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Balkans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Coordinates: 42°N 22°E

Main page "Balkan" redirects here. For other uses, see Balkan (disambiguation).
Contents Not to be confused with the Baltics or Baltic region in northeastern Europe.
Current events
The Balkans (/ˈbɔːlkənz/ BAWL-kənz), also
Random article Balkans
known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a
About Wikipedia
Contact us geographic area in Southeast Europe with
Donate various geographical and historical
definitions.[2][3][4] The region takes its name
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from the Balkan Mountains that stretch
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throughout the whole of Bulgaria. The
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Balkan Peninsula is bordered by the Adriatic
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Recent changes Sea in the northwest, the Ionian Sea in the
Upload file southwest, the Aegean Sea in the south, the The Balkan states
Turkish Straits in the east, and the Black Sea The Balkan Peninsula using the
Tools Danube–Sava–Soča border
in the northeast. The northern border of the
What links here Political communities that are included in the
peninsula is variously defined.[5] The highest
Related changes Balkans[1]
point of the Balkans is Mount Musala, 2,925
Special pages Political communities that are often included
metres (9,596 ft), in the Rila mountain range, in the Balkans[1]
Permanent link
Page information Bulgaria. Geography
Cite this page The concept of the Balkan Peninsula was Location Southeast Europe (12
Wikidata item Countries)
created by the German geographer August
Print/export Zeune in 1808,[6] who mistakenly considered Coordinates 42°N 22°E

the Balkan Mountains the dominant Area 466,877 km2 (180,262 sq mi)
Download as PDF
Printable version mountain system of Southeast Europe Highest elevation 2,925 m (9596 ft)
spanning from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Highest point Musala (Bulgaria)
In other projects
Sea. The term Balkan Peninsula was a Administration
Wikimedia Commons synonym for Rumelia in the 19th century, the See below
Wikiquote
European provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Demographics
Wikivoyage
It had a geopolitical rather than a Population ca. 55 million (32 million only
Languages geographical definition, which was further the peninsula's part)
Bosanski promoted during the creation of the Kingdom
Ελληνικά of Yugoslavia in the early 20th century. The definition of the Balkan Peninsula's natural
Hrvatski borders do not coincide with the technical definition of a peninsula; hence modern
Македонски
geographers reject the idea of a Balkan peninsula, while historical scholars usually discuss
Română
the Balkans as a region. The term has acquired a stigmatized and pejorative meaning
Shqip
Slovenščina
related to the process of Balkanization,[5][7] and hence the preferred alternative term used
Српски / srpski for the region is Southeast Europe.
Türkçe
Contents [hide]
130 more 1 Name
1.1 Etymology
Edit links
1.2 Historical names and meaning
1.2.1 Classical antiquity and the early Middle Ages
1.2.2 Late Middle Ages and Ottoman period
1.3 Evolution of meaning in 19th and 20th century
1.4 Southeast Europe
1.5 Current
2 Definitions and boundaries
2.1 Balkan Peninsula
2.2 Balkans
2.3 Western Balkans
2.4 Criticism of the geographical definition
3 Nature and natural resources
4 History and geopolitical significance
4.1 Antiquity
4.2 Early modern period
4.3 Recent history
4.3.1 World Wars
4.3.2 Cold War
4.3.3 Post–Cold War
5 Politics and economy
5.1 Regional organizations
6 Statistics
7 Demographics
7.1 Religion
7.2 Languages
7.3 Urbanization
8 Time zones
9 Culture
10 See also
11 Notes
12 References
13 Further reading
14 External links

Name
Etymology
The origin of the word Balkan is obscure; it may be related to Persian bālk 'mud', and the
Turkish suffix an 'swampy forest'[8] or Persian balā-khāna 'big high house'.[9] Related words
are also found in Turkic languages.[10] It was used mainly during the time of the Ottoman
Empire. In modern Turkish balkan means 'chain of wooded mountains'.[11][12]

Historical names and meaning

Classical antiquity and the early Middle Ages

From classical antiquity through the Middle Ages, the Balkan Mountains were called by the
local Thracian[13] name Haemus.[14] According to Greek mythology, the Thracian king
Haemus was turned into a mountain by Zeus as a punishment and the mountain has
remained with his name. A reverse name scheme has also been suggested. D. Dechev
considers that Haemus (Αἷμος) is derived from a Thracian word *saimon, 'mountain
ridge'.[15] A third possibility is that "Haemus" (Αἵμος) derives from the Greek word "haima"
(αἷμα) meaning 'blood'. The myth relates to a fight between Zeus and the monster/titan
Typhon. Zeus injured Typhon with a thunder bolt and Typhon's blood fell on the mountains,
from which they got their name.[16]

Late Middle Ages and Ottoman period

The earliest mention of the name appears in an early 14th-century Arab map, in which the
Haemus mountains are referred to as Balkan.[17] The first attested time the name "Balkan"
was used in the West for the mountain range in Bulgaria was in a letter sent in 1490 to
Pope Innocent VIII by Buonaccorsi Callimaco, an Italian humanist, writer and diplomat.[18]
The Ottomans first mention it in a document dated from 1565.[9] There has been no other
documented usage of the word to refer to the region before that, although other Turkic
tribes had already settled in or were passing through the region.[9] There is also a claim
about an earlier Bulgar Turkic origin of the word popular in Bulgaria, however it is only an
unscholarly assertion.[9] The word was used by the Ottomans in Rumelia in its general
meaning of mountain, as in Kod̲ja-Balkan,
̲ Čatal-Balkan, and Ungurus-Balkani,̊ but
especially it was applied to the Haemus mountain.[19][20] The name is still preserved in
Central Asia with the Balkan Daglary (Balkan Mountains)[21] and the Balkan Province of
Turkmenistan. English traveler John Morritt introduced this term into the English literature at
the end of the 18th-century, and other authors started applying the name to the wider area
between the Adriatic and the Black Sea. The concept of the "Balkans" was created by the
German geographer August Zeune in 1808,[22] who mistakenly considered it as the
dominant central mountain system of Southeast Europe spanning from the Adriatic Sea to
the Black Sea.[23][24][5] During the 1820s, "Balkan became the preferred although not yet
exclusive term alongside Haemus among British travelers... Among Russian travelers not
so burdened by classical toponymy, Balkan was the preferred term".[25] In European books
printed until late 1800's it was also known as Illyrian Peninsula[26] or Illyrische Halbinsel in
German.

