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Revision as of 08:24, 17 December 2001 by David Parker (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Region of southeastern Europe, usually considered to comprise the former (pre-1991) republics of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece and the European part of Turkey, with a combined area of 550,000 sq. km. and population of 53 million. Once the most developed part of Europe, in the past 500 years it has been the least developed, reflecting the shift of Europe's commercial and political centre of gravity towards the Atlantic and Balkan isolation from the mainstream of economic advance under the Ottoman Empire. In recent years the region has been affected by conflict in the former Yugoslav republics. Principal nationalities include Serbs (11 million), Greeks (10.8 million), Turks (9.2 million), Bulgars (7 million), Albanians (6 million) and Croats (5.5 million).