 FEDERAL
REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA AREA: 102,173 sq km (39,450 sq
mi). POPULATION: 10,849,000. CAPITAL: Belgrade, pop.
1,168,500. RELIGION: Eastern Orthodox. LANGUAGE: Serbian,
Hungarian, Albanian, Croatian. LITERACY: 89%. LIFE
EXPECTANCY: 72 years. ECONOMY: Industry: copper mining,
chemicals, steel manufacturing, transportation equipment,
leather goods. Food crops: grains, sugar beets,
livestock. PCI: $430. |
|
|
This newly reshaped Balkan country—now less than half its original size—consists of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro. Beginning in 1991, the former republics of Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence, prompting civil war. Ethnic Serb irregulars, backed by the Yugoslav Army, have seized large areas of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, leaving future boundaries in contention. Yugoslavia came into being in 1918 as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. Following occupation by Germany during World War II, partisan leader Marshal Josip Broz Tito hastened to impose a communist regime. Growing differences with Stalin led to Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Soviet bloc in 1948. Tito, who died in 1980, introduced “worker self-management,” nonalignment in foreign policy, and a plan for a rotating presidency to be shared by the republics and provinces after his death. Serbs form the majority of the population, followed by Albanians, Montenegrins, and Hungarians. Discontent among Albanians in the province of Kosovo threatens further instability. Text source: National Geographic Atlas of the World Revised Sixth Edition, 1995 |
||
 |