Evolution of meaning in 19th and 20th century

The term was not commonly used in geographical literature until the mid-19th century
because already then scientists like Carl Ritter warned that only the part South of the
Balkan Mountains can be considered as a peninsula and considered it to be renamed as
"Greek peninsula". Other prominent geographers who didn't agree with Zeune were
Hermann Wagner, Theobald Fischer, Marion Newbigin, Albrecht Penck, while Austrian
diplomat Johann Georg von Hahn in 1869 for the same territory used the term
Südostereuropäische Halbinsel ("Southeasterneuropean peninsula"). Another reason it was
not commonly accepted as the definition of then European Turkey had a similar land extent.
However, after the Congress of Berlin (1878) there was a political need for a new term and
gradually "the Balkans" was revitalized, but in the maps, the northern border was in Serbia
and Montenegro without Greece (it only depicted the Ottoman occupied parts of Europe),
while Yugoslavian maps also included Croatia and Bosnia. The term Balkan Peninsula was
a synonym for European Turkey, the political borders of former Ottoman Empire
provinces.[5][24][27]

The usage of the term changed in the very end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th
century when was embraced by Serbian geographers, most prominently by Jovan Cvijić.[23]
It was done with political reasoning as affirmation for Serbian nationalism on the whole
territory of the South Slavs, and also included anthropological and ethnological studies of
the South Slavs through which were claimed various nationalistic and racialist theories.[23]
Through such policies and Yugoslavian maps the term was elevated to the modern status
of a geographical region.[24] The term acquired political nationalistic connotations far from
its initial geographic meaning,[5] arising from political changes from the late 19th century to
the creation of post–World War I Yugoslavia (initially the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and
Slovenes in 1918).[24] After the dissolution of Yugoslavia beginning in June 1991, the term
"Balkans" acquired a negative political meaning, especially in Croatia and Slovenia, as well
in worldwide casual usage for war conflicts and fragmentation of territory (see
Balkanization).[23][24]

Southeast Europe
Main article: Southeast Europe

In part due to the historical and political connotations of the term "Balkans",[28] especially
since the military conflicts of the 1990s in Yugoslavia in the western half of the region, the
term "Southeast Europe" is becoming increasingly popular.[24][29] A European Union
initiative of 1999 is called the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, and the online
newspaper Balkan Times renamed itself Southeast European Times in 2003.

Current
In other languages of the region, the region is known as:

Slavic languages:
Bulgarian and Macedonian: Балкански Полуостров, transliterated: Balkanski
Poluostrov
Montenegrin and Serbian: Балканско полуострво; Balkansko poluostrvo
Bosnian: Balkansko poluostrvo; Балканско полуострво; Balkanski poluotok
Croatian: Balkanski poluotok
Slovene: Balkanski polotok
Romance languages:
Aromanian: Peninsula Balcanicã or Balcani
Romanian: Peninsula Balcanică or Balcani
Turkic languages:
Turkish: Balkan Yarımadası or Balkanlar
Other languages:
Albanian: Gadishulli Ballkanik and Siujdhesa e Ballkanit
Greek: Βαλκανική χερσόνησος, transliterated: Valkaniki chersonisos

Definitions and boundaries

Balkan Peninsula
The Balkan Peninsula is bounded by the Adriatic
Sea to the west, the Mediterranean Sea (including
the Ionian and Aegean seas) and the Marmara
Sea to the south and the Black Sea to the east. Its
northern boundary is often given as the Danube,
Sava and Kupa Rivers.[30][31][failed verification] The
Balkan Peninsula has a combined area of about
470,000 km2 (181,000 sq mi) (slightly smaller than
Spain). It is more or less identical to the region
known as Southeast Europe.[32][33][34]
The Balkan Peninsula, as defined by
From 1920 until World War II, Italy included Istria the Soča–Vipava–Krka–Sava–Danube
border
and some Dalmatian areas (like Zara, today's
Zadar) that are within the general definition of the
Balkan Peninsula. The current territory of Italy includes only the small area around Trieste
inside the Balkan Peninsula. However, the regions of Trieste and Istria are not usually
considered part of the Balkans by Italian geographers, due to their definition of the Balkans
that limits its western border to the Kupa River.[35]

Share of total area in brackets[36] within the Balkan Peninsula by country, by the
Danube–Sava definition, with Bulgaria and Greece occupying almost the half of the territory
of the Balkan Peninsula, with around 23% of the total area each:

Entirely within the Balkan Peninsula:

Albania: 28,749 km2 (100% of total land)

Bosnia and Herzegovina: 51,180 km2 (100%)
Bulgaria: 110,993.6/[37][38] according to other sources 111,002 km2[39] (100%)
Kosovo[a]: 10,908 km2 (100%)
Montenegro: 13,810 km2 (100%)
North Macedonia: 25,713 km2 (100%)

Mostly or partially within the Balkan Peninsula:

Croatia (southern mainland): 24,013 km2 (46%)[40][41]

Greece (mainland): 110,496 km2 (83.7%)/ according to other sources
106,247 km2[42] (80.5%)/ 126,023 km2 including islands adjacent to the Balkan
Peninsula (95.5%)
Italy (Trieste and Monfalcone): 200 km2 (0.1%)
Romania (Northern Dobruja): 11,000 km2 (5%)
Serbia (Central Serbia) 51,000 km2 (65%)
Slovenia (southwestern part): 5,000 km2 (25%)
Turkey (European part): 23,764 km2 (3%)

Balkans
The term "the Balkans" is used more generally for the region; it includes states in the
region, which may extend beyond the peninsula, and is not defined by the geography of the
peninsula itself.

Historians state the Balkans comprise Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia.[43][44][45]
Its total area is usually given as 666,700 km2 (257,400 sq mi) and the population as
59,297,000 (est. 2002).[44] Italy, although having a small part of its territory in the Balkan
Peninsula, is not included in the term "the Balkans".

The term Southeast Europe is also used for the region, with various definitions. Individual
Balkan states can also be considered part of other regions, including Southern Europe,
Eastern Europe and Central Europe. Turkey, often including its European territory, is also
included in Western or Southwestern Asia.

Western Balkans
Further information: 2015 Western Balkans Summit, Vienna

Western Balkans is a political neologism coined to

refer to Albania and the territory of the former
Yugoslavia, except Slovenia, since the early
1990s.[e] The region of the Western Balkans, a
coinage exclusively used in Pan-European
parlance, roughly corresponds to the Dinaric Alps
territory.

