Banja Luka

Banja Luka (bän`yä l`kä), city (1991 pop. 142,644), in NE Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the Vrbas River. It has varied manufactures, including machinery, paper, and electrical equipment. Banja Luka was captured by the Turks in 1528 and was (1583–1638) the seat of the pashas of Bosnia. Later (1878–1918) a part of Austria-Hungary, it passed to Yugoslavia after World War I. After the splintering of Bosnia and Herzegovina along ethnic lines in 1992, Banja Luka fell under Serb control. The city has Roman ruins and a 16th-century mosque.

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Banja Luka

City (pop., 1997 est.: 160,000), northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was an important military centre under the Turks and the seat (1583–1639) of the Bosnian territory governed by a pasha. A battlefield between the Austrians and Turks in the 16th–18th centuries, it played an important part in the 19th-century Bosnian uprisings against Turkey as well as in the revolts of the Serbs. It was a hub of resistance in the Axis-dominated country of Croatia during World War II. In 1992 it became the capital of the autonomous Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was the site of much fighting during the Bosnian conflict.

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Banja Luka

a city in NW Bosnia-Herzegovina, on the Vrbas River: scene of battles between the Austrians and Turks in 1527, 1688, and 1737; besieged by Serb forces (1992--95). Pop.: 182 000 (2005 est.)