The Balkans, partly corresponding with the Balkan Peninsula, encompasses areas that may also be placed in Southeastern, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe. The distinct identity and fragmentation of the Balkans owes much to its often turbulent history, with the region experiencing centuries of Ottoman conflict and conquest. The Balkan Peninsula is predominantly mountainous, featuring several mountain ranges such as the Dinaric Alps, the Pindus Mountains and the Balkan Mountains.
Prehistory
Mesolithic
The first Homo sapiens were present in the Balkans during the Upper Palaeolithic, over 40,000 years ago, in the Bacho Kiro cave. These early humans likely coexisted and interbred with Neanderthal populations. The first permanent settlements appeared during the Mesolithic and early Neolithic periods, with sites like Lepenski Vir and the Lake Ohrid pile dwellings dating back around 8,000-9,500 years. Lepenski Vir has been described as "the first city in Europe", due to its permanency, organisation, as well as the sophistication of its architecture and construction techniques.
Neolithic The first known Neolithic culture of Old Europe was Kakanj culture that appeared in Central Bosnia and covered periods dated from 6795 to 4900 BC,Vander Linden, M., Pandžić, I., Orton, D. (2022) New radiocarbon dates for the Neolithic period in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Godišnjak Centra za balkanološka Ispitivanja (43) 7–34 (pdf) making the culture's eponymous town of Kakanj the Europe's oldest continuously inhabitted settlement.
Archaeologists have identified several early culture-complexes, including the Cucuteni culture (4500 to 3500 BC), Starcevo culture (6500 to 4000 BC), Vinča culture (5500 to 3000 BC), Linear pottery culture (5500 to 4500 BC), and Ezero culture (3300—2700 BC). The Eneolithic Varna culture in Bulgaria (4600–4200 BC radiocarbon dating) produced the world's earliest known gold treasure and had sophisticated beliefs about afterlife. A notable set of artifacts are the Tărtăria tablets found in Romania, which appear to be inscribed with proto-writing.
The "Kurgan hypothesis" of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origins assumes gradual expansion of the "Kurgan culture", around 5000 BC, until it encompassed the entire pontic steppe. Kurgan IV was identified with the Yamnaya culture of around 3000 BC.
Yamnaya steppe pastoralists apparently migrated into the Balkans about 3000 to 2500 BCE, and they soon admixed with the local populations, which resulted in a tapestry of various ancestry from which speakers of the Albanoid, Hellenic, and other Paleo-Balkan languages emerged.
Bronze and Iron Age
At ca. 1000 BC,The Illyrians (The Peoples of Europe) by John Wilkes,,1996, page 39: "... the other hand, the beginnings of the Iron Age around 1000 BC is held to coincide with the formation of the historical Illyrian peoples. ..." Illyrian tribes appear in what is modern day Albania and all the way aside Adriatic Sea in modern-day Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, parts of Serbia and North Macedonia. The ThraciansThe Cambridge Ancient History, Volume 3, Part 1: The Prehistory of the Balkans, the Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries BC by John Boardman, I. E. S. Edwards, N. G. L. Hammond, and E. Sollberger, 1982, page 53,"... Yet we cannot identify the Thracians at that remote period, because we do not know for certain whether the Thracian and Illyrian tribes had separated by then. It is safer to speak of Proto-Thracians from whom there developed in the Iron Age ..." lived in Thrace and adjacent lands (now mainly Bulgaria, but also Romania, northeastern Greece, European Turkey, eastern Serbia and North Macedonia), and the closely related Dacians lived in what is today Romania. These three major tribal groups spoke Paleo-Balkan languages, Indo-European languages. The Phrygians seem to have settled in the southern Balkans at first, centuries later continuing their migration to settle in Asia Minor, now extinct as a separate group and language.
Antiquity
Iron Age After the period that followed the arrival of the Dorians, known as the Greek Dark Ages or the Geometric Period, the classical Greek culture developed in the southern Balkan peninsula, the Aegean islands and the western Asia Minor Greek colonies starting around the 9th or 8th century BC and peaking with the democracy that developed in 6th and 5th century BC Athens. Later, Hellenistic culture spread throughout the empire created by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE. The Greeks were the first to establish a system of trade routes in the Balkans, and in order to facilitate trade with the natives, between 700 BC and 300 BC they founded a number of colonies on the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus) coast, Asia Minor, Dalmatia, Southern Italy (Magna Graecia) etc.
By the end of the 4th century BC, Greek language and culture were dominant not only in the Balkans but also around the whole Eastern Mediterranean. In the late 6th century BC, the Persians invaded the Balkans, and then proceed to the more fertile areas of Europe. Parts of the Balkans and more northern areas were ruled by the Achaemenid Persians for some time, including Thrace, Paeonia, Macedon, and most Black Sea coastal regions of Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, and Russia.The Oxford Classical Dictionary by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth,,"page 1515,"The Thracians were subdued by the Persians by 516"Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington A Companion to Ancient Macedonia pp 342–345 John Wiley & Sons, 7 jul. 2011 However, the outcome of the Greco-Persian Wars resulted in the Achaemenids being forced to withdraw from most of their European territories.
The Thracian Odrysian kingdom was the most important Thracian state union. It was founded c.470 BC after the Persian defeat in Greece, had its capital at Seuthopolis, near Kazanlak, Stara Zagora Province, in central Bulgaria. Other tribal unions existed in Dacia at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd century BC under King Oroles. The Illyrian tribes were situated in the area corresponding to today's Adriatic coast. The name Illyrii was originally used to refer to a people occupying an area centered on Lake Skadar, situated between Albania and Montenegro (Illyrians proper). However, the term was subsequently used by the Greeks and Romans as a generic name for the different peoples within a well defined but much greater area.The Illyrians. John Wilkes In the same way, the territory to the north of the kingdom of Macedon was occupied by the Paeonians, who were also ruled by kings.
Achaemenid Persian Empire (6th to 5th century BC)
Around 513 BC, as part of the military incursions ordered by Darius I, a huge Achaemenid army invaded the Balkans and tried to defeat the Western Scythians roaming to the north of the Danube river. Several Thracian peoples, and nearly all of the other European regions bordering the Black Sea (including parts of the modern-day Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, and Russia), were conquered by the Achaemenid army before it returned to Asia Minor. Darius's highly regarded commander Megabazus was responsible for fulfilling the conquest of the Balkans. The Achaemenid troops conquered Thrace, the coastal Greek cities, and the Paeonians.Timothy Howe, Jeanne Reames. Macedonian Legacies: Studies in Ancient Macedonian History and Culture in Honor of Eugene N. Borza (original from the Indiana University) Regina Books, 2008 p 239 Eventually, in about 512–511 BC, the Macedonian king Amyntas I accepted the Achaemenid domination and surrendered his country as a vassal state to the Achaemenid Persia. The multi-ethnic Achaemenid army possessed many soldiers from the Balkans. Moreover, many of the Macedonian and Persian elite intermarried. For instance, Megabazus' own son, Bubares, married Amyntas' daughter, Gygaea; and that supposedly ensured good relations between the Macedonian and Achaemenid rulers.
Following the Ionian Revolt, the Persian authority in the Balkans was restored by Mardonius in 492. This not only included the re-subjugation of Thrace, but also the full subordinate inclusion of Macedon into the Persian Empire.Herodotus VI, 44 The Persian invasion led indirectly to Macedonia's rise in power and Persia had some common interests in the Balkans; with Persian aid, the Macedonians stood to gain much at the expense of some Balkan tribes such as the Paeonians and Greeks. All in all, the Macedonians were "willing and useful Persian allies."Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington A Companion to Ancient Macedonia p. 344 John Wiley & Sons, 7 jul. 2011 Macedonian soldiers fought against Athens and Sparta in Xerxes' army.
Although Persian rule in the Balkans was overthrown following the failure of Xerxes' invasion, the Macedonians and Thracians borrowed heavily from the Achaemenid Persians their tradition in culture and economy in the 5th- to mid-4th centuries. Some artifacts, excavated at Sindos and Vergina may be considered as influenced by Asian practices, or even imported from Persia in the late sixth and early fifth centuries.
Pre-Roman states (4th to 1st centuries BC)
Bardylis, a Dardanian chieftain, created a kingdom which turned Illyria into a formidable local power in the 4th century BC. The main cities of this kingdom were Scodra (present-day Shkodra, Albania) and Rhizon (present-day Risan, Montenegro). In 359 BC, King Perdiccas III of Macedon was killed by attacking Illyrians.
But in 358 BC, Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, defeated the Illyrians and assumed control of their territory as far as Lake Ohrid (present-day North Macedonia). Alexander himself routed the forces of the Illyrian chieftain Cleitus in 335 BC, and Illyrian tribal leaders and soldiers accompanied Alexander on his conquest of Persia. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the Greek states started fighting among themselves again, while up north independent Illyrian polities arose again. In 312 BC, King Glaukias seized Epidamnus. By the end of the 3rd century BC, an Illyrian kingdom based in Scodra controlled parts of northern Albania, and littoral Montenegro. Under Queen Teuta, Illyrians attacked Roman merchant vessels plying the Adriatic Sea and gave Rome an excuse to invade the Balkans.
In the Illyrian Wars of 229 BC and 219 BC, Rome overran the Illyrian settlements in the Neretva river valley and suppressed the piracy that had made the Adriatic unsafe. In 180 BC, the Dalmatians declared themselves independent of the Illyrian king Gentius, who kept his capital at Scodra. The Romans defeated Gentius, the last king of Illyria, at Scodra in 168 BC and captured him, bringing him to Rome in 165 BC. Four client-republics were set up, which were in fact ruled by Rome. Later, the region was directly governed by Rome and organized as a province, with Scodra as its capital. Also, in 168 BC, by taking advantage of the constant Greek civil wars, the Romans defeated Perseus, the last King of Macedonia and with their allies in southern Greece, they became overlords of the region. The territories were split to Macedonia, Achaia and Epirus.
Roman period
Starting in the 2nd century BC, the rising Roman Republic began annexing the Balkan area, transforming it into one of the Empire's most prosperous and stable regions. To this day, the Roman legacy is clearly visible in the numerous monuments and artifacts scattered throughout the Balkans, and most importantly in the Latin-based languages used by almost 25 million people in the area (the Eastern Romance languages). However, the Roman influence failed to dissolve Greek culture, which maintained a predominant status in the Eastern half of the Empire, and continued to be strong in the southern half of the Balkans.