Where is balkans located on the world map

There are also minority communities in most of the Balkan countries. There are, for example, many ethnic Albanians in the northwest of North Macedonia. Serbia has a large Hungarian community in the northern part of the country, and the southeast of Bulgaria contains a significant number of Turks or Turkish-speaking people. In the case of religion, the Balkan Peninsula is overwhelmingly Christian, with the exception of the Bosniaks, Kosovars, and Albanians, who are mostly Muslim.

The Christians of the Balkans follow different denominations. Ethnic and religious tensions have been the cause of numerous armed conflicts in the Balkans. In ancient times, the Balkan Peninsula was largely dominated by the Greeks and Illyrians, the latter of whom were the precursors of the modern-day Albanians. The Roman Empire was the last ancient empire to dominate the region, before it split apart, and the Eastern Roman Empire became the Byzantine Empire.

About two hundred years later, the Bulgarian Empire controlled vast swathes of the Balkans. In the 10 th century, the first Serbian kingdom was established. By the mid th century, the Ottoman Turks began their expansion into the Balkans. By the end of the 15 th century, nearly the entire Balkan Peninsula was controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

Ottoman control of most of the Balkans would remain until the 19 th century, when the peoples of the Balkans began to rebel against their Turkish rulers. By the end of the 19 th century, the Greeks, Serbs, Romanians, and Montenegrins had all regained their independence.

Bulgaria regained its independence in For the most part, they succeeded, and by the eve of World War I, the Ottoman Turks were driven out of the entire Balkan Peninsula, except for the small area that is still part of Turkey today.

But after the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved, and the Slovenes, Croats, and Bosnians were freed from its control. But Croatia is more than just its islands and beaches. It has numerous charming historic towns and great nature protected by no less than eight national parks. Bosnia and Herzegovina might be the vey first of the Balkan countries you think about.

Unfortunately, even to this day its name still brings negative connotation to the foreground, as the country was the epicenter of the gory Yugoslav Wars which led to the break-up of Yugoslavia. One of the reasons for the terrible outcome lies in the incredible ethical diversity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its three main national and religious minorities lived in peace with one another since the establishment of the common country, but things got messy after the rise of nationalism.

Bosnia should definitely be on your travel wish-list if you are looking for authentic experiences. Just like Slovenia, Montenegro too is recognized for being small, but at the same time incredible diverse. Most people appreciate Montenegro for its Adriatic coast with spectacular beaches of white pebbles and azure waters, elegant Venetian towns of Kotor and Perast , extravagant places such is the ex-fishing-village-island-turned-into-a-luxurious-hotel at Sveti Stefan and of course the tourist mega-center of Budva.

But there is also another part of this Balkan country — the rugged mountains that scratch from the coast inland and provide amazing landscape full of hiking opportunities , crystal-clear lakes, divine rivers and incredible historical sites such are the Ostrog Monastery or the mausoleum of king Petar. Those of you deciding to visit Montenegro , will quickly find out there is something for everyone in this tiny Balkan country just waiting to be discovered.

Hurry up, before the secret gets out! Once the most influential of all the republics in the old Yugoslavia, Serbia found itself somewhat isolated after the gory war, especially after the horrific NATO bombing of its capital Belgrade in The international community forced the Serbian government to pull their military from the neighboring Kosovo which finally brought peace to the Balkans.

There are still tensions regarding the independence of Kosovo which Serbia is not recognizing, but in recent years this Balkan country started reconnecting with the world and is making big steps towards joining the European Union. Despite being an underdog when talking about traveling to the Balkans, visiting Serbia can be an authentic experience. It is especially popular with young travelers, as Belgrade is often nicknamed the party capital of the Balkans and Exit festival in Novi Sad was named best of its kind in the whole of Europe.

Welcome to the youngest country not only in the Balkans, but in the whole of Europe! Its status is still disputed and Kosovo is only recognized by a rough half of the UN member states. However, since its declaration of independence from Serbia in , this tiny country in the heart of the Balkan peninsula has come a long way and is developing rapidly, mainly due to the considerable support from the international community, especially the EU.

That said, Kosovo is definitely one of the most authentic and off-the-beaten-path places to visit in the Balkans. Until recently simply known as Macedonia , this small landlock country in the Balkan peninsula changed its name to North Macedonia in February after reaching an agreement with the neighboring Greece. In a nutshell: Macedonia is also the name of the Greek region boarding the state of North Macedonia and Greece was afraid their neighbors to the north might get unjustified territorial aspirations sometime in the future if the problem is not solved soon.

However, there is another diplomacy war going on with Bulgaria who claims that Macedonian language is just a dialect of the Bulgarian. Yes, it seems there is always something going on in the Balkans. During his rule, Albania was virtually cut from the rest of the world and influences of those politics are still very much visible today. Especially interesting are the numerous bunkers built by Hoxha and can be found all over the country. Among the natural sights worth checking out is the gorgeous Ionian coastline and the three great Balkan lakes , all partly owned by Albania: Skadar , Ohrid and Prespa.

It is worth noting that Albanians are not Slavic as most of the nations in the Balkans, and their language is much different that any other in the region. Albania , or the Republic of Albania, has a total population of approximately 3 million people. It is located in the western part of the Balkan peninsula and features a long coastline facing the Adriatic Sea.

Albania's capital city is Tirana and its official language is Albanian. Its government is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic. The country known as Bosnia and Herzegovina is located east of Albania and its capital city is Sarajevo. Bosnia and Herzegovina is ethnically diverse and comprised of three major ethnic groups: Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats.

This nation has a total population of about 3. This government is a parliamentary representative democracy. There are approximately 7 million people living in the Republic of Bulgaria today and they speak the official language of Bulgarian, a Slavic language related to Macedonian. Bulgaria's capital city is Sofia. A diverse nation, Bulgaria's largest ethnic group is Bulgarians, a South Slavic group. The government of this country is a parliamentary representative democratic republic.

Croatia, located on the western edge of the Balkan peninsula along the Adriatic Sea, is a parliamentary representative democratic republic. The capital city is Zagreb. Croatia has a population of 4. The official language is Standard Croatian. The Republic of Kosovo has a population of approximately 1. It is a multi-party parliamentary representative democratic republic and the country's capital city is Prishtina.

Moldova, located in the eastern region of the Balkans, has a population of about 3. Moldova is a parliamentary representative democratic republic and its official language is Moldovan, a variety of Romanian. The capital city is Chisinau.

The , people living in tiny Montenegro speak the official language Montenegrin. The capital city is Podgorica and the political structure is a parliamentary representative democratic republic. There are approximately 2 million people living in the Republic of North Macedonia.

The official language is Macedonian, a south Slavic language closely related to Bulgarian. Like most other Balkan states, Macedonia is a parliamentary representative democratic republic. The capital city is Skopje. Romania is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, and its capital city is Bucharest. This country makes up the largest piece of the Balkan peninsula and boasts a population of about 21 million people.

Eighty-three percent of people living in Romania are ethnic Romanians.