Bascarsija was founded in 1462, when Isa-bey
Ishakovic built an inn and number of shops.
In that period, majority population lived around
Emperor's mosque, which is located on the other
side of Miljacka river, so, Isa-bey Ishakovic built
a bridge over the  river in order to span main
Sarajevan settlement with economic centre of
the city.Sixteenth century was the best period in
the history of Bascarsija. Great number of
craftsmen had been associating in guilds, thus the
Bascarsija had been partitioned in streets with
similar craft shops. Therefore, the streets were
named as Saraci (Saddlers), Kovaci
(Blacksmiths), Kazandziluk (Coppersmiths), etc.

According to some assessments, there were 12,000 shops in this period. Next century could have
been disastrous for this old part of the city.Huge earthquake struck Sarajevo in 1640, and later in
1644 and 1656, it was affected by fires. Half a century later, in 1697, Eugene of Savoy fired and
plundered entire city, when only several buildings remained untouched. Sarajevo was real metropolis
in 1660 and the second most important city in Ottoman Empire.Over 80,000 people lived in
Sarajevo, and two centuries later, Zagreb and Belgrade had just around 15,000 inhabitants each.
Range of accidents and events were reasons for cessation of development of Sarajevo and
Bascarsija. By Austria-Hungary arrival, foreign architects wanted to make European city from
Sarajevo.