The Balkans is an area of southeastern Europe situated at a major crossroads between mainland Europe and the Near East. The distinct identity and fragmentation of the Balkans owes much to its common and often violent history and to its very mountainous geography.

Neolithic

Archaeologists have identified several early culture-complexes, including the Cucuteni culture (4500 to 3500 BC), Vinča culture (5000 to 3000 BC), Linear pottery culture (5500 to 4500 BC), and Ezero culture (3300—2700 BC). The Eneolithic Varna culture (4600-4200 BC radiocarbon dating) produced the world's earliest known gold treasure, communicated with the Mediterranean and had sophisticated beliefs about afterlife. A notable set of artifacts is the Tărtăria tablets, which appear to be inscribed with proto-writing. The Butmir Culture (2600 to 2400 BC), found on the outskirts of present-day Sarajevo, developed unique ceramics, and was likely overrun by the Illyrians in the Bronze Age.

The "Kurgan hypothesis" of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origins assumes gradual expansion of the "Kurgan culture", around 5000 BC, until it encompassed the entire pontic steppe. Kurgan IV was identified with the Yamna culture of around 3000 BC.

Bronze Age

Between the end of the 3rd millennium BC and the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, proto-Greek-speaking tribes arrived in the Greek mainland.At that time Illyrian tribes settled in parts of Northern Albania and all the way aside Adriatic Sea. Around 1500 BC, Thracians settled in the Balkans, in Thrace and adjacent lands (now Romania, Bulgaria, northeastern Greece, European Turkey, eastern Serbia and Republic of Macedonia). They spoke the Thracian language, an Indo-European language.

The Phrygians seem to have settled in the southern Balkans at first, centuries later continuing their migration to settle in Asia Minor, now extinct as a separate group and language.

Iron Age

After the period that followed the arrival of the Dorians, known as the Greek Dark Ages or the Geometric Period, the classical Greek culture developed in the southern Balkan peninsula, the Aegean islands and the western Asia Minor Greek colonies starting around the 9–8th century and peaking with the 5th century BC Athens democracy. Hellenistic culture spread throughout the empire created by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. The Greeks were the first to establish a system of trade routes in the Balkans, and in order to facilitate trade with the natives, between 700 BC and 300 BC they founded several colonies on the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus) coast, Asia Minor, Dalmatia, Southern Italy (Magna Graecia) etc. By the end of the 4th century BC Greek language and culture were dominant not only in the Balkans but also around the whole Eastern Mediterranean. In the fifth century, the Persians invaded the Balkans, in an attempt to capture Greece, and then proceed to the fertile areas of Europe. However, the fierce Greek resistance drove their multinational army back to Asia. The Balkans were to remain free from the Asian nations for at least another thousand years.

The other peoples of the Balkans organized themselves in large tribal unions, such as the Thracian Odrysian empire, created in the 5th century BC. Other tribal unions existed in Dacia at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd century BC under King Oroles. The Illyrian tribes were situated in the area corresponding to today's Adriatic coast. The name Illyrii was originally used to refer to a people occupying an area centered on Lake Skadar, situated between Albania and Montenegro (Illyrians proper). However, the term was subsequently used by the Greeks and Romans as a generic name to refer to different peoples within a well defined but much greater area.

Pre-Roman states (4th to 1st c. BC)

The Illyrian king, Bardyllis turned Illyria into a formidable local power in the 4th century BC. The main cities of the Illyrian kingdom were Scodra (present-day Shkodra, Albania) and Rhizon (present-day Risan, Montenegro). In 359 BC, King Perdiccas III of Macedon was killed by attacking Illyrians.

But in 358 BC, Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, defeated the Illyrians and assumed control of their territory as far as Lake Ohrid. Alexander himself routed the forces of the Illyrian chieftain Cleitus in 335 BC, and Illyrian tribal leaders and soldiers accompanied Alexander on his conquest of Persia.

