Everything about Serbia totally explained
Serbia, officially the
Republic of Serbia (), is a
landlocked country in
Central and
Southeastern Europe, covering the southern part of the
Pannonian Plain and the central part of the
Balkan Peninsula. Serbia is bordered by
Hungary to the north;
Romania and
Bulgaria to the east; the
Republic of Macedonia and
Albania to the south; and
Croatia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Montenegro to the west. The capital is
Belgrade.
Serbia is a member of the
United Nations, the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the
Council of Europe, and has a
Stabilization and Association Agreement with the
European Union.
For centuries, shaped at cultural boundaries between
East and
West, a powerful medieval
kingdom – later renamed the
Serbian Empire – occupied much of the
Balkans. Overrun by the
Ottomans and
Habsburgs beginning in the 16th century,
modern Serbia emerged in 1817 following the
Serbian revolution. Later, it re-conquered territories in the south,
Kosovo,
Raška and
Vardar Macedonia. Formerly an
autonomous Habsburg crownland,
Vojvodina proclaimed its
secession from
Austria-Hungary on
November 25,
1918 to unite with the
Serbia, preceded by the
Syrmia region.
The current borders of the country were established following the end of
World War II, when Serbia became a federal unit within the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Serbia became an independent state again in 2006, after
Montenegro left the
union that formed after the
dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1990s.
In 1999
Kosovo was placed under interim UN administration pursuant to
UN Resolution 1244. In February 2008, the parliament of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. Serbia's government, as well as the
UN Security Council, have not recognised Kosovo's independence. The
response from the international community has been mixed.
Geography
Serbia is placed at the crossroads between
Central,
Southern and
Eastern Europe, between the
Balkan peninsula and the
Pannonian plain. The country is intersected by several major navigable rivers: the
Danube (2850km),
Sava (945 km),
Tisa (1358km), joined by the
Timiş River (350 km) and
Begej (254 km), all of which connect Serbia with
Northern and
Western Europe (through the
Rhine-Main-Danube Canal –
North Sea route), to
Eastern Europe (via the Tisa–,
Timiş–,
Begej – and Danube –
Black sea routes) and to
Southern Europe (via the Sava river). Two largest Serbian cities-
Belgrade and
Novi Sad- are major regional
Danubian harbours.
The northern third of the country is located entirely within the Central European
Pannonian plain. Easternmost tip of Serbia enters the
Wallachian Plain. The northeastern border of the country is determined by the
Carpathian Mountain range, which runs through the whole of
Central Europe. The
Southern Carpathians meet the
Balkan Mountains, following the course of
Velika Morava, a 500 km long (partially navigable) river.
Midžor peak is the highest point in eastern Serbia at 2156 m. In the southeast, the
Balkan Mountains meet the
Rhodope Mountains, connecting the country with
Greece.
The
Šar Mountain of Kosovo form the border with
Albania, with one of the highest peaks in the region,
Djeravica (2656 m).
Dinaric Alps of Serbia follow the flow of the
Drina river (at 350 km navigable for smaller vessels only) overlooking the Dinaric peaks on the other side of the shore in
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Over one quarter of Serbia's overall landmass (27%) is covered by forest.
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. Differences in elevation, proximity to the
Adriatic sea and large river basins, as well as the exposure to the winds account for climate differences.
Vojvodina possesses typical continental climate, with air masses from
Northern and
Western Europe which shape its climatic profile. South and Southwest Serbia is subject to Mediterranean influences, however the
Dinaric Alps and other mountain ranges contribute cooling down the biggest part of warm air masses. Winters are quite harsh in
Sandžak because of the mountains which encircle that plateau.
Average annual air temperature for the period 1961–90 for the area with the altitude of up to 300 m amounts to 10.9
°C. The areas with the altitudes of 300 to 500 m have average annual temperature of around 10.0 °C, and over 1000 m of altitude around 6.0 °C.
National parks
Serbia has 5
national parks:
History
Early history
Serbia's strategic location between two continents has subjected it to invasions by many peoples.