The institutions of the European Union have

generally used the term "Western Balkans" to
mean the Balkan area that includes countries that
Western Balkan countries – Albania,
are not members of the European Union, while Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
others refer to the geographical aspects.[d] Each of Montenegro, North Macedonia and
these countries aims to be part of the future Serbia. The partially recognized Kosovo
is also demarcated. Croatia (yellow)
enlargement of the European Union and reach
joined the EU in 2013.
democracy and transmission scores but, until then,
they will be strongly connected with the pre-EU
waiting program CEFTA.[46] Croatia, considered part of the Western Balkans, joined the EU
in July 2013.[47]

Criticism of the geographical definition

The term is criticized for having a geopolitical, rather than a geographical meaning and
definition, as a multiethnic and political area in the southeastern part of Europe.[24] The
geographical term of a peninsula defines that the water border must be longer than land,
with the land side being the shortest in the triangle, but that is not the case with the Balkan
Peninsula.[23][24] Both Eastern and Western water cathetus from Odessa to Cape Matapan
(ca. 1230–1350 km) and from Trieste to Cape Matapan (ca. 1270–1285 km) are shorter
than land cathetus from Trieste to Odessa (ca. 1330–1365 km).[23][24] The land has a too
wide line connected to the continent to be technically proclaimed as a peninsula - Szczecin
(920 km) and Rostock (950 km) at the Baltic Sea are closer to Trieste than Odessa yet it is
not considered as another European peninsula.[23] Since the late 19th and early 20th-
century literature is not known where is exactly the northern border between the peninsula
and the continent,[23][24] with an issue, whether the rivers are suitable for its definition.[5] In
the studies the Balkans natural borders, especially the northern border, are often avoided to
be addressed, considered as a "fastidious problem" by André Blanc in Geography of the
Balkans (1965), while John Lampe and Marvin Jackman in Balkan Economic History (1971)
noted that "modern geographers seem agreed in rejecting the old idea of a Balkan
Peninsula".[5] Another issue is the name because the Balkan Mountains which are mostly
located in Northern Bulgaria are not dominating the region by length and area like the
Dinaric Alps.[23] An eventual Balkan peninsula can be considered a territory South of the
Balkan Mountains, with a possible name "Greek-Albanian Peninsula."[5][24] The term
influenced the meaning of Southeast Europe which again is not properly defined by
geographical factors yet historical borders of the Balkans.[24]

Croatian geographers and academics are highly critical of inclusion of Croatia within the
broad geographical, social-political and historical context of the Balkans, while the
neologism Western Balkans is perceived as a humiliation of Croatia by the European
political powers.[23] According to M. S. Altić, the term has two different meanings,
"geographical, ultimately undefined, and cultural, extremely negative, and recently strongly
motivated by the contemporary political context".[24] In 2018, President of Croatia Kolinda
Grabar-Kitarović stated that the use of the term "Western Balkans" should be avoided
because it does not imply only a geographic area, but also negative connotations, and
instead must be perceived as and called Southeast Europe because it is part of Europe.[48]

Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek said of the definition,[49]

This very alibi confronts us with the first of many paradoxes concerning
Balkan: its geographic delimitation was never precise. It is as if one can never
receive a definitive answer to the question, "Where does it begin?" For Serbs,
it begins down there in Kosovo or Bosnia, and they defend the Christian
civilization against this Europe's Other. For Croats, it begins with the Orthodox,
despotic, Byzantine Serbia, against which Croatia defends the values of
democratic Western civilization. For Slovenes, it begins with Croatia, and we
Slovenes are the last outpost of the peaceful Mitteleuropa. For Italians and
Austrians, it begins with Slovenia, where the reign of the Slavic hordes starts.
For Germans, Austria itself, on account of its historic connections, is already
tainted by the Balkanic corruption and inefficiency. For some arrogant
Frenchmen, Germany is associated with the Balkanian Eastern savagery—up
to the extreme case of some conservative anti-European-Union Englishmen
for whom, in an implicit way, it is ultimately the whole of continental Europe
itself that functions as a kind of Balkan Turkish global empire with Brussels as
the new Constantinople, the capricious despotic center threatening English
freedom and sovereignty. So Balkan is always the Other: it lies somewhere
else, always a little bit more to the southeast, with the paradox that, when we
reach the very bottom of the Balkan peninsula, we again magically escape
Balkan. Greece is no longer Balkan proper, but the cradle of our Western
civilization.

Nature and natural resources

Most of
the area is
covered
by
mountain
ranges
running
Sutjeska National Park contains from the Panorama of the Balkan Mountains
Perućica, which is the largest primeval northwest (Stara Planina). Its highest peak is
forests in the Balkans, and one of the Botev at a height of 2,376 m.
to
last remaining in Europe.
southeast.
The main
ranges are
the Balkan
mountains
(Stara
Planina in
Bulgarian
language), View toward Rila, the highest
running mountain of the Balkans and Southeast
Lake Skadar is the largest lake in the Europe (2,925 m).
from the
Balkans and Southern Europe.
Black Sea
coast in Bulgaria to the border with Serbia, the
Rila-Rhodope massif in southern Bulgaria, the Dinaric Alps in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Croatia and Montenegro, the Korab-Šar mountains which spreads from Kosovo to Albania
and North Macedonia, and the Pindus range, spanning from southern Albania into central
Greece and the Albanian Alps, and the Alps at the northwestern border. The highest
mountain of the region is Rila in Bulgaria, with Musala at 2,925 m, second being Mount
Olympus in Greece, with Mytikas at 2,917 m, and Pirin mountain with Vihren, also in
Bulgaria, being the third at 2915 m.[50][51] The karst field or polje is a common feature of the
landscape.

On the Adriatic and Aegean coasts the climate is Mediterranean, on the Black Sea coast
the climate is humid subtropical and oceanic, and inland it is humid continental. In the
northern part of the peninsula and on the mountains, winters are frosty and snowy, while
summers are hot and dry. In the southern part winters are milder. The humid continental
climate is predominant in Bosnia and Herzegovina, northern Croatia, Bulgaria, Kosovo,
northern Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, and the interior of Albania and
Serbia. Meanwhile, the other less common climates, the humid subtropical and oceanic
climates, are seen on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria and Balkan Turkey (European
Turkey). The Mediterranean climate is seen on the Adriatic coasts of Albania, Croatia and
Montenegro, as well as the Ionian coasts of Albania and Greece, in addition to the Aegean
coasts of Greece and Balkan Turkey (European Turkey).[52]

Over the centuries forests have been cut down and replaced with bush. In the southern part
and on the coast there is evergreen vegetation. Inland there are woods typical of Central
Europe (oak and beech, and in the mountains, spruce, fir and pine). The tree line in the
mountains lies at the height of 1800–2300 m. The land provides habitats for numerous
endemic species, including extraordinarily abundant insects and reptiles that serve as food
for a variety of birds of prey and rare vultures.

The soils are generally poor, except on the plains, where areas with natural grass, fertile
soils and warm summers provide an opportunity for tillage. Elsewhere, land cultivation is
mostly unsuccessful because of the mountains, hot summers and poor soils, although
certain cultures such as olive and grape flourish.

Resources of energy are scarce, except in Kosovo, where considerable coal, lead, zinc,
chromium and silver deposits are located.[53] Other deposits of coal, especially in Bulgaria,
Serbia and Bosnia, also exist. Lignite deposits are widespread in Greece. Petroleum scarce
reserves exist in Greece, Serbia and Albania. Natural gas deposits are scarce. Hydropower
is in wide use, from over 1,000 dams. The often relentless bora wind is also being
harnessed for power generation.

