Bosnians
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 6–7 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
3,871,643 (est.) |
 Turkey
|
1,000,000 - 3,000,000 |
 Austria
|
128,047 |
 United States
|
121,938 |
 Norway
|
50,000 |
 Australia
|
39,440 |
 Italy
|
31,000 |
 Canada
|
25,665 |
 Denmark
|
22,404 |
| Languages | |
| Serbo-Croatian (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian) | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Sunni Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Judaism and irreligion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Croats, Bosnian Jews, Bosnian Roma | |
Bosnians (Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: Bosanci/Босанци; singular: Bosnian (Bosanac/Босанац) are people who live in Bosnia, or who are of Bosnian descent.
Native Bosnians are a South Slavic people and by the modern state definition, a Bosnian can be anyone who holds citizenship of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and thus is largely synonymous with the all-encompassing national demonym Bosnians and Herzegovinians. This includes, but is not limited to, members of the constituent ethnic groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats. Those who reside in the smaller geographical region of Herzegovina may prefer to identify as Herzegovinians in a localized, regional sense.
Ethnic minorities in this territory, such as Jews, Roma, Albanians, Montenegrins and others, may consider Bosnian as an adjective modifying their ethnicity (e.g. Bosnian Roma) to indicate place of residence.
In addition, a sizable population in Bosnia and Herzegovina believe that the term "Bosnians" defines a people who constitute a distinct collective cultural identity or ethnic group.
The earliest cultural and linguistic roots of Bosnian history can be traced back to the Migration Period of the Early Middle Ages. At that time, the Slavs from southeastern Europe invaded the Eastern Roman Empire and settled the Balkan peninsula. There, they mixed with the indigenous paleo-Balkan peoples, mostly romanized tribes, generically known as the Illyrians on the territory of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also the Celtic population which had intermingled with these since the 4th century BC, and to a lesser extent the Germanic-speaking Ostrogoths which had entered the area in the late 4th century AD. From the chaos of the Dark Ages, from 800 AD, the Slavic tribes coalesced into early principalities. As these expanded, they came to include other Slavic tribes and territories, and later evolved into centralized Kingdoms.
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Wikipedia