Bosniaks are a South Slavic ethnic group, native to the region of Bosnia of which the majority are Muslims (90%) . The term Bosniaks was used to describe everyone in that region regardless of their religion until late 1800s. It was established again after decades of suppression in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Bosniak Assembly adopted the ethnonym to replace "Bosnian Muslims." Scholars believe that the move was partly motivated by a desire to distinguish the Bosniaks from the term Muslim to describe their nationality in the former Yugoslavia.[1] These scholars contend that the Bosniaks are distinguishable from comparable groups (such as the Croats and the Serbs) due to a collective identity based on a shared environment, cultural practices and experiences.[2]
