Balkans

The Balkans is a peninsula, or group of countries, in Europe. The region has a combined area of 550,000 km2 and an approximate population of 55 million people. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains, which run through the centre of Bulgaria into eastern Serbia and then continue to Slovenia as the Dinaric Alps.
Definitions and boundaries
Name
Balkans comes from the Turkish language meaning "chain of wooded mountains" or 'swampy forest'.
Geography
The Balkans are bordered by water on three sides: the Black Sea to the east and branches of the Mediterranean Sea to the south and west (including the Adriatic, Ionian, Aegean and Marmara seas). The Balkan Peninsula is bordered on the north by the Danube, Sava, and Krca rivers.
History
Shortly before the medieval period in the 5th and 6th centuries, the Balkans were invaded by the Romans. The Romans were said not to be like other conquerors. They were said to be very powerful and robust. They won and spread the Roman culture through the Balkan peninsula. The Balkan peninsula was completely under Roman control by 1000 CE.
Member countries
Countries in the Balkan region are:
Albania
Kosovo
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Greece
Montenegro
North Macedonia
Romania (sometimes)
Serbia
Slovenia (sometimes)
Turkey (sometimes)
Related countries
Other countries that are not in the Balkan region but that are close to it and/or play or have played an important role in the region's politics, culture and history:
Hungary (see also Ottoman Hungary, Austria-Hungary)
Austria (see also Austria-Hungary, Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria)
Cyprus (see also Cyprus dispute)
Italy (see Trieste and History of the Republic of Venice)
Russia (see History of Serbia)
Population composition by nationality and religion
The region's principal nationalities include:
Albanians (5 million)
Bosniaks (4.5 million)
Bulgarians (6.6 million)
Croats (4.5 million)
Greeks (10.7 million)
Macedonians (1.3 million)
Montenegrins (0.3 million)
Romanians (22 million)
Serbs (8 million)
Slovenes (2 million)
Turks (80 million)
others (Roma, Gorani, Pomak, Torbesh...)
The most common religions in the Balkans are Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Christianity and Sunni Islam. Many different specific kinds of each faith are practiced, with each of the Eastern Orthodox countries having its own national church with its own patriarch.
Eastern Orthodoxy is the principal religion in the following countries:
Bulgaria (Bulgarian Orthodox Church)
Greece (Greek Orthodox Church)
Montenegro (Serbian Orthodox Church or uncanonical Montenegrin Orthodox Church)
North Macedonia (Serbian Orthodox Church or uncanonical Macedonian Orthodox Church)
Romania (Romanian Orthodox Church)
Serbia (Serbian Orthodox Church)
Roman Catholicism is the principal religion in the following countries:
Croatia
Slovenia
Islam is the principal religion in the following countries:
Albania
Bosnia
Kosovo
Turkey/East Thrace
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a special case - 50% are Muslim Bosniaks, 31% are Serbian Orthodox, and 15% are Catholic Croats (therefore 46% are Christian). The remaining 4% adhere to other denominations of Christianity, other religions, or are irreligious. In Bulgaria, Dobruja in Romania, North Macedonia and West Thrace in Greece, a high Muslim Minority of different Ethinicity like Turks, Tatars, Torbesh, Pomak and Xoraxane Roma live there.
For more detailed information and a precise ethnic breakdown see articles about particular states:
Albania (Demographics of Albania)
Croatia (Demographics of Croatia)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Demographics of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Bulgaria (Demographics of Bulgaria)
Greece (Demographics of Greece)
Montenegro (Demographics of Montenegro)
North Macedonia (Demographics of North Macedonia)
Turkey (Demographics of Turkey)
References
Banac, Ivo. Historiography of the Countries of Eastern Europe: Yugoslavia, American Historical Review, v 97 #4 (October 1992), 1084-1104.
Banac, Ivo. The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics Cornell University Press, [1984].
Carter, Francis W., ed. An Historical Geography of the Balkans Academic Press, 1977.
Dvornik, Francis. The Slavs in European History and Civilization Rutgers University Press, 1962.
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].
John R. Lampe and Marvin R. Jackson; Balkan Economic History, 1550-1950: From Imperial Borderlands to Developing Nations Indiana University Press, 1982
Jelavich, Barbara. History of the Balkans, 2 vols. Cambridge University Press, [1983].
Jelavich, Charles, and Jelavich, Barbara, eds. The Balkans in Transition: Essays on the Development of Balkan Life and Politics since the Eighteenth Century University of California Press, 1963.
Kiraly, Bela K., ed. East Central European Society in the Era of Revolutions, 1775-1856. 1984
Komlos, John, ed. Economic Development in the Habsburg Monarchy and in the Successor States: Essays 1990.
Mazower, Mark, The Balkans: A Short History, 2000
Traian Stoianovich; Balkan Worlds: The First and Last Europe 1994.
Other websites
South-East Europe Review
BalkanBaby travel writing, analysis and photos from the Balkans
Balkan History by Steven W. Sowards
SEEurope.net - news coverage on Southeastern Europe
Southeast European Times
The Centre for South East European Studies
Balkans region: Oil and Gas Fact Sheet - United States Department of Energy Analysis Brief
Balkans urged to curb trafficking - BBC
News from Balkans
Regions of Europe
Peninsulas of Europe