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9. Contact - got a question about Serbs, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Serbs, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{Infobox Ethnic group|group = SerbsСрби|image = |caption = Saint Sava Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia Karađorđe Petrović Nikola Tesla Nadežda Petrović, thus many non-Serbs from former Yugoslavia.|pop3 = 507,328 (2004 est.)|ref3 = |region4 = |pop4 = 201,892 (2003 census)|ref4 = {{lower| CIA Factbook 2006 for Montenegro-->|region5 = |pop5 = 201,631 (2001 census)|ref5 = |region6 = |pop6 = 177,300 (2005)|ref6 = |region7 = |pop7 = 169,479 (2005 survey)|ref7 = |region8 = |pop8 = 95,364 (2007 census)|ref8 = {{lower|2001[Australia: 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics: Ancestry by Birthplace of Parent(s) - Australia : 2006 Census (PDF)-->]|religions = Predominantly Serbian Orthodox Church|related-c = Other Slavic peoples, especially South Slavs
See "#Cognate peoples" below(* many Serbs opted for Yugoslav ethnicity) http://www.euroamericans.net/Serbian.htm-->Serbs (Serbian language: Срби or Srbi) are a South Slavs people who live mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia. They are also a significant minority in two other republics of the SFRY- the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Serbs are an officially recognized minority in both Romania and Hungary (mostly in Banat). There is a sizeable Serbian diaspora in Western Europe (predominantly concentrated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria), as well in North America: the United States and Canada.

Ethnogenesis/Ethnonym Byzantine sources report that part of the White Serbs, led by the Unknown Archont, migrated southward from their Slavic homeland of White Serbia (Poland) in the late 6th century and eventually overwhelmed the Serbian lands that now make up Serbia, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Herzegovina and Dalmatia. After settling on the Balkans, Serbs mixed with other Slavic tribes (which settled during the great migration of the Slavs) and with descendants of the indigenous peoples of the Balkans: Greeks, Thracians, Dacians and Illyrians. during the 6th century AD
The ethnonym Serbs however is believed to be of a Sarmatian origin rather than Slavic origin.
It is hard to mantain a standard genetic distribution of the Serbian people

Almost one millennium afterwards, overwhelmed by the Ottoman wars in Europe which ravaged their territories, Serbs once again started crossing the rivers Sava and Danube and resettling the previously abandoned regions in Central Europe which are today's Vojvodina, Slavonia, Transylvania and Hungary proper. Apart from the Habsburg Empire, thousands were attracted to Imperial Russia, where they were given territories to settle: New Serbia (historical province) and Slavo-Serbia were named after these refugees. Two Great Serbian Migrations resulted in a relocation of the Serbian core from the Ottoman-dominated South towards the developed (Christian) North, where it has remained ever since.

Population The majority of Serbs live in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Large indigenous population also lived in Croatia, where they were a constitutive nation before 1990. Much smaller Serb autochthonous minorities exist in the Republic of Macedonia (Kumanovo, Skopje), Slovenia (Bela Krajina), Romania (Banat), Hungary (Szentendre, Pécs, Szeged) and Italy (Trieste). Many Serbs also live in the Serbian diaspora, notably in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Russia, Brazil, Canada, the US and Australia.

The largest urban populations of Serbs in the former SFRJ are to be found in Belgrade ( 1,700,000), Novi Sad (c. 300,000), Niš (c. 250,000), Banja Luka (in Bosnia-Herzegovina) (c. 220,000), Kragujevac (c. 175,000), East Sarajevo and Prijedor (in Bosnia-Herzegovina) (c. 130,000). All the capitals of the former Yugoslavia contain a strong historical Serbian minority - 10,000 strong and over (taking up anywhere between 2%- 3% of the population - Zagreb, Skopje - through Ljubljana and Sarajevo, and finally, Podgorica - over 26%).

In Europe, 6.4 million Serbs constitute about 66% of the population of Serbia, thus including Kosovo. Another 1,5 million used to live in Bosnia and Herzegovina and 200,000 in Croatia (600,000 prior to the war), with another 200,000 in Montenegro following its independence. In the 1991 census Serbs consisted 36% of the overall population of SFRY; there were around 8.5 million Serbs in the entire country.

Abroad, Vienna is said to be home to the largest Serb population followed by Chicago (and its Chicagoland) with Toronto and Southern Ontario coming in third. Los Angeles is known to have a sizable Serbian community, but so does Istanbul and Paris. The number of Serbs in the diaspora is unknown but it is estimated to be up to 4 million according to Ministry for Diaspora Republic of Serbia. Smaller numbers of Serbs live in New Zealand, and Serbian communities in South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Chile) are reported to grow and exist to this day. According to official figures, 5000 Serbs live in Dubai but the unofficial figure is estimated to be around 15,000. Many of the Serbs living in Dubai are actively involved in the service industry.

Culture Serbian culture refers to the culture of Serbia as well as the culture of Serbs in other parts of the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere in the world. The nearby Byzantine Empire had a strong influence in the Middle Ages while the Serbian Orthodox Church has had an enduring influence. However one must note that first Serbian kings were crowned by the Holy See, not Constantinople, and that prior to the Ottoman invasion Serbs have had a strong Catholic element within them, especially in the coastal areas (Montenegro, Croatia). Austrians and Hungarians have highly influenced Serbs of Vojvodina, Croatian Serbs and Bosnian Serbs to smaller extent, while Republic of Venice influenced Serbs living on the coast (Bay of Kotor for example). Serbian culture was also influenced by three centuries of rule under the Ottoman Empire. Following autonomy in 1817 and latter formal independence, there was a resurgence of Serbian culture in today's Central Serbia in the nineteenth century. Prior to that Habsburg Vojvodina was the cultural bastion of the Serbian national identity. Socialist Realism was predominant in official art during the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia but recent decades have seen a growing influence from the West as well as traditional culture.

