A Glance into Ottoman Bosnia

In 1839, at the age of twenty-two, Matija Mažuranić crossed the River Sava into Ottoman Bosnia on a secret political mission on behalf of the Illyrian national movement in his native Croatia, then part of the Habsburg Monarchy. After initial setbacks, he reached his goal via the principality of Serbia, since 1830 an autonomous entity within the Ottoman Empire. For the Illyrians, both Bosnia and Serbia were kindred south Slav lands (albeit little known because of the militarized border that still separated ‘Germany’ from ‘Turkey’) and, as such, key components of a future Illyrian association.In this fascinating and sympathetic eyewitness account, Mažuranić records his encounters with Ottoman Bosnian society at every level – from peasants in the...