The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a
South Slavic ethnic group
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
native to
Southeastern Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...
who share a common Serbian
ancestry
An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...
,
culture
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
,
history
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
, and
language
Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
. They primarily live in
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
,
Kosovo
Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
,
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
,
Montenegro
, image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg
, coa_size = 80
, national_motto =
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map = Europe-Mont ...
as well as in
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...
,
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
. They also constitute a significant
diaspora
A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...
with several communities across
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, the
Americas
The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...
and
Oceania
Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...
.
The Serbs share many cultural traits with the rest of the peoples of
Southeast Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...
. They are predominantly
Eastern Orthodox Christians
Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millenni ...
by religion. The
Serbian language (a standardized version of
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...
) is official in Serbia, co-official in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is spoken by the plurality in Montenegro.
Ethnology
The identity of Serbs is rooted in
Eastern Orthodoxy
Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...
and traditions. In the 19th century, the
Serbian national identity was manifested, with awareness of history and tradition, medieval heritage, cultural unity, despite living under different empires. Three elements, together with the legacy of the
Nemanjić dynasty
The House of Nemanjić ( sr-Cyrl, Немањић, Немањићи; Nemanjić, Nemanjići, ) was the most prominent Serbian dynasty of Serbia in the Middle Ages. This princely, royal and imperial house produced List of Serbian monarchs, twelv ...
, were crucial in forging identity and preservation during foreign domination: the
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...
, the
Serbian language
Serbian (, ) is the standard language, standardized Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of ...
, and the
Kosovo Myth. When the
Principality of Serbia
The Principality of Serbia () was an autonomous, later sovereign state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian Revolution, which lasted between 1804 and 1817. Its creation was negotiated first through an unwritten agre ...
gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, Orthodoxy became crucial in defining
the national identity, instead of language which was shared by other
South Slavs
South Slavs are Slavic people who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, ...
(
Croats
The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...
and
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...
).
The tradition of ''
slava'', the family saint feast day, is an important ethnic marker of Serb identity,
and is usually regarded their most significant and most solemn
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...
.
The origin of the
ethnonym
An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...
is unclear. The most prominent theory considers it of
Proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...
origin.
Hanna Popowska-Taborska argued native
Slavic provenance of the ethnonym,
claiming that the theory advances a conclusion that the ethnonym has a meaning of a family kinship or alliance, which was also argued by a number of other scholars.
Genetic origins

According to a triple analysis –
autosomal
An autosome is any chromosome that is not a sex chromosome. The members of an autosome pair in a diploid cell have the same morphology, unlike those in allosomal (sex chromosome) pairs, which may have different structures. The DNA in autosome ...
,
mitochondrial
A mitochondrion () is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used ...
and
paternal — of available data from large-scale studies on
Balto-Slavs and their proximal populations, the whole genome
SNP data situates Serbs with Montenegrins in between two Balkan clusters.
Y-DNA results show that haplogroups
I2a and
R1a together stand for the majority of the makeup, with more than 50 percent.
According to several recent studies Serbia's people are among the tallest in the world, with an average
male height of .
History
Arrival of the Slavs
Early Slavs
The early Slavs were speakers of Indo-European languages, Indo-European dialects
who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th centuries AD) in Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Ea ...
, especially
Sclaveni
The ' (in Latin language, Latin) or ' (Sclaveni#Terminology, various forms in Greek language, Greek) were Early Slavs, early Slavic tribes that raided, invaded and settled in the Balkans in the Early Middle Ages and eventually became one of the p ...
and
Antae
The Antes or Antae () were an early Slavic tribal polity of the 6th century CE. They lived on the lower Danube River, in the northwestern Black Sea region (present-day Moldova and central Ukraine), and in the regions around the Don River (in ...
, including the
White Serbs
The Sorbs, also known as Serbs or White Serbs in Serbian historiography, were an Early Slavic tribe settled between the Saale-Elbe valley and the Lusatian Neisse (in present-day Saxony and Thuringia). They were part of the Polabian Slavs and ...
, invaded and settled
Southeastern Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...
in the 6th and 7th century. Up until the late 560s, their activity was raiding, crossing from the Danube, though with limited Slavic settlement mainly through Byzantine ''
foederati
''Foederati'' ( ; singular: ''foederatus'' ) were peoples and cities bound by a treaty, known as ''foedus'', with Rome. During the Roman Republic, the term identified the '' socii'', but during the Roman Empire, it was used to describe foreign ...
'' colonies. The
Danube
The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
and
Sava
The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...
frontier was overwhelmed by large-scale Slavic settlement in the late 6th and early 7th century. What is today
central Serbia
Central Serbia (), also referred to as Serbia proper (), is the region of Serbia lying outside the autonomous province of Vojvodina to the north and the disputed Kosovo region to the south. Central Serbia is a term of convenience, not an administ ...
was an important geo-strategical province, through which the ''
Via Militaris
Via Militaris or Via Diagonalis was an ancient Roman road, starting from Singidunum (today the Serbian capital Belgrade), passing by Danube coast to Viminacium (near modern Kostolac), through Naissus (modern Niš), Serdica (modern Sofia), Phil ...
'' crossed. This area was frequently intruded by
barbarians
A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice.
A "barbarian" may ...
in the 5th and 6th centuries. The numerous Slavs mixed with and assimilated the descendants of the indigenous population (Illyrians, Thracians, Dacians, Romans, Celts). White Serbs from
White Serbia
White Serbia ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Бела Србија, Bela Srbija; ), also called Boiki (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, link=no, Бојка, Bojka), is the name applied to the assumed homeland of the Sorbs (tribe), White Serbs ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, link=no, Бели С ...
came to
an area near Thessaloniki and then they settled area between Dinaric Alps and Adriatic coast. The region of "Rascia" (
Raška) was the center of Serb settlement and Serb tribes also occupied parts of modern-day
Herzegovina
Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical Regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia (reg ...
and
Montenegro
, image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg
, coa_size = 80
, national_motto =
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map = Europe-Mont ...
. Prior to their arrival to the Balkans, early Slavs were predominantly involved in agriculture, which is why they settled in areas which were cultivated even during Roman times.
Middle Ages

The first Serb states,
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
(780–960) and
Duklja
Duklja ( sr-Cyrl, Дукља; ; ) was a medieval South Slavs, South Slavic state which roughly encompassed the territories of modern-day southeastern Montenegro, from the Bay of Kotor in the west to the Bojana river in the east, and to the sou ...
(825–1120), were formed chiefly under the
Vlastimirović and
Vojislavljević dynasties respectively.