Famous Serbs Serbs have played a significant role in the development of the arts and sciences. Prominent individuals include the scientists Nikola Tesla, Mihajlo Pupin, Jovan Cvijić, and Milutin Milankovitch; the renowned mathematician Mihailo Petrović and controversial co-author of Theory of Relativity Mileva Marić (Albert Einstein's first wife); the famous composers Stevan Mokranjac and Stevan Hristić; the celebrated authors Borislav Pekić, Ivo Andrić and Miloš Crnjanski; the prolific inventor Ogneslav Kostović Stepanović; the polymath Đura Jakšić; the famous sports stars Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic, Novak Djoković, Janko Tipsarevic, Jelena Janković, Ana Ivanović and Nemanja Vidić; actors Karl Malden (Mladen Sekulovich), Rade Šerbedžija and the actress Milla Jovovich (half Serbian). Famous directors like Dušan Makavejev, Peter Bogdanovich and Emir Kusturica. The Serb ruler during the Middle Ages (see List of Serbian rulers), Stefan Nemanja, and his son, Saint Sava, founded the monastery of Hilandar for the Serbian Orthodox Church, one of the greatest and oldest Orthodox Christian monuments in the world. Current governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, and George Voinovich, former governor of the US state of Ohio, are of Serbian origin.

The mother of the last (Eastern) Roman Emperor, Constantine XI Dragases, was a Serbian princess, Helene Dragas (Jelena Dragaš), and she liked to be known by her Serbian surname of Dragaš.

According to the National Enquirer, author Ian Fleming patterned James Bond after Duško Popov, a real life Serbian double agent nicknamed "Tricycle".

Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28 June 1914, precipitating the crisis between Austo-Hungary and Serbia that led to World War I.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, himself a Russian, composed the Slavonic March (Marche Slave) in 1876, known at first as the “Serbo-Russian March”, based on the Serbian folk melody “Come, my Dearest, why So Sad this Morning?”.

Language "Srpske narodne pjesme" (Serbian folk poems), Vienna, 1841

Most Serbs speak the Serbian language, a member of the Slavic languages group of languages. While the Serbian identity is to some extent linguistic, apart from the Cyrillic alphabet which they use along with Latin alphabet, the language is very similar to the standard Croatian language and Bosnian language (see Differences in standard Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian) and some linguists still consider it part of the common Serbo-Croatian language.

There are several variants of Serbian language. The older forms of Serbian are Old Serbian and Russo-Serbian, a version of the Church Slavonic language.

Some members of the Serbian diaspora do not speak the language (mostly in the US, Canada and UK) but are still considered Serbs by ethnic origin or descent.

Non-Serbs who studied the Serbian language include such prominent individuals as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and J. R. R. Tolkien; see List of Serbs#Serbian language speakers.2C learners.2C etc.

Surnames Most Serbian surnames have the family name affix -ić (International Phonetic Alphabet: /itj/, Cyrillic: -ић). This is often Transcription (linguistics) as -ic. In history, Serbian names have often been transcribed with a phonetic ending, -ich or -itch. This form is often associated with Serbs from before the early 20th century: hence Milutin Milanković is usually referred to, for historical reasons, as Milutin Milankovitch.

The -ić suffix is a Slavic languages diminutive, originally functioning to create patronymics. Thus the surname Petrić signifies little Petar, as does, for example, a common prefix Surnames#Ireland ("son of") in Scottish and O' in Irish names. It is estimated that some two thirds of all Serbian surnames end in -ić but that some 80% of Serbs carry such a surname with many common names being spread out among tens and even hundreds of non-related extended families.

Other common surname suffixes are -ov or -in which is the Slavic possessive case suffix, thus Nikola's son becomes Nikolin, Petar's son Petrov, and Jovan's son Jovanov. Those are more typical for Serbs from Vojvodina. The two suffixes are often combined.

The most common surnames are Nikolić, Petrović, and Jovanović.

Religion monastery, Raska region, 12th centuryOrthodox Christianity has played a significant role in formation of Serbian identity. Conversion of south Slavs from paganism to Christianity took place before the East-West Schism, the split between the Byzantine Empire East and the Roman Catholic West. After the Schism, those who lived under the Orthodox sphere of influence became Orthodox and those who lived under the Catholic sphere of influence became Catholic. Later, with the arrival of the Ottoman Empire, many Slavs converted to Islam. Some ethnologists consider that the distinct Serb, Croats and Bosniaks identities are drawn from religion rather than ethnicity.

Symbols

The Serbian flag is a red-blue-white tricolour. It is often combined with one or both of the other Serb symbols.





Both the eagle and the cross, besides being the basis for various Coat of arms of Serbia through history, are bases for the symbols of various Serbian organizations, political parties, institutions and companies.

Serbian folk attire varies, mostly because of the very diverse geography and climate of the territory inhabited by the Serbs. Some parts of it are, however, common:



Customs in traditional attire wearing opanci and šajkača.

The Serbs are a highly family-oriented society. A peek into a Serbian dictionary and the richness of Serbian kinship speaks volumes.

Of all Slavic peoples and Eastern Orthodox Church, only Serbs have the custom of slava. The custom could also be found among some Russians and Albanians of Serbian origin although it has often been lost in the last century. Slava is celebration of a saint; unlike most customs that are common for the whole people, each family separately celebrates its own saint (of course, there is a lot of overlap) who is considered its protector. A slava is inherited from father to son and each household may only have one celebration which means that the occasion brings all of the family together.

Though a lot of old customs are now no longer practised, many of the customs that surround Serbian wedding still are.

The traditional Serbian dance is a circle dance called kolo (dance). It is a collective dance, where a group of people (usually several dozen, at the very least three) hold each other by the hands or around the waist dancing, forming a circle (hence the name), semicircle or spiral. The same dance, with the same name, is also traditional among the Croats. Similar circle dances also exist in other cultures of the region.

Serbs have their own customs regarding Christmas. The Serbian Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar, so Christmas currently falls on January 7 of the Gregorian calendar. Early in the morning of Christmas Eve, the head of the family would go to a forest in order to cut badnjak, a young oak, the oaktree would then be brought into the church to be blessed by the priest. Then the oaktree would be stripped of its branches with combined with wheat and other grain products would be burned in the fireplace. The burning of the badnjak is a ritual which is most certainly of pagan origin and it is considered a sacrifice to God (or the old pagan gods) so that the coming year may bring plenty of food, happiness, love, luck and riches. Nowadays, with most Serbs living in towns, most simply go to their church service to be given a small parcel of oak, wheat and other branches tied together to be taken home and set afire. The house floor and church is covered with hay, reminding worshippers of the stable in which Jesus was born.

