1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Dolnja Tuzla

DOLNJA TUZLA, or Donji Soli, the capital of the Dolnja Tuzla district, in Bosnia, beautifully situated on the Jala or Julla, a small stream flowing into the Spreča, which joins the Bosna at Doboj, 39 m. W.N.W.; and on a branch railway from Doboj. Pop. (1895) 10,227; almost all, including a permanent colony of gipsies, being Moslems. Dolnja Tuzla is the seat of a district court and an Orthodox bishop; with several churches, many mosques, a hospital, gymnasium and commercial school. Besides large alkali works, it has a vigorous trade in grain, livestock, timber and coal, from the surrounding hills, where there is a colony of Hungarian miners; while the salt springs, owned by the state both at Dolnja, or Lower, and Gornja, or Upper Tuzla, 6 m. E., are without a rival in the Balkan Peninsula.

Dolnja Tuzla was called by the Romans Ad Salinas. Constantine Porphyrogenitus mentions it, in the 10th century, as Salenes; in other medieval documents it appears as Sou, Sow or Soli. Its modern name is derived from the Turkish tuz, “salt.” In 1690 the Austrians routed the Turks at Gornja Tuzla, and removed the Franciscan friars, with about 3000 other Roman Catholics, into Slavonia.