The other Serb-inhabited lands, or principalities, that were mentioned included the "countries" of
Paganija,
Zahumlje
Zachlumia or Zachumlia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Zahumlje, Захумље, ), also Hum, was a medieval principality located in the modern-day regions of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia (today parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, r ...
,
Travunija. With the decline of the Serbian state of Duklja in the late 11th century, Raška separated from it and replaced it as the most powerful Serbian state. Prince
Stefan Nemanja
Stefan Nemanja (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: , ; – 13 February 1199) was the Grand Prince (Grand Župan#Serbia, Veliki Župan) of the Grand Principality of Serbia, Serbian Grand Principality (also known as Raška (region), Raš ...
(r. 1169–96) conquered the neighbouring territories of
Kosovo
Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
,
Duklja
Duklja ( sr-Cyrl, Дукља; ; ) was a medieval South Slavs, South Slavic state which roughly encompassed the territories of modern-day southeastern Montenegro, from the Bay of Kotor in the west to the Bojana river in the east, and to the sou ...
and
Zachlumia
Zachlumia or Zachumlia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Zahumlje, Захумље, ), also Hum, was a medieval principality located in the modern-day regions of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia (today parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, r ...
. The
Nemanjić dynasty
The House of Nemanjić ( sr-Cyrl, Немањић, Немањићи; Nemanjić, Nemanjići, ) was the most prominent Serbian dynasty of Serbia in the Middle Ages. This princely, royal and imperial house produced List of Serbian monarchs, twelv ...
ruled over Serbia until the 14th century. Nemanja's older son,
Stefan Nemanjić, became Serbia's first recognized king, while his younger son, Rastko, founded the
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...
in the year 1219, and became known as
Saint Sava
Saint Sava (, ; Old Church Slavonic: ; Glagolitic: ; ; 1169 or 1174 – 14 January 1235/6), known as the Enlightener or the Illuminator, was a Serbs, Serbian prince and Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox monk, abbot of Studenica Monastery, Studeni ...
after his death. Parts of modern-day Montenegro,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
, and central Serbia would come under the control of Nemanjić.
Over the next 140 years, Serbia expanded its borders, from numerous smaller principalities, reaching to a unified
Serbian Empire
The Serbian Empire ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српско царство, Srpsko carstvo, separator=" / ", ) was a medieval Serbian state that emerged from the Kingdom of Serbia. It was established in 1346 by Dušan the Mighty, who significantly expande ...
. Its cultural model remained Byzantine, despite political ambitions directed against the empire. The medieval power and influence of Serbia culminated in the reign of
Stefan Dušan
Stephen (honorific), Stefan Uroš IV Dušan ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош IV Душан), also known as Dušan the Mighty ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Силни; – 20 December 1355), was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Emperor of th ...
, who ruled the state from 1331 until his death in 1355. Ruling as Emperor from 1346, his territory included
Macedonia
Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to:
* North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia
* Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity
* Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...
, northern Greece, Montenegro, and almost all of modern
Albania
Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
. When Dušan died, his son
Stephen Uroš V became Emperor.
With
Turkish invaders beginning their conquest of the Balkans in the 1350s, a major conflict ensued between them and the Serbs, the first major battle was the
Battle of Maritsa
The Battle of Maritsa or Battle of Chernomen (; in tr. ''Second Battle of Maritsa'') took place at the Maritsa River near the village of Chernomen (present-day Ormenio, Greece) on 26 September 1371 between Ottoman forces commanded by Lala S ...
(1371), in which the Serbs were defeated. With the death of two important Serb leaders in the battle, and with the death of Stephen Uroš that same year, the
Serbian Empire
The Serbian Empire ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српско царство, Srpsko carstvo, separator=" / ", ) was a medieval Serbian state that emerged from the Kingdom of Serbia. It was established in 1346 by Dušan the Mighty, who significantly expande ...
broke up into several small Serbian domains. These states were ruled by feudal lords, with Zeta controlled by the
Balšić family, Raška, Kosovo and northern Macedonia held by the
Branković family and
Lazar Hrebeljanović
Lazar Hrebeljanović ( sr-Cyrl, Лазар Хребељановић; – 15 June 1389) was a medieval List of Serbian monarchs, Serbian ruler who created the largest and most powerful state on the territory of the disintegrated Serbian Empir ...
holding today's
Central Serbia
Central Serbia (), also referred to as Serbia proper (), is the region of Serbia lying outside the autonomous province of Vojvodina to the north and the disputed Kosovo region to the south. Central Serbia is a term of convenience, not an administ ...
and a portion of Kosovo. Hrebeljanović was subsequently accepted as the titular leader of the Serbs because he was married to a member of the Nemanjić dynasty. In 1389, the Serbs faced the Ottomans at the
Battle of Kosovo
The Battle of Kosovo took place on 15 June 1389 between an army led by the Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović and an invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the command of Sultan Murad I. It was one of the largest battles of the Late Middl ...
on the plain of
Kosovo Polje
Kosovo Polje ( sr-Cyrl, Косово Поље, "Kosovo Field") or Fushë Kosova ( Albanian indefinite form: ''Fushë Kosovë''), is a town and municipality located in the District of Pristina in Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town o ...
, near the town of
Priština
Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and district.
In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdom. The heritage of th ...
. Both Lazar and
Sultan
Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
Murad I
Murad I (; ), nicknamed ''Hüdavendigâr'' (from – meaning "Head of state, sovereign" in this context; 29 June 1326 – 15 June 1389) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1362 to 1389. He was the son of Orhan Gazi and Nilüfer Hatun. Mura ...
were killed in the fighting. The battle most likely ended in a stalemate, and afterwards
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
enjoyed a short period of prosperity under despot
Stefan Lazarević
Stefan Lazarević ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Лазаревић, 1377 – 19 July 1427), also known as Stefan the Tall (), was a Serbian ruler as prince (1389–1402) and Despot (court title), despot (1402–1427). He was also a diplomat, legislat ...
and resisted falling to the Turks until 1459.
Early modern period
The Serbs had taken an active part in the wars fought in the Balkans against the Ottoman Empire, and also organized uprisings;
because of this, they suffered persecution and their territories were devastated – major migrations from Serbia into Habsburg territory ensued. After allied Christian forces
had captured Buda from the Ottoman Empire in 1686 during the
Great Turkish War
The Great Turkish War () or The Last Crusade, also called in Ottoman sources The Disaster Years (), was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League (1684), Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Polish–Lith ...
, Serbs from
Pannonian Plain
The Pannonian Basin, with the term Carpathian Basin being sometimes preferred in Hungarian literature, is a large sedimentary basin situated in southeastern Central Europe. After the Treaty of Trianon following World War I, the geomorphologic ...
