Group: | Bushnaks |
Popplace: | Syria, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Morocco |
Rels: | Sunni Islam |
Related: | Bosniaks in Turkey Bosniaks in Syria |
Bushnak (Arabic: بشناق, meaning "Bosnian", also transliterated Bushnaq, Boshnak, Bouchenak and Bouchnak) is a surname common among Levantines and Saudis (Hejazis) of Bosnian Muslim origin.[1] Those sharing this surname are the descendants of Bosnian Muslims apprehensive of living under Christian rule after the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, who immigrated to Ottoman Syria.
While not originally from one family, most Bosnian Muslims who immigrated to the Levant adopted Bushnak as a common surname, attesting to their origins.[2]
Some Bosnian movement to Palestine occurred when Bosnian Muslim soldiers were brought to Palestine in the late 1800s to provide reinforcements for the Ottoman army.[2]
More substantial movement occurred after 1878, when the Austro-Hungarian empire, ruled by the House of Habsburg, occupied Bosnia. Bosnian Muslim emigration continued through this period, escalating after the Austro-Hungarian's 1908 annexation of Bosnia. Many immigrated to parts of what is now modern Turkey, while a smaller number settled in Ottoman Syria (modern Syria, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan).
Bosnian immigrants settled predominantly in villages in the parts of the present day West Bank and Israel: Caesarea, Yanun, Nablus and Tulkarem. Their descendants still live in these villages, their Bosnian heritage reflected in the Arab surname of Bushnak.[2] [1]