Encyclopedia
Serbia, officially the
Republic of Serbia is a
landlocked country in
Central and
Southeastern Europe, covering the central part of the
Balkan Peninsula and the southern part of the
Pannonian Plain. The capital is
Belgrade. Serbia borders
Hungary to the north;
Romania and
Bulgaria to the east;
Albania and the
Republic of Macedonia to the south; and
Montenegro,
Croatia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina to the west.
Placed under
Ottoman occupation in the 15th century following the collapse of the
Serbian Empire, the
uprisings against Turkish yoke between 1804-1815 reestablished Serbia as a state which obtained formal independence in 1878. Victorious in
Balkan wars and
World War I, for nearly a century Serbia was part of various
South Slavic states, including the Kingdom of the
Serbs,
Croats and
Slovenes from 1918 to 1941 , the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1992, the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1992 to 2003, and the State Union
Serbia and Montenegro from 2003 to 2006. After Montenegro voted to leave the State Union, Serbia officially proclaimed its independence on June 5, 2006, as the successor state to the State Union Serbia and Montenegro.
Geography
Serbia is located in the
Balkans and in the
Pannonian Plain . It shares borders with
Albania,
Montenegro,
Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Bulgaria,
Croatia,
Hungary, the
Republic of Macedonia, and
Romania. Serbia is
landlocked, although the
Danube River provides shipping access to inland Europe and the
Black Sea.
Serbia's terrain ranges from the rich, fertile plains of the northern
Vojvodina region, limestone ranges and basins in the east, and, in the southeast, ancient mountains and hills. The north is dominated by the Danube River. A tributary, the Morava River, flows through the more mountainous southern regions.
Climate
The Serbian
climate varies between a continental climate in the north, with cold winters, and hot, humid summers with well distributed rainfall patterns, and a more Adriatic climate in the south with hot, dry summers and autumns and relatively cold winters with heavy inland snowfall.
Cities
Major cities - 2002 census data, for
Kosovo and Metohija current estimates :
- Beograd : 1,273,651 ; 1,576,124
- Novi Sad: 215,659
- Priština: between 200,000 and 262,686
- Niš: 173,724
- Kragujevac: 147.473
- Prizren: between 121,000 and 165,227
- Subotica: 99,471
National parks
Serbia has five
national parks:
History
Medieval Serbia
The roots of the Serbian state date back to the
7th century and the
House of Vlastimirovic. A Serbian kingdom was established in the
11th century. It lasted until the end of the 12th century.
The medieval Serbian state was re-formed in the Raška region in the 12th century by the Serbian Grand Župan
Stefan Nemanja. In 1220, under
Stefan the First Crowned, Serbia became a kingdom, and in 1346, Stefan Dušan established the
Serbian Empire. The Empire was disintegrated and fell to the
Ottoman Turks after the historic
Battle of Kosovo in 1389. The northern Serbian territories were conquered in 1459 following the siege of the "temporary" capital Smederevo. Bosnia fell a few years after Smederevo, and
Herzegovina in 1482.
Ottoman Serbia
Following the collapse of
Serbian Empire in
Battle of Kosovo, between 1459 and 1804, Serbia was under the
Ottoman occupation, despite three
Austrian invasions and numerous rebellions .
Islam was in a period of expansion during this time, especially in Raska,
Kosovo and
Bosnia. Many
Serbs converted to Islam, which eventually led to the forming of the
Bosniak nation. The Ottoman period was a defining one in the history of the country; Slavic, Byzantine, Arabic and Turkish cultures suffused. Many contemporary cultural traits can be traced back to Ottoman period. However the majority of the Serbs managed to keep their culture and religion through the long period of Ottoman rule.
Modern Serbia
Main article:
History of Modern SerbiaThe
First Serbian Uprising of 1804-1813, led by Đorde Petrovic , and the
Second Serbian Uprising of 1815 resulted in the establishment of the
Principality of Serbia. As it was semi-independent from the Ottoman Empire, it is considered to be the precursor of the formation of
modern Serbia.
From 1815 to 1903, the Serbian state was ruled by the
House of Obrenovic, except from 1842 to 1858, when Serbia was ruled by Prince Aleksandar Karadordevic. In 1903, the House of Obrenovic was replaced by the
House of Karadordevic, who were descendants of Đorde Petrovic.
In the northern part of present-day Serbia that was ruled by the
Austrian Empire, the local Serbs created in 1848 their autonomous region known as the
Serbian Vojvodina. The region was in 1849 transformed into new Austrian crownland known as the Vojvodina of Serbia and Tamiš Banat. Although, the crownland was abolished in 1860, the Serbs from the Vojvodina region gained another opportunity to achieve their political demands in 1918.
The struggle for a modern society, human rights and a nation-state in Serbia lasted almost three decades and was completed with the adoption of the constitution on 15th February 1835. In 1876,
Montenegro, Serbia, and
Bosnia declared war against the Ottoman Empire and proclaimed their unification. However, the
Treaty of Berlin of 1878, which was signed at the
Congress of Berlin by the
Great Powers, granted complete independence only to Serbia and Montenegro, leaving Bosnia and Raška to
Austria-Hungary, who blocked their unification until the
Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 and
WWI.