(present-day
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
,
Slavonia
Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...
region in present-day
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
,
Bačka
Bačka ( sr-Cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska (), is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hungary. ...
and
Banat
Banat ( , ; ; ; ) is a geographical and Historical regions of Central Europe, historical region located in the Pannonian Basin that straddles Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It is divided among three countries: the eastern part lie ...
regions in present-day
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
) joined the troops of the Habsburg monarchy as separate units known as
Serbian Militia
The Serbian (Rascian) Militia (; , ) was an auxiliary military unit of the Habsburg Monarchy composed primarily of Serbs. It was active between approximately 1686 and 1704 and operated as part of the Habsburg military structure during the Great ...
.
Serbs, as volunteers, massively joined the Austrian side.
Many Serbs were recruited during the
devshirme
Devshirme (, usually translated as "child levy" or "blood tax", , .) was the Ottoman practice of forcibly recruiting soldiers and bureaucrats from among the children of their Balkan Christian subjects and raising them in the religion of Islam ...
system, a form of
slavery in the Ottoman Empire
Chattel slavery was a major institution and a significant part of the Ottoman Empire's economy and traditional society.
The main sources of slaves were wars and politically organized enslavement expeditions in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, S ...
, in which boys from Balkan Christian families were
forcibly converted to
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
and trained for infantry units of the
Ottoman army
The Military of the Ottoman Empire () was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. It was founded in 1299 and dissolved in 1922.
Army
The Military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years ...
known as the
Janissaries
A janissary (, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted du ...
. A number of Serbs who converted to Islam occupied high-ranking positions within the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
, such as
Grand Vizier
Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha (; ; ; 1505 – 11 October 1579) was an Ottoman statesman of Serb origin most notable for being the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. Born in Ottoman Herzegovina into an Orthodox Christian family, Mehmed was recruited a ...
and
Minister of War
A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
field marshal
Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...
Omar Pasha Latas.
In 1688,
the Habsburg army took Belgrade and entered the territory of present-day
Central Serbia
Central Serbia (), also referred to as Serbia proper (), is the region of Serbia lying outside the autonomous province of Vojvodina to the north and the disputed Kosovo region to the south. Central Serbia is a term of convenience, not an administ ...
.
Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden
Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden (; 8 April 1655 – 4 January 1707) was the ruling Margrave of Baden-Baden in Germany, chief commander of the Imperial army and Reichsgeneralfeldmarschall of the Holy Roman Empire. He was also known as ''T ...
called Serbian Patriarch
Arsenije III Čarnojević
Arsenije ( sr-cyr, Арсеније; ) is a Serbian language, Serbian given name, a variant of the Greek name ''Arsenios''. Diminutives of the name include ''Arsen'', ''Arsa'' and ''Arso (disambiguation), Arso''. It may refer to:
*Arsenije Sremac ...
to raise arms against the Turks; the Patriarch accepted and returned to the liberated Peć. As Serbia fell under Habsburg control, Leopold I granted Arsenije nobility and the title of duke. In early November, Arsenije III met with Habsburg commander-in-chief,
General Enea Silvio Piccolomini in
Prizren
Prizren ( sq-definite, Prizreni, ; sr-cyr, Призрен) is the second List of cities and towns in Kosovo, most populous city and Municipalities of Kosovo, municipality of Kosovo and seat of the eponymous municipality and District of Prizren, ...
; after this talk he sent a note to all Serb bishops to come to him and collaborate only with Habsburg forces.
A
Great Migration of the Serbs (1690) to Habsburg lands was undertaken by Patriarch Arsenije III. The large community of Serbs concentrated in Banat, southern Hungary and the Military Frontier included merchants and craftsmen in the cities, but mainly refugees that were peasants. Smaller groups of Serbs also migrated to the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
, where they occupied high positions in the military circles.
The
Serbian Revolution
The Serbian Revolution ( / ') was a national uprising and constitutional change in Serbia that took place between 1804 and 1835, during which this territory evolved from an Sanjak of Smederevo, Ottoman province into a Revolutionary Serbia, reb ...
for independence from the Ottoman Empire lasted eleven years, from 1804 until 1815. The revolution comprised two separate uprisings which gained autonomy from the Ottoman Empire that eventually evolved towards full independence (1835–1867).
During the
First Serbian Uprising
The First Serbian Uprising (; sr-Cyrl, Први српски устанак; ) was an uprising of Serbs in Orašac (Aranđelovac), Orašac against the Ottoman Empire from 14 February 1804 to 7 October 1813. The uprising began as a local revolt ...
, led by Duke
Karađorđe Petrović
Đorđe Petrović (; ; – ), known by the sobriquet Karađorđe (; ), was a Serbian revolutionary leader who led a struggle against the Ottoman Empire during the First Serbian Uprising. He held the title of Grand Vožd of Serbia from 14 ...
, Serbia was independent for almost a decade before the Ottoman army was able to reoccupy the country. Shortly after this, the
Second Serbian Uprising
The Second Serbian Uprising ( / ''Drugi srpski ustanak'', ) was the second phase of the Serbian Revolution against the Ottoman Empire, which erupted shortly after the re-annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire in 1813. The occupation was ...
began. Led by
Miloš Obrenović
Miloš Obrenović (; ; 18 March 1780 or 1783 – 26 September 1860) born Miloš Teodorović (; ), also known as Miloš the Great () was the Prince of Serbia twice, from 1815 to 1839, and from 1858 to 1860. He was an eminent figure of the Firs ...
, it ended in 1815 with a compromise between Serbian revolutionaries and Ottoman authorities. Likewise, Serbia was one of the first nations in the Balkans to abolish
feudalism
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...
. Serbs are among the first ethnic groups in Europe to form a
nation
A nation is a type of social organization where a collective Identity (social science), identity, a national identity, has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, t ...
and a clear sense of national identity.
Modern period
In the early 1830s, Serbia gained autonomy and its borders were recognized, with
Miloš Obrenović
Miloš Obrenović (; ; 18 March 1780 or 1783 – 26 September 1860) born Miloš Teodorović (; ), also known as Miloš the Great () was the Prince of Serbia twice, from 1815 to 1839, and from 1858 to 1860. He was an eminent figure of the Firs ...
being recognized as its ruler. Serbia is the fourth modern-day European country, after France, Austria and the Netherlands, to have a codified legal system, as of 1844. The last Ottoman troops withdrew from Serbia in 1867, although Serbia's and Montenegro's independence was not recognized internationally until the
Congress of Berlin
At the Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878), the major European powers revised the territorial and political terms imposed by the Russian Empire on the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of San Stefano (March 1878), which had ended the Rus ...
in 1878.
Serbia fought in the
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...
of 1912–13, which forced the Ottomans out of the Balkans and doubled the territory and population of the
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...
