Šamac (Serbian Cyrillic: Шамац, pronounced [ʃâmat͡s]),[1] formerly Bosanski Šamac (Serbian Cyrillic: Босански Шамац) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are also small, uninhabited, parts located in the municipalities of Odžak[2] and Domaljevac-Šamac, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[3]
As of 2013, the town has a population of 5,390 inhabitants, while the municipality has 17,273 inhabitants. It is situated on the right bank of the Sava river. Across the river is Slavonski Šamac in Croatia.
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).[4] It was part of the Vilayet of Bosnia before it was annexed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1887.[citation needed] 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.[5][6] 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.[7]
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" (Serbian Cyrillic: Босански Шамац, pronounced [bǒsanskiː ʃâmat͡s]).[1] causing tension among the inhabitants. A court order had the official name changed to simply Šamac, removing any ethnic divisions in its previous names.[8]
Aside from the town of Šamac, the municipality includes the following settlements:
The following table gives a preview of total number of registered employed people per their core activity (as of 2016):[9]
The local football club, FK Borac Šamac, plays in the third tier — the Second League of the Republika Srpska.