Belgrade is believed to have been leveled to the ground by 30 different armies in recorded history. Contemporary Serbia comprises the
classical regions of
Moesia,
Pannonia, parts of
Dalmatia,
Dacia and
Macedonia Under nominal
Serbian rule since the 7th century (having been allowed to settle in
Byzantium by its emperor
Heraclius after their victory over the
Avars), through early history various parts of the territory of modern Serbia have been colonized, claimed or ruled by: the
Greeks and
Romans (conquered the indigenous
Celts and
Illyrians); the
Western- and the
Eastern Roman Empires (challenged by the incursions of the
Huns, the
Ostrogoths, the
Gepidae, the
Sarmatians, the
Avars, the
Serbs, the
Frankish Kingdom, the
Great Moravia, the
Bulgarians). No less than 17
Roman Emperors were born in Serbia.
Medieval Serb kingdoms and the Serbian Empire
Serbs formed their first unified state under the
Vlastimirovic dynasty by 812, at times disrupted by the wars with the aforementioned states. By the beginning of the 14th century
Serbs lived in four distinctly independent kingdoms-
Dioclea,
Rascia,
Bosnia and
Syrmia.
At first heavily dependent on the
Byzantine Empire as its tributary, in time the most powerful of the Serb states -
Raška (
Rascia) achieved full independence, overtaking the Kingdom of
Duklja, which had previously dominated the Serbian lands between 11-12th centuries. The centre of the Serb world (Raska, Duklja, Travunia, Zahumlje, Pagania and Bosnia) moved northwards, further from the
Adriatic coast. Although fully converted already by 865 AD, this relocation to the north and east also meant the shift towards the
Eastern Orthodox rather than
Catholic faith (initially predominant in the south following the
East-West Schism).
The Serbian apogee in economy, law, military, and religion took place during the rule of the
House of Nemanjić between 1166 and 1371; the
Serbian Kingdom was proclaimed in 1217, joined later by the
Kingdom of Syrmia,
Banovina of Mačva and
Bosnia; finally, the
Serbian Empire of
Stefan Dušan was formed in 1346. Under Dušan's rule, Serbia reached its
territorial peak, becoming one of the larger states in
Europe. The renowned
Dušan's Code, a universal system of laws, was enforced.
As a result of internal struggle between rival noble families, and heavy losses inflicted by the
Ottomans in the epic
Battle of Kosovo, the
Serbian Empire had dissolved into many statelets by the beginning of the 15th century. Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, constant struggles between various Serbian kingdoms on one side, and the
Ottoman Empire on the other side, took place. The
Serbian Despotate fell in 1459 following the siege of the "temporary" capital
Smederevo, followed by
Bosnia a few years later, and
Herzegovina in 1482.
Montenegro was overtaken by 1499.
Belgrade was the last major Balkan city to endure Ottoman onslaughts, as it joined the Catholic
Kingdom of Hungary.
Serbs,
Hungarians and European
crusaders heavily defeated the Turkish in
Siege of Belgrade of 1456. Several Serbian
despots ruled in parts of
Vojvodina as vassals of the Hungarian kings with the title of Hungarian barons.
After repelling Ottoman attacks for over 70 years,
Belgrade finally fell in 1521, alongside the greater part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Conversion to
Islam was increased, especially in the southwest (
Raška, Kosovo and
Bosnia).
Ottoman and Austrian rule
Early modern period saw the
loss of Serbia's independence to the
Kingdom of Hungary and the
Ottoman Empire, interrupted shortly by the revolutionary state of the
Emperor Jovan Nenad in the 16th century.
Modern times witnessed the rise of the
Habsburg Monarchy (known as the
Austrian Empire, later
Austria-Hungary), which fought many wars against the
Ottoman Turks for supremacy over Serbia. Three
Austrian invasions and numerous rebellions (such as the
Banat Uprising) constantly challenged the Ottoman rule.
Vojvodina endured a century long Ottoman occupation before ceded to
Habsburg Empire in the 17th-18th centuries by the decision of the
Treaty of Karlowitz (
Sremski Karlovci). As the
Great Serb Migrations have depopulated most of
Kosovo and
Serbia proper, the
Serbs seeking refuge in more prosperous (and Christian)
North and
West were granted imperial rights by the Austrian crown (such as
Statuta Wallachorum in 1630). The
Ottoman persecutions against
Christians culminated with the abolition and plunder of the
Patriarchate of Peć in 1766. As the Ottoman rule in the
South grew ever more brutal, the
Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I formally granted the
Serbs the right to their autonomous crownland, speeding up their
migrations into Austria.
