Sarajevo, << `sar` uh YAY voh >> (pop. 355,170), is the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is famous for the products of its carpet weavers and silversmiths, and for its many mosques (Muslim houses of worship). Ottomans—who ruled the city from the 1400’s to 1878—built the mosques. In 1914, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo. This event started World War I (see World War I (The assassination of an archduke) . Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics.
From 1946 to 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina was part of the federal state of Yugoslavia. In 1992, it declared independence. Most of the country’s ethnic Muslims and Croats supported independence, but most ethnic Serbs did not. After independence was declared, the Serbs, backed by the Yugoslav National Army, began a war against non-Serbs. Serbian forces set up artillery in the hills overlooking Sarajevo and shelled parts of the city. Thousands of people were killed, and many buildings were damaged or destroyed. A peace agreement ended the conflict in late 1995, and the people of Sarajevo then began the task of rebuilding the city.