. In 1914, a young
Bosnian Serb
The Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sr-Cyrl, Срби Босне и Херцеговине, Srbi Bosne i Hercegovine), often referred to as Bosnian Serbs ( sr-cyrl, босански Срби, bosanski Srbi) or Herzegovinian Serbs ( sr-cyrl, � ...
student named
Gavrilo Princip
Gavrilo Princip ( sr-Cyrl, Гаврило Принцип, ; 25 July 189428 April 1918) was a Bosnian Serb student who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife Sophie, Duchess von ...
assassinated
Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives.
Assassinations are orde ...
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassination in Sarajevo was the ...
, which directly contributed to the outbreak of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. In the fighting that ensued, Serbia was invaded by
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
. Despite being outnumbered, the Serbs defeated the Austro-Hungarians at the
Battle of Cer
The Battle of Cer was a military campaign fought between Austria-Hungary and Serbia in August 1914, starting three weeks into the Serbian Campaign of 1914, the initial military action of the First World War. It took place around Cer Mountain an ...
, which marked the first
Allied victory over the
Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...
in the war. Further victories at the battles of
Kolubara and the
Drina
The Drina ( sr-Cyrl, Дрина, ) is a long river in the Balkans, which forms a large portion of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Al ...
meant that Serbia remained unconquered as the war entered its second year. However, an invasion by the forces of
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
and
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
overwhelmed the Serbs in the winter of 1915, and a subsequent withdrawal by the
Serbian Army through Albania took the lives of more than 240,000 Serbs. Serb forces spent the remaining years of the war fighting on the
Salonika front in Greece, before liberating Serbia from
Austro-Hungarian occupation in November 1918. Serbia suffered
the biggest casualty rate in World War I.
Following the victory in WWI, Serbs subsequently formed the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...
with other
South Slavic peoples
South Slavs are Slavs, Slavic people who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs ...
. The country was later renamed the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...
, and was led from 1921 to 1934 by King
Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon from 495 to 454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Alexander I Theopator Euergetes, surnamed Balas, ruler of the Seleucid Empire 150-145 BC
* Pope Alex ...
of the Serbian
Karađorđević dynasty. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Yugoslavia was invaded by the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...
in April 1941. The country was subsequently divided into many pieces, with Serbia being directly occupied by the Germans. Serbs in the
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia (, NDH) was a World War II–era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist Italy. It was established in parts of Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, occupied Yugoslavia on 10 April 1941, ...
(NDH) were targeted for extermination as part of
genocide
Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
by the Croatian ultra-nationalist, fascist
Ustaše
The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian fascist and ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaša – Croatian Revolutionar ...
. The Ustaše view of national and racial identity, as well as the theory of Serbs as an
inferior race, was under the influence of
Croatian nationalists and intellectuals from the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.
Jasenovac camp was notorious for the barbaric practices which occurred in it.
Sisak
Sisak (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavina (Sava basin ...
and
Jastrebarsko concentration camp were specially
formed for children.
Serbs in the NDH suffered among the highest casualty rates in Europe during the World War II, while the NDH was one of the most lethal regimes in the 20th century.
Diana Budisavljević, a humanitarian of Austrian descent, carried out rescue operations from Ustaše camps and saved more than 15,000 children, mostly Serbs.

More than half a million Serbs were killed in the territory of Yugoslavia during World War II. Serbs in occupied Yugoslavia subsequently formed a resistance movement known as the
Yugoslav Army in the Homeland, or the Chetniks. The Chetniks had the official support of the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
until 1943, when Allied support shifted to the Communist
Yugoslav Partisans
The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...
, a multi-ethnic force, formed in 1941, which also had a large majority of Serbs in its ranks in the first two years of war. Over the entirety of the war, the ethnic composition of the Partisans was 53 percent Serb. During the entire course of the WWII in Yugoslavia, 64.1% of all Bosnian Partisans were Serbs.
Later, after the fall of Italy in September 1943, other ethnic groups joined Partisans in larger numbers.
At the end of the war, the Partisans, led by
Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...
, emerged victorious. Yugoslavia subsequently became a Communist state. Tito died in 1980, and his death saw
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
plunge into economic turmoil. Yugoslavia
disintegrated in the early 1990s, and a
series of wars resulted in the creation of five new states. The heaviest fighting occurred in
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
, whose Serb populations rebelled and declared independence. The
war
War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
in Croatia ended in August 1995, with a Croatian military offensive known as
Operation Storm
Operation Storm ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Operacija Oluja, separator=" / ", Операција Олуја) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory f ...
put a stop to the
Croatian Serb rebellion and causing as many as 200,000 Serbs to flee the country. The
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. Following several earlier violent incid ...
ended that same year, with the
Dayton Agreement
The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement or the Dayton Accords ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Dejtonski mirovni sporazum, Дејтонски мировни споразум), and colloquially kn ...
dividing the country along ethnic lines. In 1998–99, a
conflict in Kosovo between the Yugoslav Army and Albanians seeking independence erupted into full-out war, resulting in a 78-day-long
NATO bombing campaign which effectively drove Yugoslav security forces from Kosovo. Subsequently, more than 200,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians fled the province. On 5 October 2000, Yugoslav
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
Slobodan Milosević was overthrown in a bloodless revolt after he refused to admit defeat in the
2000 Yugoslav general election
General elections were held in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 24 September 2000.Dieter Nohlen & Philip StöverP (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1678 They included the presidential election, which was held using the two- ...
.
Demographics
Modern demographic distribution of ethnic Serbs throughout homeland and native regions, as well as in
Serbian ethnic diaspora, represents an outcome of several historical and demographic processes, shaped both by
economic migrations
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short-t ...
and
forced displacements
Forced displacement (also forced migration or forced relocation) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of perse ...
during the recent
Yugoslav Wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...
(1991–1999).
Balkans
According to most recent census conducted in Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro, there are nearly 7 million Serbs living in their native homelands, within the geographical borders of former
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
. In Serbia itself, around 5.5 million people identify themselves as ethnic Serbs, and constitute about 83% of the population. More than a million live in
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
(predominantly in the
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, ; also referred to as the Republic of Srpska or Serb Republic) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other bein ...
), where they are one of the three
constituent ethnic groups. Serbs in
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
,
Montenegro
, image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg
, coa_size = 80
, national_motto =
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map = Europe-Mont ...
and
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...
also have recognized collective rights, and number some 186,000, 178,000 and 39,000 people, respectively, while another estimated 96,000 live in the disputed area of
Kosovo
Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
.
Smaller minorities exist in
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
, some 36,000 people, respectively.
