The Vrbas Banovina or Vrbas Banate (
Serbo-Croatian: Vrbaska banovina / Врбаска бановина), was a province (
banovina) of the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. It was named after the
Vrbas River and consisted mostly of territory in western
Bosnia (part of historical and present-day
Bosnia and Herzegovina) with its capital at
Banja Luka.
Dvor district of present-day
Croatia was also part of the Vrbas Banovina.
Borders
According to the 1931
Constitution of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia,
The Vrbas Banovina is bounded, from the north-eastern boundary of the district of
Dvor (south-west of
Kostajnica) by the river
Una to the point where it flows into the
Sava; it then follows the course of the Sava, which it leaves to follow the eastern boundaries of the districts of
Derventa and
Gračanica, as far as the river
Bosna at the village of Dolac. It then continues along the south-western boundary of the district of
Maglaj as far as the intersection of the boundaries of the three districts of
Tešanj, Maglaj and
Žepče. From this point the boundary of the Banovina follows the northern boundary of the districts of Žepče,
Zenica, and
Travnik, to mount Vlasić (Ljuta Greda hill 1740); thence it passes by hill 1446, following the eastern slope of the Lesina (hill 1433), hill 1057, the Jelić (hill 1192), hill 1018, hill 1139, the Obrenovac, (hill 1167), and then across the Radanja Planina, (hill 1366) and the Igrališta, (hill 1085), and up to the Rakovec (hill 1217). From this point the boundary passes the villages of
Podripci and
Sultanović, and then passes between the villages of
Gmići and
Guvno to the Osoj (hill 888); it continues along the ridge, following the Šuljaga (hill 1533), the Demirovac (hill 1724), and the Crni Vrh (hill 1403), to the Mali Vitorog (hill 1748). From the Mali Vitorog the frontier follows the eastern and then the south-western boundary of the district of
Glamoč to the foot of hill 1156, on mount Staretina; from there the boundary cuts the western part of the plain of Livno, to the
Troglav (hill 1913) on the south-western boundary of the district of
Livno, and follows this line to the Veliki Bat (hill 1851). From this point the boundary continues following the southern and western boundaries of the district of
Bosanski Petrovac as far as the intersection of the boundaries of the three districts of
Donji Lapac,
Knin, and also Bosanski Petrovac. From this point to the north-eastern boundary of the district of Dvor (south-west of Kostajnica) the boundary coincides with the boundary ... of the Sava Banovina.
Population
Borders of the Banovina in 1931 and 1939
The population of the Vrbas Banovina in 1931 was 1,037,382. Most numerous religious groups were
Eastern Orthodox Christians with 600,529 (58%), then
Muslims with 250,265 (24%), and finally
Roman Catholics with 172,787 (17%).
History
In 1939, a small portion of the Vrbas Banovina with Croat majority (Derventa and Gradačac) in the northeast was detached and made a part of the newly formed
Banovina of Croatia.