Serbian Revolution and independence (Principality of Serbia)
The quest for independence of Serbia began during the
Serbian national revolution (1804-1817), and it lasted for several decades. During the
First Serbian Uprising led by
Karađorđe Petrović, Serbia was independent for almost a decade before the
Ottoman army could reoccupy the country. Shortly after this, the
Second Serbian Uprising began; led by
Miloš Obrenović, it ended in 1815 with a compromise between the
Serbian revolutionary army and the Ottoman authorities. Famous German historian
Leopold von Ranke published his book "the Serbian revolution" (1829). They were the easternmost bourgeois revolutions in the 19th-century world. Likewise,
Principality of Serbia abolished
feudalism- second in
Europe after
France.
The Convention of Ackerman (1828), the Treaty of Adrianople (1829) and finally, the
Hatt-i Sharif of 1830, recognised the
suzerainty of
Serbia with
Miloš Obrenović I as its hereditary
Prince. The struggle for liberty, modern society and a
nation-state in Serbia was crowned by the
first constitution in the Balkans on
15 February 1835 (replaced by a more conservative Constitution in 1838).
In two following decades (temporarily ruled by the
Karadjordjevic dynasty) the
Principality actively supported the neighbouring
Habsburg Serbs, especially during the
1848 revolutions. Interior minister
Ilija Garašanin published
The Draft (of the South Slavic unification), which became the stand point of Serbian foreign policy from mid- 19th century onwards.
Following the clashes between the Ottoman army and civilians in
Belgrade in 1862 and pressured by the
Great Powers, by 1867 the last Turkish soldiers left the
Principality. By enacting a new constitution without consulting the Porte,
Serbian diplomats confirmed the
de facto independence of the country. In 1876,
Montenegro and Serbia declared war against the
Ottoman Empire, proclaiming their unification with
Bosnia. Formal independence of the country was internationally recognized at the
Congress of Berlin in 1878, which formally ended the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78; this treaty, however, prohibited Serbia from uniting with
Principality of Montenegro, and placed
Bosnia and
Raška region under
Austro-Hungarian occupation to prevent the unification from happening.
Kingdom of Serbia/Crownland of Vojvodina
From 1815 to 1903, Serbia was ruled by the
House of Obrenović (except from 1842 to 1858, when it was led by Prince
Aleksandar Karađorđević). In 1882, Serbia, ruled by
King Milan, was proclaimed a
Kingdom. In 1903, the
House of Karađorđević (the descendants of the revolutionary leader
Đorđe Petrović) assumed power. Serbia was the only country in the region that was allowed by the
Great Powers to be ruled by their own domestic dynasties. During the
Balkan Wars (1912-1913), the
Kingdom of Serbia tripled its territory by acquiring part of Macedonia,
Kosovo, and parts of Serbia proper.
As for Vojvodina, during the
1848 revolution in Austria,
Serbs of Vojvodina established an autonomous region known as the
Serbian Vojvodina. As of 1849, the region was transformed into a new Austrian crownland known as the
Vojvodina of Serbia and Tamiš Banat. Although abolished in 1860, Habsburg emperors claimed the title
Großwoiwode der Woiwodschaft Serbien until its unification with the
Kingdom of Serbia in 1918.
World War I and the birth of Yugoslavia
On
June 28,
1914 the
assassination of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria at
Sarajevo in
Bosnia-Herzegovina by
Gavrilo Princip (a South Slav unionist, Austrian citizen and member of
Young Bosnia) led to
Austria-Hungary declaring war on
Kingdom of Serbia. In defense of its ally Serbia the
Russian Empire started to mobilize its troops, which resulted in the
German Empire declaring war on Russia (in support of
Austria-Hungary). The retaliation by Austria-Hungary against Serbia activated a series of
military alliances that set off a
chain reaction of war declarations across the continent in what would become
World War I within a month period.