Christmas Day itself is celebrated with a feast, necessarily featuring roasted piglet as the main meal. Another Christmas meal is a deliciously sweet cake made of wheat, called koljivo whose consumption is more for ritual than nourishment. One crosses oneself first, then takes a spoonful of the cake and savours it. But the most important Christmas meal is cesnica, a special kind of bread. The bread contains a coin; during the lunch, the family breaks up the bread and the one who finds the coin is said to be assured of an especially happy year.

Christmas is not associated with presents like in the Western world, although it is the day of St Nicolas, the protector saint of children, to whom presents are given. However, most Serbian families give presents on New Year's Day. Santa Claus (Deda Mraz (literally meaning grandpa frost)) and the Christmas tree (but rather associated with New Year's Day) are also used in Serbia as result of globalisation. Serbs also celebrate the Orthodox New Year (currently on January 14 of the Gregorian Calendar).

Religious Serbs also celebrate other religious holidays and even non-religious people often celebrate Easter (on the Orthodox date).

For Serbian meals, see Serbian cuisine.

Stereotypes One often-quoted feature of Serbian character is inat (инат), approximately meaning "spite"—the refusal to take an action which is being forced upon (regardless of reason thereof), and even wilful acting to the contrary, even to one's own harm. While it often has negative connotations, many Serbian successes, especially in sports and in difficult times of warfare, are also attributed to the stubborn insistence to drive out one's own goals.

The other related feature, often lamented upon by Serbs themselves, is the disunity and discord; as Slobodan Naumović puts it, "Disunity and disaccord have acquired in the Serbian popular imaginary a notorious,quasi-demiurgic status. They are often perceived as being the chief malefactors in Serbian history, causing political or military defeats, and threatening to tear Serbian society completely apart." That disunity is often quoted as the source of Serbian historic tragedies, from the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 to Yugoslav wars in 1990s. Even the contemporary notion of "two Serbias"—one supposedly anational, liberal and Eurocentric, and the other conservative, nationalist and Euroskeptic—seems to be the extension of the said discord. Popular proverbs "two Serbs, three parties" and "God save that Serbs may unite!", and even the unofficial Serbian motto "only unity saves Serbs" (Samo sloga Srbina spasava) illustrate the national frustration with the inability to unite over important issues.

As with many other peoples, there are popular stereotypes on the local level: in popular jokes and stories, inhabitants of Vojvodina (Lale) are perceived as phlegmatic, undisturbed and slow; Montenegrins are lazy and pushy; southern Serbians are misers; Bosnia (region)ns are raw and stupid; people from Central Serbia are often portrayed as capricious and malicious, etc.

==Name==The etymology of the word "Serb" (root: Srb) is not known. Numerous theories exist, but none can be said to be certain or even probable:

"Strong God, he slew Anarsani, Srbinda, Pipru, and the fiend, Ahisuva, and loosed the floods." From all the European peoples the Serbs are the only race from the construction of the wording of their name, according to the Austrian sanskritologist Walter Wust who are composed in the Vedic hymns as the characteristic SRBINDA, in which almost letter to letter is identical to the modern form SRBENDA used by Balkan Serbs.

In the Vedic manuscripts, Wust interprets, SRBINDA as its own original to say patented name with a predetermined meaning. Which is in complete harmony to thinking of today’s SRBENDA expression in Serbs, because Srbenda is always the best, the most respected, most brave, the greatest for respecting tradition: in short a man who is used and shown as an example to others. Srbin(da) in the Serbian language means Serb.Srbinda in Rig Veda represents mythological being (god,demon) or more likely the Prince of Serbs.



However, one thing is certain: the name is very old. It is clearly a self-identification and not a given name as its root cannot be found in Western European languages.

It is interesting that the etymology of the name of the Croats (root: Hrv) is also unknown. Some suggest that the names actually originate from the same root: indeed, the roots are distinctly similar (Srb/Hrv). However, it is not known whether this is merely coincidental or indicative of a common origin. The basis for the root is Grimm's law, whereby the fricatives /s/ and /h/ have been known to interchange, as have the labial sounds /b/ and /v/.

Regardless of the origin, the age and rarity of the name allows for certain historical conclusions based partly on it (for example, see Gordoservon).

History See also: Theories on the origin of Serbs, Serbs in Vojvodina, Serbs in Kosovo, Serbs of Croatia, Bosnian Serbs, History of Serbia

The tribal designation Serboi first appears in the 1st century in the works of the Tacitus (c. AD 50) and Pliny the Elder (AD 69-75), and also in the 2nd century in the Geography of Ptolemy (book 5, 9.21) to designate a tribe dwelling in Sarmatia, probably on the Lower Volga River.

The Slavs (including Serbs) came to the Balkans from a broad region in central and Eastern Europe, which extended from the rivers Elbe in the west to the Dnieper in the east, and from a point which touched the Carpathian mountains in the south and the river Niemen in the north. Different tribes settled in different parts of the Balkan peninsula, subsequently developing their distinct identities after displacing the Romanized Vlach population which already was in the area. The Balkan Vlachs were descendants of Romanized Thracians and Dacians and over time these Vlachs mixed with Slavic tribes; thus present-day Slavic nations of the Balkans, including Bosnian Serbs, have both Slavic and Vlach ancestors.



The Serb settlement in the Balkans appears to have taken place between 610 and 640. Some of the old Ostrogoths had settled with the Serbs, & decided to join their clans. The first certain data on the state of the Serboi, Serbia, dates to the 9th century. The Serbs were Christianized in several waves between the 7th and 9th century, with the last wave taking place between 867 and 874.

During and after that period, Serbs struggled to gain independence from the Byzantine Empire. The first Serb states were Rascia or Raška and Zeta (state). Their rulers had varying degrees of autonomy, until virtual independence was achieved under Saint Sava, who became the first head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and his brother Stefan Prvovenčani of Serbia, who became the first Serb monarch. Serbia did not exist as a state of that name, but was rather the region inhabited by the Serbs; its kings and tsars were called the "King of the Serbs" or "Tsar of the Serbs", not "King of Serbia" or "Tsar of Serbia". The medieval Serbian state is nonetheless often (if anachronistically) referred to as "Serbia".

