Early history

Zvornik is one of the oldest cities in Bosnia, being first mentioned in the year 1410, although it was known as Zvonik ("bell tower") at that time. The town's geographic location has made it an important trade link between Bosnia and the east. For instance, the main road connecting Sarajevo and Belgrade runs through the city. Zvornik has also the distinction of being the only city in Bosnia that directly lies on the border to Serbia.

During the Ottoman occupation, Zvornik was the capital of the Zvornik sanjak (an administrative region). This was primarily the case because of the city's crucial role in the economy and the strategic importance of the city's location.

Bosnian War

During the Bosnian War, most of Zvornik's Bosniak population was expelled, and there was a massive intake of Serb refugees from Muslim and Croat controlled areas. At the beginning of the war, there were some instances of mass killings in Zvornik and the surrounding villages. It is known that the suburbs of Karakaj and Celopek were places of concentration camps where hundreds of Bosniaks were killed. Recently, mass graves of victims killed in the massacre of Srebrenica were found in the village of Liplje, south of Zvornik.

Monument in Zvornik dedicated to the Serbian soldiers and civilians of the 1992-95 war

After the war, the town's population consisted of only Serbs. With the help of the international community, there has been an effort to return refugees back to the municipality, but the process has been slow and will take many years to complete.

At the same time almost none of the Serbian refugees that settled in Zvornik during the Bosnian war and right after did not go back to their pre-war location. It is also worth mentioning that Zvornik's population nearly doubled in the post war years because of a huge influx of Serbian refugees from Tuzla and the Sarajevo region.