Nowhere is this diversity more pronounced than in the lands of the former Yugoslavia, where some ten national groups are both concentrated and widely dispersed.

Map B.2: Peoples and New Nations of the Balkan Peninsula (click to enlarge)

The South Slavs are the largest ethnic group in the Peninsula. They first came to the Balkans between the 6th and 8th centuries, when they occupied the Peninsula through a series of invasions.

But “South Slav” is something of an umbrella category. The majority populations of eight of the Balkans states are South Slavs - yet each national group has a distinct identity. The Bulgarians, Macedonians, and Slovenes speak their own Slavic languages, while the Slavs of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Montenegro all speak dialects of Serbo-Croatian, known as Serbian, Croatian, or Bosnian, depending on the speaker’s ethnic and political affiliation.

The Albanians and Greeks both speak ancient and very distinctive non-Slavonic languages, while the Romanians, though heavily influenced by neighboring Slavs, speak a Latin-based tongue. Substantial minorities of Hungarians (Magyars), Turks, Gypsies (Romanies), and others continue to use their own languages.

The region is as diverse in religions as it is in cultures and languages. The Slovenes and Croats are predominantly Roman Catholic, as are significant numbers of Albanians and Romanians. Islam is practiced by the Turkish minority, by the majority of Albanians and Gypsies, by the largest of Bosnia’s three communities, and by some Bulgarians. There are also large Muslim Slav minorities in Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro. While the majority of Slavs are Eastern Orthodox, their churches are organized on a national principle - for example, Bulgarian, Greek, Macedonian, Romanian, Serbian, and Albanian.

Ethnicity acquired a political edge in the Balkans during the 19th century, when the decay of the Habsburg and Ottoman empires led to the rise of movements for self-determination, and the century was marked by a series of wars for statehood.

In the closing decade of the 20th century, South Slavs have attacked each other and targeted each other’s cultures, religions, and history. Serbo-Croatian, voted the most beautiful language in the world by linguists in the 1960s, is officially no longer a language. Some of the most prized mosques, churches and bridges of the Balkans are in ruins. And the heritage which was once a source of pride for its eclectic mix, an accretion of centuries, has become a source of shame - and even exile - for many of the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula.

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Related Links
·	Cultural Destruction: “War Damage to the Cultural Heritage in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.”