On 28 June 1914 the
assassination of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria at
Sarajevo in
Austria-Hungary by
Gavrilo Princip, a South Slav unionist, Austrian subject and member of Young Bosnia, led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. The
Russian Empire started to mobilise its troops in defence of its ally Serbia, which resulted in the
German Empire declaring war on Russia in support of its ally Austria-Hungary. However, as German military planners
wished to avoid a war on two fronts against both Russia and
France, they attacked France first. This eventually culminated in all the major
European Powers being drawn into the war. The Serbian Army won several major victories against Austria-Hungary during
World War I, but it was finally overpowered by the joint forces of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. In World War I, Serbia had 1,264,000 casualties — 28% of its total population, and 58% of its male population.
Between the wars
After 1918, Serbia, along with
Montenegro, was a founding member of the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later known as the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During
World War II, Serbia was a German-occupied puppet state that included present-day Central Serbia and Banat, popularly called
Nedic's Serbia. However, parts of the present-day territory of Serbia were occupied by Croatian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Albanian, and Italian armies. The occupying powers committed numerous crimes against the civilian population, especially against Serbs and Jews.
Post WWII
In 1945, Serbia was established as one of the federal units of the
second Yugoslavia, the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, led by
Josip Broz Tito until his death in 1980.
After the collapse of the second Yugoslavia in 1992 until the year 2003, Serbia, together with Montenegro, was part of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Despite civil wars in neighbouring
Croatia and
Bosnia and Herzegovina, while helping Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia try to remain a part of Yugoslavia, Serbia remained peaceful until 1998, when clashes with the terrorist K.L.A. started in Kosovo.
Between 1998 and 1999, continued clashes in Kosovo between Serbian and Yugoslav security forces and the
K.L.A. prompted a
NATO aerial bombardment which lasted for 78 days. The attacks were stopped when Yugoslav president
Slobodan Miloševic agreed to remove all security forces, including the military and the police, and have them replaced by a body of international police, in return for which Kosovo would formally remain within the Yugoslav Federation .
In September 2000, opposition parties claimed that Milosevic committed fraud in routine federal elections. Street protests and rallies throughout Serbia eventually forced Milosevic to concede and hand over power to the recently formed Democratic Opposition of Serbia , a broad coalition of anti-Milosevic parties.
The fall of Milosevic led to end of the international isolation Serbia suffered during the Milosevic years. Serbia's new democratic leaders announced that Serbia would seek to join the
European Union and
NATO. In October 2005, the EU opened negotiations with Serbia for a Stabilization and Association Agreement , a preliminary step towards joining the EU.
From 2003 to 2006, Serbia was part of the
State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, into which the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had been transformed. On May 21, 2006, Montenegro held a
referendum to determine whether or not to end the union with Serbia. The next day, state-certified results showed 55.5% of voters in favor of independence, which was just above the 55% required by the referendum. On June 3, the Parliament of Montenegro declared
Montenegro independent of the State Union and on June 5, the
National Assembly of Serbia declared Serbia the successor to the State Union.
Government & politics
On 4 February 2003 the
parliament of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia agreed to a weaker form of cooperation between Serbia and
Montenegro within a commonwealth called
Serbia and Montenegro. The union ceased to exist following Montenegrin and Serbian declarations of independence in June 2006.
After the ousting of
Slobodan Miloševic on 5 October 2000, the country was governed by the Democratic Opposition of Serbia.
Tensions gradually increased within the coalition until the
Democratic Party of Serbia left the government, leaving the Democratic Party in overall control. Nevertheless, in March 2004 the DSS gathered enough support to form the new Government of Serbia, together with
G17 Plus and coalition SPO-NS, and the support of the
Socialist Party of Serbia, who do not take part in the government, but in exchange for the support hold minor government and justice positions and influence policies. The Prime Minister of Serbia is Vojislav Koštunica, leader of the
Democratic Party of Serbia.
The current
President of Serbia is
Boris Tadic, leader of the Democratic Party . He was elected with 53% of the vote in the second round of the
Serbian presidential election held on 27 June 2004, following several unsuccessful elections since 2002.
Administrative subdivisions
Serbia is divided into 29 districts and the
City of Belgrade. The districts are further divided into 108 municipalities. Serbia two autonomous provinces:
Kosovo and Metohija in the south , which is presently under the administration of the United Nations, and
Vojvodina in the north .
The part of Serbia that is neither in Kosovo nor in Vojvodina is called
Central Serbia. Central Serbia is not an administrative division , and it has no regional government of its own. In
English this region is often called "
Serbia proper" to denote "the part of the Republic of Serbia not including the provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo", as the
Library of Congress puts it . This usage was also employed in Serbo-Croatian during the Yugoslav era . Its use in English is purely geographical without any particular political meaning being implied.
Negotiations are currently underway to determine the final status of Kosovo, with completion due by the end of 2006. It is widely expected that the talks will result in Kosovo being offered some form of conditional independence.
Demographics
Serbia is populated mostly by
Serbs. Significant minorities include
Albanians ,
Hungarians,
Bosniaks, Roma,
Croats,
Slovaks,
Bulgarians,
Romanians, etc. Serbia consists of three territories: the province of
Kosovo and Metohia, the province of
Vojvodina and
Central Serbia . The two provinces are ethnically diverse, which originates in the fact, that the country has been organised from parts ruled by the former
Muslim Ottoman Empire in the south and parts ruled by the former Catholic
Habsburg Empire in the north.
The northern province of
Vojvodina is the most developed part of the country in terms of economic strength. Together with the
former Yugoslav republics of
Slovenia 
