Prijedor (, ) is a city in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it had a population of 80,916 inhabitants within its administrative limits. Prijedor is situated in the geographical region of Bosanska Krajina, a northwestern part of the country.
Prijedor is known for its mixed religious heritage comprising Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism and Islam. Historic buildings from the Ottoman and Austrian-Hungarian periods are a feature of the urban landscape.
Geography The urban centre of Prijedor, within the city of Prijedor, is located in the northwestern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the banks of the Sana and Gomjenica rivers, and at the southwestern hills of the Kozara mountain. The area of the municipality is . The town is situated at 44°58'39" N and 16°42'29" E, at an altitude of above sea level.
It is a part of the geographical region of Bosanska Krajina in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The terrain ascends to the northeast of Prijedor in waves and gradually becomes the mountain range of the Kozara mountain, which is famous for uprisings in the previous centuries and battles against fascism during the Second World War.
The city lies on the alluvial terrain created by the Sana river and its tributaries on the southwestern hillsides of the Kozara mountain.
Climate
History Ancient period Prijedor's history as a fortified population centre can be traced back to the end of the 17th century. The history of the colonization and surrounding culture is much older. Numerous prehistoric, ancient and medieval archaeological sites are evidence of the presence of a variety of different cultures. There are multiple settlements from the prehistoric period, dating back to 2100 B.C., usually associated with burial sites. In the pre-Roman and Roman times the area was settled by a large Illyrian tribe, the Maezaei. In nearby Ljubija, many Roman monuments have been found that provide evidence of iron production.
Ottoman and Austrian Period Prijedor is mentioned for the first time as Palanka Praedor, a small wooden fort in the list of those places in the Ottoman Empire that were devastated by Croatian troops between 1693 and 1696. It appeared in letters written in Latin by commander of the Croatian generalate units, Earl Batthyány. In this part of Bosnia a large number of fortifications were constructed to protect often contested borders with Austria. Later on, many fortifications were destroyed during the Austro-Ottoman War as the borders moved towards the east and south in favor of Austria. It took nearly 50 years for Prijedor to appear again in the list of settlements.
At the same place in the middle of the 18th century, a new fortress appeared, coinciding with Christian settlement in the vicinity. These regions were under Ottoman dominion until 1878.
The town began to develop rapidly due to the navigability of the Sana River, the growth of trade and crafts, and later, the construction of the first railway through Prijedor. The first railroad in Bosnia and Herzegovina was built in 1873 next to Prijedor and went from Dobrljin to Banja Luka. The fortress existed as a military base until 1851 when the army left and the walls were demolished by the local population who used the walls to build their own houses. A huge fire in 1882 destroyed most of the town. The next year the Austrian authorities opened a large sawmill at the bottom of the mountain Kozara, which is the first industrial object in the history of Prijedor.
The years after the fire there was intensive development of the town, encompassing both private and state-owned structures. New buildings were built, such as the Serbian elementary school, a Catholic Church, an Eastern Orthodox Church, and a hotel. The first cultural associations appeared in the town as well as libraries, reading rooms and a printing house. The end of the First World War created a fledgling state—the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes—with Bosnia and Herzegovina as a part of it. Prijedor was an important place as the trade and crafts centre of the whole region. The opening of an iron ore mine in nearby Ljubija in 1916 strengthened the economy of the town. During that period, the mine was one of the biggest and most modern iron ore mines in Europe.
From 1929 to 1941, Prijedor was part of the Vrbas Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
World War II
During World War II, the Prijedor and Kozara area was affected by the Kozara Offensive of June and July 1942. The Mrakovica memorial complex on Kozara, designed by Dušan Džamonja, commemorates the region's Yugoslav Partisans and civilians killed by Axis forces.
Some Serb villages around Prijedor and Kozara Mountain suffered the deaths of tremendous numbers of civilians, who were killed by the Ustaše and taken to different concentration camps during the genocide campaign; one of these was Jastrebarsko Concentration Camp, where Serb, Jewish and Roma children were imprisoned and killed.
Bosnian war
During the Bosnian War (1992–1995), Prijedor was the site of an ethnic cleansing campaign committed by the Bosnian Serb political and military leadership – Army of the Republika Srpska, mostly against Bosniak and Croat civilians. The area near Prijedor housed the Omarska, Keraterm, and Trnopolje camps established in 1992 as part of ethnic-cleansing of the Bosniak and Croat population during the civil war. The population of non-Serbs was drastically reduced: out of a population of 50,000 Bosniaks and 6,000 Croats, only some 6,000 Bosniaks and 3,000 Croats remained in the municipality by the end of the war. Apart from the Srebrenica massacre, Prijedor is the area with the second highest rate of civilian killings committed during the Bosnian War. According to the Sarajevo-based Research and Documentation Center (IDC), 4,868 people were killed or went missing in the Prijedor municipality during the war. Among them were 3,515 Bosniak civilians, 186 Croat civilians and 78 Serb civilians. , 96 mass graves have been located and around 2,100 victims have been identified, largely by DNA analysis.
