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Balkans
Which countries make up the Balkans?
There is no universal agreement on what constitutes the Balkans. However, the following are usually included: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia. Portions of Greece and Turkey are also within the Balkan Peninsula.
Where are the Balkans?
The Balkan Peninsula is the easternmost of Europe’s three great southern peninsulas. Generally, the Balkans are bordered on the northwest by Italy, on the north by Hungary, on the north and northeast by Moldova and Ukraine, and the south by Greece and Turkey or the Aegean Sea (depending on how the region is defined).
What is the climate of the Balkans?
The Balkan Mountains have a significant impact on the climate of the Balkan Peninsula. The northern and central parts of the Balkans are characterized by cold winters, warm summers, and well-distributed rainfall. The southern and coastal areas, however, have a Mediterranean type of climate, with hot, dry summers and mild, relatively rainy winters.
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Balkans, easternmost ofEurope’s three great southern peninsulas. There is not universal agreement on the region’s components. The Balkans are usually characterized ascomprisingAlbania,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Bulgaria,Croatia,Kosovo,Montenegro,North Macedonia,Romania,Serbia, andSlovenia—with all or part of each of those countries located within thepeninsula. Portions ofGreece andTurkey are also located within the geographic region generally defined as the Balkan Peninsula, and many descriptions of the Balkans include those countries too. Some define the region in cultural and historical terms and others geographically, though there are even different interpretations among historians and geographers. Moreover, for some observers, the term “Balkans” is freighted with negativeconnotations associated with the region’s history of ethnic divisiveness and political upheaval. Increasingly in the early 21st century, another pair of definitional terms has gained currency: South East (also styled South-East, Southeast, South-Eastern, or Southeastern) Europe, which has been employed to describe the region in broad terms (though, again, without universal agreement on its component states) and the Western Balkans, which are usually said tocomprise Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia.
Generally, the Balkans are bordered on the northwest byItaly, on the north byHungary, on the north and northeast by Moldova andUkraine, and on the south by Greece and Turkey or theAegean Sea (depending on how the region is defined). The Balkans are washed by theAdriatic Sea in the west, theIonian Sea in the southwest, and theBlack Sea in the east. In the north, clear geographic delimitation of the Balkans becomes difficult because the PannonianBasin of theGreat Alfold (Great Hungarian Plain) extends from central Europe into parts of Croatia, Serbia, and Romania.
Moldova—although located north of theDanube River, which is frequently cited as the region’s northeastern geographic dividing line—is included in the Balkans under some definitions by virtue of its long-standing historical and cultural connections with Romania. However, Moldova is politically and economically oriented more toward other onetime republics of the formerSoviet Union than it is to the Balkan states. More often than not, Slovenia is included as a member of the Balkans because of its long historical ties with its neighbours to the southeast and because of its former incorporation in theKingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes and federalYugoslavia. Greece, because its northern regions of Epirus and Macedonia are often considered parts of the Balkans, also appears on many lists of Balkan states, but it is arguably better characterized as primarily aMediterranean country. Turkey, too, is sometimes numbered among Balkan countries, as a result ofAnatolia’s presence on the peninsula, and the Ottoman Turks cast a long shadow of political dominance over the region for centuries (earning it thesobriquet “Turkey in Europe” or “European Turkey”).
The word Balkan is Turkish and means “mountain,” and the peninsula is certainly dominated by this type of landform, especially in the west. TheBalkan Mountains lie east-west across Bulgaria, theRhodope Mountains extend along the Greek-Bulgarian border, and theDinaric range extends down the Adriatic coast to Albania. By some definitions the region’s northern boundary extends to theJulian Alps and theCarpathians. Among these ranges extensive areas of good arable land are relatively scarce, though the valleys of the Danube,Sava, andVardar rivers, eastern Bulgaria, parts of the Aegean Sea coast, and especially the Danubian Plain are exceptions. The mountains have a significant impact on the climate of the peninsula. The northern and central parts of the Balkans have a central European climate, characterized by cold winters, warm summers, and well-distributed rainfall. The southern and coastal areas, however, have a Mediterranean type of climate, with hot, dry summers and mild, relatively rainy winters.