Metal ores are more usual than other raw materials. Iron ore is rare, but in some countries
there is a considerable amount of copper, zinc, tin, chromite, manganese, magnesite and
bauxite. Some metals are exported.

History and geopolitical significance

Main article: History of the Balkans

Antiquity
The
Balkan
region was
the first
area in
Europe to

Pula Arena, the only remaining

Roman amphitheatre to have four side
towers and with all three Roman
architectural orders entirely preserved. The Jireček Line

experience the arrival of farming cultures in the

Neolithic
era. The
Balkans
have been
inhabited
since the
Paleolithic Remnants of the Felix Romuliana
Apollonia ruins near Fier, Albania.
and are the Imperial Palace, a UNESCO World
Heritage Site.
route by
which farming from the Middle East spread to
Europe during the Neolithic (7th millennium BC).[54][55] The practices of growing grain and
raising livestock arrived in the Balkans from the Fertile Crescent by way of Anatolia and
spread west and north into Central Europe, particularly through Pannonia. Two early
culture-complexes have developed in the region, Starčevo culture and Vinča culture. The
Balkans are also the location of the first advanced civilizations. Vinča culture developed a
form of proto-writing before the Sumerians and Minoans, known as the Old European
script, while the bulk of the symbols had been created in the period between 4500 and
4000 BC, with the ones on the Tărtăria clay tablets even dating back to around 5300
BC.[56]

The identity of the Balkans is dominated by its geographical position; historically the area
was known as a crossroads of cultures. It has been a juncture between the Latin and Greek
bodies of the Roman Empire, the destination of a massive influx of pagan Bulgars and
Slavs, an area where Orthodox and Catholic Christianity met,[57] as well as the meeting
point between Islam and Christianity.

In pre-classical and classical antiquity, this

region was home to Greeks, Illyrians,
Paeonians, Thracians, Dacians, and other
ancient groups. The Achaemenid Persian
Empire incorporated parts of the Balkans
comprising Macedonia, Thrace, Bulgaria, and
the Black Sea coastal region of Romania
between the late 6th and the first half of the 5th-
century BC into its territories.[58] Later the
Roman Empire conquered the region and
The Balkans in 925 AD
spread Roman culture and the Latin language,
but significant parts still remained under
classical Greek influence. The Romans considered the Rhodope Mountains to be the
northern limit of the Peninsula of Haemus and the same limit applied approximately to the
border between Greek and Latin use in the region (later called the Jireček Line).[59]
However large spaces south of Jireček Line were and are inhabited by Vlachs
(Aromanians), the Romance-speaking heirs of Roman Empire.[60][61] The Bulgars and
Slavs arrived in the 6th-century and began assimilating and displacing already-assimilated
(through Romanization and Hellenization) older inhabitants of the northern and central
Balkans, forming the Bulgarian Empire.[62] During the Middle Ages, the Balkans became
the stage for a series of wars between the Byzantine Roman and the Bulgarian Empires.

Early modern period

By the end of the 16th-century, the Ottoman Empire had become the controlling force in the
region after expanding from Anatolia through Thrace to the Balkans. Many people in the
Balkans place their greatest folk heroes in the era of either the onslaught or the retreat of
the Ottoman Empire.[63] As examples, for Greeks, Constantine XI Palaiologos and
Kolokotronis; and for Serbs, Miloš Obilić, Tsar Lazar and Karadjordje; for Albanians,
George Kastrioti Skanderbeg; for ethnic Macedonians, Nikola Karev[64] and Goce
Delčev;[64] for Bulgarians, Vasil Levski, Georgi Sava Rakovski and Hristo Botev and for
Croats, Nikola Šubić Zrinjski.

In the past
several
centuries,
because
of the
frequent
Ottoman
wars in
Europe Hagia Sophia, built in 6th century
Modern political history of the fought in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey)
Balkans from 1796 onwards. as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral, later
and
a mosque, then a museum, and now
around the both a mosque and a museum
Balkans and the comparative Ottoman isolation
from the mainstream of economic advance
(reflecting the shift of Europe's commercial and political centre of gravity towards the
Atlantic), the Balkans have been the least developed part of Europe. According to Halil
İnalcık, "The population of the Balkans, according to one estimate, fell from a high of 8
million in the late 16th-century to only 3 million by the mid-eighteenth. This estimate is
based on Ottoman documentary evidence."[65]

Most of the Balkan nation-states emerged during the 19th and early 20th centuries as they
gained independence from the Ottoman Empire or the Austro-Hungarian empire: Greece in
1821, Serbia, and Montenegro in 1878, Romania in 1881, Bulgaria in 1908 and Albania in
1912.

Recent history

World Wars

In 1912–1913 the First Balkan War broke out when

the nation-states of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and
Montenegro united in an alliance against the
Ottoman Empire. As a result of the war, almost all
remaining European territories of the Ottoman
Empire were captured and partitioned among the
allies. Ensuing events also led to the creation of an Tsarevets, a medieval stronghold in
independent Albanian state. Bulgaria insisted on the former capital of the Bulgarian
its status quo territorial integrity, divided and Empire – Veliko Tarnovo.

shared by the Great Powers next to the Russo-

Turkish War (1877–78) in other boundaries and on
the pre-war Bulgarian-Serbian agreement. Bulgaria
was provoked by the backstage deals between its
former allies, Serbia and Greece, on the allocation
of the spoils at the end of the First Balkan War. At
the time, Bulgaria was fighting at the main
Thracian Front. Bulgaria marks the beginning of
The 13th-century church of St. John
Second Balkan War when it attacked them. The at Kaneo and the Ohrid Lake in North
Serbs and the Greeks repulsed single attacks, but Macedonia. The lake and town were
declared a World Heritage Site by
when the Greek army invaded Bulgaria together
UNESCO in 1980.
with an unprovoked Romanian intervention in the
back, Bulgaria collapsed. The Ottoman Empire
used the opportunity to recapture Eastern Thrace,
establishing its new western borders that still stand
today as part of modern Turkey.