Serbia reached its golden age under the House of Nemanjić, with the Serbian state reaching its apogee of power in the reign of Stefan Dusan. Serbia's power subsequently dwindled arising from interminable conflict among the nobility, rendering the country unable to resist the steady incursion of the Ottoman Empire into south-eastern Europe. The Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is commonly regarded in Serbian national mythology as the key event in the country's defeat by the Turks, although in fact, Ottoman rule was not fully imposed until some time later. After Serbia fell, Tvrtko Kotromanić, the king of Bosnia used the title "King of Bosnia, the Serbs, the West-ends and the Primorje" from 1389 to 1390.

As Christians, the Serbs were regarded as a "Dhimmi" under Ottoman law. Some of them converted to Islam in order to be client or governor in Ottoman Empire. Beginning from period of Mehmed II most of the grand viziers are chosen from Serbs.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the First Serbian Uprising succeeded in liberating at least some Serbs for a limited time. The Second Serbian Uprising was much more successful, resulting in Ottoman recognition of Serbia as autonomous principality within the Empire. Serbia acquired international recognition as an independent Monarchy at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. However, many Serbs remained under foreign rule – that of the Ottomans in the south, and of the Habsburgs in the north and west. The southern Serbs were liberated in the First Balkan War of 1912, while the question of the Habsburg Serbs' independence was the spark that lit World War I two years later. During the war, the Serbian army fought fiercely, eventually retreating through Albania to regroup in Greece, and launched a counter-offensive through Macedonia (region). Though they were eventually victorious, the war devastated Serbia and killed a huge proportion of its population – by some estimates, over half of the male Serbian population died in the conflict, influencing the region's demographics to this day.

After the war, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later called Yugoslavia) was created. Almost all Serbs finally lived in one state. The new state had its capital in Belgrade and was ruled by a Serbian king; it was, however, unstable and prone to ethnic tensions.

During the Second World War, the Axis Powers occupied Yugoslavia, dismembering the country. Serbia was occupied by the Germans, while in Bosnia and Croatia, Serbs were put under the rule of the Italians and the fascist Ustaša regime in the Independent State of Croatia. Under Ustaša rule in particular, Serbs and other non-Croats were subjected to systematic genocide, known as the Jasenovac, when hundreds of thousands were killed. The Hungarian and Albanian fascists, who occupied northern and southern parts of the country, also performed persecutions and genocide against the Serb population from these regions.

After the war, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed. As with pre-war Yugoslavia, the country's capital was at Belgrade. Serbia was the largest republic. There were also two established autonomous provinces within Serbia - Kosovo (with an Albanian majority) and Vojvodina (with a Serb majority and a large number of different minorities). Besides Serbia, the large Serb populations were concentrated in Bosnia and Herzegovina (where they were largest ethnic group until 1971) and Croatia as well Montenegro with a sizeable Serb population.

Communist Yugoslavia collapsed in the early 1990s, with four of its six republics becoming independent states. This led to several bloody Yugoslav Wars, as the large Serbian communities in Croatia and Bosnia attempted to remain within Yugoslavia, then consisting of only Serbia and Montenegro. Serbs in Croatia formed their state of Republika Srpska Krajina, but they were later military defeated by the Croatian army (expelling hundreds of thousand of Serbian civilians) a shuttering reminder of events in World War 2. Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina formed their state of Republika Srpska, currently one of the two political entities that form the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Another war broke out in Kosovo (see Kosovo War) after years of tensions between Serbs and Albanians. Up to 250,000 Serbs expelled from Croatia during the "Operation Storm" in 1995, and 300,000 left until 1993, and another 200,000 were expelled from Kosovo after the Kosovo War, and settled mostly in Central Serbia and Vojvodina as refugees.

Subgroups The subgroups of Serbs are commonly based on regional affiliation. Some of the major subgroups of Serbs include: Šumadija, Zlatibor, Serbs in Vojvodina, Bačka, Banat, Bokelji, Syrmia, Semberija, Bosanska Krajina, Herzegovina, Torlaks, Shopi,etc.

Montenegrins were/are considered a subgroup of Serbs for a long time by themselves, as well as by Serbs outside Montenegro. In the late 20th century, an independence movement in Montenegro gained ground, resulting in a split among Montenegrins on the issue. Now some consider themselves to belong to a separate Montenegrin nation, however world wide the presence of Serb Montenegrins is prevailing.

(Note: These terms can be also used to refer to any native inhabitants of the regions in question, regardless of ethnicity, i.e. to Hungarians in Vojvodina or Croat Herzegovinians.)

Some Serbs, mostly living in Montenegro and Herzegovina are organized in clans. See: list of Serbian tribes.

Cognate peoples These peoples are the closest relatives of Serbs:





Maps Image:Srbi_u_Jugoslaviji.jpg|Serbs (blue) in Yugoslavia according to the 1981 census data.Image:Serbia ethnic02.png|Serbs (yellow) in Serbia as per 2002 census data for Central Serbia and Vojvodina, and 1991 census data for Kosovo.Image:Montenegroetno03.png|Serbs in Montenegro as per 2003 census data.Image:DemoBIH2006.PNG|Ethnic map of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2006 municipality data. Bosnian Serbs - blue, Bosnian Croats - red, Bosnian Muslims - green.

See also

External links

Notes {{Infobox Ethnic group|group = SerbsСрби|image = |caption = Saint Sava Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia Karađorđe Petrović Nikola Tesla Nadežda Petrović, thus many non-Serbs from former Yugoslavia.|pop3 = 507,328 (2004 est.)|ref3 = |region4 = |pop4 = 201,892 (2003 census)|ref4 = {{lower| CIA Factbook 2006 for Montenegro-->|region5 = |pop5 = 201,631 (2001 census)|ref5 = |region6 = |pop6 = 177,300 (2005)|ref6 = |region7 = |pop7 = 169,479 (2005 survey)|ref7 = |region8 = |pop8 = 95,364 (2007 census)|ref8 = {{lower|2001[Australia: 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics: Ancestry by Birthplace of Parent(s) - Australia : 2006 Census (PDF)-->]|religions = Predominantly Serbian Orthodox Church|related-c = Other Slavic peoples, especially South Slavs
See "#Cognate peoples" below(* many Serbs opted for Yugoslav ethnicity) http://www.euroamericans.net/Serbian.htm-->Serbs (Serbian language: Срби or Srbi) are a South Slavs people who live mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia. They are also a significant minority in two other republics of the SFRY- the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Serbs are an officially recognized minority in both Romania and Hungary (mostly in Banat). There is a sizeable Serbian diaspora in Western Europe (predominantly concentrated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria), as well in North America: the United States and Canada.

