Banja Luka

Related Category: Former Yugoslavian Political Geography

(bän´yä l´kä), city (1991 pop. 142,644), in NE Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the Vrbas River. It has varied manufactures, including machinery, paper, and electrical equipment. Banja Luka was captured by the Turks in 1528 and was (1583–1638) the seat of the pashas of Bosnia. Later (1878–1918) a part of Austria-Hungary, it passed to Yugoslavia after World War I. After the splintering of Bosnia and Herzegovina along ethnic lines in 1992, Banja Luka fell under Serb control. The city has Roman ruins and a 16th-century mosque.