The First World War was sparked in the Balkans in

1914 when members of Young Bosnia, a
revolutionary organization with predominantly Serb
and pro-Yugoslav members, assassinated the
Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand Austro-Hungarian troops executing
Serbian civilians, 1914. Serbia lost
of Austria in Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital,
about 850,000 people during the war, a
Sarajevo. That caused a war between Austria- quarter of its pre-war population.[66]
Hungary and Serbia, which—through the existing
chains of alliances—led to the First World War.
The Ottoman Empire soon joined the Central Powers becoming one of the three empires
participating in that alliance. The next year Bulgaria joined the Central Powers attacking
Serbia, which was successfully fighting Austro-Hungary to the north for a year. That led to
Serbia's defeat and the intervention of the Entente in the Balkans which sent an
expeditionary force to establish a new front, the third one of that war, which soon also
became static. The participation of Greece in the war three years later, in 1918, on the part
of the Entente finally altered the balance between the opponents leading to the collapse of
the common German-Bulgarian front there, which caused the exit of Bulgaria from the war,
and in turn, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ending the First World War.[67]

With the start of the Second World War, all Balkan countries, with the exception of Greece,
were allies of Nazi Germany, having bilateral military agreements or being part of the Axis
Pact. Fascist Italy expanded the war in the Balkans by using its protectorate Albania to
invade Greece. After repelling the attack, the Greeks counterattacked, invading Italy-held
Albania and causing Nazi Germany's intervention in the Balkans to help its ally.[68] Days
before the German invasion, a successful coup d'état in Belgrade by neutral military
personnel seized power.[69]

Although the new government reaffirmed Serbia's intentions to fulfil its obligations as a
member of the Axis,[70] Germany, with Bulgaria, invaded both Greece and Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavia immediately disintegrated when those loyal to the Serbian King and the
Croatian units mutinied.[71] Greece resisted, but, after two months of fighting, collapsed and
was occupied. The two countries were partitioned between the three Axis allies, Bulgaria,
Germany and Italy, and the Independent State of Croatia, a puppet state of Italy and
Germany.

During the occupation, the population suffered considerable hardship due to repression and
starvation, to which the population reacted by creating a mass resistance movement.[72]
Together with the early and extremely heavy winter of that year (which caused hundreds of
thousands of deaths among the poorly fed population), the German invasion had disastrous
effects in the timetable of the planned invasion in Russia causing a significant delay,[73]
which had major consequences during the course of the war.[74]

Finally, at the end of 1944, the Soviets entered Romania and Bulgaria forcing the Germans
out of the Balkans. They left behind a region largely ruined as a result of wartime
exploitation.

Cold War

During the Cold War, most of the countries on the Balkans were governed by communist
governments. Greece became the first battleground of the emerging Cold War. The Truman
Doctrine was the US response to the civil war, which raged from 1944 to 1949. This civil
war, unleashed by the Communist Party of Greece, backed by communist volunteers from
neighboring countries (Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia), led to massive American
assistance for the non-communist Greek government. With this backing, Greece managed
to defeat the partisans and, ultimately, remained the only non-communist country in the
region.

However, despite being under communist governments, Yugoslavia (1948) and Albania
(1961) fell out with the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia, led by Marshal Josip Broz Tito (1892–
1980), first propped up then rejected the idea of merging with Bulgaria and instead sought
closer relations with the West, later even spearheaded, together with India and Egypt the
Non-Aligned Movement. Albania on the other hand gravitated toward Communist China,
later adopting an isolationist position.

As the only non-communist countries, Greece and Turkey were (and still are) part of NATO
composing the southeastern wing of the alliance.

Post–Cold War

In the 1990s, the transition of the regions' ex-Eastern bloc countries towards democratic
free-market societies went peacefully. While in the non-aligned Yugoslavia, Wars between
the former Yugoslav republics broke out after Slovenia and Croatia held free elections and
their people voted for independence on their respective countries' referenda. Serbia, in
turn, declared the dissolution of the union as unconstitutional and the Yugoslavian army
unsuccessfully tried to maintain the status quo. Slovenia and Croatia declared
independence on 25 June 1991, followed by the Ten-Day War in Slovenia. Till October
1991, the Army withdrew from Slovenia, and in Croatia, the Croatian War of Independence
would continue until 1995. In the ensuing 10 years armed confrontation, gradually all the
other Republics declared independence, with Bosnia being the most affected by the
fighting. The long-lasting wars resulted in a United Nations intervention and NATO ground
and air forces took action against Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

From the dissolution of Yugoslavia six

republics achieved international recognition as
sovereign republics, but these are traditionally
included in Balkans: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, North Macedonia,
Montenegro and Serbia. In 2008, while under
UN administration, Kosovo declared
independence (according to the official
Serbian policy, Kosovo is still an internal State entities on the former territory of
autonomous region). In July 2010, the Yugoslavia, 2008

International Court of Justice, ruled that the

declaration of independence was legal.[75] Most UN member states recognise Kosovo.
After the end of the wars a revolution broke in Serbia and Slobodan Milošević, the Serbian
communist leader (elected president between 1989 and 2000), was overthrown and
handed for a trial to the International Criminal Tribunal for crimes against the International
Humanitarian Law during the Yugoslav wars. Milošević died of a heart attack in 2006 before
a verdict could have been released. Ιn 2001 an Albanian uprising in North Macedonia
forced the country to give local autonomy to the ethnic Albanians in the areas where they
predominate.

With the dissolution of Yugoslavia, an issue emerged over the name under which the
former (federated) republic of Macedonia would internationally be recognized, between the
new country and Greece. Being the Macedonian part of Yugoslavia (see Vardar
Macedonia), the federated Republic under the Yugoslav identity had the name Republic of
Macedonia on which it declared its sovereignty in 1991. Greece, having a large region (see
Macedonia) also under the same name opposed to the usage of this name as an indication
of a nationality. The issue was resolved under UN mediation and the Prespa agreement
was reached, which saw the country's renaming into North Macedonia.

Balkan countries control the direct land routes between Western Europe and South-West
Asia (Asia Minor and the Middle East). Since 2000, all Balkan countries are friendly
towards the EU and the US.[76]

Greece has been a member of the European Union since 1981, while Slovenia is a
member since 2004, Bulgaria and Romania are members since 2007, and Croatia is a
member since 2013. In 2005, the European Union decided to start accession negotiations
with candidate countries; Turkey, and North Macedonia were accepted as candidates for
EU membership. In 2012, Montenegro started accession negotiations with the EU. In 2014,
Albania is an official candidate for accession to the EU. In 2015, Serbia was expected to
start accession negotiations with the EU, however this process has been stalled over the
recognition of Kosovo as an independent state by existing EU member states.[77]

Greece and Turkey have been NATO members since 1952. In March 2004, Bulgaria,
Romania and Slovenia have become members of NATO. As of April 2009,[78] Albania and
Croatia are members of NATO. Montenegro joined in June 2017.[79] The most recent
member state to be added to NATO was North Macedonia on 27 March 2020.

Almost all other countries have expressed a desire to join both the EU or NATO at some
point in the future.[80]

Politics and economy

Currently, all of the states are republics, but until
World War II all countries were monarchies. Most
of the republics are parliamentary, excluding
Romania and Bosnia which are semi-presidential.
All the states have open market economies, most
of which are in the upper-middle-income range
($4,000–12,000 p.c.), except Croatia, Romania,
Greece and Slovenia that have high income View from Santorini in Greece.
economies (over $12,000 p.c.), and are classified Tourism is an important part of the
Greek economy.
with very high HDI, along with Bulgaria, in contrast
to the remaining states, which are classified with
high HDI. The states from the former Eastern Bloc
that formerly had planned economy system and
Turkey mark gradual economic growth each year,
only the economy of Greece drops for 2012 and
meanwhile, it was expected to grow in 2013. The
Gross domestic product (Purchasing power parity)
per capita is highest in Slovenia (over $36,000),
followed by Greece (over $30,000), Croatia, Dubrovnik in Croatia, a UNESCO
Bulgaria and Romania (over $23,000), Turkey, World Heritage Site since 1979.

Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia ($10,000–

15,000) and Bosnia, Albania and Kosovo (below
$10,000).[81] The Gini coefficient, which indicates
the level of difference by monetary welfare of the
layers, is on the second level at the highest
monetary equality in Albania, Bulgaria and Serbia,
on the third level in Greece, Montenegro and
Romania, on the fourth level in North Macedonia, View towards Sveti Stefan in
on the fifth level in Turkey, and the most unequal Montenegro. Tourism makes up a
significant part of the Montenegrin
by Gini coefficient is Bosnia at the eighth level
economy..
which is the penultimate level and one of the
highest in the world. The unemployment is lowest
in Romania (below 5%), followed by Bulgaria,
Serbia (5–10%), Albania, Turkey (10–15%),
Greece, Bosnia, Montenegro (15–20%), North
Macedonia (over 20%) and Kosovo (over 25%).

On political, social and economic criteria the

divisions are as follows:
Territories members of the European Union: Golden Sands, a popular tourist
Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Romania and destination on the Bulgarian coast.

Slovenia
Territories currently in negotiation process
for EU membership: Albania, North
Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and
Turkey
Territories with "potential candidates" status
for EU membership: Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Kosovo View towards Piran in Slovenia.
On border control and trade criteria the Tourism is a rapidly growing sector of
the Slovenian economy.
divisions are as follows:
Territories in the Schengen Area: Greece
and Slovenia
Territories that are legally bound to join the
Schengen Area: Bulgaria, Croatia and
Romania
Territories in a customs union with the EU:
Turkey
Territories members of the Central Belgrade is a major industrial city
European Free Trade Agreement: Albania, and the capital of Serbia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo,

Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
On currency criteria, the divisions are as
follows:
Territories members of the Eurozone:
Greece and Slovenia
Territories using the Euro without
authorization by the EU: Kosovo and
Montenegro The Stari Most in Mostar, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site since
Territories using national currencies and are
2005.
candidates for the Eurozone: Bulgaria (lev),
Croatia (kuna), Romania (leu)
Territories using national currencies: Albania (lek), Bosnia and Herzegovina
(convertible mark), North Macedonia (denar), Serbia (dinar) and Turkey (lira).
On military criteria the divisions are as follows:
Member territories of NATO: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North
Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia and Turkey
Member territories of the Partnership for Peace with Individual Partnership Action
Plan and Membership Action Plan for joining NATO: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Member territories of the Partnership for Peace: Serbia
On the recent political, social and economic criteria there are two groups of countries:
Former communist territories: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia
Capitalist and aligned to the West during the Cold War: Greece and Turkey
During the Cold War the Balkans were disputed between the two blocks. Greece
and Turkey were members of NATO, Bulgaria and Romania of the Warsaw Pact,
while Yugoslavia was a proponent of a third way and was a founding member of the
Non-Aligned Movement. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Bosnia and
Herzegovina kept an observer status within the organization.

Regional organizations

Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe

Southeast European Cooperation Process members
(SEECP) member states observers
supporting partners

Southeast European Cooperative Initiative

Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC)
(SECI)
members
members
observers
observers

See also the Black Sea regional organizations

Statistics
Bosnia and North
Albania Bulgaria Croatia Greece Kosovo[a] Montenegro Romania Serbia Slovenia Turkey
Herzegovina Macedonia

Flag

Coat of arms

Capital Tirana Sarajevo Sofia Zagreb Athens Pristina Podgorica Skopje Bucharest Belgrade Ljubljana Ankara

28 17 17
3 March, 5 October, 26 June, 25 March, 3 June, 9 May, 5 June, 25 June, 29 October,
Independence November, February, November,
1992 1908 1991 1821 2006 1878 2006 1991 1923
1912 2008 1991

Šefik
Recep
Džaferović Rumen Zoran Katerina Vjosa Milo Stevo Klaus Aleksandar Borut
President Ilir Meta Tayyip
Milorad Dodik Radev Milanović Sakellaropoulou Osmani Đukanović Pendarovski Iohannis Vučić Pahor
Erdoğan
Željko Komšić

Prime Zoran Boyko Andrej Kyriakos Zdravko Ludovic Janez

Edi Rama Albin Kurti Zoran Zaev Ana Brnabić -
Minister Tegeltija Borisov Plenković Mitsotakis Krivokapić Orban Janša

Population 3,502,550
7,000,039 4,076,246 10,722,287 622,182
(2019)[82] 2,862,427 (2018) 1,795,666 2,077,132 19,401,658 6,963,764[83] 2,080,908 82,003,882

Area 28,749 km2 51,197 km2 111,900 km2 56,594 km2 131,117 km2 10,908 km2 13,812 km2 25,713 km2 238,391 km2 77,474 km2[83] 20,273 km2 781,162 km2

Density 100/km2 69/km2 97/km2 74/km2 82/km2 159/km2 45/km2 81/km2 83/km2 91/km2 102/km2 101/km2

Water area
4.7% 0.02% 2.22% 1.1% 0.99% 1.00% 2.61% 1.09% 2.97% 0.13% 0.6% 1.3%
(%)

GDP
(nominal, $214.012 bln $55.437 bln
$15.418 bln $20.106 bln $66.250 bln $60.702 bln $8.402 bln $5.424 bln $12.672 bln $243.698 bln $54.154 bln $774.708 bln
2019)[84]

GDP (PPP,
$312.267 bln $2,300 bln
2018)[84] $38.305 bln $47.590 bln $162.186 bln $107.362 bln $20.912 bln $11.940 bln $32.638 bln $516.359 bln $122.740 bln $75.967 bln

GDP per
capita
$5,373 $5,742 $9,518 $14,950 $19,974 $4,649 $8,704 $6,096 $12,483 $7,992 $26,170 $8,958
(nominal,
2019)[84]

GDP per
capita (PPP, $13,327 $13,583 $23,169 $26,256 $29,072 $11,664 $19,172 $15,715 $26,448 $17,552 $36,741 $28,044
2018)[84]

36.7
Gini Index 29.0 low 33.0 medium 39.6 29.0 low 31.9 35.1 35.6 43.0
29.7 low 32.3 medium medium 23.4 low
(2018)[85] (2012)[86] (2011)[87] medium (2017)[88] medium medium medium medium
(2017)