Ethnogenesis/Ethnonym Byzantine sources report that part of the White Serbs, led by the Unknown Archont, migrated southward from their Slavic homeland of White Serbia (Poland) in the late 6th century and eventually overwhelmed the Serbian lands that now make up Serbia, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Herzegovina and Dalmatia. After settling on the Balkans, Serbs mixed with other Slavic tribes (which settled during the great migration of the Slavs) and with descendants of the indigenous peoples of the Balkans: Greeks, Thracians, Dacians and Illyrians. during the 6th century AD
The ethnonym Serbs however is believed to be of a Sarmatian origin rather than Slavic origin.
It is hard to mantain a standard genetic distribution of the Serbian people

Almost one millennium afterwards, overwhelmed by the Ottoman wars in Europe which ravaged their territories, Serbs once again started crossing the rivers Sava and Danube and resettling the previously abandoned regions in Central Europe which are today's Vojvodina, Slavonia, Transylvania and Hungary proper. Apart from the Habsburg Empire, thousands were attracted to Imperial Russia, where they were given territories to settle: New Serbia (historical province) and Slavo-Serbia were named after these refugees. Two Great Serbian Migrations resulted in a relocation of the Serbian core from the Ottoman-dominated South towards the developed (Christian) North, where it has remained ever since.

Population The majority of Serbs live in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Large indigenous population also lived in Croatia, where they were a constitutive nation before 1990. Much smaller Serb autochthonous minorities exist in the Republic of Macedonia (Kumanovo, Skopje), Slovenia (Bela Krajina), Romania (Banat), Hungary (Szentendre, Pécs, Szeged) and Italy (Trieste). Many Serbs also live in the Serbian diaspora, notably in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Russia, Brazil, Canada, the US and Australia.

The largest urban populations of Serbs in the former SFRJ are to be found in Belgrade ( 1,700,000), Novi Sad (c. 300,000), Niš (c. 250,000), Banja Luka (in Bosnia-Herzegovina) (c. 220,000), Kragujevac (c. 175,000), East Sarajevo and Prijedor (in Bosnia-Herzegovina) (c. 130,000). All the capitals of the former Yugoslavia contain a strong historical Serbian minority - 10,000 strong and over (taking up anywhere between 2%- 3% of the population - Zagreb, Skopje - through Ljubljana and Sarajevo, and finally, Podgorica - over 26%).

In Europe, 6.4 million Serbs constitute about 66% of the population of Serbia, thus including Kosovo. Another 1,5 million used to live in Bosnia and Herzegovina and 200,000 in Croatia (600,000 prior to the war), with another 200,000 in Montenegro following its independence. In the 1991 census Serbs consisted 36% of the overall population of SFRY; there were around 8.5 million Serbs in the entire country.

Abroad, Vienna is said to be home to the largest Serb population followed by Chicago (and its Chicagoland) with Toronto and Southern Ontario coming in third. Los Angeles is known to have a sizable Serbian community, but so does Istanbul and Paris. The number of Serbs in the diaspora is unknown but it is estimated to be up to 4 million according to Ministry for Diaspora Republic of Serbia. Smaller numbers of Serbs live in New Zealand, and Serbian communities in South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Chile) are reported to grow and exist to this day. According to official figures, 5000 Serbs live in Dubai but the unofficial figure is estimated to be around 15,000. Many of the Serbs living in Dubai are actively involved in the service industry.

Culture Serbian culture refers to the culture of Serbia as well as the culture of Serbs in other parts of the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere in the world. The nearby Byzantine Empire had a strong influence in the Middle Ages while the Serbian Orthodox Church has had an enduring influence. However one must note that first Serbian kings were crowned by the Holy See, not Constantinople, and that prior to the Ottoman invasion Serbs have had a strong Catholic element within them, especially in the coastal areas (Montenegro, Croatia). Austrians and Hungarians have highly influenced Serbs of Vojvodina, Croatian Serbs and Bosnian Serbs to smaller extent, while Republic of Venice influenced Serbs living on the coast (Bay of Kotor for example). Serbian culture was also influenced by three centuries of rule under the Ottoman Empire. Following autonomy in 1817 and latter formal independence, there was a resurgence of Serbian culture in today's Central Serbia in the nineteenth century. Prior to that Habsburg Vojvodina was the cultural bastion of the Serbian national identity. Socialist Realism was predominant in official art during the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia but recent decades have seen a growing influence from the West as well as traditional culture.

Famous Serbs Serbs have played a significant role in the development of the arts and sciences. Prominent individuals include the scientists Nikola Tesla, Mihajlo Pupin, Jovan Cvijić, and Milutin Milankovitch; the renowned mathematician Mihailo Petrović and controversial co-author of Theory of Relativity Mileva Marić (Albert Einstein's first wife); the famous composers Stevan Mokranjac and Stevan Hristić; the celebrated authors Borislav Pekić, Ivo Andrić and Miloš Crnjanski; the prolific inventor Ogneslav Kostović Stepanović; the polymath Đura Jakšić; the famous sports stars Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic, Novak Djoković, Janko Tipsarevic, Jelena Janković, Ana Ivanović and Nemanja Vidić; actors Karl Malden (Mladen Sekulovich), Rade Šerbedžija and the actress Milla Jovovich (half Serbian). Famous directors like Dušan Makavejev, Peter Bogdanovich and Emir Kusturica. The Serb ruler during the Middle Ages (see List of Serbian rulers), Stefan Nemanja, and his son, Saint Sava, founded the monastery of Hilandar for the Serbian Orthodox Church, one of the greatest and oldest Orthodox Christian monuments in the world. Current governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, and George Voinovich, former governor of the US state of Ohio, are of Serbian origin.

