Gradacac

The župa of GradaÄ?ac was first mentioned in 1302, while the town's first written mention dates from 1465 (also as GraÄ?ac). The town became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1512, its nahija (municipality) was first recorded in the defter of 1533, while its kadiluk (county) was recorded in 1634.

In 1701 the settlement was given the status of a palanka (city), and it became the headquarters of a military captaincy in 1710. The captains of the GradaÅ¡Ä?ević family led the development of the city, and the most famous of them, Husein-kapetan GradaÅ¡Ä?ević or Zmaj od Bosne ("Dragon of Bosnia"), led an uprising that raised to arms most of the Bosnian captains in 1831.

The town has a fort with 18-meter high walls built between 1765 and 1821, and a 22-meter high watchtower, built in 1824 by the Ottoman empire on foundations made originally by the Romans.

It was severely bombed during the Bosnian war 1992-1995. It is located at the narrow northern corridor that connects two major portions of the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska, near BrÄ?ko. GradaÄ?ac became part of the Tuzla Canton in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the war.