The Balkan region is the easternmost of Europe's three great southern peninsulas. In present-day reference the much-debated term Balkans includes all or parts of the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, and Serbia and Montenegro. The term also includes the European portion of Turkey, though Turkey itself is not considered a Balkan state.

Geography

The Balkan Peninsula forms a large, roughly wedge-shaped area of land that extends southward from Central Europe toward the Mediterranean Sea. The Balkan states cover an area of about 257,400 square miles (666,700 square kilometers). The climate is harsh in the north and in the mountain areas, which experience freezing winters and hot, dry summers. In the south the winters are milder.

The name Balkan means “mountain” in Turkish. Most of the Balkan region consists of mountain ranges stretching from the northwest to the southeast. The main range is known as the Dinaric Alps in Croatia and the Pindus Mountains in Greece. To the east, in Bulgaria, the Balkan Mountains and the Rhodope Mountains along the border with Greece follow a west-east alignment.

In Romania the great arc of the Carpathian Mountains is part of another mountain system, but it is linked in the south to the Balkan range. Although many of these ranges are rugged, few have peaks higher than 9,500 feet (2,900 meters). Between the southern range of the Carpathians and the Balkan Mountains, the Walachian Plain stretches along the lower Danube River. The Danube is the region's chief commercial waterway. The only other major area of lowland is the Maritsa Valley in Bulgaria.

People

The Balkan Peninsula, with a population of more than 60 million, is home to many different ethnic groups. The majority of the population are Slavs, but there are significant numbers of other peoples, including Bulgarians. The main Slavic groups include the Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, and Macedonians. Smaller groups of Hungarians, Turks, Germans, and Roma (Gypsies) live throughout the region.

As the different ethnic groups settled in the area, many people remained isolated from other cultures because of the rugged, mountainous character of the Balkan Peninsula. This allowed them to preserve their unique traditions and customs. But it also made relations between the groups a source of tension.

Religion is a major source of division among the Balkan peoples. Most of the Serbs, Bulgarians, Macedonians, and Romanians belong to the Eastern Orthodox church, while the Croats and Slovenes are predominantly Roman Catholic. The occupation of part of the region by the Turks for several centuries resulted in the conversion of many Slavs and others to Islam. This applies especially to Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, and Bulgaria.

Natural resources

The Balkan Peninsula has limited natural resources. The region is too mountainous, the climate too dry in summer, and the soil too poor for farming to be successful except in a few areas.

The region has few reserves of high-quality coal, with the most important located in Romania, Bulgaria, and Croatia. Petroleum is in short supply, except in Romania. Small oil fields exist in Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Albania. Natural gas production is also minimal except in Romania. Conditions are relatively good for the development of hydroelectric power. Mountain rivers as well as the Danube are harnessed to produce much of the electric power of the region.

Supplies of metallic ores are generally better than those of other raw materials. Iron ore is in short supply, but several Balkan countries have good reserves of copper, lead, zinc, chromite, manganese, magnesite, and bauxite. Some of these metals are exported.

Economy

Before 1945 the economy of the Balkans was largely undeveloped. Most of the people were peasants living on small farms. After World War II, however, Communist governments came to power in many of the countries and attempted to industrialize the region. They built factories and processing plants for iron and steel, chemicals, and other local raw materials. They also changed the focus of agriculture from small individual farms to large state-run operations. With the fall of the Communist governments in the late 1980s and early 1990s the focus began to shift back to individual ownership of farms and toward modernization of the industries. Throughout all these changes the region continued to produce many of the same products.

Major crops include corn (maize), wheat, barley, rye, sugar beets, sunflowers, and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Industrial crops include cotton, tobacco, hemp, and flax. Many of these crops are grown in the plains with the help of irrigation. Bulgaria and Romania have specialized in the production of fruits and wines for export. Currants, grapes, olives, and citrus fruits are grown in Greece. Livestock herding has traditionally been important in the Balkans, and herds of sheep and goats can be found in the mountain areas. Cattle are mainly reared in the plains.

History

The history of the Balkans is a turbulent one with many wars, invasions, and feuds. The earliest people recorded in the Balkans belonged to three tribal groups—the Illyrians, Thracians, and Dacians. The Illyrians lived in the west of the peninsula. The Thracians settled in the Rhodope and other mountains of what is now southern Bulgaria. The Dacians occupied territory north of the Danube River.

Around the 4th century BC, during the reigns of Philip II and Alexander the Great, much of the Balkan Peninsula came under Greek influence. In 229 BC the Romans invaded the peninsula; they controlled the Balkans for many centuries. Later invasions by peoples from the north culminated in the arrival of the Slavs, who occupied much of the area by the 6th century AD.

Christianity influenced all the Balkan peoples at this time. Those who lived in the region that was ruled by the Byzantine Empire from its capital at Constantinople (now Istanbul) adopted the Eastern Orthodox religion. Those who lived in the west converted to Roman Catholicism.

In the 15th century the Turkish Ottoman Empire conquered the peninsula. The Turks influenced the area for almost five centuries, particularly through the introduction of Islam. The breakup of the empire in the 19th and 20th centuries led to the establishment of new states, but tensions remained between the different ethnic groups.

Yugoslavia was a particular problem. The country was created after World War I out of six different states that were home to rival ethnic groups. The Communist government that came to power after World War II was able to control the groups. When the Communists lost power in the late 1980s, however, the individual republics, except for Serbia and Montenegro, declared their independence. This led to fierce fighting between the various groups that lasted for years. All of the countries of the Balkans entered the 21st century attempting to maintain stable democracies. In 2003 the name Yugoslavia was dropped, and the two remaining republics formed a new union called simply Serbia and Montenegro.