| Široki Brijeg | |
| Native Name: | Широки Бријег |
| Official Name: | Grad Široki Brijeg Град Широки Бријег City of Široki Brijeg |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Etymology: | Croatian: široki brijeg, |
| Pushpin Map: | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Coordinates: | 43.3831°N 17.5927°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Entity |
| Subdivision Name1: | Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Subdivision Type2: | Canton |
| Subdivision Name2: | West Herzegovina |
| Subdivision Type3: | Geographical region |
| Subdivision Name3: | Herzegovina |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Miro Kraljević |
| Leader Party: | HDZ BiH |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Area Total Km2: | 387.6 |
| Area Land Km2: | 387.6 |
| Area Water Km2: | 0 |
| Elevation M: | 312 |
| Population As Of: | 2013 |
| Population Total: | 28929 |
| Population Urban: | 6149 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone1: | CET |
| Utc Offset1: | +1 |
| Timezone1 Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset1 Dst: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Post code |
| Postal Code: | 88220 |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
| Area Code: | +387 039 |
Široki Brijeg (Широки Бријег,) is a city and the regional capital of West Herzegovina Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. the town itself had a population of 6,149 and the municipality of 28,929.[1]
Široki Brijeg means "wide hill" in Croatian. It is sometimes referred to as Široki Brig or simply Široki ("wide"). From 1952 until October 16, 1992, the town was officially called Lištica after the river that runs through it.[2]
The town is 20– from Mostar,[3] 29abbr=onNaNabbr=on from Međugorje, and 88abbr=onNaNabbr=on from the Adriatic coast (Ploče).
The Široki Brijeg Municipality today numbers around 30,000 people, and the town itself about 13,000. The area of the municipality amounts to 1168abbr=onNaNabbr=on. The center of town is at 270abbr=onNaNabbr=on above sea level, while its area is known as "lower Herzegovina". Almost the entire northern part of the municipality itself, however, belongs to "high Herzegovina", the highest point being the Bile stine ("White Rocks") near Donji Crnač.
Široki Brijeg has mild humid subtropical climate(Köppen climate classification:Cfa). Winters are chilly and often cold. Summers are warm to hot.
The wider area of the municipality of Široki Brijeg is located on the characteristic, complex structural forms known as the "high karst zone" in geological terms. The basic characteristic is the rocky limestone relief in various karst forms (sinks, caves, sinkholes, karst fields, etc.), as well as deeply cut valleys with occasional torrents flows. The Široki Brijeg area is located on the direction of tectonic units Rakitno-Hrgud and spreads over Rakitno, Vardi mountains, Mostarsko Blato, Rotimlje and Hrgud to Trebišnjica in the southeast. The area is made-up of up late Jurassic sediments, followed by Cretaceous and Paleogene age layers, then Neogene and Quaternary deposits. Highlights are early Cretaceous dun, well stratified limestone and dolomites. Late Cretaceous deposits, cenoman-turon, are represented by white and pink, massive limestone with the shoot. In Paleogenic layers function Liburnijska and alveolinic-nummulitic limestones, then eocenic flysch, which is represented by marl, sandstone, calcarenite and conglomerates.
Neogenic layers are built of marl, sandy clay, sandstone and conglomerates, and can be found in the vicinity of Grabovo Drage and Mostarsko Blato. Quaternary banks of pebbles, sand and water karst saturated found on almost all rocky fields and drifts along the river beds. Between the lower mountain Vardi, Gvozd, Rujan and Trtle (altitude 600–900m) is a karstic depression Kočerinsko, Trnsko, Mokarsko and Ruževo field and Mostar Blato (altitude of 220–300m). Široki Brijeg area belongs to typical bauxite courts Lokve Black - Kidačke Njive, Resnica - deposit and Uzarići - Knešpolje. This area was devastated shoot landfills and tailings, and rehabilitation requirements.
The water from the municipality of Široki Brijeg belong to the basin of the Neretva river. The main surface currents towards Mostar Blato the ticket with Ugrovača, Mokašnica, Crnašnica and Žvatić. The river belongs Lištica of surface waters Čabulje, who bujični aquifer Brinje collected from Ladin and Dobrinja. Brinje whose rudiments north of Bogodola, below kote Kulic (1199) runs to the west and on their way to Lištica receives at Prskalo stream Ladin, and 2.5 kilometers below, the stream of water Dobrinski. These streams buy all surface waters during the period of abundant precipitation and dissolution of snow on the south-western parts of the mountain Čabulje.
Surface waters come to Rakitno field are being dried by water points, Jelica, Zmijinac and during major precipitation formed a periodic watercourse Ugrovača that going deeply carved canyon Brin, receiving side stream, and in the village of Trn, Kočerin water fields, and on the road to Blato Mostarskog, in Siroki Brijeg center connects with the river Lištica.
The ruins from the Illyrian period confirm that the area of Široki Brijeg had a large population in pre-historic times. The evidence can be seen on the hill Gradina on the frontier of Mokro and Čerigaj. There is also evidence on the walls of the forts where they had been in past. During the ancient period there was plenty of life in that region. From the Roman period there are remains of a fort (refugium) in the village of Biograci and a basilica in Mokro; there are remains of the forts and roads there.
Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos mentions that Mokriskik was in that area . The basilica in Mokri was built and destroyed several times in the Middle Ages and it was used for its purpose. In her neighbourhood is nekrepola with stećak,which are present elsewhere. There number and size indicate that this region was (from 12th till 15th century) has been very populated and rich. From that period on Kočerin was kept the longest tablet on stećak written with Bosnian Cyrillic, known as Kočerinska ploča („Kočerin tablet"). The residues of middle-age fort can be found in the Bork, close to the source of river Lištica.
After the Turkish conquest in the middle of 15th century the population was mainly rural and in the mountains. Until the middle of 19th century, Herzegovina was cut off from social, cultural and political events in other European countries.
During the Second World War the Ustaše held the city together with Italian troops. During their presence, the Italians built several forts for observation of the city.