Tuzla is a city built on salt. Its name comes from the Turkish word tuz (salt), and its salt springs have drawn settlers continuously for over 6,000 years, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Europe. Today it is the third-largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, after Sarajevo and Banja Luka, and the seat of the Tuzla Canton.
The city's defining attraction is Pannonica, a complex of man-made salt lakes right in the centre of town — the only salt lakes in Europe. Built on land that subsided due to centuries of underground salt extraction, the lakes turned a geological problem into a genuine draw. In summer, the beaches around Pannonica fill with swimmers and sunbathers, giving the landlocked city an unexpectedly coastal atmosphere.
Tuzla's Old Town retains several Ottoman-era mosques, including the Turalibeg Mosque and the Mosque of Atik Behram Bey — known locally as the Šarena džamija, or Colourful Mosque, for its painted interior. The Solni Trg open-air museum tells the story of the salt industry that shaped the city from Neolithic times. It is a sobering city too: the Kapija Memorial marks the spot where a mortar attack on 25 May 1995 killed 71 young people in the single deadliest incident of the Bosnian War.
What sets Tuzla apart in Bosnian politics is its civic tradition. In the 1990 elections it was the only municipality in Bosnia where non-nationalist parties won control, and that independent streak still colours the city's character today.