Derventa through history
All available data from the past and scientific papers suggest that the Derventa area has always been ideal for settlement, because the climate and vegetation were suitable for life of a community.
Serious traces were left by the Romans, although the Avars and Slavs suppressed all traces of the Roman civilization. This area was inhabited by the Slavs between 600 and 630 years. The oldest written records from that period indicate that the Derventa (OWAR) was the center of the parish “De vetri castro” (parish of the old fortress). In 1408, next to this medieval city, a fortress was built called “Novum castrum” i.e. “VIVAR” (the names are in Latin and Hungarian), or in translation, NOVI GRAD, and in 1414 “de Castellani Wynov”.
The Turks destroyed the fortress “Vivar 3” to the ground, only to built a fortress DERBENA after 1740, which the Slavic population called DERVENTA.
When the Turks were defeated in the Russian – Turkish war, Bosnia went into the hands of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in the peace conference in 1878. The Austro-Hungarian army entered Derventa on 31st July 1878, and immediately demolished the Turkish fortress in the city centre.