Outside of the former Yugoslavia, but within their historical and migratory areal, Serbs are officially recognized as national minority in
Albania
Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
,
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
(18,000),
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
(7,000), as well as in the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
and
Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
.
Diaspora
There are over 2 million Serbs in
diaspora
A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...
throughout the world; some sources put that figure as high as 4 million. There is a large diaspora in Western Europe, particularly in
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
,
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
and
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Outside Europe, there are significant Serb communities in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
,
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
and
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...
. The existence of a large diaspora is mainly a consequence of either economic or political (
coercion
Coercion involves compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner through the use of threats, including threats to use force against that party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to i ...
or expulsions) reasons.
There were several waves of Serb emigration. The first wave took place since the end of the 19th century and lasted until
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and was caused by economic reasons; particularly large numbers of Serbs (mainly from peripheral ethnic areas such as
Herzegovina
Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical Regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia (reg ...
,
Montenegro
, image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg
, coa_size = 80
, national_motto =
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map = Europe-Mont ...
,
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...
, and
Lika
Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by t ...
) emigrated to the United States. The second wave of emigration took place after the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. At this time, members of royalist
Chetniks
The Chetniks,, ; formally the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army, and also the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland; and informally colloquially the Ravna Gora Movement, was a Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav royalist and Serbian nationalist m ...
and other political opponents of communist regime fled the country mainly going overseas (
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
) and, to a lesser degree,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. The third wave of Serb emigration, by far the largest, consisted of economic emigration beginning in the 1960s when several Western European countries signed bilateral agreements with Yugoslavia, allowing the recruitment of industrial workers to those countries; this lasted until the end of the 1980s. The major destinations for migrants were
West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
,
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
, and
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, and to a lesser extent
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
and
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. That generation of diaspora is collectively known as ''gastarbajteri'', after German ''
gastarbeiter
; ; both singular and plural) are foreign or migrant workers, particularly those who had moved to West Germany between 1955 and 1973, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker program (). As a result, guestworkers are generally considered t ...
'' ("guest-worker"), since most of the emigrants headed for German-speaking countries. These migrations left some parts of Serbia sparsely populated. Later emigration took place during the 1990s, and was caused by both political and economic reasons. The
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...
caused many Serbs from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to leave their countries in the first half of the 1990s. The
economic sanctions
Economic sanctions or embargoes are Commerce, commercial and Finance, financial penalties applied by states or institutions against states, groups, or individuals. Economic sanctions are a form of Coercion (international relations), coercion tha ...
imposed on Serbia caused an economic collapse with an estimated 300,000 people leaving Serbia during that period, 20% of which had a higher education.
Language
Serbs speak
Serbian, a member of the
South Slavic group of languages, specifically the Southwestern group. Standard Serbian is a standardized
variety of
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...
, and therefore
mutually intelligible
In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intellig ...
with Standard
Croatian, Standard
Montenegrin, and Standard
Bosnian (see
Comparison of standard Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian), which are all based on the
Shtokavian dialect.

Serbian is an official language in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and is a recognized minority language in Montenegro (although spoken by a plurality of population), Croatia, North Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Older forms of literary Serbian are
Church Slavonic
Church Slavonic is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The ...
of the Serbian recension, which is still used for ecclesiastical purposes, and
Slavonic-Serbian—a mixture of Serbian,
Church Slavonic
Church Slavonic is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The ...
and
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
used from the mid-18th century to the first decades of the 19th century.
Serbian has active
digraphia
In sociolinguistics, digraphia refers to the use of more than one writing system for the same language. Synchronic digraphia is the coexistence of two or more writing systems for the same language, while diachronic digraphia or sequential digr ...
, using both
Cyrillic
The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...
and
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
alphabets.
Serbian Cyrillic
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (, ), also known as the Serbian script, (, ), is a standardized variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language. It originated in medieval Serbia and was significantly reformed in the 19th cen ...
was devised in 1814 by Serbian linguist
Vuk Karadžić
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Стефановић Караџић, ; 6 November 1787 (26 October OS)7 February 1864) was a Serbian philologist, anthropologist and linguist. He was one of the most important reformers of the moder ...
, who created the alphabet on phonemic principles. Serbian Latin was created by
Ljudevit Gaj
Ljudevit Gaj (; born Ludwig Gay; ; 8 August 1809 – 20 April 1872) was a Croatian linguist, politician, journalist and writer. He was one of the central figures of the pan-Slavist Illyrian movement.
Biography
Origin
He was born in Krapina ( ...
and published in 1830. His alphabet mapped completely on Serbian Cyrillic which had been standardized by
Vuk Karadžić
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Стефановић Караџић, ; 6 November 1787 (26 October OS)7 February 1864) was a Serbian philologist, anthropologist and linguist. He was one of the most important reformers of the moder ...
a few years before.
Loanwords in the Serbian language besides common internationalisms are mostly from
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
, German
[Лексикон страних речи и израза / Милан Вујаклија, Просвета, Београд (1954) ] and Italian, while words of
Hungarian origin are present mostly in the north.
The
Ottoman conquest began a linguistical contact between Ottoman Turkish and South Slavic; Ottoman Turkish influence grew stronger after the 15th century. Besides Turkish loanwords, also many Arabic (such as ''alat'', "tool", ''sat'', "hour, clock") and Persian (''čarape'', "socks", ''šećer'', "sugar") words entered via Turkish, called "Orientalisms" (''orijentalizmi''). Also, many Greek words entered via Turkish. Words for hitherto unknown sciences, businesses, industries, technologies and professions were brought by the Ottoman Empire. Christian villagers brought urban vocabulary from their travels to Islamic culture cities. Many Turkish loanwords are no longer considered loanwords.
There is considerable usage of French words as well, especially in military related terms.
One Serbian word that is used in many of the world's languages is "
vampire
A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...
" (''vampir'').
Culture
Literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
,
icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...
painting, music, dance and medieval architecture are the artistic forms for which Serbia is best known. Traditional
Serbian visual art (specifically
fresco
Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...
es, and to some extent
icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...
s), as well as ecclesiastical architecture, are highly reflective of Byzantine traditions, with some Mediterranean and Western influence.
Many Serbian monuments and works of art have been lost forever due to various wars, thievery and peacetime marginalizations.
In modern times (since the 19th century) Serbs also have a noteworthy
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
and works of philosophy. Notable philosophers include
Svetozar Marković
Svetozar Marković ( sr-Cyrl, Светозар Марковић, ; 9 September 1846 – 26 February 1875) was a Serbian political activist, literary critic and socialist philosopher. He developed an activistic anthropological philosophy ...