0.791 0.816 very 0.837 very 0.872 very 0.739 high 0.816 0.759 0.816 very 0.902 0.806 very
HDI (2018)[89] 0.769 high 0.799 high
high high high high (2016) very high high high very high high

0.705 0.658 0.746 0.660 0.858 0.676

IHDI (2018)[90] 0.713 high 0.768 high 0.766 high N/A 0.725 high 0.710 high
high medium high medium very high medium

Doesn't
Internet TLD .al .ba .bg .hr .gr .me .mk .ro .rs .si .tr
have

Calling code +355 +387 +359 +385 +30 +383[91] +382 +389 +40 +381 +386 +90

Demographics
The region is inhabited by Albanians, Aromanians, Bulgarians, Bosniaks, Croats, Gorani,
Greeks, Istro-Romanians, Macedonians, Megleno-Romanians, Montenegrins, Serbs,
Slovenes, Romanians, Turks, and other ethnic groups which present minorities in certain
countries like the Romani and Ashkali.[44][failed verification]

Population Density/km2 Life expectancy

State
(2018)[92] (2018)[93] (2018)[94]

Albania 2,870,324 100 78.3 years

Bosnia and
3,502,550 69 77.2 years
Herzegovina

Bulgaria 7,050,034 64 79.9 years

Croatia 4,105,493 73 76.2 years

Greece 10,768,193 82 80.1 years

Kosovo 1,798,506 165 77.7 years

Montenegro 622,359 45 76.4 years

North Macedonia 2,075,301 81 76.2 years

Romania 19,523,621 82 76.3 years

Serbia 7,001,444 90 76.5 years

Slovenia 2,066,880 102 78.2 years

Turkey 11,929,013[95][c] 101 78.5 years

Religion
The region is a meeting point of Orthodox
Christianity, Islam and Roman Catholic
Christianity.[96] Eastern Orthodoxy is the
majority religion in both the Balkan Peninsula
and the Balkan region, The Eastern Orthodox
Church has played a prominent role in the
history and culture of Eastern and
Southeastern Europe.[97] A variety of different
traditions of each faith are practiced, with
each of the Eastern Orthodox countries
having its own national church. A part of the
population in the Balkans defines itself as
irreligious. Map showing religious denominations

Territories in which the

Religious
principal religion is
minorities of
Eastern Orthodoxy (with
these
national churches in
territories[98]
parentheses)[98]

Bulgaria: 59% (Bulgarian Islam (8%) and

Orthodox Church) undeclared (27%)

Islam (2%),
Greece: 81-90% (Greek
Catholicism, other
Orthodox Church)
and undeclared

Islam (19%),
Montenegro: 72% (Serbian Catholicism (3%),
Orthodox Church) other and
undeclared (5%)

North Macedonia: 64%

Islam (33%),
(Macedonian Orthodox
Catholicism Approximate distribution of religions
Church)
in Albania
Protestantism
Romania: 81% (Romanian (6%), Catholicism
Orthodox Church) (5%), other and
undeclared (8%)

Catholicism (5%),
Islam (3%),
Serbia: 84% (Serbian
Protestantism
Orthodox Church)
(1%), other and
undeclared (6%)

Religious
Territories in which the
minorities of
principal religion is
these
Catholicism[98]
territories[98]

Eastern
Orthodoxy (4%),
Croatia (86%) Islam (1%), other
and undeclared
(7%)

Islam (2%),
Orthodox (2%),
Slovenia (57%)
other and
undeclared (36%)

Religious
Territories in which the
minorities of
principal religion is
these
Islam[98]
territories[98]

Catholicism
(10%), Orthodoxy
Albania (58%)
(7%), other and
undeclared (24%)

Orthodoxy (31%),
Bosnia and Herzegovina Catholicism
(51%) (15%), other and
undeclared (4%)

Catholicism (2%),
Orthodoxy (2%),
Kosovo (95%)
other and
undeclared (1%)

Orthodoxy,
Turkey (90-99%[98]) Irreligious
(5%-10%)

The Jewish communities of the Balkans were some of the oldest in Europe and date back
to ancient times. These communities were Sephardi Jews, except in Croatia and Slovenia,
where the Jewish communities were mainly Ashkenazi Jews. In Bosnia and Herzegovina,
the small and close-knit Jewish community is 90% Sephardic, and Ladino is still spoken
among the elderly. The Sephardi Jewish cemetery in Sarajevo has tombstones of a unique
shape and inscribed in ancient Ladino.[99] Sephardi Jews used to have a large presence in
the city of Thessaloniki, and by 1900, some 80,000, or more than half of the population,
were Jews.[100] The Jewish communities in the Balkans suffered immensely during World
War II, and the vast majority were killed during the Holocaust. An exception was the
Bulgarian Jews, most of whom were saved by Boris III of Bulgaria, who resisted Adolf
Hitler, opposing their deportation to Nazi concentration camps. Almost all of the few
survivors have emigrated to the (then) newly founded state of Israel and elsewhere. Almost
no Balkan country today has a significant Jewish minority.

Languages
Main article: Languages of the Balkans
Further information: Balkan sprachbund

The Balkan region today is a very diverse

ethnolinguistic region, being home to multiple Slavic
and Romance languages, as well as Albanian, Greek,
Turkish, and others. Romani is spoken by a large
portion of the Romanis living throughout the Balkan
countries. Throughout history, many other ethnic
groups with their own languages lived in the area,
among them Thracians, Illyrians, Romans, Celts and
Ethnic map of the Balkans (1880)
various Germanic tribes. All of the aforementioned
languages from the present and from the past belong
to the wider Indo-European language family, with the
exception of the Turkic languages (e.g., Turkish and
Gagauz).

Most
State spoken Linguistic minorities[101]
language[101]

98%
Albania 2% other
Albanian

Bosnia 31% Serbian (official),

Transhumance ways of the
and 53% Bosnian 15% Croatian (official), Romance-speaking Vlach
Herzegovina 2% other shepherds in the past

77% 8% Turkish, 4% Romani,

Bulgaria Bulgarian 1% other, 1% unspecified

Croatia 96% Croatian 1% Serbian, 3% other

Greece 99% Greek 1% other

2% Bosnian, 2% Serbian
94%
Kosovo (official), 1% Turkish, 1%
Albanian
other

37% Montenegrin
(official), 5% Albanian,
43% Serbian
Montenegro 5% Bosnian, 5% other,
4% unspecified

25% Albanian (official),

North 67%
4% Turkish, 2% Romani,
Macedonia Macedonian
1% Serbian, 2% other

85% 6% Hungarian, 1%
Romania Romanian Romani

3% Hungarian, 2%
Serbia 88% Serbian Bosnian, 1% Romani, 3%
other, 2% unspecified

5% Serbo-Croatian, 4%
91% Slovene
Slovenia other

85% 12% Kurdish, 3% other

Turkey
Turkish[102] and unspecified [102]

