SOUTH SLAVS

The 'South Slavs' are a southern branch of the Slavic peoples that live in the Balkans, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps. They speak the South Slavic languages.

Contents

History

South Slavic peoples

Regional groups

Countries

Cities

Religion

Language

References

Notes

Images

See also

History

Originating from the Slavic homeland in present-day western Ukraine, ^[1] South Slavs migrated to the Balkans in two directions. The eastern group migrated south along the coast of the Black Sea, first settling in the Wallachian lowland, and then moving to the eastern and southern Balkans. The western group migrated to the south-west, crossed the Carpathians and settled in the Pannonian Plain, advancing from there to the western Balkans and eastern Alps. Both groups of Southern Slavs, eastern and western, settled in the Balkans in the 6th century. The contact between the two in the central Balkans produced transitional dialects such as Torlakian.
Prior to this, the area had been previously inhabited by Dacian, Thracian and Illyrian tribes, which are broad classifications of otherwise quite varied groups. Furthermore, before the arrival of the Slavs, the area had been subjected to raids by the Asiatic Huns, Iranian Alans, and Germanic Goths. It is likely that these tribes virtually 'disappeared' quite rapidly after their looting was checked, and left little if any impact on the area.
In the 7th century, after the initial Slavic settlement in the Balkans, three other ethnic groups settled in the region. These groups were Serbs, Croats and the Bulgars, and all three played an important role in the formation of South Slavic states.
The Serbs and Croats were West Slavic tribes that moved to Balkans from the regions known as White Serbia and White Croatia. Although the difference between west and south Slavic dialects was not large at the time, the Serbs and Croats adopted the dialect of the South Slavs, but imposed their tribal names on them. It is believe they were invited by the Byzantine emperor to drive out the Avars (another Asiatic nomadic tribe) that had subjugated the earlier slavs and were raiding the Byzantine empire. The Serbs and Croats defeated the Avars, and the remnant Avars either fled, were killed, or assimilated.
The 'invading', more correctly migrating, Slavs mixed with many of the 'native' inhabitants of the Balkans, ie the Illyrians, Thracians and Dacians. This combination has produced the unique south Slavic identity.
Similarly, the old Bulgars that settled in the Balkans were not Slavs, but a nomadic people of obscure origins who were believed to be Turkic.
Establishing a powerful empire in the 7th century, the First Bulgarian Empire, the ancestors of present-day Bulgarians were the first South Slavs to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 865 and the creators of the Cyrillic alphabet in the 10th century. Having during most of the time been a powerful rival of the Byzantine Empire, the First Bulgarian Empire was subjugated by it in 1018. A revolt in 1185 restored it as the Second Bulgarian Empire, which after some initial attainments in the 12th and 13th century was conquered by the Ottomans towards the end of the 14th century.
The Slovenian state of Karantania was formed in the 7th century, annexed by the Frankish Kingdom in the 8th century, and was later ruled by various German states.
Croatia was composed of two dukedoms since the 8th century, which later formed an independent kingdom in the 10th century. It lost its independence by forming a personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary at the beginning of the 12th century. After the Kingdom of Hungary lost its independence in the 16th century, territories inhabited by Croats were ruled by the Habsburg Monarchy, Ottoman Empire and the Venetian Republic.
In the western Balkans, several Serbian states were created — Raška, Duklja, Travunia, Zahumlje and Pagania. Raška (later known as Serbia) became a kingdom in the 13th century, and an empire in the 14th century before being conquered by the Ottomans in the 15th century. Duklja (later known as Zeta and Montenegro) became a kingdom in the 11th century, but was also conquered by Ottomans in the 15th century.
The Bosnian state originated as a pre-feudal entity in the 10th century, enjoyed semi-independence and statehood from the 12th century on before becoming a monarchy in the 14th century, and finally being subjugated by Ottomans in the 15th century.
Between the 15th and 19th centuries, the only independent South Slavic states were the Republic of Dubrovnik and ''de facto independent'' Montenegro. The Republic of Dubrovnik was abolished by the French Empire in 1808, while the independence of Montenegro was formally recognized in 1878. The independence of Serbia, which had been an autonomous principality within Ottoman Empire since 1817, was also recognized in 1878, as well as autonomy of Bulgaria, which became ''de jure'' independent in 1908.
The rest of the South Slavs however still lived under the rule of the two empires — the Habsburg Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Following the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) and the First World War (1914-1918), the two empires collapsed, and all South Slavs now lived in two states — Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as Yugoslavia). Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia (1991-1992) and Serbia and Montenegro (2006), South Slavs now live in seven states — Bulgaria, F.Y.R.O.M, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia.