The
Serbian Army won several major victories against Austria-Hungary at the beginning of
World War I, such as the
Battle of Cer and
Battle of Kolubara - marking the first
Allied victories against the
Central Powers in
WWI. Despite initial success eventually it was overpowered by the joint forces of the
German Empire,
Austria-Hungary and
Bulgaria in 1915. Most of its army and some people went to exile to
Greece and
Corfu where it healed, regrouped and returned to
Macedonian front (World War I) to lead a final breakthrough through enemy lines on
September 15,
1918, freeing Serbia again and defeating
Austro-Hungarian Empire and
Bulgaria. Serbia (with its major
campaign) was a major
Balkan Entente Power which contributed significantly to the Allied victory in the
Balkans in November 1918. The country was militarilly classified as
minor Entente power.
Casualties
Prior to the war, the Kingdom of Serbia had 4.5 million inhabitants. According to the
New York Times, in 1915 alone 150,000 people are estimated to have died during the worst
typhus epidemics in world's history; aided by the
American Red Cross and 44 foreign governments, the disease was suppressed by the end of the year. According to
FirstWorldWar.com, the number of civilian deaths is estimated at 650,000, primarily due to the
typhus outbreak and
famine, but also direct clashes with the occupiers.
Kingdom of Serbia ranked first among the Entente powers by the percentage of military deaths; 8% of the
total Entente military deaths or 58% of the
Serbian Army (420,000 strong) has perished during the conflict. The total number of casualties ranges anywhere between 700,000 and 900,000- over 20% of Serbia's prewar size, and over ⅓ of its male population.
L.A.Times and
N.Y.Times placed the figure at over one million in their respective articles.
The extent of the Serbian demographic disaster can be illustrated by the statement of the Bulgarian Prime Minister
Vasil Radoslavov: "Serbia ceased to exist" (
New York Times, summer 1917). In July 1918 the
US Secretary of State Robert Lansing urged the
Americans of all religions to pray for
Serbia in their respective churches.
Kingdom of Yugoslavia ("First Yugoslavia")
Syrmia region was the first among former Habsburg lands to declare union with the Kingdom of Serbia on November 24, 1918.
Banat, Bačka and Baranja- (Vojvodina)- joined the Kingdom on the next day.
World War II
Coup d'état
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was in a precarious position in World War II. Fearing an invasion by Nazi Germany, Yugoslav Regent Prince Paul signed the Tripartite Pact with the Axis powers on 25 March 1941, triggering massive demonstrations in Belgrade. On March 27, Prince Paul was overthrown by a military coup d'état (with British support) and replaced with the 17-year-old King Peter II. General Dušan Simović became Peter's Prime Minister and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia withdrew its support for the Axis.
In response to this Adolf Hitler launched an invasion of Yugoslavia on April 6. By April 17, an unconditional surrender was signed in Belgrade. After the invasion, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was dissolved and Serbia was set up as a Nazi German-occupied puppet state. In 1941, Serbia included present-day Central Serbia and the Banat. This German client state was popularly known as "Nedić's Serbia" due to its head of state, Milan Nedić. While this state formally recognized King Peter II of Yugoslavia as its monarch, he instead headed the Yugoslav government in exile which was generally recognized by the Allies.
Not all of what is present-day Serbia was included as part of "Nedić's Serbia." Some of the contemporary Republic of Serbia was occupied by the Kingdom of Croatia, the Regency of Hungary, the Kingdom of Bulgaria, the Kingdom of Albania, and Fascist Italy. In addition to being occupied by the (Wehrmacht), from 1941 to 1945, Serbia was the scene of a civil war between Royalist Chetniks commanded by Draža Mihailović and Communist Partisans commanded by Josip Broz Tito. Against these forces were arrayed Nedić's relatively week units of the Serbian Volunteer Corps and Serbian State Guard.
The Holocaust/Genocide over the Serbs in NDH
"Nedić's Serbia" was the home of several Nazi concentration camps, including: Banjica, Crveni krst, Sajmište, and Topovske Šupe. These camps were typically operated by the Germans with assistance from local collaborators. Camps were not just set up in Serbia, but were located throughout what had been the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Serbs, Jews, and Roma and Croats opposed to the regime in the neighboring Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, or NDH, or Kingdom of Croatia) were subjected to a large-scale genocide, particularly in the infamous Jasenovac concentration camp, for not complying with the Nazi and Ustaše racial policies. According to the Jasenovac Research Institute (based in New York), estimates of the numbers of ethnic Serbs killed at the camp range from 300,000 to 700,000, with the most reliable estimates falling in the range of 330,000-390,000. (Yugoslav Federal Government after the war estimated around 700,000 victims). Additionally, an estimated 8,000-25,000 Jews, 40,000 Roma, 12,000 Croats, and thousands of members of other nationalities were killed at Jasenovac.
