The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The state was founded on 27 April 1992 as a federation comprising the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro. In February 2003, it was transformed from a federal republic to a political union until Montenegro seceded from the union in June 2006, leading to the full independence of both Serbia and Montenegro.
Bosnian, sometimes referred to as Bosniak, is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian pluricentric language mainly used by ethnic Bosniaks. Bosnian is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina, alongside Croatian and Serbian, all of which are mutually intelligible. It is also an officially recognized minority language in Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo.
The flag of Serbia, also known as the Tricolour, is a tricolour consisting of three equal horizontal bands, red on the top, blue in the middle, and white on the bottom, with the lesser coat of arms left of center. The same tricolour, in altering variations, has been used since the 19th century as the flag of the state of Serbia and the Serb people. The current form of the flag was adopted in 2004 and slightly redesigned in 2010.
The pan-Slavic colors—blue, white and red—were defined by the Prague Slavic Congress, 1848, based on the symbolism of the colors of the flag of Russia, which was introduced in the late 17th century. Historically, however, many Slavic nations and states had already adopted flags and other national symbols that used some combination of those three colors. Slavic countries that use or have used the colors include Russia, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia, whereas Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland and Ukraine use different color schemes.
Republika Srpska is one of the two entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Situated in the northern and eastern regions of the country, it recorded a population of 1,228,423 in the 2013 census. Its largest city and administrative hub is Banja Luka, located on the banks of the Vrbas River.
The national flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina contains a medium blue field with a yellow right triangle separating said field, and there are seven full five-pointed white stars and two half stars top and bottom along the hypotenuse of the triangle.
There is currently no official flag for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The federation is part of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The federation adopted its own flag in 1996, but the flag and associated coat of arms were deemed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2007 and now it is considered to be a "de facto" flag. The federation has not yet adopted a new flag, anthem or coat of arms; instead the symbols of the central state are used for official purposes as a provisional solution.
The Serbian cross, also known as the Firesteels, is one of the national symbols of Serbia. It is present on the coat of arms and flag of Serbia. The cross is based on a tetragrammic cross emblem of the Palaiologos dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, with the difference in Serbian use being that the cross is usually white on a carmine red background, rather than gold on a red background. The Serbian cross was adopted from the Eastern Roman Empire and the Byzantine cross in the 10th century.
The flag of the abolished Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia (1992–96) consists of three equal size, horizontal stripes in the pan-Slavic colours arranged in Croat tricolour: red, white and blue. In the middle is the coat of arms of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia stylised with a triple wattle at the top. In 1997 and 1998 the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina ruled its usage as a canton flag unconstitutional, since the symbols of cantons and municipalities cannot represent just one ethnic group.
The University of Banja Luka is the second-oldest university in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A public university, it is the flagship institution of higher education in Republika Srpska, one of two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of the 2018–19 school year, there are 11,186 enrolled students.
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language originated in medieval Serbia. Reformed in 19th century by the Serbian philologist and linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write modern standard Serbian, the other being Gaj's Latin alphabet.
The flag of the Republic of Kosovo was adopted by the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo immediately following the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo on 17 February 2008. The flag design emerged from an international competition, organized by an informal group from the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government known as the Kosovo Unity Team, which attracted almost one thousand entries. The winning design was proposed by Muhamer Ibrahimi. It shows six white stars in an arc above a golden map of Kosovo, all on a blue field. The stars symbolize Kosovo's six major ethnic groups: Albanians, Serbs, Bosniaks, Turks, Romani, and Gorani.
The Seal of Republika Srpska contains the flag of Republika Srpska and the Cyrillic letters "РС" ("RS") with the red-blue-white tricolor in the center of the seal, twisted with golden oak leaves, a traditional pre-Christian symbol sacred to most Slavs. On the edge of the seal there is an inscription Republika Srpska. The open crown of Kotromanić is shown in the bottom of the seal and the seal itself is topped with a heraldic royal crown.
The modern-day countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia both originated from Yugoslavia. The majority of population in both countries speak one of the standard varieties of Serbo-Croatian and Serbia is one of the largest investors in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The flag of Yugoslavia was the official flag of the Yugoslav state from 1918 to 1992. The flag's design and symbolism are derived from the Pan-Slavic movement, which ultimately led to the unification of the South Slavs and the creation of a united south-Slavic state in 1918.
The Republika Srpska football team is the official team of Republika Srpska, an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA.
The Dayton Agreement ended the Bosnian War and created the federal republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), which consists of the Bosniak and Croat-inhabited Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and the Serb-inhabited Republika Srpska (RS). Although the Bosnian Serbs were viewed as "anti-Dayton" during the first years after the war, since 2000 they have been staunch supporters of the Dayton Agreement and the preservation of RS. Bosniaks generally view RS as illegitimate, and an independence referendum from BiH has been proposed in RS. The 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum and Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence have raised the possibility of a referendum and unification with Serbia. In 2015, after a judicial and police crisis, the governing Alliance of Independent Social Democrats said that it would hold an independence referendum in 2018 if RS's autonomy was not preserved. Almost all people vote for pro-independence parties.
Day of Republika Srpska is a formerly official national holiday of the Republika Srpska, which has been proclaimed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The holiday is celebrated on 9 January, and its unofficial patron saint is Saint Archdeacon Stephen—historically being patron saint of medieval Kotromanić dynasty kings bearing their first name after him—which falls on the same day.
The flag of Misiones, a province of Argentina, was introduced by provincial decree no. 326 of 12 February 1992 and consists of three horizontal stripes from the top of the colors red, blue and white. The origins of the flag date back to the flag of the League of the Free Peoples created by José Artigas based on Manuel Belgrano's flag. According to Artigas, the meaning of the flag is as follows:
