Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

has cold, snowy winters and warm summers.

The south has mild winters and

hot, dry summers.

People

Many different peoples live in the Balkans.

Most of the peoples belong to a

larger group called Slavs. The main

Slavic peoples include Serbs, Croats,

Slovenes, and Macedonians. The other

peoples of the Balkans include Romanians,

Albanians, Bulgarians, Hungarians,

Turks, Germans, and Roma

(Gypsies). Each group has its own language.

Christianity and Islam are the

main religions. Religion has been a

source of conflict in the Balkans.

History

Peoples called Illyrians, Thracians, and

Dacians lived in the Balkans in ancient

times. In 229 BC the Romans invaded

the peninsula. They controlled the Balkans

for many centuries. Christianity

spread through the Roman Empire in

the 300s AD. In 395 the empire divided

in two. The dividing line ran through

the Balkans. The western part of the

empire was ruled from the city of Rome.

The peoples who lived there became

Roman Catholics. The east was ruled

from the city of Constantinople (now

Istanbul, Turkey). The peoples who lived

there became Eastern Orthodox Christians.

At about the same time different

peoples began invading the Balkans

from the north. The Slavs were among

them. By the 500s the Slavs had spread

over much of the peninsula.

The Slavs then started to separate into

different peoples. Religion was a major

force in those separations. The Slavs

who lived in the western part of the Balkans

mostly became Roman Catholics.

Those who lived in the east mostly

became Eastern Orthodox Christians.

Some Balkan peoples created their own

kingdoms. The Bulgarians and the Serbs

built up empires. But in the late 1300s

and 1400s the Ottoman Turks conquered

the Balkans. They made the

whole region part of the Ottoman

Empire. The Turks converted some Slavs

and other peoples to Islam.

12 Balkan Peninsula BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

During the 1800s Balkan peoples

formed states that rebelled against the

Turks. In 1912 the states of Serbia, Bulgaria,

Greece, and Montenegro joined

together to defeat the Turks in war.

Soon, though, the Balkan states began

fighting each other. They disagreed over

who should control the land that had

been won from the Turks. DuringWorld

War I (1914–18) the Balkan states were

split between the two sides.

AfterWorldWar I a new Balkan country

was created. It combined the Slavic

lands of Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia,

Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and

Macedonia. Each became a republic of

the new country. In 1929 the country

was named Yugoslavia.

For many years after World War II

most of the Balkan countries were ruled

by strict Communist governments. In

1989 the Communists began to lose

power. The Balkan countries then made

their governments more democratic.

In 1991 and 1992 Croatia, Slovenia,

Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina

broke away from Yugoslavia to

form separate countries. That led to

fighting that lasted for several years. The

two republics that stayed in Yugoslavia

were Serbia and Montenegro. In 2003

they dropped the name Yugoslavia.

Then, in 2006, Serbia and Montenegro

split into separate countries. In 2008

another split occurred. The province of

Kosovo declared itself independent from

Serbia. Serbia refused to recognize

Kosovo as an independent country, however.

..More to explore

Europe • Ottoman Empire • Union of

Soviet Socialist Republics • Yugoslavia

Ballet

Ballet is a dance form that began in the

1500s. It is a theatrical art, meaning that

it is performed to music and with costumes

and scenery.

Positions and Steps

Ballet is based on a formal system of

poses and steps that have been changed

only slightly through the years. There

are five basic positions of the feet. In all

of them the legs are “turned out,” or

rotated from the hips so the feet point

outward. The foot positions in ballet are

balanced by matching positions of the

arms. In addition to the position of the

feet and arms, there are two major body

positions. In an arabesque one leg supports

the body’s weight while the other

leg extends backward with the knee

A church stands on an island in the middle

of Lake Bled in Slovenia.

.

When people

say that a

region or

group is balkanized,

they

mean that it

has been split

up into many

small units.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Ballet 13

 

straight and the foot pointed. In a similar

position called an attitude, the knee

of the raised leg is bent.

Among the basic steps of ballet are various

jumps, turns, and quick gliding or

sliding steps. Female dancers, called ballerinas,

dance part of the time on the

tips of the toes. This often gives their

movements a floating quality.

History

Ballet developed from dances performed

in the late 1500s for and by members of

the French royal court, including the

king. These court ballets used many

steps of the social dances of the time. In

1661 the French king Louis XIV established

the Royal Academy of Dance for

the study of ballet. Soon only trained

professionals danced in ballets. The

academy’s first director created the five

basic ballet positions. Over the next

several decades, its dancers developed

many of ballet’s basic steps.