At the commemoration to the casualties in April 2003, Croatian president Stjepan Mesic apologized to the victims of Jasenovac. In 2006, on the same occasion, he added that to every visitor to Jasenovac it must be clear that the Holocaust, genocide and war crimes took place there.
Communist Yugoslavia ("Second Yugoslavia")
On November 29, 1945, the "Constitutional Assembly" has proclaimed the abolition of the Serbian-led monarchy- without a popular referendum - and the royal family banned from returning to the country. New communist dictatorship has been imposed, with Serbia as one of 6 federal units of the new state -"Second Yugoslavia," the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (Socijalistička Federativna Republika Jugoslavija, or SFRJ). The Republic was led by Josip Broz Tito, an ethnic Croat, until his death in 1980. Serbia's borders have been decimated in other republics's interest; so called Serbia proper was only a fraction of Serbia's 1918 size (56,124km²), with Croatia surpassing Serbia in terms of territory (56,546km²). Further on, the Constitution of 1974 has stripped Serbia off its influence over its two regional parliaments in Kosovo and Vojvodina, allowing them to represent themselves independently from Belgrade in the federal Parliament.
Lazar Koliševski, a Macedonian, became President briefly upon Tito's death and was followed by others who also held office briefly as the SFRJ slowly dissolved. In 1989, the League of Communists of Serbia selected Slobodan Milošević to become the President of Serbia. Milošević was controversial in Yugoslavia because he opposed Kosovo's autonomy and that his rise to power through the Anti-bureaucratic revolution was done through mass protests which pushed out the leadership of the autonomous provinces and also the republic of Montenegro which installed politicians allied to Milošević. Milošević also aggravated the situation in post-Tito Yugoslavia by alleging that certain politicians in Yugoslavia were anti-Serb. His pressure to change the constitution to limit Kosovo's autonomy and endorsing a one-member-one-vote system in the Yugoslav League of Communists congress which would give a numerical majority to the Serbs deteriorated relations in the League of Communists which collapsed along republican lines. With Slovenia, Croatia,, and Bosnia and Herzegovina all working to secede from the SFRJ, and no official leadership of the SFRJ from 1991 to 1992, the President of Serbia was essentially the same as being the President of Yugoslavia.
Federation of Serbia and Montenegro ("Third Yugoslavia") and the Kosovo War
By 1992, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina had all declared independence from Yugoslavia, resulting in the collapse of the SFRJ and the outbreak of war. In response, Serbia and Montenegro formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Savezna Republika Jugoslavija, or SRJ). The Serbian government initially supported the Serbs of Croatia and the Bosnian Serbs in the Yugoslav wars fought from 1991 to 1995. As a result, sanctions were imposed by the United Nations, which led to political isolation and economic decline of the SRJ.
In 1995, the Dayton Agreement was signed in Paris, France. This agreement ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the war in Croatia. For the time being, the SRJ was officially at peace.
Between 1998 and 1999, Serbia's official peace was broken when the situation in Kosovo worsened with continued clashes in Kosovo between the Serbian and Yugoslavian security forces on one side and the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) on the other. What became known as the Kosovo War prompted "Operation Allied Force." This operation included aerial bombardment of Serbia by forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The bombings lasted for 78 days. The bombings were ended following negotiations on the border between the Republic of Macedonia and the SRJ. The negotiations were held between NATO spokesperson Mike Jackson and SRJ officials speaking on behalf of Milošević. It was agreed that Milošević would order the withdrawal of all SRJ security forces, including the military and the police, and agree to have them replaced by a body of international police. The agreement upheld Yugoslavian (later Serbian) sovereignty over Kosovo but replaced Serbian government of the province with a UN administration, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). NATO also agreed to end its demand to station NATO troops across the whole of the SRJ. This had been one of its demands at the Rambouillet negotiations prior to the bombing campaign.
