Serbia

Republic of Serbia Република Србија Republika Srbija
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Боже правде / Bože pravde God of Justice
Location of Serbia (green) – Kosovo (light green) on the European continent (dark grey)
Capital (and largest city)		Belgrade 44°48′N 20°28′E / 44.8°N 20.467°E / 44.8; 20.467
Official language(s)		Serbian1
Ethnic groups (2002)		82.9% Serbs, 3.9% Hungarians, 1.8% Bosniaks, 1.4% Roma, 10.0% others[1] (excluding Kosovo)
Demonym		Serbian
Government		Parliamentary republic
-	President	Boris Tadić
-	Prime Minister	Mirko Cvetković
Formation
-	First state	768
-	Kingdom	1217
-	Empire	1346
-	Suzerain monarchy	1817
-	De-jure independence	1878
-	Independent republic	2006
Area
-	Total	88,361 km2 (112th) 34,116 sq mi
-	Water (%)	0.13 (including Kosovo)
Population
-	estimate	7,120,666 (excluding Kosovo)[2] (100th)
-	Density	91,9/km2 (112th) 238/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$79.013 billion[3] (75th)
-	Per capita	$10,661 (excluding Kosovo)[3] (79th)
GDP (nominal)		2011 estimate
-	Total	$46.444 billion[3] (76th)
-	Per capita	$6,267 (excluding Kosovo)[3] (81st)
Gini (2008)		26 (low)
HDI (2011)		0.766[4] (high) (59th)
Currency		Serbian dinar (RSD)
Time zone		CET (UTC+1)
-	Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Drives on the		Right
ISO 3166 code		RS
Internet TLD		.rs, .срб
Calling code		381
1 See also regional minority languages recognized by the ECRML

Serbia ⁱ/ˈsɜrbiə/, officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: Република Србија / Republika Srbija, pronounced [rɛpǔblika sř̩bija]), is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans. Serbia borders Hungary to the north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east; the Republic of Macedonia to the south; and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to the west; additionally, it borders Albania through Kosovo, whose status as part of Serbia is disputed. The country has just over 7.1 million inhabitants, with its capital, Belgrade, being among the largest cities in Southeast Europe.

After the arrival of the Serbs in the Balkans in the 7th century, several medieval states were formed, which evolved into the Serbian Empire in the 14th century. By the 16th century, Serbia was conquered and occupied by the Ottoman Empire, at times interrupted by the Habsburgs. In the early 19th century the Serbian revolution re-established the country as the region's first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory and pioneered the abolition of feudalism in the Balkans.^[5] The former Habsburg crownland of Vojvodina united with Serbia in 1918. Following World War I, Serbia formed Yugoslavia with other South Slavic peoples which existed in several forms up until 2006, when Serbia regained its independence. In February 2008 the parliament of UNMIK-governed Kosovo, Serbia's southern province, declared independence, with mixed responses from international governments.

Serbia is a member of the UN, Council of Europe, OSCE, PfP, BSEC and CEFTA. It is also an official candidate for membership in the European Union^[6] and a neutral country.^[7]

History

This section may be too long and overly detailed. Please consider summarizing the material while citing sources as needed. (June 2011)

Early history and etymology

Lady of Vinča, ~5000 BC

The Neolithic Starčevo and Vinča cultures existed in or near Belgrade and dominated the Balkans (as well as parts of Central Europe and Asia Minor) 8,500 years ago.^[8][9] Lepenski Vir and Vinča-Belo Brdo are two important sites of these cultures, located at the banks of the Danube. Around 1000 BC, the Paleo-Balkan peoples known as Thracians, Dacians, Illyrians were developing in the Balkans. Ancient Greeks expanded into the south of modern Serbia in the 4th century BC, the north-westernmost point of Alexander the Great's empire being the town of Kale-Krševica.^[10] The Celtic tribe of Scordisci settled throughout Serbia in the 3rd century BC and built several fortifications, including Singidunum, present-day Belgrade, and Naissos, present-day Niš. The Romans conquered parts of Serbia in the 2nd century BC; in 167 BC when conquering the west, establishing the province of Illyricum, and the rest of Central Serbia in 75 BC, establishing the province of Moesia Superior. Srem was conquered in 9 BC and Bačka and Banat in 106 AD after the Dacian wars. Despite its small size, contemporary Serbia extends fully or partially over several Roman provinces such as Moesia, Pannonia, Praevalitana, Dalmatia, Dacia and Macedonia. The chief towns of Serbian Upper Moesia (and wider) in the principate were: Singidunum, Viminacium, Remesiana, Naissus and especially, Sirmium which served as a Roman capital during the Tetrarchy.^[11] Seventeen Roman Emperors were born in Serbia, second only to Italy.^[12] The most famous of these was Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor, who issued religious tolerance throughout the Empire. When the Roman Empire was divided in 395, the region remained under the East, Byzantine Empire. After the 520s, Slavs appeared in the Byzantine Empire in great numbers.^[13] The name "Serbia" was first mentioned as Greek: Σέρβια, meaning "land of the Serbs". There are many theories regarding the origin of the name of the Serbs. The most likely is that it is derived from the Old Slavic root *serb-, meaning "same".^[14] Another proposed etymology is that of the Indo-European root *ser- "to watch over, protect", akin to Latin servare "to keep, guard, protect, preserve, observe".^[15]

Felix Romuliana (UNESCO)

---

Roman complex of palaces and temples,
built by Emperor Galerius (305–311)

Middle Ages

The Serbs, as Slavs in the vicinity of the Byzantine Empire, lived in so-called Sklavinia ("Slav lands"), territories initially out of Byzantine control and independent.^[16] In the 8^th century, the Vlastimirović Dynasty established the Serbian Principality. In 822, Serbia "stretched over the greater part of Dalmatia",^[17] and Christianity was adopted as state-religion in ca 870.^[18] In the mid 10^th century the state had emerged into a tribal confederation that stretched to the shores of the Adriatic Sea by the Neretva, the Sava, the Morava, and Skadar.^[19] The state disintegrated after the death of the last known Vlastimirid ruler – the Byzantines annexed the region and held it for a century, until 1040 when the Serbs under the Vojislavljević Dynasty revolted in Duklja (Pomorje).^[20] In 1091, the Vukanović dynasty established the Serbian Grand Principality, based in Rascia (Zagorje).^[20] The two halves were reunited in 1142.^[21]

The Principality of Serbia in the 9th century, under Vlastimirović dynasty.

Crowning of Emperor Dušan in 1346, by Paja Jovanović

In 1166, Stefan Nemanja assumed the throne, marking the beginning of a prospering Serbia, henceforth under the rule of the Nemanjić dynasty.^[22] Nemanja's son Rastko (posth. Saint Sava), gained autocephaly for the Serbian Church in 1217 and authored the oldest known constitution, in the same year Stefan II was crowned King, establishing the Serbian Kingdom.^[23] The Serbian Empire was established in 1346 by Stephen Dušan the Mighty, during which time Serbia reached its territorial peak, becoming one of the most powerful states in Europe and the most powerful in the Balkans. Dušan's Code, a universal system of law, was enacted. The reign of his son Stephen Uroš V the Weak saw the Empire fragment into a confederation of principalities. Emperor Uroš died childless in December 1371, after much of the nobility had been destroyed by the Ottomans in the Battle of Maritsa earlier that year. The Mrnjavčević, Lazarević and Branković ruled the Serbian lands in the 15th and 16th centuries. Constant struggles took place between various Serbian provinces and the Ottoman Empire. After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 and the Siege of Belgrade, the Serbian Despotate fell in 1459 following the siege of the provisional capital of Smederevo. After repelling Ottoman attacks for over 70 years, Belgrade finally fell in 1521, opening the way for Ottoman expansion into Central Europe.

Ottoman and Austrian rule

After the loss of independence to the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, Serbia briefly regained sovereignty under Jovan Nenad in the 16th century. Three Austrian invasions and numerous rebellions, such as the Banat Uprising (1595), constantly challenged Ottoman rule. Vojvodina endured a century long Ottoman occupation before being ceded to the Habsburg Empire in the 17th–18th centuries under the Treaty of Karlowitz. As the Great Serb Migrations depopulated most of southern Serbia, the Serbs sought refuge across the Danube river in Vojvodina to the north and the Military Frontier in the west where they were granted rights by the Austrian crown under measures such as the Statuta Wallachorum of 1630. The Ottoman persecutions of Christians culminated in the abolition and plunder of the Patriarchate of Peć in 1766.^[24] As Ottoman rule in the Sanjak of Smederevo grew ever more brutal, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I formally granted the Serbs the right to their autonomous crownland following several petitions.^[25]

Revolution and independence

Karađorđe Petrović and Miloš Obrenović, leaders of the Serbian Revolution

The quest for national emancipation was first undertaken during the Serbian national revolution, in 1804 until 1815. The liberation war was followed by a period of formalization, negotiations and finally, the Constitutionalization, effectively ending the process in 1835.^[26] For the first time in Ottoman history the entire Serbian Christian population had risen up against the Sultan.^[27] The entrenchment of French troops in the western Balkans, the incessant political crises in the Ottoman Empire, the growing intensity of the Austro–Russian rivalry in the Balkans, the intermittent warfare which consumed the energies of French and Russian Empires and the outbreak of protracted hostilities between the Porte and Russia are but a few of the major international developments which directly or indirectly influenced the course of the Serbian revolt.^[27]

During the First Serbian Uprising, or the first phase of the revolt, led by Duke Karađorđe Petrović, Serbia was independent for almost a decade before the Ottoman army was able to 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 revolutionaries and the Ottoman authorities. German historian Leopold von Ranke published his book "The Serbian revolution" in 1829.^[28] They were the easternmost bourgeois revolutions in the 19th-century world.^[29] Likewise, Serbia was one of the first nations in the Balkans to abolish feudalism.^[30] The Convention of Ackerman in 1826, the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829 and finally, the Hatt-i Sharif, recognized the suzerainty of Serbia with Miloš Obrenović I as its hereditary Prince.^[31][32] The struggle for liberty, a more modern society and a nation-state in Serbia won a victory under first constitution in the Balkans on 15 February 1835. It was replaced by a more conservative Constitution in 1838. In the two following decades, temporarily ruled by the Karadjordjevic dynasty, the Principality of Serbia actively supported the neighboring Habsburg Serbs, especially during the 1848 revolutions. Interior minister Ilija Garašanin published The Draft (for South Slavic unification), which became the standpoint of Serbian foreign policy from the mid-19th century onwards. The government thus developed close ties with the Illyrian movement in Croatia-Slavonia region that was a part of the Austria-Hungary.

Following the clashes between the Ottoman army and civilians in Belgrade in 1862, and under pressure from 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, Serbia declared war on the Ottoman Empire, proclaiming its unification with Bosnia. The formal independence of the country was internationally recognized at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, which formally ended the Russo-Turkish War; this treaty, however, prohibited Serbia from uniting with Bosnia by placing it under Austro-Hungarian occupation.^[33] From 1815 to 1903, Principality of Serbia was ruled by the House of Obrenović, except from 1842 to 1858, when it was led by Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević. In 1882, Serbia became a kingdom, ruled by King Milan. In 1903, following May Overthrow, the House of Karađorđević, descendants of the revolutionary leader Karađorđe Petrović assumed power. Serbia was the only country in the region that was allowed by the Great Powers to be ruled by its own domestic dynasty. During the Balkan Wars lasting from 1912 to 1913, the Kingdom of Serbia tripled its territory by reacquiring parts of Vardar Macedonia,^[34] Kosovo, and parts of Central Serbia. The 1848 revolution in Austria lead to the establishment of the autonomous territory of Serbian Vojvodina. By 1849, the region was transformed into the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar.

Balkan Wars and World War I

The Balkan Wars took place between 1912 and 1913. The First Balkan War broke out when the member states of the Balkan League attacked and divided Ottoman territories in the Balkans in a seven-month campaign, resulting in the Treaty of London. For the Kingdom of Serbia, this victory enabled territorial expansion into Raška and Kosovo. The Second Balkan War soon ensued when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its gains, turned against its former allies, Serbia and Greece. Their armies repulsed the Bulgarian offensive and counter-attacked, penetrating into Bulgaria, while Romania and the Ottomans used the favourable time to intervene against Bulgaria to win territorial gains. In the resulting Treaty of Bucharest, Bulgaria lost most of the territories gained in the First Balkan War, with Serbia annexing Vardar Macedonia. Serbia enlarged its territory by 80% and its population by 50% within just two years; it also suffered high casualties on the eve of World War I, with around 20,000 dead.^[35]

Retreat across Albania; more than 1,000,000 Serbs died during World War I.

On 28 June 1914 the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian Nationalist and member of the Young Bosnia organization, led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia.^[36] In defense of its ally Serbia, Russia started to mobilize its troops, which resulted in Austria-Hungary's ally Germany declaring war on Russia. 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, leading to the outbreak of World War I within a month.^[37]

Serbia won the first major battles of World War I, including the Battle of Cer and Battle of Kolubara – marking the first Allied victories against the Central Powers in World War I.^[38] Despite initial success, it was eventually overpowered by the joint forces of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria in 1915. Most of its army and some people went into exile to Greece and Corfu, where they recovered, regrouped and returned to the Macedonian front to lead a final breakthrough through enemy lines on 15 September 1918, liberating Serbia and defeating the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria.^[39] Serbia, with its campaign, was a major Balkan Entente Power^[40] which contributed significantly to the Allied victory in the Balkans in November 1918, especially by helping France force Bulgaria's capitulation.^[41] The country was militarily classified as a minor Entente power.^[42] Serbia was also among the main contributors to the capitulation of Austria-Hungary in Central Europe.

Serbia's casualties accounted for 8% of the total Entente military deaths; 58% (243,600) soldiers of the Serbian army perished in the war.^[43] The total number of casualties is placed around 1,000,000,^[44] more than 25% of Serbia's prewar size, and a majority (57%) of its overall male population.^[45][46][47]

First Yugoslavia

This section requires expansion.

Universal Newsreel's film about the assassination of King Alexander I committed by the IMRO militant Vlado Chernozemski in 1934.

• Syrmia region was the first among former Habsburg lands to declare union with Serbia on 24 November 1918.
• Banat, Bačka and Baranja – together called Vojvodina – joined Serbia the next day.
• On 26 November 1918, the Podgorica Assembly deposed the House of Petrovic-Njegos of the Kingdom of Montenegro, opting for the House of Karađorđević (the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Serbia), unifying the two states.
• Bosnia declares its unification with Serbia.
• On 1 December 1918, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and the Kingdom of Serbia joined together and formed the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, under the reign of King Peter I.

World War II

Marshal Josip Broz Tito reviewing the 1st Partisan Proletarian Brigade.

In 1941, in spite of domestically unpopular attempts by the government of Yugoslavia to appease the Axis powers, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and other Axis states invaded Yugoslavia. After the invasion, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was dissolved and Serbia was put under a German Military administration, under a joint German-Serb government with Milan Nedić as Head of the "Government of National Salvation". 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 units of the Serbian Volunteer Corps and the Serbian State Guard.^{[citation needed]}

After one year of occupation, around 16,000 Serbian Jews were murdered in Axis-occupied Serbia, or around 90% of its pre-war Jewish population. Banjica concentration camp was established by the German Military Administration in Serbia.^[48] Primary victims were Serbian Jews, Roma, and Serb political prisoners.^[49] Other camps in Serbia included the Crveni Krst concentration camp in Niš and the Dulag 183 in Šabac. Sajmište was one of the first concentration camps for Jews in Europe. Staro Sajmište was the largest concentration camp in Axis-occupied Serbia.^[50]

Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović confers with his men.

Relations between Serbs and Croats in Yugoslavia severely deteriorated during World War II as a result of the creation of the Axis puppet state of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) that comprised most of present-day Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and parts of present-day Serbia. The NDH committed large scale persecution and genocide of Serbs, Jews, and Roma.^[51] The estimate of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum indicates that between 330,000 and 390,000 ethnic Serb residents of Croatia, Bosnia and parts of Serbia (primarily the Syrmia region) were murdered during the Ustaše genocide campaign;^[52] same figures are supported by the Jewish Virtual Library.^[53][54] reports that more than 500,000 Serbs were killed overall, whereas official Yugoslav sources used to estimate more than 700,000 victims, mostly Serbs. The Jasenovac memorial so far lists 75,159 names killed at the this concentration camp alone,^[55] out of around 100,000 estimated victims (75% of whom were of Serbian origin).^[56] In April 2003 Croatian president Stjepan Mesić apologized on behalf of Croatia to the victims of Jasenovac.^[57] In 2006, on the same occasion, he added that to every visitor to Jasenovac it must be clear that Holocaust, genocide and war crimes took place there.^[58] Out of roughly 1,000,000 casualties in all of Yugoslavia up until 1944,^[59][60] around 250,000 were citizens of Serbia of different ethnicities, according to Zundhauzen.^[61] The overall number of Serb casualties in Yugoslavia was around 530,000, out of whom up to 400,000 in the Independent State of Croatia.^[62] By late 1944, the Belgrade Offensive swung in favour of the partisans in the civil war; the partisans subsequently gained control of Yugoslavia.^[63] The Syrmia front was the last sequence of the internal war in Serbia following the Belgrade Offensive. Between 70,000–80,000 people were killed in Serbia during the communist takeover.^{[64][65][66][67]}

Second Yugoslavia

The communist takeover by the Yugoslav Partisans resulted in abolition of the monarchy and a subsequent orchestrated constitutional referendum.^[68] A single-party state was soon established in Yugoslavia by the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. All opposition was repressed and people deemed to be promoting opposition to the government or promoting separatism were given harsh prison sentences or executed for sedition. Serbia became a constituent republic within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) known as the Socialist Republic of Serbia and had a republic-branch of the federal Communist party, the League of Communists of Serbia. The republic consisted of the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Central Serbia and the state capital, Belgrade.

Serbia's most powerful and influential politician in Tito-era Yugoslavia was Aleksandar Ranković, a high-ranking official in the federal communist party and one of the "big four" Yugoslav leaders, alongside Josip Broz Tito, Edvard Kardelj, and Milovan Đilas.^[69] Ranković served as head of the UDBA internal security organization and served as vice-president of Yugoslavia from 1963 to 1966.^[69] In 1950, Ranković as minister of interior reported that since 1945 the Yugoslav communist regime had arrested five million people.^[70]

For years Ranković served as Tito's right-hand man and supported Tito's decision to break Yugoslavia away from domination by Soviet Union by having the UDBA obstruct the USSR's efforts to infiltrate state institutions and communist party.^[71] These actions resulted in the Cominform accusing the Yugoslav government of being dominated by a "Tito-Ranković clique" that they accused of being a "fascist regime".^[72] He supported a centralized Yugoslavia and opposed efforts that promoted decentralization that he deemed to be against the interests of Serb unity.^[69] Ranković sought to secure the position of the Serbs in Kosovo and gave them dominance in Kosovo's nomenklatura.^[69] Ranković's power and agenda waned in the 1960s with the rise to power of reformers who sought decentralization and to preserve the right of national self-determination of the peoples of Yugoslavia.^[73] In response to his opposition to decentralization, the Yugoslav government removed Ranković from office in 1966 on various claims, including that he was spying on Tito.^[73] Ranković's dismissal was highly unpopular amongst Serbs.^[73]

Pro-decentralization reformers in Yugoslavia, especially from Slovenia and Croatia succeeded in the late 1960s in attaining substantial decentralization of powers, creating substantial autonomy in Kosovo and Vojvodina, and recognizing a Yugoslav Muslim nationality.^[73] As a result of these reforms, there was a massive overhaul of Kosovo's nomenklatura and police, that shifted from being Serb-dominated to ethnic Albanian-dominated through firing Serbs in large scale.^[73] Further concessions were made to the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo in response to unrest, including the creation of the University of Pristina as an Albanian language institution.^[73] These changes created widespread fear amongst Serbs that they were being made second-class citizens in Yugoslavia by these changes.^[74] These changes was harshly criticized by Serbian communist official Dobrica Ćosić, who at the time claimed that they were contrary to Yugoslavia's commitment to Marxism through conceding to nationalism, especially Albanian nationalism.^[75]

Breakup of Yugoslavia

In 1989 Slobodan Milošević rose to power in Serbia, as the chief of the League of Communists of Serbia. Milošević promised reduction of powers for the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina, where his allies subsequently overtook the power, in a movement called "Anti-bureaucratic revolution".^[76] This ignited tensions with the communist leadership of the other republics, and awoke nationalism across the country, that eventually resulted in the Breakup of Yugoslavia, with Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia leaving one after another.^[77] In 1992, the governments of Serbia and Montenegro agreed to the creation of a new federation, called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which abandoned the predecessor SFRY's official endorsement of communism, and instead endorsed democracy.

Saint Elijah Church in Podujevo destroyed by an Albanian mob during the Kosovo war.

Serb-controlled territories during the Yugoslav wars, after the Operation Corridor.

Fueled by ethnic tensions, series of Yugoslav Wars broke out in Serbia's neighborhood, with most severe conflicts taking place in Croatia and Bosnia, where Serb minorities opposed their newly proclaimed independence. Serbia and Montenegro remained nominally uninvolved, with Yugoslav Army formally withdrawing in early stages of the war, but provided significant logistic, military and financial support to the Serb forces, who inherited most of the Army's resources. In response to that support, UN imposed sanctions to FR Yugoslavia in May 1992,^[78] which led to political isolation, economic decline and hyperinflation of the Yugoslav dinar. The country permanently recovered from the inflation problem in 1996.

Multiparty democracy was introduced in Serbia in 1990, officially dismantling the single-party system. Critics of Milošević claimed that the government continued to be authoritarian despite constitutional changes, as Milošević maintained strong political influence over the state media.^[79][80] Milošević issued media blackouts of independent media stations' coverage of protests against his government and restricted freedom of speech through reforms to the Serbian Penal Code which issued criminal sentences on anyone who "ridiculed" the government and its leaders, resulting in many people being arrested who opposed Milošević and his government.^[81]

When the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia refused to accept its defeat in municipal elections in 1996, Serbians engaged in large protests against the government. Between 1998 and 1999, peace was broken again, when the situation in Kosovo worsened with continued clashes between Yugoslav security forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The confrontations led to the Kosovo War.^{[citation needed]}

Political transition

Otpor! (English: Resistance!) greatly contributing to Slobodan Milošević's overthrow, and later has become the model for similar movements around the world.^{[82][83] [84]}

In September 2000, opposition parties accused Milošević of electoral fraud. A campaign of civil resistance followed, led by the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), a broad coalition of anti-Milošević parties. This culminated on 5 October when half a million people from all over the country congregated in Belgrade, compelling Milošević to concede defeat.^[85] The fall of Milošević ended Yugoslavia's international isolation. Milošević was sent to the ICTY on accusations of sponsoring war crimes during the breakup of Yugoslavia, where he was held on trial until his death in 2006. The DOS announced that FR Yugoslavia would seek to join the European Union. In 2003, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was renamed Serbia and Montenegro and the EU opened negotiations with the country for the Stabilization and Association Agreement. On 21 May 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.

Serbia's political climate has remained tense. In 2003, the prime minister Zoran Đinđić was assassinated as result of a plot originating from circles of organized crime and former security officials. Pro- and anti-EU political forces in Serbia have remained sharply divided on the political course of Serbia in regards to its relations with the European Union.

On 5 June 2006, the National Assembly of Serbia declared Serbia to be the legal successor to the former state union.^[86] In April 2008 Serbia was invited to join the intensified dialogue programme with NATO despite the diplomatic rift with the alliance over Kosovo.^[87] Serbia officially applied for the European Union membership in December 2009 and became an official candidate in March 2012.^[88][89][90]

Geography

Mountain ranges and plains of Serbia.

Kopaonik national park, during winter.

Located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Including Kosovo, it lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country has several notable topographical features: the Pannonian Plain (mainly Vojvodina) and river lowlands, the Balkan and Carpathian Mountains, the Dinaric Alps, along with hillside streching across Central Serbia.

The Danube passes through Serbia with 21% of its overall length, joined by its biggest tributaries, the Sava and Tisza rivers.^[91] The province of Vojvodina covers the northern third of the country, and is entirely located within the Central European Pannonian Plain. Dinaric Alps, gradually rising towards south, cover most of western and central Serbia. The easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The eastern border of the country intersects with the Carpathian Mountain range,^[92] which run through the whole of Central Europe.

The Southern Carpathians meet the Balkan Mountains, following the course of the Great Morava, a 500 km long river. The Midžor peak is the highest point in eastern Serbia at 2156 m. In the southeast, the Balkan Mountains meet the Rhodope Mountains. The Šar Mountains of Kosovo form the border with Albania, with one of the highest peaks in the region, Đeravica, reaching 2656 meters at its peak. Dinaric Alps of Serbia follow the flow of the Drina river, overlooking the Dinaric peaks on the opposite shore in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

National parks

Over 31% of Serbia is covered by forest.^[93] National parks take up 10% of the country's territory.^[94] Serbia has 5 national parks and 22 nature reserves.

Wetlands

Climate

Serbian Spruce trees.

On the macro-level, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea and the landmass of Eurasia. With mean January temperatures around 0 °C (32 °F), and mean July temperatures around 22 °C (72 °F), it can be classified as transitional between oceanic (Köppen climate classification Cfb), humid subtropical (Cfa) and humid continental (Dfa).^[95] Rainfall patterns are well-distributed and average about 50 mm/month.

In the north, the climate is more continental, with cold winters, and hot, humid summers with well distributed rainfall patterns. In the south, summers and autumns are drier, and winters are relatively cold, with heavy inland snowfall in the mountains. Differences in elevation, proximity to the Adriatic Sea and large river basins, as well as exposure to the winds account for climate variations.^[96] South and South-west Serbia are subject to Mediterranean influences.^[97] However, the Dinaric Alps and other mountain ranges contribute to the cooling of most of the warm air masses. Winters are quite harsh in the Pešter plateau, because of the mountains which encircle it.^[98]

The average annual air temperature for the period 1961–90 for the area with an altitude of up to 300 m (984 ft) is 10.9 °C (51.6 °F). The areas with an altitude of 300 to 500 m (984 to 1,640 ft) have an average annual temperature of around 10.0 °C (50.0 °F), and over 1,000 m (3,281 ft) of altitude around 6.0 °C (42.8 °F).^[99] The lowest recorded temperature in Serbia was −39.5 °C (−39.1 °F) on 13 January 1985, Karajukića Bunari in Pešter, and the highest was 44.9 °C or 112.8 °F, on 24 July 2007, recorded in Smederevska Palanka.^[100]

Environmental issues

The NATO bombings of 1999 caused lasting damage to the environment of Serbia, with several thousand tons of toxic chemicals stored in targeted factories being released into the soil, atmosphere and water basins affecting humans and the local wildlife.^[101] Recycling is still a fledgeling activity in Serbia, with only 15% of its waste being turned back for re-use.^[102]

Rivers and lakes

Spanning over 588 kilometers across Serbia, the Danube river is the largest source of fresh water. Other main rivers are Sava, Morava, Tisza, Drina and Ibar. Almost all of Serbia's rivers drain to the Black Sea, by way of the Danube river. One notable exception is the Pčinja which flows into the Aegean. The largest natural lake is Belo Jezero, located in Vojvodina, covering 25 square kilometers. The largest artificial reservoir, Iron Gate (Đerdap), covers an area of 163 square kilometers on the Serbian side, and it has a total area of 253 square kilometers. The largest waterfall, Jelovarnik, located in Kopaonik, is 71 meters high.

Great Morava, view from Lapovo.		Tara National park, view of Drina.

Politics

The National Assembly of Serbia

Serbia formally regained its independence in 2006, after 88 years in various federations, the parliament announced a constitutional referendum that would replace the former Yugoslav-era constitution and created the new framework for the country by ratifying a new constitution. Serving his second term as President, Boris Tadić is the leader of the center-left Democratic Party. His second reelection was won with a narrow 50.5% majority in the second round of the presidential election held on 4 February 2008.

Parliamentary elections were held in May 2008. The coalition For a European Serbia led by Boris Tadic, claimed victory, but was significantly short of an absolute majority. Following the negotiations with the leftist coalition centered around the Socialist Party of Serbia, an agreement was reached to form a new government, headed by Mirko Cvetković. Present-day Serbian politics are fractiously divided on different issues, such as the European Union and the role of government.

Kosovo has been governed since 1999 by UNMIK, a UN mission. The Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, has an assembly and a president. Although the assembly has declared independence from Serbia, Serbia does not recognise the move.

Administrative divisions

Serbia has two autonomous provinces: Vojvodina in the north and Kosovo and Metohija^[103] in the south. The area that lies between Vojvodina and Kosovo is called Central Serbia. Central Serbia is not an administrative division (unlike the provinces), and it has no regional authority of its own.

Serbia is divided into 150 municipalities and 24 cities, which are the basic units of local self-government.^[103] Of the 150 municipalities, 83 are located in Central Serbia, 39 in Vojvodina and 28 in Kosovo. Of the 24 cities, 17 are in Central Serbia, 6 are in Vojvodina and 1 in Kosovo.^[103] Municipalities and cities are gathered into districts, which are regional centers of state authority, but have no assemblies of their own; they present purely administrative divisions. Serbia is organized into 29 districts (17 in Central Serbia, 7 in Vojvodina and 5 in Kosovo), while the city of Belgrade presents a district of its own.^[104]

Foreign relations and military

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it.

Demographics

2002 demographics map

As of January 2011, Serbia (without Kosovo) had an estimated population of 7,276,195 (not including over 200,000 internally displaced persons from Kosovo, who will be counted as a permanent population in the next census, taking place in 2011).^[105] The 2002 census was not conducted in Kosovo, which was under United Nations administration at the time. According to CIA estimates, Kosovo has around 1.8 million inhabitants, the majority of them Albanian with Kosovo Serbs coming in second.^[106]

Serbs are the largest ethnic group in Serbia, representing 83% of the total population, excluding Kosovo. With a population of 290,000, Hungarians are the second largest ethnic group in Serbia, representing 3.9% (and 14.3% of the population in Vojvodina). Other minority groups include Bosniaks, Roma, Albanians, Croats, Bulgarians, Montenegrins, Macedonians, Slovaks, Vlachs, Romanians,^[1] and Chinese.^[107] According to UN estimates, around 500,000 Roma live in Serbia.^[108] The German minority in the northern province of Vojvodina was more numerous in the past (336,430 in 1900, or 23.5% of Vojvodina's population).^[109]

Serbia has the largest refugee population in Europe.^[110] Refugees and internally displaced persons (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, mainly from Croatia, and to a lesser extent from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the IDPs from Kosovo, which are currently the most numerous at over 200,000.

Meanwhile, it is estimated that 300,000 people left Serbia during the 1990s alone, and around 20% of those had college or higher education.^[111][112] Serbia has a comparatively old overall population (among the 10 oldest in the world), mostly due to low birth rates. In addition, Serbia has among the most negative population growth rates in the world, ranking 225th out of 233 countries overall.^[113]

Largest cities

Religion

For centuries straddling the religious boundary between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, joined up later by Islam, Serbia remains one of the most diverse countries on the continent. While formation of the nation-state and turbulent history of 19th and 20th century has left its traces on the religious landscape of the country: Vojvodina is still 25% Catholic or Protestant, while Central Serbia and Belgrade regions are over 90% Orthodox Christian.^[1] Kosovo consists of an 89% Albanian Muslim majority.

Cathedral of Saint Sava, Belgrade, the world's largest Orthodox church, dedicated to the nation's patron saint.

Among the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Serbian Orthodox Church is the largest in the country. According to the 2002 Census,^[116] 82% of the population of Serbia, excluding Kosovo, or 6,2 million people declared their nationality as Serbian, who are overwhelmingly adherents of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Other Orthodox Christian communities in Serbia include Romanians, Vlachs, Macedonians and Bulgarians. Together they comprise about 84% of the entire population.

Roman Catholicism is mostly present in Vojvodina, especially its northern part, which is home to minority ethnic groups such as Hungarians, Slovaks, Croats, Bunjevci, and Czechs. There are an estimated 388,000 baptized Roman Catholics in Serbia, roughly 6.2% of the population, mostly in northern Serbia.^[1]

Protestantism accounts for about 1.1% of the country's population, chiefly among Reformist Hungarians and Slovaks in Vojvodina. Islam has a strong historic following in the southern regions of Serbia – southern Raška and Preševo Valley municipalities in the south-east. Bosniaks are the largest Islamic community in Serbia with 140,000 followers or 2% of the total population, followed by Albanians.^[1]

With the exile of Jews from Spain during the Inquisition era, thousands made their way through Europe to the Balkans. A significant number settled in Serbia and became part of the general population. They were well-accepted and in the ensuing generations the majority assimilated or became secular. Later on, the wars that ravaged the region resulted in a great part of the Serbian Jewish population emigrating from the region.^{[citation needed]} Today, there are 1,185 Jews living in Serbia. The only functioning synanogue remains the Belgrade Synagogue. The synagogue was saved from destruction, at the hands of the Nazis, by the local population during World War II.

Economy

Nikola Tesla on a contemporary 100 Serbian dinar bill.

Over one-third of the world's raspberries are grown in Serbia.

With a GDP (PPP) for 2012 estimated at $82.274 billion^[3] or $11,079 per capita (PPP), Serbia is an upper-middle income economy.^[117] Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) 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 in April 2011.^[3] The GDP growth rate showed increase by 6.3% in 2005,^[118] 5.8% in 2006,^[119] reaching 7.5% in 2007 and 8.7% in 2008^[120] as the fastest growing economy in the region.^[121] According to Eurostat data, Serbian (PPP) GDP per capita stood at 45% of the EU average in 2012.^[122]

The economy has a high unemployment rate of 23.7% as of February 2012^[123] and a unfavourable trade deficit. The country expects some major economic impulses and high growth rates in the next years. Given its recent high economic growth rates, which averaged 6.6% in the last three years, foreign analysts have sometimes labeled Serbia as a "Balkan Tiger".

Apart from its free-trade agreement with the EU as its associate member, Serbia is the only European country outside the former Soviet Union to have free trade agreements with Russia and Belarus.^[124]

Serbia grows about one-third of the world's raspberries and is a leading exporter of frozen fruit.^[125]

In July 2010, the credit rating agency Dun & Bradstreet rated Serbia's economy at DB4d, which remained the same since the last rating. There was expressed concern for the slower-than-expected recovery of the economy from the global financial crisis, along with the continuous high business risk due lowered credit capabilities, increasing company bankruptcy and generally poor economic prospects. The Agency also expressed concern for the high credit debt and large number of foreign banks in the financial sector, creating increased risk of instability.^[126]

Telecommunication

89% of households in Serbia have fixed telephone lines, and with over 9.60 million users the number of cell-phones surpasses the number of total population of Serbia itself by 30%. The largest cellphone provider is Telekom Srbija with 5.65 million subscribers, followed by Telenor with 3.1 million users and Vip mobile with just over 1 million.^[127] 52.1% of households have computers, 41.2% use the internet, and around 45%-50% (estimate) have cable TV, which puts the country ahead of certain member states of the EU.^{[128][129][130]} Serbia is ranked 57th in the world in terms of internet usage out of 216 states.^[131] 55.9% of the population uses the internet, placing Serbia ahead of all Balkan countries.^[132]

Transport

E75 motorway, near Inđija

Belgrade tram system

The Morava valley route, running across the country in north-south direction, is the easiest route of travel from continental Europe to Greece and Asia Minor. 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, E75, a small segment of E80 (to Niš) as well as smaller road segments like Belgrade bypass are modern highways of motorway / autobahn standard. Many new motorways (most of which belong to the E road network) are currently being built. Serbia plans to greatly expand its motorway network in the near future. Currently the main motorway construction projects in Serbia are following the routes of Pan-European corridors.

Modern Serbia was the first among its neighbors to buy railroads- in 1858 the first train arrived to Vršac, then Austria-Hungary^[133] (by 1882 route to Belgrade and Niš was completed). Serbian Railways handles the entire railway links in Serbia.

There are four international airports in Serbia: Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, Niš Constantine the Great Airport, Vršac International Airport and Pristina International Airport.

As of 2010, Serbia has 1,953,061 registered cars, 40,129 motorcycles, 9,201 buses, 172,799 trucks, 23,552 special transport vehicles (2009 info), 239,295 tractors and 99,025 trailers.^[134]

Although landlocked, there are around 2000 km of navigable rivers and canals, the largest of which are: the Danube, Sava, Tisa, joined by the Timiş River and Begej, all of which connect Serbia with Northern and Western Europe through the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal and North Sea route, to Eastern Europe via the Tisa, Timiş, Begej and Danube Black Sea routes, and to Southern Europe via the Sava river. The two largest Serbian cities – Belgrade and Novi Sad, as well as Smederevo – are major regional Danubian harbours.^[135]

Energy

Solar Plant in the town of Zrenjanin

Most of the energy is currently produced comes from coal or hydroelectric dams. Energy consumption is expected to exceed energy production by 2012 and Elektroprivreda Srbije, Serbia's largest energy producer, is expected to develop Đerdap III, a hydroelectric dam with approximately 2.4 gigawatts of power.^[136]

Naftna Industrija Srbije, Serbia's largest oil producer, was acquired by Russian energy giant Gazprom Neft. The two companies, are planning to build the Serbian portion of the South Stream gas pipeline. The two companies are also building a 300 million cubic meter gas storage at Banatski Dvor, located approximately 60 kilometers northeast of Novi Sad. The South Stream gas pipeline project will be the largest since the 19th century railway construction through Serbia.

Tourism

Tourism in Serbia mainly focuses on the villages and mountains of the country.^{[citation needed]} 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,^[137] Christian pilgrimage to the many Serbian monasteries across the country^[138] and the cruises along the Danube, Sava or Tisza. There are several popular festivals held in Serbia, such as EXIT, proclaimed to be 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.

Education

The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts directs a number of scientific research projects.

Education in Serbia is regulated by the Ministry of Science and 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. After compulsory education students have the opportunity to either attend a high school for another four years, specialist school, for 2 to 4 years, or to enroll in vocational training, for 2 to 3 years. Following the completion of high school or a specialist school, students have the opportunity to attend university.

In Serbia, some of the largest universities are:

• University of Belgrade
• University of Kragujevac
• University of Niš
• University of Novi Sad
• University of Pristina
• University of Novi Pazar

The University of Belgrade is the oldest and currently the largest university in Serbia. Established in 1808, it has 31 faculties, and since its inception, has trained an estimated 330,000 graduates. Other universities with a significant number of faculty and alumni are those of Novi Sad (founded 1960), Kragujevac (founded 1976) and Niš (founded 1965).

The roots^{[citation needed]} of the Serbian education system date back to the 11th and 12th centuries when the first Catholic colleges were founded in Titel and Bač. With the establishment of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Kingdom in 1217, education was mostly conducted through the monasteries of Sopoćani, Studenica, and Patriarchate of Peć. The oldest college faculty within the current borders 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.^{[citation needed]}

Science and technology

Serbia has a rich tradition of contributing to the field of science and technology. Scientist, inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla patented numerous inventions and was an important contributor to the birth of commercial electricity in the United States. Other notable Serbian scientists and inventors were Mihajlo Pupin and Milutin Milanković.

Publicity picture of Nikola Tesla sitting in his laboratory in Colorado Springs with his "Magnifying transmitter" generating millions of volts of electricity.