Ethnicdiversity is one of the region’s most characteristic social and political features. The most numerous of the groups is the SouthSlavs, who form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, and Montenegro. The Bulgarians, North Macedonians, and Slovenes speak their ownSlavic languages, while the Slavs of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro all speakdialects ofSerbo-Croatian.
The peculiar nature identified with “Balkanization”—that is, fragmentation of ethnic groups—derives in part from the compartmentalization brought about by the mountainous relief. But size is also an important determinant of the region’s character, for its area is large enough to have provided important bases of occupation for theByzantine and Turkish civilizations. Subjection to Eastern imperial forces isolated most Balkan societies from Western developments for almost two millennia and created feudal characteristics that persisted untilWorld War I. After this war the viability of the relatively new Balkan states was threatened by political instability, ethnic division, worldwide economic depression, and the rise of thefascist states ofGermany and Italy. AfterWorld War II, communism brought greater political stability to the Balkans—but at the cost of individual freedom, social and economic problems connected with rapid industrialization, and varying degrees of dominance by yet another outside power, the Soviet Union.
At no point in history has it been easy to define the Balkans in any other than geographic terms (and, again, even that approach can be problematic). At times the peninsula has been divided along north-south lines, and at other times the divisions have been east-west; whatconstitutes the Balkans has varied with time as have the forces operating within the area. There are, however, some features of Balkan history that have remained consistent. These include the fluidity of ethnic groups, the inability of the peoples of the region to agree and cooperate among themselves, a tendency on the part of political authority to devolve to local levels as soon as central power is weakened, the influence of foreign powers, and the difficulty of introducing into the area concepts that have evolved in a different political and socialcontext.
This article covers the history of the region as first defined above from antiquity to the early 21st century. An overview of the region’s physical and human geography and of the history can be found in the articleEurope. For discussion of physical and human geography, along with the history of individual countries in the region,seeAlbania,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Bulgaria,Croatia, Greece,Kosovo, North Macedonia,Moldova,Montenegro,Romania,Serbia,Slovenia, andTurkey. Area 257,400 square miles (666,700 square km). Pop. (2002 est.) 59,297,000.
Antiquity
Illyrians and Thracians
Archaeological evidence indicates that the Balkans were populated well before theNeolithic Period (New Stone Age; about 10,000 years ago). At the dawn of recorded history, two Indo-European peoples dominated the area: theIllyrians to the west and theThracians to the east of the great historical divide defined by the Morava and Vardar river valleys. The Thracians were advanced in metalworking and in horsemanship. They intermingled with theGreeks and gave them theDionysian andOrphean cults, which later became so important in classicalGreek literature. The Illyrians were moreexclusive, their mountainous terrain keeping them separate from the Greeks and Thracians.
- Also called:
- Balkan Peninsula
Thracian society was tribal in structure, with little inclination toward political cohesion. In what was to become a persistent phenomenon in Balkan history, unity was brought about mostly by external pressure. The Persian invasions of the 6th and 5th centuriesbce brought the Thracian tribes together in theOdrysian kingdom, which fell under Macedonian influence in the 4th centurybce. The Illyrians, ethnically akin to the Thracians, originally inhabited a large area from the Istrian peninsula to northern Greece and as far inland as the Morava River. During the 4th centurybce they were pushed southward byCeltic invasions, and thereafter their territory did not extend much farther north than the Drin River. Illyrian society, like that of the Thracians, was organized around tribal groups who often fought wars with one another and with outsiders. Under the Celtic threat they established acoherent political entity, but this too was destroyed by Macedonia. Thereafter the Illyrians were known mainly aspirates who disturbed the trade of many Greek settlements on the Adriatic coast. The Romans were also affected and tookpolice action, annexing much of Illyrian territory in the early 3rd centurybce. An Illyrian kingdom based in modern-dayShkodër, Albania, remained an important factor until its liquidation by Roman armies in 168bce.