The South Slavs are Slavic peoples speaking South Slavic languages. They settle the Balkan peninsula, southern Pannonian Plain and eastern Alps. Numbering close to 40 million, they include the Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs, and Slovenes. They are the main population of the Central- and Southern European countries of Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Their territories are separated from the rest of the Slavic nations since the 15th century by the modern non-Slavic states of Austria, Hungary and Romania, leading to a differing historical progression for the South Slav nations in relation to the West- and East Slavs.
Read more about South Slavs: South Slavic Peoples, Countries, Cities, Regional Groups and Other Subdivisions, Religion, Language, Genetics, Gallery, References
Famous quotes containing the word south:
“Even when seen from near, the olive shows
A hue of far away. Perhaps for this
The dove brought olive back, a tree which grows
Unearthly pale, which ever dims and dries,
And whose great thirst, exceeding all excess,
Teaches the South it is not paradise.”
—Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)