Democratic transition
In September 2000, opposition parties claimed that Milošević committed fraud in routine federal elections. Street protests and rallies throughout Serbia eventually forced Milošević to concede and hand over power to the recently formed Democratic Opposition of Serbia (Demokratska opozicija Srbije, or DOS). The DOS was a broad coalition of anti-Milošević parties. On 5 October, the fall of Milošević led to end of the international isolation Serbia suffered during the Milošević years. Serbia's new leaders announced that Serbia would seek to join the European Union (EU). In October 2005, the EU opened negotiations with Serbia for a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), a preliminary step towards joining the EU.
From 2003 to 2006, Serbia has been part of the "State Union of Serbia and Montenegro." This union was the successor to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SRJ).
On May 21, 2006, Montenegro held a referendum to determine whether or not to end its union with Serbia. The next day, state-certified results showed 55.4% of voters in favor of independence. This was just above the 55% required by the referendum.
From 1918 to 2006 Serbia was a major component of the various South Slavic states, including the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 1918 to 1941 (renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929), the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1992, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1992 to 2003, and the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro from 2003 to 2006.
Republic of Serbia
On June 5, 2006, following the referendum in Montenegro, the National Assembly of Serbia declared the "Republic of Serbia" to be the legal successor to the "State Union of Serbia and Montenegro." Serbia and Montenegro became separate nations. However, the possibility of a dual citizenship for the Serbs of Montenegro is a matter of the ongoing negotiations between the two governments.
In April 2008 Serbia was offered to enter the intensified dialogue programme with NATO despite the diplomatic rift with the Alliance over Kosovo.
Government and politics
February 4, 2003 the parliament of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia agreed to a weaker form of cooperation between Serbia and Montenegro within a confederal state called Serbia and Montenegro. The Union ceased to exist following Montenegrin and Serbian declarations of independence in June 2006.
After the ousting of Slobodan Milošević on October 5, 2000, the country was governed by the Democratic Opposition of Serbia. Tensions gradually increased within the coalition until the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) left the government, leaving the Democratic Party (DS) in overall control.
Serbia held a two-day referendum on October 28 and October 29, 2006, that ratified a new constitution to replace the Milošević-era constitution.
The current President of Serbia is Boris Tadić, leader of the center-left Democratic Party (DS). He was reelected with 50,5% of the vote in the second round of the Serbian presidential election held on February 4, 2008.
Serbia held Parliamentary elections on January 21, 2007. The right-wing Serbian Radical Party claimed victory, but no party has won an absolute majority. Following last-minute negotiations on the part of the DS and DSS political parties, an agreement was reached on the make-up of the country's new government on 11 May 2007 between DS, DSS and G17 Plus.
On March 13, 2008 the Serbian government collapsed when "President Boris Tadic dissolved parliament Thursday and called early elections for May 11" citing the growing rift between himself and nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica over membership in the EU and Kosovo's Independence. The government's collapse came less than a month after ethnic Albanian majority Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia, which considers the territory its historic heartland.
Administrative subdivisions
Serbia is divided into 24 districts plus the City of Belgrade. The districts and the City of Belgrade are further divided into municipalities. Serbia has 2 autonomous provinces: Vojvodina with (7 districts, 46 municipalities) and Kosovo and Metohija. Kosovo has declared independence but is still presently under the administration of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo; international negotiations began in 2006 to determine its final status (See Kosovo status process); Kosovo declared its independence on February 17, 2008, which Belgrade opposes.
The part of Serbia that's neither in Kosovo nor in Vojvodina is called Central Serbia. Central Serbia isn't an administrative division, unlike the two autonomous provinces, 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 (in the form of "uža Srbija", literally: "narrow Serbia"). Its use in English is purely geographical, without any particular political meaning being implied.
Demographics
Serbia (Census 2002, excluding Kosovo): 7,498,001
Serbia is populated mostly by Serbs. Significant minorities include Hungarians, Bosniaks, Roma, Croats, Czechs and Slovaks, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Romanians, etc. The northern province of Vojvodina is ethnically and religiously diverse.
According to the last official census data collected in 2002, ethnic composition of Serbia is:
Total: 7,498,001
According to the poll conducted on January 1, 2006 by the Yugoslav Survey Society Serbia had 7,395,600 inhabitants - a 1.5% decrease comparing to the 2002 Census.
