BALKANS

This is the name given to six countries in South-eastern Europe. They are Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, that part of Turkey which lies in Europe and Yugoslavia.

Together these six countries form the Balkan Peninsula. The peninsula is bounded on the west by the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea and on the east by the black sea and the Aegean Sea. Mountain ranges cover much of the western part of the Balkans. The peninsula is name after one range, the Balkan Mountains. To the north and east, in Bulgaria and Romania, the land is a fertile plain through which the great river Danube flows to the black sea. Turkey ruled much of the area for 500 years until 1800’s, when the other countries won independence.