Welcome to You Ask Andy

Jenny Turco, age 13, of Las Vegas, Nev., for her question:

WHERE IS THE BALKAN PENINSULA?

The Balkan Peninsula is in the southeastern part of the continent of Europe. It has a land area of more than 300,000 square miles and is made up of five countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia.

The countries of the region are often called the Balkan States. A small part of the southeastern end of the peninsula belongs to Turkey and it links the Balkans with the Middle East.

The Adriatic, Ionian, Mediterranean, Aegean, Marmara and Black seas surround the peninsula on three sides.

The Balkan's civilization is a blend of Eastern and Western cultures.

Only six cities in the Balkans have populations of more than 200,000: Bucharest in Romania, Sofia in Bulgaria, Athens and Salonika in Greece and Belgrade and Zagreb in Yugoslavia.

There are three large language groups: Romanian, Greek and Slavic (Serbs, Bulgarians, Croats, Slovenians and Macedonians.) Other important languages are Albanian and Turkish.

Three main religions are found in the Balkans. The leading church is the Eastern or Greek Orthodox. Its members are Romanians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Macedonians and some Albanians. The second most important religion 1s Roman Catholicism, whose members can be found mainly in Croatia, Slovenia, Dalmatia and northern Albania. Third are followers of Islam and include some Albanians, Slavs, Gypsies and a few other groups.

In Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Yugoslavia the Communist governments have weakened the power of various churches.

The Balkan peoples' chief economic resource is agriculture. Large, fertile regions include the flatlands of Romania and Yugoslavia and the valleys of the main rivers. The fertile regions yield large amounts of grains, vegetables and livestock. Greece exports raisins, figs and olive oil.

Mineral resources include copper, chrome, iron, lead, zinc and bauxite.

In all of the Balkan countries except Greece, the mining and manufacturing industries and foreign trade have been nationalized or placed under government management.

In Albania, Bulgaria and Romania, between 70 and 80 percent of all foreign trade is with the Soviet Union and other Communist nations. In these countries much of the agriculture has either been taken over by the state or collectivized. State farms operate like factories, with the government paying the workers their wages.

In Bulgaria, the most collectivized of the Balkan countries, 90 percent of the agricultural land is in collective farms.

In ancient times the Balkan Peninsula was inhabited by many tribes that spoke similar languages and had customs in common In the Fifth Century B.C., the Greeks reached their highest level of cultural development. They colonized the shores of the Mediterranean basin, the Adriatic and the Black Sea.

 

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