From top, left to right: Bihać panorama,Fethija Mosque (former Catholic Church of St. Anthony of Padua),Stećak Tombstones, Kapetanova kula (Captain's Tower; currently a museum), BihaćTürbe and theUna river.
According to documents and historical sources, the first medieval urban settlements and towns around theUna river, began to appear in the middle of the 13th century. Bihać, as the centre of Pounje, was first mentioned on 26 February 1260, in the charter of Hungarian KingBéla IV, and was described as a town built on the river's Island of St. Ladislav, owned by theBenedictine abbey ofTopusko. Just two years later, in 1262, Béla proclaimed Bihać aroyal free city and placed it under the direct authority of the Hungarian throne, with all rights and privileges pertaining thereto, which ensured its ability to develop completely independent from the political powers of local lords.The following mention in the charter of 1271 confirms that Bihać at that time enjoyed the status of afree city. At the head of the municipality was the town elder ormajor villae, who was often called a judge, and whose decision could only be changed by the king. Bihać also had acuria ormagistrates, an assembly of local citizens who took the oath of office for this duty, and notaries who kept court and other civil records.[1][2][3][4]
In 1530 Austria sent troops to defend seven key strongholds in Croatia, one of them was Bihać and another the nearbyRipač.[5]: 113 TheOttomans occupied Bihać in 1592 aftera10-day siege and from that time Bihać was the most important forts inBosnia until the 19th century.[6] Ottoman rule was briefly interrupted byAuguste Marmont, general-governor ofIllyrian Provinces on 5 May 1810.[7] He sought to prevent Ottomans from raiding French Croatia and finishing the Ottoman occupation ofCetin. After fulfilling these goals, he withdrew from Bihać. Ottoman rule in Bihać endedde facto after theCongress of Berlin.
DuringWorld War II, the town was occupied byAxis troops and was included intoPavelić'sIndependent State of Croatia (NDH). The fascistUstaše regime committed theGenocide of the Serbs andthe Holocaust. From July to September 1941, some 15,000Serbs were massacred along with some Jews and Roma victims by theUstaše at theGaravice, an extermination location near Bihać. When the German and ItalianZones of Influence were revised on 24 June 1942, Bihać fell inZone III [hr], administered civilly by Croatia and militarily by Croatia and Germany.[8] The town was the capital of a short-lived territory, theBihać Republic, for two months in late 1942 and early 1943, until it was recaptured by German forces.[9] From 1943Judita Alargić served near to Bihać as an instructor of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.[10][11][12] Bihać returned to Bosnian territory on 28 March 1945.[9]
In the 1991 population census in Bosnia and Herzegovina the ethnic composition of the municipality was 46,737 Bosniaks, 12,689 Serbs, 5,580 Croats, 4,356 Yugoslavs and 1,370 Others.[15]
Official results from the book: Ethnic composition of Bosnia-Herzegovina population, by municipalities and settlements, 1991. census, Zavod za statistiku Bosne i Hercegovine - Bilten no.234, Sarajevo 1991.
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