After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the Greek tribes started fighting among themselves, while up North, independent Illyrian kingdoms again arose. In 312 BC, King Glaukias seized Epidamnus. By the end of the 3rd century BC, an Illyrian kingdom based in Scodra controlled parts of northern Albania, Montenegro, and Herzegovina. Under Queen Teuta, Illyrians attacked Roman merchant vessels plying the Adriatic Sea and gave Rome an excuse to invade the Balkans. In the Illyrian Wars of 229 BC and 219 BC, Rome overran the Illyrian settlements in the Neretva river valley and suppressed the piracy that had made the Adriatic unsafe. In 180 BC, the Dalmatians declared themselves independent of the Illyrian king Gentius, who kept his capital at Scodra. The Romans defeated Gentius, the last king of Illyria, at Scodra in 168 BC and captured him, bringing him to Rome in 165 BC. Four client-republics were set up, which were in fact ruled by Rome. Later, the region was directly governed by Rome and organized as a province, with Scodra as its capital. Also, in 168 b.c, by taking advantage of the constant Greek civil wars, the Romans defeated Perseus, the last King of Macedonia and with of their allies in Southern Greece, they became lords of the region. The Greek territories were split to Macedonia, Achaia and Epirus.

Roman period (1st to 6th c.)

Starting in the 2nd century BC the rising Roman Empire began annexing the Balkan area, transforming it into one of the Empire's most prosperous and stable regions. To this day, the Roman legacy is clearly visible in the numerous monuments and artifacts scattered throughout the Balkans, and most importantly in the Latin based languages used by almost 25 million people in the area. However, the Roman influence failed to dissolve Greek culture, which gradually acquired a predominant status in the Eastern half of the Empire, more so in the southern half of the Balkans.

Beginning in the 3rd century AD, Rome's frontiers in the Balkans were weakened because of political and economic disorders within the Empire. During this time, the Balkans, especially Illyricum, grew to greater importance. It became one of the Empire's four prefectures, and many warriors, administrators and emperors arose from the region. Many rulers built their residence in this part of the region [2]. Though the situation had stabilized temporarily by the time of Constantine, waves of non-Roman peoples, most prominently the Thervings, Greuthungs and Huns, began to cross into the territory, first (in the case of the Thervingi) as refugees with imperial permission to take shelter from their foes the Huns, then later as invaders. Turning on their hosts after decades of servitude and simmering hostility, Thervingi under Fritigern and later Visigoths under Alaric I eventually conquered and laid waste[citation needed] the entire Balkan region before moving westward to invade Italy itself. By the end of the Empire the region had become a conduit for invaders to move westward, as well as the scene of treaties and complex political maneuvers by Romans, Goths and Huns, all seeking the best advantage for their peoples amid the shifting and disorderly final decades of Roman imperial power.

[edit] Rise of Christianity

Christianity first came to the area when Saint Paul and some of his followers traveled in the Balkans passing through Thracian and Greek populated areas. He spread Christianity to the Greeks at Beroia, Thessaloniki, Athens, Corinth and Dyrrachium.[citation needed] Saint Andrew also worked among the Dacians and Scythians, and had preached in Dobruja and Pontus Euxinus. In 46 AD, this territory was conquered by the Romans and annexed to Moesia. In 106 AD the emperor Trajan invaded Dacia. Subsequently Christian colonists, soldiers and slaves came to Dacia and spread Christianity. In the Third Century the number of Christians grew. When Emperor Constantine of Rome issued the Edict of Milan in 313, thus ending all Roman-sponsored persecution of Christianity, the area became a haven for Christians. Just twelve years later in 325, Constantine assembled the First Council of Nicaea. In 391, Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of Rome.

