Gabela, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Gabela is a village in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, 5 kilometres south of Čapljina and 4 kilometers from Metković, in Croatia. It is situated in the navigable lower course of the Neretva, off the major road linking the coast with the mountainous hinterland. The word Gabela comes from Arabic word for tax (al-qabala).

According to history, Gabela was first mentioned in a contract between the Serbian ruler Nemanja and the Republic of Ragusa as Drijeva (the old Serbo-Croatian word for ship or ferry). Up to the end of the 12th century it was called Drijevo and was an important centre for the trade between the Bosnian kings and Dubrovnik, in which goods were flowing from Dubrovnik and Venice: salt, oil, wine, fabrics, glass, weapons and luxury goods, and from the inside: wood, meet, corn, wool, honey and cheese, until it became a Dubrovnik colony known as Osobljane.

Drijeva rapidly became a port for slave trading, along with Brštanik, and this was sanctioned by law. This can be seen in the archives of Dubrovnik, where the Mercantum Narenti (Forum Narenti) is mentioned, and in the Statute of Dubrovnik of 1272, where in the sixth book there is a series of passages (42-52) dealing with the social status of slaves.

In the 14th century the Bosnian kings began to implement forceful measures against this "trade in human flesh on the Neretva" and under pressure from them in 1400 the Dubrovnik Senate banned the trade in human lives, and the transport of slaves in Ragusan ships in 1416 under the threat of six months imprisonment in the underground dungeons in Dubrovnik in the Rector's Palace in Dubrovnik, as well as a fine. Under the name Gabela (it. Gabella - "customs house") the town was mentioned in 1399.

The Turks occupied the town in 1529 and built the Sedislam Fortress on the right-hand bank of the Neretva. It became the center of the Gabela captany (organized before 1561). In 1537 Gabela becomes part of Nevesinje kadiluk.

In the middle of 17th century Ali-Pasha Cengic rebuilt and reinforced the fort (so called Novi grad). In 1693 it was conquered by the Venetians who repaired the Turkish buildings, especially in Novi Grad (the new town) and Derzelez fortress, but they destroyed these buildings again when the Turks attacked once more and recaptured from them in 1715. In 1718 the Turks themselves rebuilt part of the settlement. As well as fragments of the walls and towers, the ruins of two churches are also still visible, as well as the "sultan's Mosque" (Careva džamija) which the Venetians converted into a church, St. Stephen's (Sveti Stjepan), and added stone sculptures of lions, the symbol of the Venetian Empire.

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