SERBIA

n.

Constituent republic of Serbia and Montenegro , constituting 80% of its area.

The formerly autonomous provinces of Kosovo (administered by the UN since 1999) and the Vojvodina are within its borders. Area: 34,116 sq mi (88,361 sq km). Population (2001 est.): 9,993,000. Capital: Belgrade . Ethnic Serbs, Croats, Bosniacs (Muslims), and Albanians live in the republic. Language: Serbian (Serbo-Croatian; official). Religions: Serbian Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Islam. Currency: Serbian dinar. Serbia is mountainous, with forests in the central area and low-lying plains in the north. The fertile plains of the Vojvodina supply much of the country's grain, tobacco, and sugar beets, while the hilly central areas specialize in dairy, fruit, and livestock. Before the civil war in the 1990s, mining and manufacturing were the economic mainstays, with industries noted for textiles and with deposits of lead, zinc, coal, copper, and oil. Serbs settled the region in the 6th–7th centuries AD. In the 9th century the Serbs, nominally under Byzantine suzerainty, converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The Ottoman Turks triumphed at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389; after a long period of resistance, Serbia became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1459. After the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29, Serbia became an autonomous principality under Turkish suzerainty and Russian protection. It became completely independent of Turkey in 1878. After World War I, Serbia became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes , which was renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. In 1946 Serbia was made one of six federated republics of Yugoslavia. As the Yugoslav economy faltered in the 1980s, the country began to break apart. After an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Slovenia's secession in 1991, Serb elements of the Yugoslav armed forces began assisting Bosnian Serbs in sweeping Muslims and Croats from eastern and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1992, after Yugoslavia's breakup, Serbia joined with Montenegro to form a new Yugoslav federation. The area remained in turmoil (see Bosnian conflict ). The signing of the Dayton peace accords in 1995 ultimately brought little relief. Slobodan Milo 0161; evi 0107; retained power in Serbia through the end of the century, and the push for more autonomy by Albanian Kosovars provoked another round of fighting in 1998–99 (see Kosovo conflict ). As the violence escalated, NATO responded with a bombing campaign, which led to a peace accord in June 1999. A change in the Yugoslav government late in 2000 brought reinstatement in the UN, and in 2003, after the Montenegrin government threatened to declare independence, the governments of the two constituent states agreed to remain united under the name Serbia and Montenegro.