The census wasn't conducted in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo, which is under administration by the United Nations. According to the EU estimates however, the overall population is estimated at 1,350,000 inhabitants, of whom 90% are Albanians, 8% Serbs and others 2%.There are also around 200,000 Serbian and other refugees,who are expelled from Kosovo. Refugees and IDPs in Serbia form between 7% and 7.5% of its population – about half a million refugees sought refuge in the country following the series of Yugoslav wars (from Croatia mainly, to an extent Bosnia and Herzegovina too and the IDPs from Kosovo, which are the most numerous at over 200,000) Serbia has the largest refugee population in Europe.
Cities:
| City |
Population |
| Urban |
Metropolitan |
| Belgrade |
1,576,124 |
1,689,667 |
| Priština |
500,000 |
600,000 |
| Novi Sad |
255,071 |
333,895 |
| Niš |
236,722 |
252,131 |
| Kragujevac |
175,473 |
211,580 |
| Subotica |
99,471 |
147,758 |
| Zrenjanin |
79,545 |
131,509 |
| Leskovac |
78,030 |
156,252 |
| Smederevo |
77,808 |
109,867 |
| Pančevo |
77,087 |
127,162 |
| Kruševac |
75,256 |
131,368 |
| Čačak |
73,217 |
117,012 |
| Užice |
63,577 |
83,022 |
| Valjevo |
61,035 |
96,761 |
| Kraljevo |
57,411 |
121,707 |
| Šabac |
55,240 |
122,893 |
| Vranje |
55,052 |
87,288 |
| Novi Pazar |
54,604 |
85,249 |
| Sombor |
51,471 |
97,263 |
| Sremska Mitrovica |
39,041 |
85,605 |
Religion
}}For centuries straddling the religious boundary between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, joined up later by the penetration of Islam, Serbia remains one of the most diverse countries on the continent. Centuries on, different regions of Serbia remain heavily cosmopolitan: Kosovo province houses a 90% Muslim community, Vojvodina province is 25% Catholic or Protestant, while Central Serbia and Belgrade regions are over 90% Orthodox Christian.
Among the Eastern Orthodox churches, the Church of Serbia is the westernmost. According to the 2002 Census, FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in 2006 was $5.85 billion or €4.5 billion. FDI for 2007 reached $4.2 Billion while real GDP per capita figures are estimated to have reached $6 600 (October 2007). The GDP growth rate showed increase by 6.3% (2005), 5.8% (2006), reaching 7.5% in 2007 as the fastest growing economy in the region.
At the beginning of the process of economic transition (1989), its favorable economic outlook in the region was hampered by politics, its economy being gravely impacted by the UN economic sanctions of 1992–95, as well as the sizable infrastructure and industry damage, suffered during the Kosovo war. Its problems were only augmented by losing the ex-Yugoslavia and Comecon markets. After the ousting of former Federal Yugoslav President Milošević in October 2000, the country experienced faster economic growth, and has been preparing for membership in the European Union, its most important trading partner.
The recovery of the economy still faces many problems, among which unemployment (18.1%) high export/import trade deficit and considerable national debt are most prominent. The country expects some major economic impulses and high growth rates in the next years. Serbia has been occasionally called a "Balkan tiger" because of its recent high economic growth rates, which averaged 6.6 % (in the past three years), with FDI at its record levels.
Serbia grows about one-third of the world's raspberries and is the leading frozen fruit exporter.
Infrastructure
Communications
Telekom Srbija – 5 million, Telenor and Vip mobile sharing the rest). 49% of households have computers, 27% use the internet, and 42% have cable TV.
Transportation
Serbia, in particular the valley of the Morava, is often described as "the crossroads between East and West", which is one of the primary reasons for its turbulent history. The Morava valley route, which avoids mountainous regions, is by far the easiest way of traveling overland from continental Europe to Greece and Asia Minor. Modern Serbia was the first among its neighbours to acquire railroads- in 1869 the first train arrived to Subotica, then Austria-Hungary (by 1882 route to Belgrade and Nis was completed).
European routes E65, E70, E75 and E80, as well as the E662, E761, E762, E763, E771, and E851 pass through the country. The E70 westwards from Belgrade and most of the E75 are modern highways of motorway / autobahn standard or close to that. As of 2005, Serbia has 1,481,498 registered cars, 16,042 motorcycles, 9,626 buses, 116,440 trucks, 28,222 special transport vehicles, 126,816 tractors, and 101,465 trailers.