Demographics Ethnic composition Ethnic composition of the Township of PrijedorEthnicity2013.1991.1981.1971.1961.Serbs54,356 (67.18%)47,581 (42.28%)45,279 (41.59%)46,487 (47.49%)21,532 (54.17%)Muslims/Bosniaks22,303 (27.56%)49,351 (43.85%)42,129 (38.70%)39,190 (40.03%)10,140 (25.51%)Croats1,666 (2.06%)6,316 (5.61%)7,297 (6.70%)8,845 (9.04%)2 384 (6.00%)Others2,591 (3.20%)9,295 (8.26%)14,163 (13.01%)3,372 (3.44%)5,695 (14.33%)Total80,916112,543108,86897,89439,751
Education
The first forms of organized education can be traced back to the first half of the 19th century. In 1834 Prijedor had the "Serb elementary school" that later with the so-called "Communal school" was transformed into the "State school" in 1919. One of the earliest and most important educational institutions was the Prijedor Gymnasium, founded in 1923.
Elementary and High schools Nowadays, there are 11 elementary schools with circa 8,000 students and 6 high schools attended by around 4,000 students. A music school and a special school for mentally challenged people are also part of the city educational system.
Colleges and Universities Over the last several years, important steps have been taken, aimed at establishing colleges. As a result, Prijedor now has a University college of Economics and IT, a University College of Medicine, and a mining geology department of the University of Banja Luka. In the northwestern part of the city in the neighborhood of Pećani a Law and Economics faculty is under construction. These are the first steps to establish an independent university centre in Prijedor. Today, Prijedor has around 1300 enrolled students.
Economy
Prijedor is a large service and industrial centre and hosts some of the largest companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It has a developed financial sector; 11 international banks are represented in the city, as well as 5 microfinance organizations and a foundation for development. The city's huge economic potential lies in its strategic geographical location, as it is close to Zagreb, Belgrade, Budapest and Vienna, giving it one of the best climates for economic expansion in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The arable land around the city, raw minerals and growth of the educated population in the city proper gives it a combination of being able to produce industrial products, and food and service industries.
Economic preview The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in professional per their core activity (as of 2018): Professional field TotalAgriculture, forestry and fishing262Mining and quarrying835Manufacturing2,825Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply250Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities315Construction474Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles2,542Transportation and storage638Accommodation and food services876Information and communication154Financial and insurance activities227Real estate activities58Professional, scientific and technical activities340Administrative and support service activities221Public administration and defense; compulsory social security1,003Education1,391Human health and social work activities1,196Arts, entertainment and recreation61Other service activities317Total13,985
Companies
The city today hosts the Bosnian headquarters of the ArcelorMittal Steel Company, which is the world's largest steel company, with over 320,000 employees in more than 60 countries. Prijedor also contains companies specialized in the chemical industry such as Ferrox A.D., producing iron oxides and pigments. BosnaMontaza A.D., one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's most specialized steel manufacturers, manufactures steel, pipelines, reservoirs, technological equipment, cranes and energy plants.
Other companies such as the Croatian food company Kraš has one of its facilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Prijedor. Brand names such as "Prijedorčanka" are one of the leading producers of the alcoholic beverage Rakija in Bosnia and Herzegovina, placing its products in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia.
Sectors Agricultural sector
Aside from fishing, Prijedor has a fruit growing industry, gardening industry, agricultural industry, mill and bakery industries, animal husbandry, processing industry, as well as a dairy industry.
Lake Saničani, near Prijedor, is one of the biggest commercial fish farming lakes in Southern Europe. Prijedor city takes up 83,406 hectares (58,450 ha being private property and 24,956 ha state property). Plowed fields and gardens take up 34,026 hectares, orchards 2,386 hectares and vineyards 5,000 hectares. All cultivated soil takes up 40,206 hectares.
Service sector The service sector in Prijedor is growing rapidly and this is reflected in the growth of hotels, stores, roads, educational facilities and shopping centres that are being built in the city, making it a growing commercial hub in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Transport and aviation
Prijedor is connected by road with Banja Luka, Kozarska Dubica, Novi Grad, Sanski Most and other settlements in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Two main roads pass through the city area: the M4 road, connecting Banja Luka, Prijedor and Novi Grad, and the M15 road, connecting Kozarska Dubica, Prijedor and Sanski Most.
Prijedor is linked by rail with Banja Luka and Novi Grad, while the wider railway route connects the city with regional passenger and freight corridors.
Prijedor also has an airfield in the northeastern part of the city, in the area of Urije. The airfield has a fleet of light aircraft and sailplanes. The airfield also serves as the home of the city's renowned Parachuting Club.
Culture
Prijedor has a various number of galleries, religious sights, libraries, statues, fountains, national monuments, cinemas and a city theater.
Archeological findings
Natural attractions