Serbia, Republic of

Landlocked country in central and southeastern Europe, bordering Hungary to the north, Romania and Bulgaria to the east, Albania and the Republic of Macedonia to the south, and Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to the west. It was a constituent republic, together with Montenegro, of Serbia and Montenegro, 1992-2006 and of Yugoslavia before then. It includes Kosovo and Vojvodina; area 88,400 sq km/34,100 sq mi; population (2002 census) 7,479,437 (excluding Kosovo, 2.1 million est). The capital is Belgrade.

Geography Serbia contains the fertile Danube plains in the north, and is mountainous in the south (Dinaric Alps, Sar Mountains, northern Albanian Alps, Balkan Mountains). The main rivers are the Sava, Tisza, and Morava.

The region includes the former autonomous provinces of Kosovo, the predominantly Albanian population of which demands unification with Albania; and Vojvodina, with a predominantly Serbian population and a large Hungarian minority. Kosovo has been under United Nations' administration since 1999.

Language and religion The main language is the Serbian variant of Serbo-Croat. The principal religion is Serbian Orthodox Christianity.

Government Serbia is a parliamentary multi-party democracy, with a largely ceremonial president as head of state. The president is popularly elected for a four-year term. The parliament, the National Assembly of Serbia, comprises 250 members popularly elected for a four-year term. The government is headed by a prime minister, chosen by the National Assembly, which also approves the prime minister's nominations of ministers.

History The Serbs settled in the Balkans in the 7th century and became Christians in the 9th century. They were united as one kingdom in about 1169; the Serbian hero Stefan Dushan (1331-1355) founded an empire covering most of the Balkans. After their defeat at Kosovo in 1389, the Serbs came under the domination of the Ottoman Turks, who annexed Serbia in 1459. During the Ottoman period, some Serbs converted to Islam but most kept their culture and religion. Uprisings of 1804-15, led by Kara George (Karadorde) and Miloš Obrenović, forced the Turks to recognize Serbia as an autonomous principality under Obrenović. The assassination in 1817 of Kara George on Obrenović's orders gave rise to a long feud between the two families. After a war with Turkey in 1876-78, Serbia became an independent kingdom. On the assassination of the last Obrenović in 1903 the Karageorgević dynasty (descendants of Kara George) came to the throne.

The two Balkan Wars in 1912-13 greatly enlarged Serbia's territory at the expense of Turkey and Bulgaria. Serbia's designs on Bosnia-Herzegovina, backed by Russia, led to friction with Austria, culminating in the outbreak of war in 1914. Serbia was overrun in 1915-16 and was occupied until 1918, when it became the nucleus of the new kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, and subsequently Yugoslavia. Rivalry between Croats and Serbs continued within the republic. During World War II Serbia was under a puppet government set up by the Germans (94% of Serbian Jews were killed in 1941-44); after the war it became a constituent republic of communist Yugoslavia.

Under communist Yugoslavia Marshal Tito ruled Yugoslavia until 1980, after which regional unrest grew, especially in Kosovo and Bosnia, and the country entered economic decline. In 1986 the communist and Serbian nationalist Slobodan Milošević became president of Serbia, and pressed for the reintegration of the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina to Serbia. Milošević became Yugoslav president in 1990, and his territorial ambitions for Serbia were one of the causes of the civil war of the early 1990s that led to the dismantling of Yugoslavia and the declaration of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia consisting of Serbia and Montenegro.

Opposition to Milošević From 1997, Montenegro became economically independent of Serbia as a result of its concerns over Serbia's efforts, under Milošević, to dominate it.

Early 1998 saw growing civil unrest in Kosovo, where fighting erupted between Serb paramilitary forces and ethnic Albanians. Milošević's crackdown on Kosovan Albanians led to international sanctions. Eventually a 78-day NATO bombing campaign forced Milošević in March 1999 to withdraw and Kosovo came under UN rule. For details of events in Kosovo, see Kosovo.

Opposition to Milošević grew. In September 2000 opposition parties claimed there had been vote rigging in the federal elections, and he was ousted from power in October 2000, following street protests and rallies by a broad anti-Milošević coalition.

The road to independence After the fall of Milosevic, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia came to power and Serbia's international isolation was ended. The Democratic Party of Serbia, led by Vojislav Kostunica, who became prime minster after new elections in 2004, was the key element in the ruling coalition. In 2003 the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was renamed Serbia and Montenegro, as a looser state of union. In June 2006, Montenegro broke away, after a referendum in favour of independence, and Serbia also became independent.