HERZEGOVINIAN TOBACCO HERITAGE: THE FLOURISHING OF PRODUCTION, DEVELOPMENT SMAGGLING AND FOREMOST SMUGGLING ROUTES

Abstract

This article analyzes the historical - geographical features and changes in tobacco cultivation in Herzegovina (region of Bosnia and Herzegovina), for a period of 17 century until the late 20th century. The aim of this paper is to investigate the importance of tobacco, both in terms of economic and social significance, and the valorization of rural areas in Herzegovina. Special attention was paid to the smuggling of products, focusing on the time and route of smuggling routes. During the Austro - Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the most important period for the production of tobacco and the social and economic prosperity in rural areas, but also smuggling tobacco during this period, and the most intense, and the fight against it. In this period began in the industrial processing of tobacco and manufacturing cigarettes. Since the 1970s appears outflow of population from rural to industrial centers, both locally and in Western European countries. It happens layering the villages, leaving the agricultural lands and start a negative impact on agricultural production which causes the marginalization of tobacco production.