2020.01.20 16:14
bosnian-herzegovinian trivia
There is a country in Europe called Bosnia and Herzegovina. Just don't confuse it with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because that's something different: Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of (that's its administrative division) two parts: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska. When talking about Republika Srpska, be careful not to confuse it with the country named Serbia - Serbia is a separate, independent country (by the way, it borders Republika Srpska). So, we have these two constituent parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Oh, and there's also a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina called the Brčko District - it's special because it belongs simultaneously to both the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska. A long time ago in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the currency introduced was the German mark. That is, they introduced a currency called the "convertible mark," which was pegged to the German mark - one convertible mark could be exchanged for one German mark. And their cents are called, as you might easily guess, "fenings" or "convertible pfenigs." Both versions of the name are used officially, and neither is exactly the same as what the Germans called their cents (the Germans called their cents "pfennigs"). When Germany switched from marks to euros, exchanging 1 euro for 1.95583 German marks, Bosnia and Herzegovina switched from a 1:1 peg with the German mark to a 1:1.95583 peg with the euro - and it remains that way today. The inscriptions on the money are in the two alphabets used in the country, Latin and Cyrillic. The portraits on the banknotes differ depending on whether the banknote was printed in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina or in Republika Srpska - for example, on the fifty-mark note, Musa Ćazim Ćatić is printed in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Jovan Dučić in Republika Srpska. Although not always, because, for instance, on the two-hundred-mark note, Ivo Andrić is printed in both parts. Bosnia and Herzegovina has three presidents (more precisely: the role of the head of state is fulfilled by a three-member presidency): one is always (as required by the constitution) a Bosniak, one a Croat, and one a Serb.
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