South Slavic peoples

South Slavs are divided into two groups — eastern and western. Please note that some of the subdivisions of the South Slavic ethnicities remain debatable, particularly for smaller groups and national minorities in former Yugoslavia.
List of the South Slavic peoples and ethnic groups, including population figures: ^[2]
Eastern group:

★ Bulgarians = 10,000,000

★
★ Pomaks (Muslim Bulgarians) = 150,000

★
★ Bessarabian Bulgarians = 270,000

★
★ Palćene (Banat Bulgarians) = 40,000

★ ethnic Slavic-Macedonians = 1,700,000
Western group:

★ Serbs = 9,500,000

★ Croats = 6,200,000

★
★ Burgenland Croats = 50,000

★
★ Janjevci = 10,000

★
★ Molise Croats = 5,000

★ Bosnians = 250,000

★ Bosniaks = 2,600,000

★ Slovenians = 2,200,000

★ Montenegrins = 600,000

★ Yugoslavs = 400,000

★ Muslims by nationality = 100,000

★ Bunjevci = 80,000

★ Gorani = 35,000

★ Krashovans = 5,000

★ Šokci = 1,900
In the legendary description of the three major ethnicities amongst Slavic peoples, the designation "Ethnic Southern Slavic peoples", or more commonly "Czechs", is used to refer to not only to what are today generally considered South Slavs, but also to Czechs, Slovaks and Southern Sorbs.

Regional groups

Besides ethnic groups, South Slavs often identify themselves with the geographical region in which they live. Some of the major regional South Slavic groups include: Zagorci, Istrani, Dalmatinci, Slavonci, Bosanci, Hercegovci, Krajišnici, Semberci, Srbijanci, Šumadinci, Vojvođani, Sremci, Bačvani, Banaćani, Sandžaklije, Kosovci, Crnogorci, Bokelji, Torlaks, Shopi, Pelagonci, Tikvešjani, Trakiytsi, Dobrudzhantsi, Balkandzhii, Miziytsi, Pirintsi, Rodoptsi, Bessarabian Bulgarians, etc.

Countries

There are seven countries in which South Slavs form the majority of population: [1]

★ Slovenia (83% Slovenians, 1% Bosnians)

★ Croatia (90% Croats)

★ Bosnia and Herzegovina (45% Bosniaks, 37% Serbs, 14% Croats, 3% Bosnians)

★ Serbia (66% Serbs)

★ Montenegro (43% Montenegrins, 32% Serbs)

★ Republic of Macedonia (64% ethnic Macedonians)

★ Bulgaria (84% Bulgarians)
In addition, there are traditional sizable South Slavic minorities in non-Slavic neighbouring countries such as Italy (Slovenians, Molise Croats), Austria (Slovenians, Burgenland Croats), Hungary (Serbs, Croats, Bunjevci, Šokci, Slovenians), Romania (Krashovani, Banat Bulgarians, Serbs), Moldova (Bessarabian Bulgarians), Greece (Bulgarians,), Turkey (Pomaks, Bosniaks) and Albania (, Bulgarians, Serbs, Montenegrins, Gorani), as well as emigrant communities in various countries around the world.