Inventions and discoveries

• Nikola Tesla was famous for developing the AC motor, the bifilar coil, various devices that used rotating magnetic fields, the alternating current polyphase power distribution systems, the fundamental devices of systems of wireless communication (legal priority for the invention of radio), radio frequency oscillators, devices for voltage magnification by standing waves, robotics, logic gates for secure radio frequency communications, devices for x-rays, apparatus for ozone generation,^[139] devices for ionized gases, devices for high field emission, devices for charged particle beams, methods for providing extremely low level of resistance to the passage of electrical current,^[140] means for increasing the intensity of electrical oscillations, voltage multiplication circuitry, devices for high voltage discharges, devices for lightning protection and VTOL aircraft. He also invented the Tesla coil^[141] and the Tesla turbine . The Tesla is the SI derived unit of magnetic flux density and was named after Tesla.^[142]
• Mihailo Petrović is known for having contributed significantly to differential equations and phenomenology, as well as inventing one of the first prototypes of an analog computer.
• Milutin Milanković is known for his theory of ice ages, suggesting a relationship between the Earth's long-term climate changes and periodic changes in its orbit, now known as Milankovitch cycles.
• Mihajlo Pupin discovered a means of means of greatly extending the range of long-distance telephone communication by placing loading coils of wire (known as Pupin coils) at predetermined intervals along the transmitting wire (known as "pupinization").^[143]
• Miodrag Radulovacki is best-known for postulating the Adenosine Sleep Theory in 1984.^[144]
• Josif Pančić discovered and identified the Serbian Spruce in 1875.^[145]

Culture

White Angel, 1230 A.D.

Marble Studenica monastery erected in 1196, UNESCO.

For centuries straddling the boundaries between East and West, Serbia had been divided among: 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 and Austria-Hungary, as well as Venice in the south. The result of these overlapping influences are distinct characters and sharp contrasts between various Serbian regions, its north being more tied to Western Europe and south leaning towards the Balkans and the Mediterranean Sea.

The Byzantine Empire's influence on Serbia was profound, through the introduction of Greek Orthodoxy from the 7th century onwards to today, the Serbian Orthodox Church has an overwhelming influence on the makeup of cultural objects in Serbia. Different influences were also present- chiefly the Ottoman, Hungarian, Austrian and also Venetian, also known as coastal Serbs. Serbs use both the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets.

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 added to the Heritage list in 1979, Studenica Monastery added in 1986, the Medieval Serbian Monastic Complex in Kosovo, comprising: Dečani Monastery, Our Lady of Ljeviš, Gračanica and Patriarchate of Pec, monestaties were added in 2004, and put on the endangered list in 2006, and Gamzigrad – Romuliana, Palace of Galerius, was 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 added in 2003.

The most prominent museum in Serbia is the National Museum of Serbia, founded in 1844; it houses a collection of more than 400,000 exhibits, over 5,600 paintings and 8,400 drawings and prints, and includes many foreign masterpiece collections and the famous Miroslav Gospels. The museum is currently undergoing renovation.

Art

Kosovo Maiden (1919) by Uroš Predić, based on the Serbian epic poetry, which was praised by many famous persons such as: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Jacob Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Carl Spitteler.^[146]

The National Museum of Serbia, featuring an exhibit of Paja Jovanović's art.

There are cultural traces in Serbia from prehistory. The most famous neolithic culture on the territory of Serbia is the culture of Lepenski Vir. There were many famous royal cities and palaces in Serbia at the time of Roman Empire and early Byzantine Empire, traces of which can still be found in Sirmium, Gamzigrad and Justiniana Prima. Serbian medieval monuments, which survived until our days, are mostly monasteries and churches. Most of these monuments have walls painted with frescoes. The most original monument of Serbian medieval art is the Studenica (around 1190). This monastery was a model for later monasteries, like: Mileševa, Sopoćani and Visoki Dečani. The most famous Serbian medieval fresco is the "Mironosnice na grobu" (or the "white angel") from the Mileševa monastery.

Icon-painting is also part of Serbian medieval cultural heritage. The influence of Byzantine art was increased after the fall of Constantinople into the hands of crusaders in 1204, when many artists went to Serbia. Their influence is seen in the building of the church Our Lady of Ljeviš and many other buildings, including Gračanica. The monastery Viski Dečani was built between 1330 and 1350. Unlike other Serbian monasteries, this one was built in romantic style, under the authority of grand master Vita from Kotor. On the frescoes of this monastery there are 1.000 portrets depicting the most important episodes from the New Testament. Another style of architecture followed in Serbia is that of the end of the 14th century, near the river Morava (Moravic school). A characteristic of this style was the wealthy decoration of frontal church-walls. The frescoes in the monastery Manasija depict religious scenes in which people with Serbian medieval clothes are shown.

During the time of Turkish occupation art virtually died, with the exceptions of several Serbian artists who lived in the lands ruled by Habsburg Monarchy. Traditional Serbian art showed some Baroque influences at the end of the 18th century as shown in the works of Nikola Nešković, Teodor Kračun, Zaharije Orfelin and Jakov Orfelin. Serbian painting showed the influence of Biedermeier, Neoclassicism, Romanticism and Realism during the 19th century. Some of the most prominent Serbian artists made their works at that time. Anastas Jovanović was a pioneering photographer in Serbia taking the photos of many leading citizens. Some of the most important Serbian painters of the 20th century were: Milan Konjović, Marko Čelebonović, Petar Lubarda, Milo Milunović, Vladimir Veličković, Mića Popović, Sava Šumanović and Milena Pavlović-Barili.

Literature

Miroslav Gospels, one of the oldest surviving documents written in Serbian Church Slavonic, 1186.

The start of Serbian literacy relates to the activity of brothers Cyril and Methodius in the Balkans. There are monuments of Serbian literacy from the early 11th century and, written Glagolitic. Back in the 12th century, there are books written in Cyrillic. From this epoch is the oldest Serbian Cyrillic book editorial, Gospel Zahumian prince Miroslav, brother of Stefan Nemanja. The Miroslav Gospel is the oldest book of Serbian medieval history.

Notable Baroque authors include Andrija Zmajević, Gavril Stefanović Venclović, Jovan Rajić, Zaharije Orfelin, Vasilije III Petrović-Njegoš and others. Dositej Obradović was a prominent figure of the Age of Enlightenment.

In the era of national revival, in the first half of 19th century Vuk Stefanović Karadžić translated the New Testament in Serbian and reformed the Serbian language and spelling. These were the foundations laid for the Serbian literature of recent times. The first half of the 19th century was dominated by Romanticism, with Branko Radičević, Petar II Petrović-Njegoš, Laza Kostić, Đura Jakšić and Jovan Jovanović Zmaj being the most notable representatives, while the second half of the century was marked by realist writers: Milovan Glišić, Laza Lazarević, Simo Matavulj, Stevan Sremac, Branislav Nušić, Radoje Domanović and Borisav Stanković. The 20th century has been given to the prose writers: Ivo Andrić, Isidora Sekulić, Miloš Crnjanski, Meša Selimović, Borislav Pekić, Dobrica Ćosić, Danilo Kiš, Aleksandar Tišma, Milorad Pavić, though there were valuable poetic achievements: Milan Rakić, Jovan Dučić, Desanka Maksimović, Miodrag Pavlović, Vladislav Petković Dis, Branko Miljković, Vasko Popa, and others.

In the last decade of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century, the most popular authors are: David Albahari, Milorad Pavić, Momo Kapor, Goran Petrović, Svetlana Velmar-Janković and Svetislav Basara.

Music

Serbia has a long tradition in music. Traditional Serbian music include various kinds of bagpipes, flutes, horns, trumpets, lutes, psalteries, drums and cymbals. A festive dance, called kolo is a favorite type of Serbian folklore dance, and it is different from region to region. The most popular are those from Užice and Morava region.

Sung epic poetry has been an integral part of Serbian and Balkan music for centuries. In the highlands of Serbia these long poems are typically accompanied on a one-string fiddle called the gusle, and concern themselves with themes from history and mythology.

Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac

Some of the first known Serbian composers are Stefan Srbin, Nikola Srbin and Isaija Srbin. They made their works in the late 14th and the 15th century, influenced by Byzantine music.

Composer and musicologist Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac is considered one of the most important founders of modern Serbian music. ^{[147] [148]} Born in 1856, Mokranjac taught music, collected Serbian traditional songs and did the first scholarly research on Serbian music. He was also the director of the first Serbian School of Music and one of the founders of the Union of Singing Societies. His most famous works are the Song Wreaths.

The Serbian composers Petar Konjović, Stevan Hristić and Miloje Milojević, all born in the 1880s, were the most eminent composers of their generation. They maintained the national expression and modernized the romanticism into the direction of impressionism. The best-known composers born around 1910 studied in Europe, mostly in Prague. Ljubica Marić, Stanojlo Rajicić, Milan Ristić took influence from Schoenberg, Hindemith and Haba, rejecting the "conservative" work of prior Serbian composers, seeing it as outdated and the wish for national expression was outside their interest.^[149] Other famous classical Serbian composers include Isidor Bajić, Stanislav Binički, and Josif Marinković.

The former Yugoslav rock scene, which Serbian rock scene was a part of during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, was well developed and covered in the media, which included numerous magazines, radio and TV shows. With the breakout of Yugoslav wars, former Yugoslav rock scene ceased to exist. During the 1990s popularity of rock music declined in Serbia, and although several major mainstream acts managed to sustain their popularity, an underground and independent music scene developed. The first decade of the 21st century saw the revival of the mainstream scene. The most notable Serbian rock acts include Bajaga i Instruktori, Đorđe Balašević, Disciplina Kičme, Ekatarina Velika, Električni Orgazam, Galija, Idoli, Korni Grupa, Partibrejkers, Pekinška Patka, Rambo Amadeus, Riblja Čorba, Smak, Šarlo Akrobata, YU grupa, Van Gogh, and others.

Serbia won the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.

Some of the most popular Serbian pop music performers are Zdravko Čolić, Željko Joksimović, Aleksandra Kovač, Aleksandra Radović, Ana Stanić, Jelena Tomašević, and others. Marija Šerifović won the first place at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Molitva", and Serbia was the host of the 2008 contest.

The so called "novokomponovana muzika" (newly composed music) can be seen as a result of the urbanization of folk music. In its early times, it had a professional approach to performance, used accordion and clarinet and typically included love songs or other simple lyrics. of the genre's best performers also play forms imported from even further abroad. These include Šaban Šaulić, Toma Zdravković, Silvana Armenulic and. At a later stage, the popular performers such as Lepa Brena, Vesna Zmijanac and Dragana Mirković used more influences from pop music, oriental music, and other genres, which led to the emergence of turbo folk.

Turbo-folk (a term coined by rock musician Rambo Amadeus) music emerged during the breakup of Yugoslavia. Turbo-folk used Serbian folk music and "novokomponovana" as the basis, and added influences from rock, pop and electronic dance music. In the first decade of the 21st century turbo-folk featured even more pop music elements, and some of the performers were labeled as pop-folk. Some of the best known turbo-folk performers include Seka Aleksić, Jelena Karleuša, Aca Lukas, Ceca Ražnatović, Dragana Mirković and others.

Brass bands, known as "trubači" (трубачи, trumpeters) are popular in Central and Southern Serbia where they originated. The music is traditional from the First Serbian Uprising. The trumpet was used as a military instrument to wake and gather soldiers and announce battles, the trumpet took on the role of entertainment during downtime, as soldiers used it to transpose popular folk songs. When the war ended and the soldiers returned to the rural life, the music entered civilian life and eventually became a music style, accompanying births, baptisms, weddings, slavas, farewell parties for those joining military service, state and church festivals, harvesting, reaping, and funerals. In 1831 the first official military band was formed by Prince Miloš Obrenović. Roma people have adopted the tradition and enhanced the music, and today most of the best performers are Roma.

The best known Serbian brass musicians are Goran Bregović, Fejat Sejdić, and Boban Marković and are also the biggest names in the world of modern brass band bandleaders. Guča trumpet festival is one of the most popular and biggest music festivals in Serbia, with over 300,000 visitors annually.^[150]

Theatre and cinema

Internationally famous Serbian film director Emir Kusturica.

Serbia has a well-established theatrical tradition with many theaters. The Serbian National Theatre was established in 1861 with its building dating from 1868. The company started performing opera from the end of the 19th century and the permanent opera was established in 1947. It established a ballet company. Bitef, Belgrade International Theatre Festival, is one of the oldest theatre festivals in the world. New Theatre Tendencies is the constant subtitle of the Festival. Founded in 1967, Bitef has continually followed and supported the latest theater trends. It has become one of five most important and biggest European festivals. It has become one of the most significant culture institutions of Serbia.

Cuisine

Serbian cuisine is a heterogeneous cuisine, sharing characteristics of the Balkans (especially former Yugoslavia), the Mediterranean (especially Greek), Turkish, and Central European (especially Austrian and Hungarian) cuisines. Each region has its own peculiarities and variations. Among traditional Serbian foods are ćevapčići, pljeskavica, sarma, pasulj, burek, gibanica, ajvar. The national drink is Slivovitz (šljivovica).

Sports

Novak Djokovic, the Number 1 tennis player in the world and a five-time Grand Slam champion.

Serbian national water polo team. Four time World, European and World cup champions.

Volleyball World League Finals, Belgrade Arena

Sports in Serbia revolve mostly around team sports: football, basketball, volleyball, handball, water polo, and, most recently, tennis. Milorad Čavić and Nađa Higl in swimming, Olivera Jevtić, Dragutin Topić in athletics, Aleksandar Karakašević in table tennis, Jasna Šekarić in shooting are also very popular athletes in Serbia.

The two main football clubs in Serbia are Red Star Belgrade and FK Partizan, both from the capital, Belgrade. Red Star is the only Serbian and former Yugoslav club that has won a UEFA competition, winning the 1991 European Cup in Bari, Italy. The same year in Tokyo, Japan, the club won the Intercontinental Cup. Partizan is the first Eastern European football club which played in a European Cup final (in 1966). The matches between the two rival clubs are known as the "Eternal derby". Serbia's national football team made their first appearance during the qualifying rounds for Euro 2008 although they did not qualify for the competition. During the qualifying tournament for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Serbia won the first place in its group and consequently qualified directly for the championship. The Serbian SuperLiga is the highest professional league in the country. The 2010/2011 season champion was FK Partizan, followed by Red Star Belgrade in second place, and FK Vojvodina in third.

Serbia is one of the traditional powerhouses of world basketball, winning various FIBA World Championships, multiple EuroBasket and Olympic medals (albeit as FR Yugoslavia). Serbia's national basketball team is considered the successor to the successful Yugoslavia national basketball team. Serbia has won FIBA world championships five times and won second place in the 2009 European championship. Players from Serbia made deep footprint in history of basketball, having success both in the top leagues of Europe and in the NBA. Many Serbs have played in the NBA, including: Serbian American Pete Maravich, Vlade Divac, Predrag Stojaković, Željko Rebrača, Marko Jarić Nenad Krstić, Darko Miličić, and Vladimir Radmanović.

The Basketball League of Serbia is the highest professional basketball league in Serbia. For the eighth consecutive year, KK Partizan is the reigning champion of the league, followed by rivals KK Crvena Zvezda. KK Partizan was the European champion in 1992 with the curiosity of winning the title, although playing all but one of the games (crucial quarter-final game vs. Knorr) away from home; FIBA decided not to allow teams from Former Yugoslavia play their home games at their home venues, because of the open hostilities in the region. KK Partizan was not allowed to defend their title in the 1992–1993 season, because of U.N.-imposed sanctions.

Serbian tennis players Novak Djoković, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Janković, Nenad Zimonjić, Janko Tipsarević and Viktor Troicki are very successful and their success has led to a popularisation of tennis in Serbia. Djoković, in particular, is very popular and is currently the # 1 tennis player in the ATP Rankings. He was also the founder of the first ATP tennis tournament in the country, the Serbia Open. Other well-known players are Serbian-born players are Monika Seles and Jelena Dokić. The Serbia men national team won the 2010 Davis Cup.