The mother of the last (Eastern) Roman Emperor, Constantine XI Dragases, was a Serbian princess, Helene Dragas (Jelena Dragaš), and she liked to be known by her Serbian surname of Dragaš.

According to the National Enquirer, author Ian Fleming patterned James Bond after Duško Popov, a real life Serbian double agent nicknamed "Tricycle".

Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28 June 1914, precipitating the crisis between Austo-Hungary and Serbia that led to World War I.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, himself a Russian, composed the Slavonic March (Marche Slave) in 1876, known at first as the “Serbo-Russian March”, based on the Serbian folk melody “Come, my Dearest, why So Sad this Morning?”.

Language "Srpske narodne pjesme" (Serbian folk poems), Vienna, 1841

Most Serbs speak the Serbian language, a member of the Slavic languages group of languages. While the Serbian identity is to some extent linguistic, apart from the Cyrillic alphabet which they use along with Latin alphabet, the language is very similar to the standard Croatian language and Bosnian language (see Differences in standard Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian) and some linguists still consider it part of the common Serbo-Croatian language.

There are several variants of Serbian language. The older forms of Serbian are Old Serbian and Russo-Serbian, a version of the Church Slavonic language.

Some members of the Serbian diaspora do not speak the language (mostly in the US, Canada and UK) but are still considered Serbs by ethnic origin or descent.

Non-Serbs who studied the Serbian language include such prominent individuals as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and J. R. R. Tolkien; see List of Serbs#Serbian language speakers.2C learners.2C etc.

Surnames Most Serbian surnames have the family name affix -ić (International Phonetic Alphabet: /itj/, Cyrillic: -ић). This is often Transcription (linguistics) as -ic. In history, Serbian names have often been transcribed with a phonetic ending, -ich or -itch. This form is often associated with Serbs from before the early 20th century: hence Milutin Milanković is usually referred to, for historical reasons, as Milutin Milankovitch.

The -ić suffix is a Slavic languages diminutive, originally functioning to create patronymics. Thus the surname Petrić signifies little Petar, as does, for example, a common prefix Surnames#Ireland ("son of") in Scottish and O' in Irish names. It is estimated that some two thirds of all Serbian surnames end in -ić but that some 80% of Serbs carry such a surname with many common names being spread out among tens and even hundreds of non-related extended families.

Other common surname suffixes are -ov or -in which is the Slavic possessive case suffix, thus Nikola's son becomes Nikolin, Petar's son Petrov, and Jovan's son Jovanov. Those are more typical for Serbs from Vojvodina. The two suffixes are often combined.

The most common surnames are Nikolić, Petrović, and Jovanović.

Religion monastery, Raska region, 12th centuryOrthodox Christianity has played a significant role in formation of Serbian identity. Conversion of south Slavs from paganism to Christianity took place before the East-West Schism, the split between the Byzantine Empire East and the Roman Catholic West. After the Schism, those who lived under the Orthodox sphere of influence became Orthodox and those who lived under the Catholic sphere of influence became Catholic. Later, with the arrival of the Ottoman Empire, many Slavs converted to Islam. Some ethnologists consider that the distinct Serb, Croats and Bosniaks identities are drawn from religion rather than ethnicity.

Symbols

The Serbian flag is a red-blue-white tricolour. It is often combined with one or both of the other Serb symbols.





Both the eagle and the cross, besides being the basis for various Coat of arms of Serbia through history, are bases for the symbols of various Serbian organizations, political parties, institutions and companies.

Serbian folk attire varies, mostly because of the very diverse geography and climate of the territory inhabited by the Serbs. Some parts of it are, however, common:



Customs in traditional attire wearing opanci and šajkača.

The Serbs are a highly family-oriented society. A peek into a Serbian dictionary and the richness of Serbian kinship speaks volumes.

Of all Slavic peoples and Eastern Orthodox Church, only Serbs have the custom of slava. The custom could also be found among some Russians and Albanians of Serbian origin although it has often been lost in the last century. Slava is celebration of a saint; unlike most customs that are common for the whole people, each family separately celebrates its own saint (of course, there is a lot of overlap) who is considered its protector. A slava is inherited from father to son and each household may only have one celebration which means that the occasion brings all of the family together.

Though a lot of old customs are now no longer practised, many of the customs that surround Serbian wedding still are.

The traditional Serbian dance is a circle dance called kolo (dance). It is a collective dance, where a group of people (usually several dozen, at the very least three) hold each other by the hands or around the waist dancing, forming a circle (hence the name), semicircle or spiral. The same dance, with the same name, is also traditional among the Croats. Similar circle dances also exist in other cultures of the region.

Serbs have their own customs regarding Christmas. The Serbian Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar, so Christmas currently falls on January 7 of the Gregorian calendar. Early in the morning of Christmas Eve, the head of the family would go to a forest in order to cut badnjak, a young oak, the oaktree would then be brought into the church to be blessed by the priest. Then the oaktree would be stripped of its branches with combined with wheat and other grain products would be burned in the fireplace. The burning of the badnjak is a ritual which is most certainly of pagan origin and it is considered a sacrifice to God (or the old pagan gods) so that the coming year may bring plenty of food, happiness, love, luck and riches. Nowadays, with most Serbs living in towns, most simply go to their church service to be given a small parcel of oak, wheat and other branches tied together to be taken home and set afire. The house floor and church is covered with hay, reminding worshippers of the stable in which Jesus was born.

Christmas Day itself is celebrated with a feast, necessarily featuring roasted piglet as the main meal. Another Christmas meal is a deliciously sweet cake made of wheat, called koljivo whose consumption is more for ritual than nourishment. One crosses oneself first, then takes a spoonful of the cake and savours it. But the most important Christmas meal is cesnica, a special kind of bread. The bread contains a coin; during the lunch, the family breaks up the bread and the one who finds the coin is said to be assured of an especially happy year.

Christmas is not associated with presents like in the Western world, although it is the day of St Nicolas, the protector saint of children, to whom presents are given. However, most Serbian families give presents on New Year's Day. Santa Claus (Deda Mraz (literally meaning grandpa frost)) and the Christmas tree (but rather associated with New Year's Day) are also used in Serbia as result of globalisation. Serbs also celebrate the Orthodox New Year (currently on January 14 of the Gregorian Calendar).

