Tuzla

First mentioned in 950 as a county under Hungarian rule, the town was later referred to by historians as Soli. Soli means "salts" in the Bosnian language, and the city's present name means "place of salt" in Turkish. However, there is enough archaeologic evidence to suggest that Tuzla was a rich neolithic settlement, and hence inhabited continuously for more than 6,000 years which makes Tuzla one of the oldest European cities with sustained living. An open-air museum at Solni Trg, opened in 2004, tells the story of salt production in Tuzla.

On October 2, 1943, Tuzla became the largest liberated town in Europe to the time. It developed into a major industrial and cultural centre during the communist period in former Yugoslavia. In the 1990 elections the Reformists won control of the municipality being the only municipality in Bosnia where non-nationalists won. During the Bosnian war, 1992-1995 the town was the only municipality not governed by nationalist authorities, and was besieged by Serb nationalist forces. The town was not spared the atrocities of war. On May 25, 1995, a mortar killed 72 youngsters in the single most deadly incident of the war.