Grude () is a town and a municipality located in

West Herzegovina Canton The West Herzegovina Canton ( hr, Županija Zapadnohercegovačka, bs, Zapadnohercegovački kanton) is one of the cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The West Herzegovina Canton is in the Herzegovina region in the southwest of ...

of the

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two entities within the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Republika Srpska. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of 10 autonomous cantons with their own gove ...

, an entity of

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

Geography

Grude is located 49

kilometer The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for ex ...

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Mostar , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Mostar (collage image).jpg , image_caption = From top, left to right: A panoramic view of the heritage town site and the Neretva river from Lučki Bridge, Koski Mehmed Pasha ...

, 19 kilometers EUR&carbCost=1.3&isAvoidFrontiers=false&isFavoriseAutoroute=false&isAvoidPeage=false&isAvoidVignette=false&isAvoidLNR=false&autoConso=6.8&villeConso=6&routeConso=5.6&dtmDeparture=12%2F3%2F2009&indemnite=0
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Imotski Imotski (; it, Imoschi; lat, Emotha, later ''Imota'') is a small town on the northern side of the Biokovo massif in the Dalmatian Hinterland of southern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Imotski, like the surrounding inland ...

, and 100 km EUR&carbCost=1.3&isAvoidFrontiers=false&isFavoriseAutoroute=false&isAvoidPeage=false&isAvoidVignette=false&isAvoidLNR=false&autoConso=6.8&villeConso=6&routeConso=5.6&dtmDeparture=12%2F3%2F2009&indemnite=0
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Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...

History

Pre-history and ancient times

Testimony about life in these regions are still present in prehistoric times. In place of Ravlić cave, which is located in Drinovci, were found traces of life dating from the later

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

period. The life in these regions has been flowing continuously - the peoples, cultures and civilizations have been changing. In later, but historical times, this soil had very living presence of the Romans, whose commercial road, connecting the two great ancient trading center -

Salona Salona ( grc, Σάλωνα) was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. Salona is located in the modern town of Solin, next to Split, in Croatia. Salona was founded in the 3rd century BC and was mostly destroyed in ...

and

Narona Narona ( grc, Ναρῶνα) was an Ancient Greek trading post on the Illyrian coast and later Roman city and bishopric, located in the Neretva valley in present-day Croatia, which remains a Latin Catholic titular see. History It was founded ...

, was passing through the region. Recent archaeological excavations at the site in Gorica confirm that on this soil in ancient times there was a significant Roman settlement. Middle Ages is a time of tombstones - ''

stećak Stećak (, ) or Stećci in plural form (, ) is the name for monumental medieval tombstones, that lie scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the border parts of Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. An estimated 60,000 are found within the bo ...

'' and in municipality of Grude can be found practically everywhere - which proves that at that time was quite a big life. Undoubtedly it is a merit favorable geographical position of this region, as well as the relatively mild climate, together with rich natural resources. Rarely can see where this unusual combination of brutality and tameness of nature that we find in the region of

-Bekija fields - arable land is relatively rich in water in contrast to the fierce and rocky, which is surrounded by.

Middle ages

The end of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

was marked by the Ottoman expansion and conquest. Grude-crkva sv

Modern times

After the Turks,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

arrived. This is a short transitional period in which were built numerous schools and infrastructure needed for the functioning of a modern European state, but this is somehow persistently ignored in the overall modernization. Like most of the West

Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...

cities, Grude was labeled as pro-Ustaše region. Therefore, it has been demonized by the officials of

SFRY The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

. The investments were very poor in it. That caused huge poverty and lot of people emigrated to

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

and

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, str ...

, as well as to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

as gastarbeiter. Today the municipality is among the most developed in Bosnia-Herzegovina, with numerous medium and small business corporations, Violeta paper factory being the biggest brand. Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna and the

Croatian Defense Council The Croatian Defence Council ( hr, Hrvatsko vijeće obrane or HVO) was the official military formation of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, an unrecognized entity that existed in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1991 and 1996. The HVO wa ...

