Notes

Southeastern Europe was once commonly referred to as the Balkans, taking its name from the Balkan peninsula on which its countries are located.

Today this area is more accurately defined as Southeastern Europe and includes the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, and European Turkey.

Southeastern Europe is a mountainous land. The Carpathian Mountains in the northern area are the beginning of a series of mountain ranges that also includes the Transylvanian Alps and the Balkan Mountains.

The Balkan peninsula is home to most of the countries of Southeastern Europe. The climate here is mostly moist and humid, with cold winters and hot summers.

Croatia, a land of extremely varied terrain, wraps around the northwestern corner of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has fertile plains that produce an abundance of grains and fruits. Croatia's mountainous coast borders the In 2002, another portion of former Yugoslavia was restructured into a loose federation of two republics called Serbia and Montenegro. These republics operate separately but are considered one country and have one capital, Belgrade. Romania and Bulgaria are its eastern neighbors.

Montenegro is the smaller of the two republics. It maintains its own central bank and uses the euro as its currency.

Kosovo is a province of Serbia and Montenegro that is currently under the administration of the UN.
Adriatic Sea. The Adriatic coast is a popular tourist attraction. The capital city is Zagreb.

Croatia is composed of lands that were once part of the former Yugoslavia. Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. It is home to about 4.5 million people and controls most of the land routes to the Adriatic Sea and Turkish straits.