ABSTRACT
Ottomans were in Bosnia even before Constantinople became the Ottoman imperial capital. Strategic territorial incursions, interference in regional politics, and trade links with Venice, along with itinerant Sufi preachers and lodges, all made the Ottoman presence felt in Bosna by the turn of the fifteenth century. Incorporation of the medieval Bosnian territories into the Ottoman Empire was completed by the end of the century when Bosnia became the springboard for further expansion north, conquering Hungary and reaching the gates of Vienna in 1529. Bosnian Slav inhabitants accepted Islam in larger numbers than in other regions of the Balkans, becoming a majority and developing a distinct sociocultural identity tied to their region and dialect. While administrative borders and provincial arrangement shifted over the centuries, the Ottoman province of Bosnia remained within the current borders of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Until the nineteenth century, it included the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, inhabited by a Slav Muslims and Orthodox Christian population, now divided between Serbia and Montenegro. The province of Bosnia also included Ottoman territories in Slavonia, Lika, and Dalmatia at the height of Ottoman expansion.