The Danube River, central Europe's connection to the Black Sea, flows through Serbia.
There are 2 international airports in Serbia: Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport and Niš Constantine the Great Airport.
The national airline carrier is Jat Airways and the railway system is operated by Serbian Railways.
Tourism
Tourism in Serbia is mostly focused on the villages and mountains of the country. The most famous mountain resorts are Zlatibor, Kopaonik, and the Tara. There are also many spas in Serbia, one the biggest of which is Vrnjačka Banja. Other spas include Soko Banja and Niška Banja. There is a significant amount of tourism in the largest cities like Belgrade, Novi Sad and Niš, but also in the rural parts of Serbia like the volcanic wonder of Đavolja varoš, Christian pilgrimage across the country and the cruises along the Danube, Sava or Tisza. There are several popular festivals held in Serbia, such as the EXIT Festival (proclaimed the best European festival by UK Festival Awards 2007 and Yourope, the European Association of the 40 largest festivals in Europe) and the Guča trumpet festival. 2,2 million tourists visited Serbia in 2007, a 15% increase compared to 2006.
Culture
Serbia is one of Europe's most culturally diverse countries. The borders between large empires ran through the territory of today's Serbia for long periods in history: between the Eastern and Western halves of the Roman Empire; between Kingdom of Hungary, Bulgarian Empire, Frankish Kingdom and Byzantium; and between the Ottoman Empire and the Austrian Empire (later Austria-Hungary). As a result, while the north is culturally "Central European", the south is rather more "Oriental". Of course, both regions have influenced each other, and so the distinction between north and south is artificial to some extent.
The Byzantine Empire's influence on Serbia was perhaps the greatest. Serbs are Orthodox Christians with their own national church—the Serbian Orthodox Church. They use both the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, as a result of both Eastern and Western influences. The monasteries of Serbia, built largely in the Middle Ages, are one of the most valuable and visible traces of medieval Serbia's association with the Byzantium and the Orthodox World, but also with the Romanic (Western) Europe that Serbia had close ties with back in Middle Ages. Most of Serbia's queens still remembered today in Serbian history were of foreign origin, including Hélène d'Anjou (a cousin of Charles I of Sicily), Anna Dondolo (daughter of the Doge of Venice, Enrico Dandolo), Catherine of Hungary, and Symonide of Byzantium.
Serbia has eight cultural sites marked on the UNESCO World Heritage list: Stari Ras and Sopoćani monasteries (included in 1979), Studenica Monastery (1986), the Medieval Serbian Monastic Complex in Kosovo, comprising: Dečani Monastery, Our Lady of Ljeviš, Gračanica and Patriarchate of Pec- (2004, put on the endangered list in 2006), and Gamzigrad - Romuliana, Palace of Galerius, added in 2007. Likewise, there are 2 literary memorials added on the UNESCO's list as a part of the Memory of the World Programme: Miroslav Gospels, handwriting from the 12th century (added in 2005), and Nikola Tesla's archive (2003).
Education
Education in Serbia is regulated by the Ministry of Education. Education starts in either pre-schools or elementary schools. Children enroll in elementary schools at the age of seven, and remain there for eight years.
The roots of the Serbian education system date back to the 11th and 12th centuries when the first Catholic colleges were founded in Vojvodina (Titel, Bač). Medieval Serbian education, however, was mostly conducted through the Serbian Orthodox monasteries (Sopocani, Studenica, Patriarchate of Pec) starting from the rise of Raska in 12th century, when Serbs overwhelmingly embraced Orthodoxy rather than Catholicism.
The first university in Serbia was founded in revolutionary Belgrade in 1808 as a Great Academy, the precursor of the contemporary University of Belgrade. The oldest college (faculty) within current borders of Serbia dates back to 1778; founded in the city of Sombor, then Habsburg Empire, it was known under the name Norma and was the oldest Slavic Teacher's college in Southern Europe.
Holidays
All holidays in Serbia are regulated by the Law of national and other holidays in Republic of Serbia (Zakon o državnim i drugim praznicima u Republici Srbiji). The following holidays are observed state-wide:
Also, members of other religions have the right not to work on days of their holidays.
Gallery
Image:Bibloteka Kombëtare e Kosovës.jpg|National Public Library in Priština.
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