Sarajevo is a city defined by its storied history and its exceptional diversity of peoples. Founded in 1461 to serve as a regional power center for the Ottoman Empire, Sarajevo quickly developed into one of the largest and most religiously and culturally diverse cities of the Balkans. Orthodox Christians, Catholics, and Muslims, have lived side-by-side here for centuries.

It was here that the Archduke Franz-Ferdinand was assassinated, heralding the beginning of World War One and all the later conflicts of the 20th century, which would plunge Sarajevo and its people into chaos.

During the Second World War, the Ustaše conducted a genocide of Serbs in its territory, exterminating over a tenth of Sarajevo's pre-war population, and creating severe ethnic tensions between the once harmonious Croat and Serbian peoples which continue to this day. A fast-growing and industrializing city, Sarajevo has the potential to truly prosper, but to do so, it must overcome the ongoing crisis of discrimination.