,
Branislav Petronijević
Branislav "Brana" Petronijević (sometimes styled as Petronievics) (Serbian Cyrillic: Бранислав "Брана" Петронијевић; 6 April 1875 – 4 March 1954) was a Serbian philosopher and Paleontology, paleontologist.
His major w ...
,
Ksenija Atanasijević,
Radomir Konstantinović,
Nikola Milošević,
Mihailo Marković
Mihailo Marković ( sr-cyr, Михаило Марковић; 24 February 1923 – 7 February 2010) was a Serbs, Serbian philosopher who gained prominence in the 1960s and 1970s as a proponent of the Praxis School, a Marxist humanism, Marxist hum ...
,
Justin Popović and
Mihailo Đurić.
Art, music, theatre, and cinema
During the 12th and 13th centuries, many icons, wall paintings and manuscript miniatures came into existence, as many Serbian Orthodox monasteries and churches such as
Hilandar,
Žiča
The Žiča Monastery (, or ) is an early 13th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery near Kraljevo, Serbia. The monastery, together with the Church of the Holy Dormition, was built by the first monarch, King of Serbia, Stefan Prvovenčani, Stefan t ...
,
Studenica,
Sopoćani,
Mileševa,
Gračanica and
Visoki Dečani
The Visoki Dečani Monastery is a medieval Serbian Orthodox Christian monastery located near Deçan, Kosovo. It was founded in the first half of the 14th century by Stefan Dečanski, List of Serbian monarchs, King of Serbia.
Dečani is by far t ...
were built. The architecture of some of these monasteries is world-famous. Prominent architectural styles in the Middle Ages were
Raška architectural school,
Morava architectural school and
Serbo-Byzantin architectural style. During the same period
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
protected
Stećak
Stećak (plural stećci; Cyrillic стећак, стећци) is the name for monumental medieval tombstones, that lie scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the border parts of Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. An estimated 60,000 are found w ...
monumental medieval tombstones were built. The Independence of Serbia in the 19th century was soon followed with
Serbo-Byzantine Revival in architecture.
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
and
rococo
Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...
trends in Serbian art emerged in the 18th century and are mostly represented in icon painting and portraits. Most of the Baroque authors were from the territory of
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...
, such as
Nikola Nešković,
Teodor Kračun,
Teodor Ilić Češljar
Teodor Ilić Češljar ( sr-cyr, Теодор Илић Чешљар; 1746−1793) was a Serbian Rococo, late baroque painter from Vojvodina (then part of the Austrian Empire) best known for being the creator of the Royal Doors of the Church in Osto ...
,
Zaharije Orfelin
Zaharije Orfelin ( sr-Cyrl, Захаријe Орфелин; 1726 – 19 January 1785) was a Serbs, Serbian polymath who lived and worked in the Habsburg monarchy and Republic of Venice, Venice. Considered a Renaissance, Renaissance man, he is var ...
and
Jakov Orfelin. Serbian painting showed the influence of
Biedermeier and
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiq ...
as seen in works by
Konstantin Danil and
Pavel Đurković
Pavle or Pavel Đurković (1772 – 1830) was a Serbian painter, portraitist and iconographer who distinguished himself in the iconography of monasteries and portraits of great personalities (mostly Serbs).
His greatest work was the iconostasis of ...
. Many painters followed the artistic trends set in the 19th century Romanticism, notably
Đura Jakšić
Georgije "Đura" Jakšić (; 27 July 1832 – 16 November 1878) was a Serbian poet, painter, writer, dramatist and Bohemianism, bohemian.
Biography
Đura Jakšić was born as Georgije Jakšić in Srpska Crnja, Austrian Empire (present-day Serbi ...
,
Stevan Todorović
Stevan Todorović ( sr-cyr, Стеван Тодоровић; Novi Sad, 1832–Belgrade, 1925) was a Serbian painter and the founder of modern fencing and Sokol movement in Yugoslavia.
Biography
Born in Novi Sad, Todorović moved in 1839 to Szeg ...
,
Katarina Ivanović and
Novak Radonić. Since the mid-1800s, Serbia has produced a number of famous painters who are representative of general European artistic trends. One of the most prominent of these was
Paja Jovanović
Pavle "Paja" Jovanović ( sr-cyr, Павле "Паја" Јовановић; ; 16 June 1859 – 30 November 1957) was a Serbian realist painter who painted more than 1,100 works including: '' The Wounded Montenegrin'' (1882), '' Decorating of the ...
, who painted massive canvases on historical themes such as the ''
Migration of the Serbs'' (1896). Painter
Uroš Predić
Uroš Predić ( sr-Cyrl, Урош Предић, ; Orlovat, 7 December 1857 – Belgrade, 12 February 1953) was a Serbian Realism (visual arts), Realist painter. Along with Paja Jovanović and Đorđe Krstić, he is considered the most important ...
was also prominent in the field of Serbian art, painting the ''
Kosovo Maiden
The Kosovo Maiden or Maiden of the Kosovo field, Blackbird's Field ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовка девојка, Kosovka devojka, separator=" / ") is the central figure of a poem with the same name, part of the Serbian epic poetry#Corpus, Kosovo ...
'' and ''
Happy Brothers''. While Jovanović and Predić were both
realist painters, artist
Nadežda Petrović
Nadežda Petrović ( sr-Cyrl, Надежда Петровић; 11/12 October 1873 – 3 April 1915) was a Serbian painter and one of the women war photography pioneers in the region. Considered Serbia's most famous expressionist and fauvis ...
was an
impressionist
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
and
fauvist and
Sava Šumanović
Sava Šumanović ( sr-Cyrl, Сава Шумановић; 22 January 1896 – 30 August 1942) was a Serbian painter. He is considered to be one of the most important Serbian painters of the 20th century. Šumanović's opus includes around 800 pa ...
was an accomplished
cubist
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture.
Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...
. Painters
Petar Lubarda
Petar Lubarda (Serbian Cyrillic: Петар Лубарда); 27 July 1907 – 13 February 1974) was a Serbian painter.
Biography
He was born in Ljubotinj, near Cetinje, Principality of Montenegro. Lubarda's father was an officer of the Royal Y ...
,
Vladimir Veličković and
Ljubomir Popović were famous for their
surrealism
Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
.
Marina Abramović
Marina Abramović ( sr-Cyrl, Марина Абрамовић, ; born November 30, 1946) is a Serbian conceptual and performance artist. Her work explores body art, endurance art, the relationship between the performer and audience, the limit ...
is a world-renowned
performance art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
ist, writer, and
art film
An art film, arthouse film, or specialty film is an independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made prima ...
maker.
Traditional Serbian music includes various kinds of
bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...
,
flutes
The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
,
horns,
trumpets
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B o ...