(HVO) were founded in Grude. The Main HQ of the HVO was located in Grude.

Settlements

Demographics

1971

19,203 total *

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic ...

- 19,111 (99.52%) *

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of ...

- 32 (0.16%) *

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

- 4 (0.03%) *

Yugoslavs Yugoslavs or Yugoslavians ( Bosnian and Croatian: ''Jugoslaveni'', Serbian and Macedonian ''Jugosloveni''/Југословени; sl, Jugoslovani) is an identity that was originally designed to refer to a united South Slavic people. It has b ...

- 5 (0.02%) *others - 55 (0.30%)

1991

In the 1991

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

, the municipality of Grude had a population of 16,358 residents: *16,210 Croats (99.09%) *9 Serbs (0.05%) *4 Muslims (0.02%) *5 Yugoslavs (0.03%) *130 others (0.79%) The town of Grude had 3,528 residents; almost all of whom were ethnic

Economy

During the war in

, Grude was one of the bastions of the "rebellion" against the aggression of the Yugoslav Army. The late 1990s and early 2000s were marked by recent war and the struggle for survival, whereas today Grude is experiencing cultural and economic renaissance.

Traffic and road connections

Grude is placed on the crossroads of two big roads: Slavonski Brod- Ploče and

. Through Grude also goes master road M-6 Grude - Ljubuški - Čapljina - Metković. Besides that there are also 3 regional roads: *R 420 Grude - Privalj -

Široki Brijeg , , nickname = , motto = , image_map = BiH municipality location Široki Brijeg.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location o ...

*R 421 Sovići - Klobuk *regional road Grude-Posušje (outside category)

Sports

The town is home to the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

club HNK Grude,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

club HKK Grude, and the female

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the ...

club HŽRK Grude. NK Drinovci is based in Drinovci (located in the same municipality). De Boules clubs Grude and Sv. Stipan based in Sovići.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Grude is twinned with: *

Slunj Slunj ( Hungarian ''Szluin'', old German ''Sluin'', Latin ''Slovin'', archaic Croatian ''Slovin grad'') is a town in the mountainous part of Central Croatia, located along the important North-South route to the Adriatic Sea between Karlovac and ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

* Baldissero Torinese,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Notable people

* Milan Bandić, former mayor of Zagreb *

Mate Boban Mate Boban (; 12 February 1940 – 7 July 1997) was a Bosnian Croat politician and one of the founders of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia, an unrecognized entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was the 1st President of Herzeg-Bosnia fro ...

, first president of Herzeg-Bosnia * Rafael Boban, military commander of Ustaše Militia and

Croatian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Oružane snage Republike Hrvatske – OSRH) is the military service of Croatia. The President is the Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief, and exercises administrative powers in times of war by giv ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

* Ljubo Jurčić, former Croatian

Minister of Economy A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

* Goran Marić, former Croatian Minister of State Property *

Mirko Marić Mirko Marić (; born 16 May 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Monza. Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Marić represented his native country internationally at youth level. He has Croatian citizenship, and re ...

, Croatian footballer * Mile Pešorda, Croatian writer *

Andrijica Šimić Andrija "Andrijica" Šimić (1833 – 5 February 1905) was a Herzegovinian hajduk. Biography Andrija Šimić (Andrijica is a diminutive form) was born in Grude, into an ethnic Croat family of seven children: he had a brother and five sister ...

, Herzegovinian hajduk *

Antun Branko Šimić Antun Branko Šimić (18 November 1898 – 2 May 1925) was a Croatian expressionist poet, considered to be one of the most important poets of Croatian literature of the 20th century. Life He was born to a Croat family from Drinovci near Grude o ...

, Croatian poet * Blago Zadro, a commander of the northern part of Croatian forces in

Vukovar Vukovar () ( sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, hu, Vukovár, german: Wukowar) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern region of Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka and the Danube. Vukovar is the seat of ...

during the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yug ...