.cz/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2022/01/Amir_Krpic_27-42.pdf |title=The 1862 Kanlica Conference and Demographic Changes in Northeast Bosnia in the 1860s}} It was part of the Vilayet of Bosnia before it was annexed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1887.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}} 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, as the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was occupied by the Nazi-controlled Independent State of Croatia. After 1945, the city 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 Serbs who established a provisional municipal government. Most Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats were ethnically cleansed between April and November 1992.{{Cite web |title=BOSNIA |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/bosnia/ |access-date=2024-10-24 |website=www.hrw.org}}{{Cite web |date=2007-09-30 |title=FACE TO FACE WITH EVIL - TIME |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,984525-1,00.html |access-date=2024-10-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930064904/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,984525-1,00.html |archive-date=2007-09-30 }} During the war, a semi-permanent front line was established against Croatian and Bosniak forces towards the neighboring Orašje. In 2003, three Bosnian Serb town leaders at the time of the Yugoslav Wars were sentenced in the ICTY for crimes against humanity.http://www.asil.org/ilib/ilib0622.htm#j3 International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (Trial Chamber II): Prosecutor v. Blagoje Simic, Mirolsav Tadic and Simo Zadic (October 17, 2003) {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206205948/http://www.asil.org/ilib/ilib0622.htm |date=February 6, 2012 }}

The town lies on an important strategic position in Republika Srpska, near Brčko.

As with most other places under Serb control, 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 of "Bosanski Šamac" ({{lang-sr-cyr|Босански Шамац}}, {{IPA|sh|bǒsanskiː ʃâmat͡s|pron}}). causing tension among the inhabitants. A court order had the official name changed to simply Šamac, removing any ethnic divisions in its previous names.{{Cite web|url=https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/amp/bosanski_definitivno_izbrisan_iz_imena_gradova/24554883.html|title=RS bez "bosanskih" gradova|website=www.slobodnaevropa.org}}

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

{{div col|colwidth=22em}}

• Batkuša
• Brvnik
• Crkvina
• Donja Slatina
• Donji Hasić
• Gajevi
• Gornja Slatina
• Gornji Hasić
• Grebnice
• Kornica
• Kruškovo Polje
• Lugovi
• Novo Selo
• Obudovac
• Pisari
• Srednja Slatina
• Škarić
• Tišina
• Zasavica

{{div col end}}

File:Samac main square1.JPG

File:Samac monument.JPG]]

File:Obudovac crkva 1.jpg

The following table gives a preview of total number of registered employed people per their core activity (as of 2016):{{cite web|title=Cities and Municipalities of Republika Srpska 2017|url=http://www2.rzs.rs.ba/static/uploads/bilteni/gradovi_i_opstine_republike_srpske/2017/Gradovi_Opstine_Republike_Srpske_2017_WEB.pdf|website=rzs.rs.ba|accessdate=21 October 2018|date=December 2017|language=Serbian}}

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

File:Zoran Djindjic Cropped.jpg]]

File:Izetbegovic.jpg]]

• 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 (b. 1954), former footballer
• Predrag Nikolić (b. 1960), chess Grand Master
• Stevo Nikolić (b. 1984), footballer
• Mario Mandžukić (b. 1986), former footballer

• Municipalities of Republika Srpska
• Šamac oil field

{{Reflist}}

• 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.
• {{Citation

|last=Mangold

|first=Max

|year=2005

|title=Das Aussprachewörterbuch

|publisher=Duden

|isbn=9783411040667

}}

{{Commons category|Šamac}}

• {{Official website|http://www.opstinasamac.org/}}

{{Odžak municipality}}

{{Domaljevac-Šamac municipality}}

{{Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samac, Bosnia and Herzegovina}}

Category:Populated places in Šamac, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina–Croatia border crossings

Category:Cities and towns in Republika Srpska