Balkan peninsula

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The Balkan peninsula is a region of southeastern Europe, usually considered to comprise Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, the European part of Turkey and the former (pre-1991) republics of Yugoslavia, with a combined area of 550,000 km2 and population of 53 million.

The northern boundary of the peninsula is frequently considered to be the Sava and Danube rivers, excluding from the region Slovenia, northern Croatia and the Vojvodina region of northern Serbia.

Sometimes Romania is considered a Balkan state, though it is in many respects distinct from the lands to its south and south-west. Also, Transylvania, a part of Romania, is not considered part of the Balkans, being rather a periphery of the middle Danubian plain.

Some people believe that the term Balkan is politically incorrect or even abusive, so they prefer the term Southeastern Europe. For example, the on-line newspaper Balkan Times recently (2003) renamed itself Southeast European Times.

The peninsula takes its name from the Balkan mountains (in Bulgaria the Stara Planina) which run through the centre of Bulgaria into eastern Serbia, and the term 'Balkan' itself is derived from the Turkish word for mountain. In earlier times the mountains were known as the Haemus Mons, a name that is believed to derive from the Thracian Saimon, meaning 'chain'.

Contents

Boundary

The countries commonly included in the Balkan region are:

Countries that some people include in the Balkan region:

  • Romania - due to its southern parts
  • Slovenia - due to the fact that it was part of the former Yugoslavia

Other countries not included in the Balkan region that are either close to it and/or play or have played an important role in the region's geopolitics, culture and history:

Geopolitical significance

In the past most of the Balkans was united politically under the Byzantine and the Ottoman Empires, both of which had their geographical centre of gravity in Anatolia, now Asiatic Turkey.

Once the most developed part of Europe, in the past 550 years the Balkans has been the least developed, reflecting the shift of Europe's commercial and political centre of gravity towards the Atlantic and comparative Ottoman isolation from the mainstream of economic advance.

The Balkan nations began to regain their independence in the 19th century, and in 1912-1913 a Balkan League reduced Turkey's territory to its present extent in the Balkan Wars.

The First World War was sparked in 1914 by the assassination of the Austrian Archduke in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the Second World War, the Soviet Union and communism played a very important role in the Balkans.

During the Cold War, most of the countries in the Balkans were communist-ruled. However, despite being under communist governments, Yugoslavia (1948) and Albania (1961) fell out with the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia, led by Tito, rejected the Soviet idea of merging with Bulgaria and sought closer relations with the West, later joining many third world countries in the Non-Aligned Movement. Albania on the other hand gravitated toward communist China, later adopting an isolationist position. The only non-communist countries were Greece and Turkey, which were (and still are) part of NATO.

In the 1990s, the region was gravely affected by armed conflict in the former Yugoslav republics, resulting in intervention by NATO forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. As of 2003, all Balkan countries are friendly towards the EU and the USA. The status of Kosovo and ethnic Albanians in general is still mostly unresolved.

Balkan countries control the direct land routes between Western Europe and South East Asia (Asia Minor and the Middle East).

Greece has been a member of the European Union since 1981. Slovenia is set to become a member in 2004, as are Cyprus and Hungary. Bulgaria and Romania are aiming to be accepted in 2007, while the end of Turkey's long wait (since the initial application in 1963) is still not in sight.

The Macedonia and Croatia have both signed preliminary agreements with the European Commission, aiding the accession process, but are yet to be put on the official candidate list or given a date (the usual estimates are 2008 and later).

All other countries have expressed a desire to join the EU but at some date in the future.

Ethnic and religious composition

The region's principal nationalities include Serbs (11 million), Greeks (10.8 million), Turks (9.2 million in the European part of Turkey), Bulgars (7 million), Albanians (6 million, with about 3.3 millions of them being in Albania), Croats (4.5 million), Bosniaks (2.4 million) and Macedonian Slavs (1.9 million).

The region's principal religions include (Eastern Orthodox and Catholic) Christianity and Islam.

Eastern Orthodoxy is the principal religion in the following countries:

  • Bulgaria
  • Greece
  • Romania
  • Serbia

Catholicism is the principal religion in the following countries:

  • Croatia
  • Slovenia

Islam is the principal religion in the following countries:

  • Albania (theoretical)
  • Turkey

These countries have mixed religious backgrounds:

  • Albania: Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Atheism. Although Albania is cited as a mostly Islamic country, the population is really intermixed with people celebrating all religious holidays. The majority of the people considered as Muslim do not adhere strictly to Islamic principles.
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina: Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism
  • Cyprus (the whole island): Eastern Orthodoxy and Islam. Usually Orthodoxy is practiced by the Greeks (about 70-72% of the island), while Islam is practiced by the Turks (about 28-30% of the island).
  • Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: Slavic population is mostly Eastern Orthodox, Albanian population is mostly Muslim.

Kosovo, a region nominally part of Serbia, has a ethnic Albanian majority population who are largely Muslim. The Thrace region of eastern Greece contains a Muslim minority. Greece also has an Albanian minority in Epirus and more recent Albanian immigrants.

In Greece there are some people called Arvanites (Arb�ror in Albanian), who settled various Greek lands during the Middle Ages. They are Orthodox Christians. Their language is Arvanitika, which is a form of Southern Albanian. Their culture is greatly influenced by the Greek culture.

South Albania has some Greek population, who are mostly Orthodox Christians.

Many Balkan countries include a number of atheists, since most of the Balkan countries had communist governments for nearly 50 years.

see also

External links

References

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