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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Balkans
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INFOTEXT
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1992-09-03
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Turkish `mountains' peninsula of SE
Europe, stretching into the Mediterranean Sea
between the Adriatic and Aegean seas,
comprising Albania, Bulgaria, Greece,
Romania, Turkey-in-Europe, and Yugoslavia. It
is joined to the rest of Europe by an isthmus
1,200 km/750 mi wide between Rijeka on the W
and the mouth of the Danube on the Black Sea
to the E. The Balkans is a byword for
political dissension historically, a tendency
fostered by the great ethnic diversity
resulting from successive waves of invasion.
The Balkans' economy developed comparatively
slowly until after World War II, largely
because of the predominantly mountainous
terrain, apart from the plains of the
Save-Danube basin in the N. Political
differences have remained strong -- for
example, the confrontation of Greece and
Turkey over Cyprus, and the differing types
of Communism prevailing in the rest -- but in
the later years of the 20th century a
tendency to regional union emerged. To
`Balkanize' is to divide into small warring
states.