Religious Serbs also celebrate other religious holidays and even non-religious people often celebrate Easter (on the Orthodox date).

For Serbian meals, see Serbian cuisine.

Stereotypes One often-quoted feature of Serbian character is inat (инат), approximately meaning "spite"—the refusal to take an action which is being forced upon (regardless of reason thereof), and even wilful acting to the contrary, even to one's own harm. While it often has negative connotations, many Serbian successes, especially in sports and in difficult times of warfare, are also attributed to the stubborn insistence to drive out one's own goals.

The other related feature, often lamented upon by Serbs themselves, is the disunity and discord; as Slobodan Naumović puts it, "Disunity and disaccord have acquired in the Serbian popular imaginary a notorious,quasi-demiurgic status. They are often perceived as being the chief malefactors in Serbian history, causing political or military defeats, and threatening to tear Serbian society completely apart." That disunity is often quoted as the source of Serbian historic tragedies, from the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 to Yugoslav wars in 1990s. Even the contemporary notion of "two Serbias"—one supposedly anational, liberal and Eurocentric, and the other conservative, nationalist and Euroskeptic—seems to be the extension of the said discord. Popular proverbs "two Serbs, three parties" and "God save that Serbs may unite!", and even the unofficial Serbian motto "only unity saves Serbs" (Samo sloga Srbina spasava) illustrate the national frustration with the inability to unite over important issues.

As with many other peoples, there are popular stereotypes on the local level: in popular jokes and stories, inhabitants of Vojvodina (Lale) are perceived as phlegmatic, undisturbed and slow; Montenegrins are lazy and pushy; southern Serbians are misers; Bosnia (region)ns are raw and stupid; people from Central Serbia are often portrayed as capricious and malicious, etc.

==Name==The etymology of the word "Serb" (root: Srb) is not known. Numerous theories exist, but none can be said to be certain or even probable:

"Strong God, he slew Anarsani, Srbinda, Pipru, and the fiend, Ahisuva, and loosed the floods." From all the European peoples the Serbs are the only race from the construction of the wording of their name, according to the Austrian sanskritologist Walter Wust who are composed in the Vedic hymns as the characteristic SRBINDA, in which almost letter to letter is identical to the modern form SRBENDA used by Balkan Serbs.

In the Vedic manuscripts, Wust interprets, SRBINDA as its own original to say patented name with a predetermined meaning. Which is in complete harmony to thinking of today’s SRBENDA expression in Serbs, because Srbenda is always the best, the most respected, most brave, the greatest for respecting tradition: in short a man who is used and shown as an example to others. Srbin(da) in the Serbian language means Serb.Srbinda in Rig Veda represents mythological being (god,demon) or more likely the Prince of Serbs.



However, one thing is certain: the name is very old. It is clearly a self-identification and not a given name as its root cannot be found in Western European languages.

It is interesting that the etymology of the name of the Croats (root: Hrv) is also unknown. Some suggest that the names actually originate from the same root: indeed, the roots are distinctly similar (Srb/Hrv). However, it is not known whether this is merely coincidental or indicative of a common origin. The basis for the root is Grimm's law, whereby the fricatives /s/ and /h/ have been known to interchange, as have the labial sounds /b/ and /v/.

Regardless of the origin, the age and rarity of the name allows for certain historical conclusions based partly on it (for example, see Gordoservon).

History See also: Theories on the origin of Serbs, Serbs in Vojvodina, Serbs in Kosovo, Serbs of Croatia, Bosnian Serbs, History of Serbia

The tribal designation Serboi first appears in the 1st century in the works of the Tacitus (c. AD 50) and Pliny the Elder (AD 69-75), and also in the 2nd century in the Geography of Ptolemy (book 5, 9.21) to designate a tribe dwelling in Sarmatia, probably on the Lower Volga River.

The Slavs (including Serbs) came to the Balkans from a broad region in central and Eastern Europe, which extended from the rivers Elbe in the west to the Dnieper in the east, and from a point which touched the Carpathian mountains in the south and the river Niemen in the north. Different tribes settled in different parts of the Balkan peninsula, subsequently developing their distinct identities after displacing the Romanized Vlach population which already was in the area. The Balkan Vlachs were descendants of Romanized Thracians and Dacians and over time these Vlachs mixed with Slavic tribes; thus present-day Slavic nations of the Balkans, including Bosnian Serbs, have both Slavic and Vlach ancestors.



The Serb settlement in the Balkans appears to have taken place between 610 and 640. Some of the old Ostrogoths had settled with the Serbs, & decided to join their clans. The first certain data on the state of the Serboi, Serbia, dates to the 9th century. The Serbs were Christianized in several waves between the 7th and 9th century, with the last wave taking place between 867 and 874.

During and after that period, Serbs struggled to gain independence from the Byzantine Empire. The first Serb states were Rascia or Raška and Zeta (state). Their rulers had varying degrees of autonomy, until virtual independence was achieved under Saint Sava, who became the first head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and his brother Stefan Prvovenčani of Serbia, who became the first Serb monarch. Serbia did not exist as a state of that name, but was rather the region inhabited by the Serbs; its kings and tsars were called the "King of the Serbs" or "Tsar of the Serbs", not "King of Serbia" or "Tsar of Serbia". The medieval Serbian state is nonetheless often (if anachronistically) referred to as "Serbia".

Serbia reached its golden age under the House of Nemanjić, with the Serbian state reaching its apogee of power in the reign of Stefan Dusan. Serbia's power subsequently dwindled arising from interminable conflict among the nobility, rendering the country unable to resist the steady incursion of the Ottoman Empire into south-eastern Europe. The Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is commonly regarded in Serbian national mythology as the key event in the country's defeat by the Turks, although in fact, Ottoman rule was not fully imposed until some time later. After Serbia fell, Tvrtko Kotromanić, the king of Bosnia used the title "King of Bosnia, the Serbs, the West-ends and the Primorje" from 1389 to 1390.