,
lutes
A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
More specifically, the term "lute" commonly r ...
,
psalteries,
drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
and
cymbals
A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...
. The
kolo is the traditional collective folk dance, which has a number of varieties throughout the regions. The first Serbian composers started working in the 14th and 15th century, like
Kir Stefan the Serb. Composer and
musicologist
Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...
Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac is considered one of the most important founders of modern Serbian music. Other noted classical composers include
Kornelije Stanković
Kornelije Stanković (, ; 23 August 1831 16 April 1865) was a Serbian composer, melographer, conductor, pianist and musical writer. He is notable for his four volumes of harmonized Serbian melodies, which were published in Vienna between 1858 an ...
,
Stanislav Binički
Stanislav Binički ( sr-cyr, Станислав Бинички, ; 27 July 1872 – 15 February 1942) was a Serbian composer, conductor, and pedagogue. A student of German composer Josef Rheinberger, he became the first director of the Oper ...
,
Petar Konjović
Petar Konjović ( sr-cyr, Петар Коњовић, , 5 May 1883 – 1 October 1970) was a Serbs, Serbian composer and academic.
Education and career
Petar Konjović was born in Čurug, where his father worked as a teacher. He was educated in No ...
,
Miloje Milojević,
Stevan Hristić
Stevan Hristić ( sr-cyr, Стеван Христић; 19 June 1885 – 21 August 1958) was a Serbian composer, conductor, pedagogue, and music writer. A prominent representative of the late romanticist style in Serbian music of the first half ...
,
Josif Marinković
Josif Marinković (Serbian language, Serbian Cyrillic: Јосиф Маринковић; Vranjevo, near Novi Bečej, 15 September 1851 – Belgrade, 13 May 1931) was a Serbian composer and choral director. Like his younger contemporary Stevan Mokr ...
,
Luigi von Kunits
Ludwig Paul Maria "Luigi" von Kunits (20 July 1870 – 8 October 1931) was a Canadian conductor, composer, violinist, and pedagogue. Born in Austria, he studied at the Vienna Conservatory. He later moved to Canada where he was the founding con ...
,
Ljubica Marić
Ljubica Marić (Љубица Марић , 18 March 1909 – 17 September 2003) was a composer from Yugoslavia. She was a pupil of Josip Štolcer-Slavenski. She was known for being inspired by Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Eastern Orthodox Church, ...
and
Vasilije Mokranjac. Well-known musicians include
Zdravko Čolić
Zdravko Čolić (, ; born 30 May 1951) is a Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian-Serbian Pop music, pop singer and widely considered one of the greatest vocalists and cultural icons of the former Yugoslavia. Favourably compared to Paul McCartney and T ...
,
Arsen Dedić,
Predrag Gojković-Cune,
Toma Zdravković,
Milan Mladenović,
Radomir Mihailović Točak,
Bora Đorđević
Borisav "Bora" Đorđević ( sr-Cyrl, Борисав, Бора Ђорђевић; 1 November 1952 – 4 September 2024), also known as Bora Čorba ( sr-Cyrl, Бора Чорба), was a Serbian singer-songwriter and poet. He was best known as th ...
,
Momčilo Bajagić Bajaga,
Đorđe Balašević
Đorđe Balašević ( sr-Cyrl, Ђорђе Балашевић; 11 May 1953 – 19 February 2021) was a Serbian singer and songwriter, writer, poet and director. He began his career in the late 1970s as a member of the band Rani Mraz, transitionin ...
,
Ceca and others.
Serbia has produced many talented filmmakers, the most famous of whom are
Slavko Vorkapić,
Dušan Makavejev,
Živojin Pavlović
Živojin "Žika" Pavlović (15 April 1933 – 29 November 1998) was a Yugoslav and Serbian film director, writer, painter and professor. In his films and novels, Pavlović depicted the cruel reality of small, poor and abandoned people living ...
,
Slobodan Šijan
Slobodan Šijan ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Шијан, ; born 16 November 1946) is a Serbian film director.
Biography
Šijan was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921 ...
,
Goran Marković,
Goran Paskaljević
Goran Paskaljević ( sr-cyr, Горан Паскаљевић; ; 22 April 1947 – 25 September 2020) was a Serbian and former Yugoslav film director.
Biography
Born in Belgrade, he was raised by his grandparents in Niš in southern Serbia, foll ...
,
Emir Kusturica
Emir Kusturica ( sr-cyrl, Емир Кустурица, ; born 24 November 1954) is a Serbian film director, screenwriter, actor, film producer and musician. Kusturica has been an active filmmaker since the 1980s.
He has competed at the Cannes ...
,
Želimir Žilnik
Želimir Žilnik ( sr-Cyrl, Желимир Жилник; ; born 8 September 1942) is a Serbian film director best known as one of the major figures of the Yugoslav Black Wave film movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
Early life
Žilnik was born in 19 ...
,
Srđan Dragojević
Srđan Dragojević ( sr-cyr, Срђан Драгојевић, , born 1 January 1963) is a Serbian film director and screenwriter, who emerged in the 1990s as a significant figure in Serbian cinema.
From 2010 until 2017, he was affiliated with the ...
,
Srdan Golubović and
Mila Turajlić. Žilnik and
Stefan Arsenijević
Stefan Arsenijević ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Арсенијевић; born 11 March 1977 in Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian film director and scriptwriter.
Biography
He is a graduate of the Ninth Belgrade Gymnasium. He studied ...
won the
Golden Bear
The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...
award at
Berlinale
The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...
, while Mila Turajlić won the main award at
IDFA. Kusturica became world-renowned after winning the
Palme d'Or
The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...
twice at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world.
Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...
, numerous other prizes, and is a
UNICEF
UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...
National Ambassador for Serbia. Several Americans of Serb origin have been featured prominently in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
. The most notable of these are Academy Award winners
Karl Malden
Karl Malden (born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009) was an American stage, movie and television actor who first achieved acclaim in the original Broadway productions of Arthur Miller's '' All My Sons'' and Tennessee Will ...
,
Steve Tesich,
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich (July 30, 1939 – January 6, 2022) was an American director, writer, actor, producer, critic, and film historian. He started out his career as a young actor studying under Stella Adler before working as a film critic for ''Fi ...
,
Tony-winning theatre director
Darko Tresnjak,
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...
-winning director
Marina Zenovich and actors
Iván Petrovich,
Brad Dexter
Brad Dexter (born Boris Michel Soso; April 9, 1917 – December 12, 2002) was an American actor and film producer. He is known for tough-guy and western roles, including the 1960 film '' The Magnificent Seven'' (1960), and producing several fi ...