Cities

Largest cities with South Slavic majority:

★ Belgrade (Serbia) = 1,281,801

★ Sofia (Bulgaria) = 1,270,450

★ Zagreb (Croatia) = 779,145

★ Skopje (F.Y.R.O.M) = 506,926

★ Varna (Bulgaria) = 357,752

★ Plovdiv (Bulgaria) = 341,873

★ Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) = 304,136

★ Ljubljana (Slovenia) = 265,881

★ Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) = 227,000

★ Split (Croatia) = 221,456

★ Burgas (Bulgaria) = 205,821

★ Novi Sad (Serbia) = 196,902

★ Ruse (Bulgaria) = 176,115

★ Niš (Serbia) = 173,861

★ Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina) = 165,000

★ Stara Zagora (Bulgaria) = 162,768

★ Rijeka (Croatia) = 152,279

★ Kragujevac (Serbia) = 147,473

★ Zenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina) = 146,000

★ Pleven (Bulgaria) = 137,001

★ Podgorica (Montenegro) = 136,473

★ Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina) = 125,448

★ Maribor (Slovenia) = 115,693

★ Dobrich (Bulgaria) = 114,990

★ Osijek (Croatia) = 114,616

★ Pernik (Bulgaria) = 108.366

★ Sliven (Bulgaria) = 106,434

★ Kumanovo (F.Y.R.O.M) = 105 484

★ Shumen (Bulgaria) = 103,016

Religion

The religious and cultural diversity of the region the South Slavs inhabit has had a considerable influence on their religion. Originally a polytheistic pagan people, the South Slavs have also preserved many of their ancient rituals and traditional folklore, often intermixing and combining it with the religion they later converted to.
Today, most of the Bulgarians, Slavic-Macedonians, Serbs, Montenegrins, and Yugoslavs are Eastern Orthodox Christians; most of the Slovenians, Croats, Bunjevci, Šokci, Krashovans, and Palćene are Roman Catholics; while most of the Bosniaks, Muslims by nationality, Gorani, Torbesh, and Pomaks are Muslims.

Language

South Slavic standard languages are:

★ Bosnian

★ Bulgarian

★ Croatian

★ Serbian

★ Slovenian
In addition, there are also two more South Slavic languages, Montenegrin and Bunjevac, that do not have official status, but that are widely used by their speakers. Formerly, the Šokac language was also listed in the censuses conducted during Austro-Hungarian administration.
However, this language division is rather political than linguistic, thus linguistic non-political classification of the South Slavic dialects is as follows:

★ Slovenian

★ Kajkavian Croatian

★ Chakavian Croatian

★ Shtokavian (base for standard Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian, as well as non-standard Montenegrin and Bunjevac)

★
★ Ekavian (standard Serbian)

★
★ Ijekavian (standard Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian, as well as non-standard Montenegrin)

★
★ Ikavian (non-standard Bunjevac)

★ Torlakian

★ Slavic-Macedonian

★ Bulgarian
Note that Kajkavian Croatian, Chakavian Croatian, Shtokavian, and Torlakian were sometimes classified as four dialects of Serbo-Croatian language, but this classification was also politically motivated since, for example, differences between Shtokavian and Kajkavian are large as much as differences between Shtokavian and Slavic-Macedonian.

References

#Trajan Stojanović, Balkanska civilizacija, Beograd, 1995.
#Nikola Jeremić, Srpska Zemlja Bojka, Zemun, 1993.
#Aleksandar M. Petrović, Kratka arheografija Srba, Novi Sad, 1994.
#Sava S. Vujić - Bogdan M. Basarić, Severni Srbi (ne)zaboravljeni narod, Beograd, 1998.
#Jovan Dragašević, Makedonski Sloveni, Novi Sad, 1995.
#Kosta V. Kostić, Prilog etnoistoriji Torlaka, 2. izdanje, Novi Sad, 1995.

Notes

1. Relja Novaković, Još o poreklu Srba, Beograd, 1992.
2. Mile Nedeljković, Leksikon naroda Sveta, Beograd, 2001.

Images

See also

★ Slavic peoples

★ East Slavs

★ West Slavs