As Christians, the Serbs were regarded as a "Dhimmi" under Ottoman law. Some of them converted to Islam in order to be client or governor in Ottoman Empire. Beginning from period of Mehmed II most of the grand viziers are chosen from Serbs.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the First Serbian Uprising succeeded in liberating at least some Serbs for a limited time. The Second Serbian Uprising was much more successful, resulting in Ottoman recognition of Serbia as autonomous principality within the Empire. Serbia acquired international recognition as an independent Monarchy at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. However, many Serbs remained under foreign rule – that of the Ottomans in the south, and of the Habsburgs in the north and west. The southern Serbs were liberated in the First Balkan War of 1912, while the question of the Habsburg Serbs' independence was the spark that lit World War I two years later. During the war, the Serbian army fought fiercely, eventually retreating through Albania to regroup in Greece, and launched a counter-offensive through Macedonia (region). Though they were eventually victorious, the war devastated Serbia and killed a huge proportion of its population – by some estimates, over half of the male Serbian population died in the conflict, influencing the region's demographics to this day.

After the war, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later called Yugoslavia) was created. Almost all Serbs finally lived in one state. The new state had its capital in Belgrade and was ruled by a Serbian king; it was, however, unstable and prone to ethnic tensions.

During the Second World War, the Axis Powers occupied Yugoslavia, dismembering the country. Serbia was occupied by the Germans, while in Bosnia and Croatia, Serbs were put under the rule of the Italians and the fascist Ustaša regime in the Independent State of Croatia. Under Ustaša rule in particular, Serbs and other non-Croats were subjected to systematic genocide, known as the Jasenovac, when hundreds of thousands were killed. The Hungarian and Albanian fascists, who occupied northern and southern parts of the country, also performed persecutions and genocide against the Serb population from these regions.

After the war, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed. As with pre-war Yugoslavia, the country's capital was at Belgrade. Serbia was the largest republic. There were also two established autonomous provinces within Serbia - Kosovo (with an Albanian majority) and Vojvodina (with a Serb majority and a large number of different minorities). Besides Serbia, the large Serb populations were concentrated in Bosnia and Herzegovina (where they were largest ethnic group until 1971) and Croatia as well Montenegro with a sizeable Serb population.

Communist Yugoslavia collapsed in the early 1990s, with four of its six republics becoming independent states. This led to several bloody Yugoslav Wars, as the large Serbian communities in Croatia and Bosnia attempted to remain within Yugoslavia, then consisting of only Serbia and Montenegro. Serbs in Croatia formed their state of Republika Srpska Krajina, but they were later military defeated by the Croatian army (expelling hundreds of thousand of Serbian civilians) a shuttering reminder of events in World War 2. Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina formed their state of Republika Srpska, currently one of the two political entities that form the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Another war broke out in Kosovo (see Kosovo War) after years of tensions between Serbs and Albanians. Up to 250,000 Serbs expelled from Croatia during the "Operation Storm" in 1995, and 300,000 left until 1993, and another 200,000 were expelled from Kosovo after the Kosovo War, and settled mostly in Central Serbia and Vojvodina as refugees.

Subgroups The subgroups of Serbs are commonly based on regional affiliation. Some of the major subgroups of Serbs include: Šumadija, Zlatibor, Serbs in Vojvodina, Bačka, Banat, Bokelji, Syrmia, Semberija, Bosanska Krajina, Herzegovina, Torlaks, Shopi,etc.

Montenegrins were/are considered a subgroup of Serbs for a long time by themselves, as well as by Serbs outside Montenegro. In the late 20th century, an independence movement in Montenegro gained ground, resulting in a split among Montenegrins on the issue. Now some consider themselves to belong to a separate Montenegrin nation, however world wide the presence of Serb Montenegrins is prevailing.

(Note: These terms can be also used to refer to any native inhabitants of the regions in question, regardless of ethnicity, i.e. to Hungarians in Vojvodina or Croat Herzegovinians.)

Some Serbs, mostly living in Montenegro and Herzegovina are organized in clans. See: list of Serbian tribes.

Cognate peoples These peoples are the closest relatives of Serbs:





Maps Image:Srbi_u_Jugoslaviji.jpg|Serbs (blue) in Yugoslavia according to the 1981 census data.Image:Serbia ethnic02.png|Serbs (yellow) in Serbia as per 2002 census data for Central Serbia and Vojvodina, and 1991 census data for Kosovo.Image:Montenegroetno03.png|Serbs in Montenegro as per 2003 census data.Image:DemoBIH2006.PNG|Ethnic map of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2006 municipality data. Bosnian Serbs - blue, Bosnian Croats - red, Bosnian Muslims - green.

See also

External links

Notes

Serbs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Serbs (Serbian: Срби or Srbi) are a South Slavic people living in the Balkans and Central Europe, mainly in Serbia (including Kosovo), Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a ...

Serbs in Kosovo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Serbs are currently the second largest ethnic group in the recently-declared state of Kosovo, which Serbia still claims as sovereign territory. There may be between 120,000 and 150 ...

BBC NEWS | Europe | Kosovo Serbs face hard choices
The UN's final status plans for Kosovo leave local Serbs cold and the talk for many is of leaving, BBC News finds on a visit to Mitrovica.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Kosovo's Serbs apprehensive as split looms
Minority Serbs in Kosovo are trying to stay hopeful as the province prepares to declare independence from Serbia, the BBC's Nick Thorpe finds.

Serbs vent anger at Kosovo independence declaration - Times Online
a href= ... Video: Kosovo declares independence. Protesters took to the streets in key Serb centres across the Balkans today to vent their anger at Kosovo's declaration of ...

BBC NEWS | The Reporters | Mark Mardell
So Serbs, learn a lesson and do the same, boycott all the Kosovo state structures and then start attacking police and military and you will get another Serbian state.

Serbs
An ethnography and culture history of the Serbian people.

Boris Tadic and a solution for the Serbs - Telegraph
Find the latest comment, opinion and obituaries from the Telegraph. ... The phrase "moving on" has acquired a pejorative sense through politicians who want to divert attention from ...

Kosovo Serbs set up rival assembly - Europe, World - The Independent
Kosovo Serbs have inaugurated their own assembly in the divided town of Mitrovica, in a blow to the authority of the new state's ethnic Albanian leadership. ... Kosovo Serbs have ...

Albanian celebrations leave Serbs defiant | World news ...
Russia seeks UN talks as declaration of independence by Kosovo widens rifts ... Kosovo independence. Albanian celebrations leave Serbs defiant Russia seeks UN talks as yesterday's ...

 

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