Herzegovina ( or ; , ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geographical, cultural or historical borders, nor has it ever been defined as an administrative whole in the geopolitical and economic subdivision of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia, the larger of the two regions, lies to the north of Herzegovina; the Croatian region of Dalmatia lies to the southwest; the Montenegrin region of Old Herzegovina lies to the southeast. The land area of Herzegovina is around , or around 23–24% of the country. The largest city is Mostar, in the center of the region. Other large settlements include Trebinje, Široki Brijeg, Ljubuški, Čapljina, Konjic and Posušje.
Etymology
The name (or Herzegovina in English) stems from German (the German term for a duke; ), and means a land ruled and/or owned by a , thus literally meaning 'duke's land' (). The first among the Kosača dukes to use the title instead of duke was Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, who became the of in 1449–50. In December 1481, the lands of Stjepan Vukčić's successors were finally occupied by Ottoman forces. The Ottomans were the first to officially use the name Herzegovina (, ) for the region in their administrative affairs in 1454, and established a sanjak bearing that name in 1470, the Sanjak of Herzegovina, with its first seat at Foča.
The name Herzegovina is the most important and indelible part of 's legacy, unique within the entire Serbo-Croatian speaking world of the Balkans, of one medieval person giving his name, or more precisely his noble title, which in the last few years of his life became literally inseparable from his name, to an entire region previously called , or for short, which still exists today with the name Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Although this is just a superficial understanding, because the appearance of the name Herzegovina, recorded as early as 1 February 1454, in a letter written by the Ottoman commander Esebeg from Skopje, cannot be attributed to alone, as his title was not of decisive importance after all. Far more crucial was a well-known Ottoman custom to call newly acquired lands by the names of its earlier lords. It was enough for the Ottomans to conquer 's land as a whole, to start calling it Herzegovina. Also, did not establish this province as a feudal and political unit of the Bosnian state, that honor befell Grand Duke of Bosnia, Vlatko Vuković, who received it from King Tvrtko I, while Sandalj Hranić expanded it and reaffirmed the Kosača family supremacy.
While under governance of Austria-Hungary, the region was known in German as , which etymologically corresponds to the Slavic name.
History
Medieval period
Slavs settled in the Balkans in the 7th century. What later became known as Herzegovina was divided between Croatia, Zachlumia and Travunia in the Early Middle Ages. Parts of the region were later ruled by various medieval rulers, with the eastern part mostly within Medieval Serbia, and the western part in the Kingdom of Croatia. During the 13th and 14th centuries the Bosnian bans Stjepan I Kotromanić and Stjepan II Kotromanić joined these regions to the Bosnian state, with the King Tvrtko I Kotromanić extending territories even further, beyond what is modern-day Herzegovina proper. During these times, parts of Herzegovina, or Hum, as it was called at the time, were ruled by powerful Bosnian magnates of Kosača family and its branch clans, namely Vuković, headed by Vlatko Vuković, who received it from the King Tvrtko I as an award for his service as a supreme commander of the Bosnian army, and Hranić, headed by Grand Duke of Bosnia, Sandalj Hranić. Another powerful Bosnian noble family, Pavlović, whose seat was near Rogatica in Drina county, including holdings in Drina and parts of Vrhbosna, also shared some of the territories in Hum centered around Trebinje. Stjepan Vukčić, Sandalj's nephew, inherited lordship over the Hum, and was the last Bosnian nobleman who had effective control over the province (zemlja) before Ottoman conquest. He titled himself Duke of Hum and Primorje, Bosnian Grand Duke, Knyaz of Drina, and later Herzog of Saint Sava, Lord of Hum and Bosnian Grand Duke, Knyaz of Drina and the rest. Following the Ottomans conquest and fall of Bosnian Kingdom, Hum or Humska zemlja became known as Hercegovina (), which literally means "Herzog's land".
Ottoman period
In 1482, the lands of Stefan Vukčić's successors were occupied by Ottoman forces. The Ottomans were the first to begin officially using the name Herzegovina (Hersek) for the region.