Serbia and Italy were host nations at 2005 Men's European Volleyball Championship. The Serbia men's national volleyball team is the direct descendant of Yugoslavia men's national volleyball team. Serbia won the bronze medal at the 2007 Men's European Volleyball Championship held in Moscow, Russia.

The Serbia men's national water polo team recently won the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Italy. Serbia has won four European Championships (2001, 2003, 2006 and 2012), finished as runner-up in 2008, won two World Championships (2005 and 2009) and won bronze medal at 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing.

See also

Geography portal Europe portal Serbia portal

	Book: Serbia
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• Outline of Serbia
  
• International rankings of Serbia

References

Sources

External links

Find more about Serbia on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

• Official website
• Serbia entry at The World Factbook
• Serbia at the Open Directory Project
• Wikimedia Atlas of Serbia
• Serbia travel guide from Wikitravel
• OpenStreetMap has geographic data related to Serbia

v t e Serbia topics Basic topics   History Timeline Prehistoric Serbia Starčevo culture Vinča culture Vatin culture Bosut culture Scordisci Illyria Prehistoric Balkans Roman Serbia Moesia Pannonia Dacia Praevalitana Dardania Middle Ages and Early modern period White Serbs Serbian Sklavinia Medieval Serbian Principality provinces of Rascia Bosnia Diocleia Travunia Zachlumia Pagania Serbian Grand Principality Serbian Kingdom Kingdom of Syrmia Serbian Empire Moravian Serbia Serbian Despotate Ottoman Serbia State of Jovan Nenad Duchy of Radoslav Čelnik Habsburg Kingdom of Serbia Serbia (1804-1918) Serbian Revolution Principality of Serbia Serbian Vojvodina Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar Kingdom of Serbia Balkan Wars Serbia after 1918 Yugoslavia Serbia under German occupation SR Serbia Republic of Serbia (1990-2006)   Politics Constitution President Prime Minister National Assembly Political parties Elections Foreign relations Government History Armed Forces Air Force Law enforcement Nationality law LGBT rights   Geography Administrative Cities (Spa towns) Streets and Squares Administrative divisions of Belgrade Landforms Mountains Hills Lakes Rivers Islands Swamps Caves Extreme points   Economy Currency Banks National Bank Companies Tourism Transport Communications   Culture Architecture Beer Cinema Films Cuisine Literature Medieval Cultural Heritage UNESCO sites Media Music Serbian Orthodox Church Sport Television Public holidays History Education Human rights LGTB rights Languages Religion Subdivisions Districts Crime Serb people List WikiProject Portal Commons

Geographic locale v t e Sovereign states and dependent territories of Europe Sovereign states Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Vatican City States with limited recognition Abkhazia Kosovo Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria Dependencies and other territories Denmark Faroe Islands Finland Åland Islands United Kingdom Akrotiri and Dhekelia Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey v t e The Danube Countries Germany Austria Slovakia Hungary Croatia Serbia Bulgaria Romania Moldova Ukraine Cities Ulm Ingolstadt Regensburg Passau Linz Krems Vienna Bratislava Győr Budapest Dunaújváros Novi Sad Belgrade Pančevo Smederevo Drobeta-Turnu Severin Vidin Giurgiu Ruse Brăila Galați Izmail Tulcea Tributaries Iller Lech Regen Isar Inn Morava Váh Hron Ipeľ Drava Tisza/Tisa Sava Timiș/Tamiš Great Morava Timok Jiu Iskar Olt Osam Yantra Vedea Argeș Ialomița Siret Prut Islands Ada Kaleh (currently submerged) Balta Ialomiţei Belene Island Csepel Island Donauinsel Great Brăila Island Great War Island Island of Vukovar Island of Šarengrad Kozloduy Island Margaret Island Ostrovul Ciocăneşti Ostrovul Mare, Islaz Ostrvo (Kostolac) Vardim Island Žitný ostrov List of crossings v t e Slavic Europe West Slavic  Czech Republic  Poland  Slovakia South Slavic  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Bulgaria  Croatia  Macedonia  Montenegro  Serbia  Slovenia East Slavic  Belarus  Russia  Ukraine  Transnistria (unrecognized) v t e Republics and autonomous provinces of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Macedonia Montenegro Serbia Vojvodina Kosovo Slovenia v t e Balkan countries Geographically fully located Albania · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Greece · Kosovo1 · Macedonia · Montenegro Significantly located Croatia  · Serbia Mostly outside of the peninsula Italy · Romania · Slovenia · Turkey See also Balkans · Southeast Europe · History of the Balkans · Balkan languages (Sprachbund) · Balkanization 1 Declared independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008 and is recognised by 88 United Nations member states.

International organizations v t e Council of Europe Institutions Secretary General Committee of Ministers Parliamentary Assembly Congress Court of Human Rights Commissioner for Human Rights Commission for the Efficiency of Justice Commission against Racism and Intolerance Members Full Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia1 Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom Observer Canada Israel Japan Mexico United States Vatican City Former Czechoslovakia (1991–1992) Saar (assoc. 1950–1956) 1 Provisionally referred to by the Council of Europe as "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"; see Macedonia naming dispute. v t e Enlargement and partners of the European Union Previous enlargements 1973 1981 1986 1995 2004 2007 Statistics Acceding Croatia (status) Candidates Iceland (status) Macedonia (status) Montenegro (status) Serbia (status) Turkey (status) Applied Albania (status) Potential (SAA) Bosnia and Herzegovina (status) Kosovo (under UNSCR 1244) (relations) Partnerships Eastern Partnership Armenia (relations) Azerbaijan (relations) Belarus (relations) Georgia (relations) Moldova (relations) Ukraine (relations) Northern Dimension Russia (relations) Norway (relations) Union for the Mediterranean Algeria Egypt Israel (relations) Jordan (relations) Lebanon (relations) Mauritania Monaco Morocco (relations) Palestine Syria Tunisia Current membership Criteria Withdrawal v t e Members of the Central European Free Trade Agreement Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Kosovo/UNMIK Macedonia Moldova Montenegro Serbia v t e Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC)      Albania  Armenia  Azerbaijan  Bulgaria  Georgia  Greece  Moldova  Romania  Russia  Serbia  Turkey  Ukraine v t e Members and observers of the Non-Aligned Movement Members Afghanistan Algeria Angola Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Bahrain Barbados Belarus Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Botswana Brunei Burkina Faso Burma Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile Colombia Comoros Congo Côte d'Ivoire Cuba Democratic Republic of the Congo Djibouti Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Honduras India Iran Jamaica Jordan Kenya Kuwait Laos Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Mauritania Mauritius Mongolia Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nepal Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Oman Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Peru Philippines Qatar Rwanda St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines São Tomé and Príncipe Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Somalia South Africa Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Swaziland Syria Tanzania Thailand East Timor Togo Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkmenistan Uganda United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Observers Countries Antigua and Barbuda Armenia Azerbaijan Bosnia-Herzegovina Brazil China Costa Rica Croatia Cyprus Dominica El Salvador Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Mexico Montenegro Russia Serbia Ukraine Uruguay Organizations African Union Arab League United Nations v t e Member states and observers of the Francophonie Members Albania Andorra Armenia Belgium French Community Benin Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada New Brunswick Quebec Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Cyprus1 Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Côte d'Ivoire Djibouti Dominica Egypt Equatorial Guinea France (French Guiana Guadeloupe Martinique St. Pierre and Miquelon Gabon Ghana1 Greece Guinea Guinea-Bissau Haiti Laos Luxembourg Lebanon Macedonia2 Madagascar Mali Mauritania Mauritius Moldova Monaco Morocco Niger Romania Rwanda St. Lucia São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Switzerland Togo Tunisia Vanuatu Vietnam Observers Austria Croatia Czech Republic Dominican Republic Georgia Haiti Hungary Latvia Lithuania Mozambique Poland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Thailand Ukraine 1 Associate member. 2 Provisionally referred to by the Francophonie as the "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"; see Macedonia naming dispute.