The modern town was founded by Bosnian Muslim refugees expelled from the Sanjak of Smederevo in 1862, after the Principality of Serbia gained autonomy from the Ottoman Empire and the ethnic conflicts surrounding the Čukur Fountain incident.

As with most other places under Serb control, Srpska authorities removed the "Bosnian" adjective from the town's official name and changed it to "Šamac".

Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats continued to refer to it by its historical name of "Bosanski Šamac" (Serbian Cyrillic: Босански Шамац, pronounced [bǒsanskiː ʃâmat͡s]).

The following table gives a preview of total number of registered employed people per their core activity (as of 2016):[9] The local football club, FK Borac Šamac, plays in the third tier — the Second League of the Republika Srpska.

Una-Sana  Central Bosnia Posavina  Herzegovina-Neretva Tuzla  West Herzegovina Zenica-Doboj  Sarajevo Bosnian Podrinje Canton 10