abducted, Islamized and recruited into Ottoman service. The Serbian Orthodox Patriarch of Peć, Makarije Sokolović, appointed by Mehmet Pasha, who with the support of the Sultan had revived the Peć patriachate, was a close relative.
Ferhat Pasha was one of the main founders of what was Banja Luka’s town core during the Ottoman rule. He built over 200 projects ranging from artisan and sales shops to wheat warehouses, baths and mosques. Among his more important constructions were the Ferhadija and Arnaudija mosques, the former, as tradition has it, erected with monies from the Austrian Auersperg family paid to buy back Herbard von Auersperg's head decapitated by Ferhat Beg after his victory at Croatian Budačka in 1575, and as ransom for the release of Herbard's son, Wolf Engelbrecht von Auersperg, who had been taken captive in that battle. During the construction of the mosques, a plumbing infrastructure was laid that served the surrounding residential areas. All this stimulated the economic and urban development of Banja Luka, which soon became one of the leading commercial and political centres in Bosnia.
In 1688, the city was burned down by the Austrian army, but it quickly recovered. Later periodic intrusions by the Austrian army stimulated military developments in Banja Luka, which made it into a strategic military centre. Orthodox churches and monasteries near Banja Luka were built in the 19th century. Also, Sephardic Jews and Trappists migrated to the city in the 19th century and contributed to the early industrialization of the region by building mills, breweries, brick factories, textile factories and other important structures.
The Trappist monastery built in the 19th century lent its name to the neighbourhood of Trapisti and has left a large legacy in the area through its famous Trappist cheese and its beer production.
In 1835 and 1836, during the Ottoman administration, numerous people from the Banja Luka Krajina emigrated