Urbanization
Most of the states in the Balkans are predominantly urbanized, with the lowest number of
urban population as % of the total population found in Kosovo at under 40%, Bosnia and
Herzegovina at 40% and Slovenia at 50%.[103]

Panoramic view of Istanbul

A list of largest cities:

City Country Population Agglomeration Year

Istanbul[a] Turkey 10,097,862 10,097,862 2019[104]

Bucharest Romania 1,887,485 2,272,163 2018[105]

Sofia Bulgaria 1,313,595 1,995,950 2018[106]

Belgrade Serbia 1,119,696 1,659,440 2018[107]

Tekirdağ Turkey 1,055,412 1,055,412 2019[108]

Zagreb Croatia 792,875 1,113,111 2011[109]

Athens Greece 664,046 3,753,783 2018[110]

Skopje North Macedonia 444,800 506,926 2018[111]

Tirana Albania 418,495 800,986 2018[112]

Plovdiv Bulgaria 411,567 396,092 2018[106]

Varna Bulgaria 395,949 383,075 2018[106]

Thessaloniki Greece 325,182 1,012,297 2018[110]

Cluj-Napoca Romania 324,576 411,379 2018[105]

Timișoara Romania 319,279 356,443 2018[105]

Edirne Turkey 306,464 413,903 2019[113]

Ljubljana Slovenia 292,988 537,712 2018[114]

Iași Romania 290,422 382,484 2018[105]

Constanța Romania 283,872 425,916 2018[105]

Novi Sad Serbia 277,522 341,625 2018[115]

Bosnia and
Sarajevo 275,524 413,593 2018
Herzegovina

Craiova Romania 269,506 420,000 2018[105]

Kırklareli Turkey 259,302 361,836 2019[116]

Brașov Romania 253,200 369,896 2018[105]

a Only the European part of Istanbul is a part of the Balkans.[117] It is home to two-thirds of
the city's 15,519,267 inhabitants.[104]

Time zones
The time zones in the Balkans are defined as the following:

Territories in the time zone of UTC+01:00: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia
Territories in the time zone of UTC+02:00: Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania
Territories in the time zone of UTC+03:00: Turkey

Culture
Cuisine of the Balkans
Balkan music

See also
Balkan Insight
Balkan Universities Network
Balkanization
History of the Balkans
Balkan Wars
Languages of the Balkans
Balkan sprachbund
List of Roman Catholic dioceses in the Balkans
Balkan music
Orient Express

Notes
a. ^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and
the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence
on 17 February 2008. Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign
territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the
2013 Brussels Agreement. Kosovo is currently recognized as an independent state
by 96 out of the 193 United Nations member states. In total, 113 UN member states
are said to have recognized Kosovo at some point, of which 15 later withdrew their
recognition.
b. ^ As The World Factbook cites , regarding Turkey and Southeastern Europe; "that
portion of Turkey west of the Bosphorus is geographically part of Europe."
c. ^ The population only of European Turkey, that excludes the Anatolian peninsula,
which otherwise has a population of 75,627,384 and a density of 97.
d. ^ See:[118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125]
e. ^ See:[24][126][120][121][127][128][122][123][124][125]

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Further reading
Gray, Colin S. (1999). Geopolitics, Geography and Strategy. London: Routledge.
ISBN 978-0-7146-8053-8.
Banac, Ivo (October 1992). "Historiography of the Countries of Eastern Europe:
Yugoslavia". American Historical Review. 97 (4): 1084–1104. doi:10.2307/2165494 .
 JSTOR 2165494 .
Banac, Ivo (1984). The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics .
Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-9493-2.
Goldstein, Ivo (1999). Croatia: A History . Montreal, Quebec: McGill-Queen's
University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-2017-2.
Carter, Francis W., ed. (1977). An Historical Geography of the Balkans Academic
Press.[ISBN missing]
Dvornik, Francis (1962). The Slavs in European History and Civilization Rutgers
University Press.[ISBN missing]
Fine, John V. A., Jr. The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the
Late Twelfth Century [1983]; The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the
Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, [1987].[ISBN missing]
Forbes, Nevill (1915). The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Rumania,
Turkey Clarendon Press, online
Jelavich, Barbara (1983a). History of the Balkans: Eighteenth and Nineteenth
Centuries . 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521274586.
Jelavich, Barbara (1983b). History of the Balkans: Twentieth Century . 2. Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 978-0521274593.
Jelavich, Charles; Jelavich, Barbara, eds. (1963). The Balkans in Transition: Essays on
the Development of Balkan Life and Politics Since the Eighteenth Century . University
of California Press.
Kitsikis, Dimitri (2008). La montée du national-bolchevisme dans les Balkans. Le retour
à la Serbie de 1830. Paris: Avatar.
Lampe, John R., and Marvin R. Jackson (1982). Balkan Economic History, 1550–1950:
From Imperial Borderlands to Developing Nations Indiana University Press.[ISBN missing]
Király, Béla K., ed. (1984). East Central European Society in the Era of Revolutions,
1775–1856.[ISBN missing]
Komlos, John (1990). Economic Development in the Habsburg Monarchy and in the
Successor States . East European Monographs No. 28. East European Monographs.
ISBN 978-0-88033-177-7.
Mazower, Mark (2000). The Balkans: A Short History . Modern Library Chronicles.
New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-679-64087-5.
Schreiber, Gerhard; Stegemann, Bernd; Vogel, Detlef (1995). The Mediterranean,
south-east Europe, and north Africa, 1939–1941 . Germany and the 2nd World War.
Volume III. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-822884-4.
Stavrianos, L. S. (2000) [1958]. The Balkans since 1453 . with Traian Stoianovich.
New York: NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-9766-2. online free to borrow
Stoianovich, Traian (1994). Balkan Worlds: The First and Last Europe. Sources and
Studies in World History. New York: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-1-56324-032-4.
Zametica, John (2017). Folly and malice: the Habsburg empire, the Balkans and the
start of World War One London: Shepheard–Walwyn. 416 pp.[ISBN missing]

External links
Balkan Insight – Analysis from Balkans
Balkans
Balkanalysis, in-depth research on Balkan at Wikipedia's sister projects
geopolitics
Western Balkans Photo impression Definitions from Wiktionary

Shared Pasts in Central and Southeast Media from Wikimedia Commons

Europe, 17th–21st Centuries . Eds. G.
Quotations from Wikiquote
Demeter, P. Peykovska. 2015.
Texts from Wikisource

Travel guide from Wikivoyage

V ·T ·E Balkan Peninsula countries [show]

V ·T ·E Europe articles [show]

V ·T ·E Sovereign states and dependencies of Europe [show]

V ·T ·E Earth's primary regions and subregions [show]

V ·T ·E Music of Southeastern Europe (the Balkans) [show]

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