The East-West Schism, known also as the Great Schism (though this latter term sometimes refers to the later Western Schism), was the event that divided Christianity into Western Catholicism and Greek Eastern Orthodoxy, following the dividing line of the Empire in Western Latin-speaking and Eastern Greek-speaking parts. Though normally dated to 1054, when Pope Leo IX and Patriarch of Constantinople Michael I Cerularius excommunicated each other, the East-West Schism was actually the result of an extended period of estrangement between the two Churches. The primary claimed causes of the Schism were disputes over papal authority—the Pope claimed he held authority over the four Eastern patriarchs, while the patriarchs claimed that the Pope was merely a first among equals—and over the insertion of the filioque clause into the Nicene Creed. Most serious (and real) cause of course, was the competition for power between the old and the new capitals of the Roman Empire (Rome and Constantinople). There were other, less significant catalysts for the Schism, including variance over liturgical practices and conflicting claims of jurisdiction.

Middle Ages (7th to 14th c.)

Eastern Roman ("Byzantine") Empire
Byzantine Empire is the historiographical term used to describe the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. During most of its history the Eastern Roman Empire controlled many provinces in the Balkans and in Asia Minor. The Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian for a time retook and restored much of the territory once held by the unified Roman Empire, from Spain and Italy, to Anatolia. Unlike the Western Roman Empire, which met a famous if rather ill-defined death in the year 476 AD, the Eastern Roman Empire came to a much less famous but far more definitive conclusion at the hands of Mehmet II and the Ottoman Empire in the year 1453. Its expert military and diplomatic power ensured inadvertently that Western Europe remained safe from many of the more devastating invasions from eastern peoples, at a time when the still new and fragile Western Christian kingdoms might have had difficulty containing it (this role was mirrored in the north by the Russian states of Kiev, Vladimir-Suzdal and Novgorod).

The magnitude of influence and contribution the Byzantine Empire made to Europe and Christendom has only begun to be recognised recently. The Emperor Justinian I's formation of a new code of law, the Corpus Juris Civilis, served as a basis of subsequent development of legal codes. Byzantium played an important role in the transmission of classical knowledge to the Islamic world and to Renaissance Italy. Its rich historiographical tradition preserved ancient knowledge upon which splendid art, architecture, literature and technological achievements were built. This is embodied in the Byzantine version of Christianity, which spread Orthodoxy and eventually led to the creation of the so-called "Byzantine commonwealth" (a term coined by 20th-century historians) throughout Eastern Europe. Early Byzantine missionary work spread Orthodox Christianity to various Slavic peoples, amongst whom it still is a predominant religion.

Throughout its history, its borders were ever fluctuating, often involved in multi-sided conflicts with not only the Arabs, Persians and Turks of the east, but also with its Christian neighbours- the Bulgarians, Serbs, Normans and the Crusaders, which all at one time or another conquered large amounts of its territory. By the end, the empire consisted of nothing but Constantinople and small holdings in mainland Greece, with all other territories in both the Balkans and Asia Minor gone. The conclusion was reached in 1453, when the city was successfully besieged by Mehmet II, bringing the Second Rome to an end.

[edit] Barbarian incursions

Coinciding with the decline of the Roman Empire, many ‘barbarian’ tribes passed through the Balkans, most of whom did not leave any lasting state. During these ‘Dark Ages’ eastern Europe -like western Europe- regressed culturally and economically, although enclaves of prosperity and culture persisted along the coastal towns of the Adriatic and the major Greek cities in the south.[3] As the Byzantine Empire withdrew its borders more and more- in an attempt to consolidate its fledgling power- vast areas were de-urbanised, roads abandoned and native populations may have withdrawn to isolated areas such as mountains and forests.[3]

The first such tribe to enter the Balkans were the Goths. From northern East Germany, they migrated up the Vistula and settled in Scythia (modern Ukraine and Romania) in the 3rd century AD. Population pressures and the threat of the Huns led to their push further into the Balkans, into the Roman Empire. They were eventually granted lands inside the Byzantine realm (south of the Danube), as foederati. However, after a period of famine, a large contingent, led predominantly by (what would become) the Visigoths, rebelled against the Byzantines and defeated Emperor Valens at the famous Battle of Adrianople in 378. They subsequently sacked Rome in 410. In an attempt to deal with them, the succeeding emperor granted them rule of the Aquitaine region, in modern day France, where they founded the Visigothic kingdom. In the mean time, the Ostrogoths freed themselves from Hunnish domination in the battle of Nadeo in 454 AD. Theodoric the Great, the Ostrogothic King, was commissioned by Byzantine Emperor Zeno to conquer Italy from Odoacer of the foederati. They did this in 486, establishing the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy (which included Dalmatia). Thus Zeno achieved two goals with one action, he removed the Ostrogoths from his border, and extinguished the ruled of the troublesome Italian Foederati. The Ostrogoths established a kingdom in Italy which included the north-western Balkans, before it was defeated by the Byzantines.

From their new base in the Caucasus, the Huns then moved further west into Europe, entering Pannonia in 400-410 AD. They were a confederation of different ethnicities: a Mongol ruling core, as well as Turkic and Uralic elements, and later incorporated various German (Goths, Gepids), Sarmatian (incl [Alans]) and Slavic tribes. They are supposed to have triggered the great German migrations into western Europe. From their base, they subdued many people and carved out a sphere of terror extending from Germany and the Baltic to the Black Sea. With the death of Attila in 454 AD, succession struggles led to the rapid collapse of Hun prestige. At the battle of Nadeo, the Huns’ subjects, led by Gepid King Ardaric, defeated Attila's would-be successors. The Huns disappeared from Europe as an entity, but their legend has lived on.

Other Germanic peoples that settled briefly in the Balkans were the Gepids and Lombards. The Gepids entered Dacia in the 3rd century, living alongside the Goths. After winning their independence from the Huns, they settled in Dacia and a province near modern day Belgrade, establishing a short-lived kingdom. When the Lombards entered Pannonia in 550s AD, they defeated the Gepids and absorbed them. In 569 AD, they moved into northern Italy, establishing their own Kingdom at the expense of the Ostrogoths.

The Slavs migrated in successive waves. Small numbers might have moved down as early as the 3rd century[citation needed] however the bulk of migration did not occur until the late 500s AD. They occupied most of the Eastern Roman Empire, pushing deep into Greece. Most still remained subjects of the Roman Empire, but those that settled in the Pannonian plain were tributary to the Avars.

    Main article: South Slavs

Most historians and archeologists support the theory that the Slavic homeland originated in areas spanning modern-day southern Poland and Elbe valley in Germany. Since antiquity, the Balkans were already occupied by Illyrian tribes in the west and Thracian tribes in the east, many of which were Latinised (especially along the Dalmatian coast) and/or Hellenised (in the south). Their numbers were greatly decreased by the previous barbarian incursions. Many fled to mountainous areas or to the refuges of the cities on the Dalmatian coast. When the Slavs arrived, they were the first barbarian tribes to actually settle in the area permanently. They assimilated many of the native Balkan people.[4][5] However some retained their own cultures and language: scholars theorise that the Morlach/Vlach mountain tribes and Albanians are descended from such people. The Latinised Illyrians of the Dalmatian coast also remained distinct from the Slavs of the hinterland for quite some time, but they too eventually assimilated with the main population.

The Avars were probably a Turkic group, possibly with ruling core derived from Rouran which escaped China. They entered Pannonia in the 600s AD, forcing the Lombards to flee to Italy. They continuously raided the Balkans, contributing to the general decline of the area which commenced centuries earlier. After their unsuccessful siege on Constantinople in 626, they limited themselves to Pannonia. They ruled over the Pannonian Slavs that had already inhabited the region. By the 900s, the Avar confederacy collapsed due to internal conflicts, Frankish and Slavic attacks. The remnant Avars were subsequently absorbed by the Slavs and Magyars.

