Muslims (ethnic group)
ethnic group in the territory of the former Yugoslavia
Muslims (Serbo-Croatian Latin and Slovene: Muslimani, Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic and Macedonian: Муслимани) are an ethnoreligious group of Serbo-Croatian-speaking Muslims, inhabiting mostly the territory of the former Yugoslavia.
The term Muslims became widely used for the Serbo-Croatian-speaking Muslims in the early 1900s. It gained official recognition in the 1910 census. The 1971 amendment to the Constitution of Yugoslavia also recognised them as a distinct nationality. It grouped several distinct South Slavic communities of Islamic ethnocultural tradition. Before 1993, the vast majority of present-day Bosniaks self-identified as ethnic Muslims, along with smaller groups of other ethnicities, such as the Gorani and the Torbeši. This designation did not include non-Slavic Yugoslav Muslims, such as Albanians, Turks and some Romani people.
After the breakup of Yugoslavia, the majority of the Serbo-Croatian-speaking Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia adopted the Bosniak ethnic designation. They are today constitutionally recognised as one of three constituent nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Approximately 100,000 people across the rest of the former Yugoslavia consider themselves to be Slavic Muslims, mostly in Serbia.
The public source identifies “Muslims (ethnic group)” as ethnic group in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Muslims, ethnic and group.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Muslims (ethnic group)”, the useful work is to connect “ethnic group in the territory of the former Yugoslavia” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1137457. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1910, 1971 and 1993.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Muslims (ethnic group)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Muslims (ethnic group) primary sources, Muslims (ethnic group) archive and Muslims research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Muslims (ethnic group)”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Muslims (ethnic group)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.