Srebrenica
town in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Srebrenica (Serbian Cyrillic: Сребреница, pronounced [srêbrenitsa]) is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in the Republika Srpska entity. It is a small mountain town, with its main industry being salt mining and a nearby spa.
During the Bosnian War in 1995, Srebrenica was the site of genocidal killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys, which was subsequently designated as an act of genocide by the ICTY and the International Court of Justice. It was perpetrated by units of the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska under Ratko Mladić, though the Serb paramilitary unit Scorpions also participated.
As of 2013, the town has a population of 2,607 inhabitants, while the municipality has 13,409 inhabitants. Before the war, the municipality's Bosniak population was 27,542 (75.12%) and the Serb population was 8,315 (22.68%). As of 2013, the equivalent figures were 7,248 Bosniaks (54.05%) and 6,028 Serbs (44.95%).
Etymology
The town's name means "silver mine", the same meaning of its old Latin name Argentaria. In other languages it is known as: Srebrenitza in German, Srebrenicë/a in Albanian, Srebrenitsa in Turkish, Szrebrenica in Hungarian and Srebrenița in Romanian.
History
Roman era
Illyrians inhabited Srebrenica and mined the silver in a nearby mine.
“Srebrenica” enters the record as town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Srebrenica, town and Bosnia can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Srebrenica” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Srebrenica, town and Bosnia provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q156053. VIAF identifies the subject as 148202777. The Library of Congress control number is nr96032484. Authority coordinates are 44.100, 19.300. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1995 and 2013.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Srebrenica”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Srebrenica primary sources, Srebrenica archive and Srebrenica 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 “Srebrenica”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Srebrenica” 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.