Constitutive nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the context of "Bosnian Croat"

The Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Croatian: Hrvati Bosne i Hercegovine), often referred to as Bosnian Croats (bosanski Hrvati) or Herzegovinian Croats (hercegovački Hrvati), are native to Bosnia and Herzegovina and constitute the third most populous ethnic group, after Bosniaks and Serbs. They are one of the three constitutive nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina have made significant contributions to the culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most Croats identify themselves as Catholics and speak Croatian language.

Croats have been present in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the Slavic migrations to the Balkans. The Kingdom of Croatia under native rulers and later in personal union with Hungary encompassed large parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the west until the 16th century. The Croats also lived under the Kingdom of Bosnia until it fell to the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 15th century. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, Catholics in Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina were often persecuted by the Ottomans, prompting many to flee the area, especially during the Great Turkish War and the Morean War in the second half of the 17th century, when their numbers were reduced to 30,000. At the end of the 17th century and in the early 18th century, the number of Catholics began to increase, with many of those who had fled returning. In the second half of the 19th century, especially during the Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croats became active political subjects, participating in Croatian national revival. The 20th century brought political turmoil, and poor economic conditions led to increased emigration. Ethnic cleansing within Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s saw Croats forced to go to different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite having lived in numerous regions before the Bosnian War. The 2013 population census in Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded 544,780 residents registering as of Croat ethnicity.

Bosniaks, often referred to as Bosnian Muslims, are a South Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Bosnia and Herzegovina and constitute the largest ethnic group in Bosnia and Herzegovina, followed by Serbs and Croats. They are one of the three constitutive nations of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They share a common ancestry, culture, history and the Bosnian language; and traditionally and predominantly adhere to Sunni Islam. The Bosniaks constitute significant native communities in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Kosovo as well. Largely due to displacement stemming from the Bosnian War and Genocide in the 1990s, they also form a significant diaspora with several Bosniak communities across Europe, the Americas and Oceania.

A distinct identity of Bosnian Muslims began to form after the Islamisation of the Christian multi-ethnic Slavic-speaking population in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of the 15th and, mainly, in the 16th century, following the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosniaks are typically characterised by their historic ties to the Bosnian historical region, adherence to Islam since the 15th and 16th centuries, and the Bosnian language, a standardised variety of Serbo-Croatian. During Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bosnian Muslims largely rejected the modern form of nationhood and the Bosniak name promoted by the Austrian-Hungarian authorities, which they considered a foreign imposition. Their elites were divided between the Serb and Croat national identities, a situation that persisted after World War I and World War II until their distinct national identity as Muslims was recognised by the Yugoslav constitution in 1974. Bosniaks self-identified simply as Muslims in a national sense until 1993, when their leading political Party of Democratic Action adopted the term Bosniak.