The Bulgars (also Bolgars or proto-Bulgarians), a people of Central Asia, probably originally Pamirian. The major Bulgar wave commenced with the arrival of Asparuh's Bulgars. Asparuh was one of Kubrat's, the Great Khan, successors. They had occupied the fertile plains of the Ukraine for several centuries until the Khazars swept their confederation in the 660s and triggered their further migration. One part of them — under the leadership of Asparuh — headed southwest and settled in the 670s in present-day Bessarabia. In 680 AD they invaded Moesia and Dobrudja and formed a confederation with the local Slavic tribes who had migrated there a century earlier. After suffering a defeat at the hands of Bulgars and Slavs, the Byzantine Empire recognised the sovereignty of Asparuh's Khanate in a subsequent treaty signed in 681 AD. The same year is usually regarded as the year of the establishment of Bulgaria (see History of Bulgaria). A smaller group of Bulgars under Khan Kouber settled almost simultaneously in the Pelagonian plain in western Macedonia after spending some time in Panonia. Some Bulgars actually entered Europe earlier with the Huns. After the disintegration of the [Hunnic Empire|Hunnish Empire] the Bulgars dispersed mostly to eastern Europe.


The Magyars, led by Árpád, were the leading clan in a ten tribe confederacy. They entered Europe in the 900s AD, settling in Pannonia. There they encountered a predominantly Slavic populace and Avar remnants. The Magyars were a Uralic people, originating from west of the Ural Mountains. They learned the art of horseback warfare from Turkic people. They then migrated further west around 400AD, settling in the Don-Dnieper area. Here they were subjects of the Khazar Khaganate. They were neighboured by the Bulgars and Alans. They sided with 3 rebel Khazar tribes against the ruling factions. Their loss in this civil war, and ongoing battles with the Pechenegs, was probably the catalyst for them to move further west into Europe.

Even after the newcomers (i.e. Slavs, Magyars and Bulgars) to the Balkans established Kingdoms and Principalities recognised by the European theatre, invasions continued into Europe. Between the years 1000 to 1300 AD, nomadic Turkic peoples from the east entered the fringes of the Balkans. These included the Cumans and Pechenegs. Often allied with Byzantium (hired as mercenaries against the Rus at one time, Bulgars at another), they just as easily would break alliance and attack Byzantium. The situation was similar with their dealings with the Rus to the north. These steppe peoples ceased to exist as a formidable body after the Mongol invasion in the 12th century. Some of the westernmost regions of the Steppe land, i.e. the Moldavia region etc, escaped outright Mongol dominion. Here the people were largely assimilated by the Bulgarian, Hungarian and Romanian populace, adding to the ethnic milieu that is the Balkans.

[edit] Vlachs (Romanians, Aromanians, Morlachs, Istro-Romanians)

"Vlach", "Wallach", "Vlakh" and other variations of the term date back in time nearly 2,000 years and refer to a variety of Latin-speaking peoples whose origin is ultimately Latin colonizers and Latinized indigenous peoples.

The maximum extent of the Roman Empire in southeastern Europe occurred after 106 AD when conquest of the Dacians extended the empire from modern Greece to Romania. By all accounts, the Latin-speaking people of the Roman Empire represented both a variety of indigenous people as well as colonists who came into the region. Under barbarian pressure, the Roman Legions retreated from Dacia (modern Romania) in 271-275. According to Romanian historians, Roman colonists and the Latinized Dacians retreated into the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania after the Roman Legions withdrew from the area. This view is supported to the extent that archeological evidence does indicate the presence of a Romanised population in Transylvania by at least the 8th Century.

By the late 4th century the Roman Empire was plagued by internal problems and by the incursions of various barbarian tribes. By the 7th and 8th Centuries, the Roman Empire existed only south of the Danube River in the form of the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople. In this ethnically diverse closing area of the Roman Empire, Vlachs were recognized as those who spoke Latin, the official language of the Byzantine Empire used only in official documents, until the 6th Century when it was changed to the more popular Greek. These original Vlachs probably consisted of a variety of ethnic groups (most notably Thracians, Greeks) who shared the commonality of having been assimilated in language and culture of the Eastern Roman, later Byzantine Empire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Balkans