,
Lolita Davidovich
Lolita Davidovich (born Lolita Davidović; July 15, 1961) is a Canadian film and television actress, best known for portraying Blaze Starr in the 1989 film '' Blaze'', for which she received a Chicago Film Critics Association Award nomination.
...
,
Milla Jovovich
Milica Bogdanovna Jovović; ; ( ; born December 17, 1975), known professionally as Milla Jovovich (), is an American actress and former fashion model. Her starring roles in numerous science fiction film, science-fiction and action films led th ...
and
Stana Katic.
Literature
Most literature written by early Serbs was about religious themes. The founders of the
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...
wrote various gospels, psalters, menologies, hagiographies, along with essays and sermons. At the end of the 12th century, two of the most important pieces of Serbian medieval literature were created– the Miroslav Gospels and the Vukan Gospels, which combined handwritten Biblical texts with painted initials and small pictures. The Crnojević printing house was the first printing house in Southeastern Europe and is considered an important part of Serbian cultural history.
Notable
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
-influenced authors were Andrija Zmajević, Gavril Stefanović Venclović, Jovan Rajić,
Zaharije Orfelin
Zaharije Orfelin ( sr-Cyrl, Захаријe Орфелин; 1726 – 19 January 1785) was a Serbs, Serbian polymath who lived and worked in the Habsburg monarchy and Republic of Venice, Venice. Considered a Renaissance, Renaissance man, he is var ...
and others. Dositej Obradović was the most prominent figure of the Age of Enlightenment, while the most notable Classicist writer was Jovan Sterija Popović, although his works also contained elements of Romanticism. Modern Serbian literature began with
Vuk Karadžić
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Стефановић Караџић, ; 6 November 1787 (26 October OS)7 February 1864) was a Serbian philologist, anthropologist and linguist. He was one of the most important reformers of the moder ...
's collections of folk songs in the 19th century, and the writings of Petar II Petrović-Njegoš, Njegoš and Branko Radičević. The first prominent representative of Serbian literature in the 20th century was Jovan Skerlić, who wrote in pre–World War I Belgrade and helped introduce Serbian writers to literary modernism. The most important Serbian writer in the inter-war period was Miloš Crnjanski.
The first Serb authors who appeared after World War II were Mihailo Lalić and Dobrica Ćosić. Other notable post-war Yugoslav authors such as Ivo Andrić and Meša Selimović were assimilated to Serbian culture, and both identified as Serbs. Andrić went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961. Danilo Kiš, another popular Serbian writer, was known for writing ''A Tomb for Boris Davidovich'', as well as several acclaimed novels. Amongst contemporary Serbian writers, Milorad Pavić (writer), Milorad Pavić stands out as being the most critically acclaimed, with his novels ''Dictionary of the Khazars'', ''Landscape Painted with Tea'' and ''The Inner Side of the Wind'' bringing him international recognition. Highly revered in Europe and in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
, Pavić is considered one of the most intriguing writers from the beginning of the 21st century. Charles Simic is a notable contemporary Serbian-American poet, former United States Poet Laureate and a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Pulitzer Prize winner. Contemporary writer Zoran Živković (writer), Zoran Živković authored more than 20 prose books and is best-known for his Science fiction, SF works which have been published in 23 countries.
Education and science
Many Serbs have contributed to the field of science and technology. There are more Serbian scientists and scholars working abroad than in the Balkans. At least 7000 Serbs who have a PhD are working abroad. Medical specialists from Serbia have performed a number of operations which have been described as pioneer works.
Serbian American mechanical and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla is regarded as one of the most important inventors in history. He is renowned for his contributions to the discipline of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th century. Seven Serbian American engineers and scientists known as ''Serbo 7'' took part in construction of the Apollo (spacecraft), Apollo spaceship. Physicist and physical chemist Mihajlo Pupin is best known for his landmark theory of modern electrical filters as well as for his numerous patents, while Milutin Milanković is best known for his theory of long-term climate change (general concept), climate change caused by changes in the position of the Earth in comparison to the Sun, now known as Milankovitch cycles. Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic is a Serbian American biomedical engineer focusing on engineering human tissues for regenerative medicine, stem cell research and modeling of disease. She is one of the most highly cited scientists of all times.
Notable Serb mathematicians include Mihailo Petrović, Jovan Karamata and Đuro Kurepa. Mihailo Petrović is known for having contributed significantly to differential equations and phenomenology, as well as inventing one of the first prototypes of an analog computer. Roger Joseph Boscovich was a Ragusan physicist, astronomer, mathematician and polymath of paternal Serbian origin
(although there are competing claims for Bošković's nationality) who produced a precursor of atomic theory and made many contributions to astronomy and also discovered the Atmosphere of the Moon, absence of atmosphere on the Moon. Jovan Cvijić founded modern geography in Serbia and made pioneering research on the geography of the Balkan Peninsula, Dinaric race and karst. Josif Pančić made contributions to botany and discovered a number of new floral species including the Serbian spruce. Biologist and physiologist Ivan Đaja performed research in the role of the adrenal glands in thermoregulation, as well as pioneering work in hypothermia.
Valtazar Bogišić is considered to be a pioneer in the sociology of law and sociological jurisprudence.
Names

There are several different layers of Serbian names. Serbian given names largely originate from Slavic names, Slavic roots:
e.g., Vuk (name), Vuk, Bojan, Goran (Slavic name), Goran, Zoran, Dragan, Milan (given name), Milan, Miroslav (given name), Miroslav, Vladimir (name), Vladimir, Slobodan, Dušan, Milica, Nevena, Vesna (name), Vesna, Radmila. Other names are of Christianity, Christian origin, originating from the Bible (Hebrew language, Hebrew, through
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
), such as Lazar (name), Lazar, Mihailo, Ivan (name), Ivan, Jovan (given name), Jovan, Ilija (given name), Ilija, Marija, Ana (given name), Ana, Ivana. Along similar lines of non-Slavic Christian names are Greeks, Greek ones such as: Stefan (given name), Stefan, Nikola, Aleksandar, Filip, Đorđe, Andrej, Jelena (disambiguation), Jelena, Katarina (given name), Katarina, Vasilije, Todor, while those of Latin origin include: Marko (given name), Marko, Antonije, Srđan, Marina (given name), Marina, Petar, Pavle, Natalia (given name), Natalija, Igor (given name), Igor (through Russian).
Most Serbian surnames are paternal, maternal, occupational or derived from personal traits. It is estimated that over two thirds of all Serbian surnames have the suffix ''-ić'' (-ић) (), a Slavic diminutive, originally functioning to create Patronymic, patronymics. Thus the surname Petrović means the "son of Petar" (from a male progenitor, the root is extended with possessive ''-ov'' or ''-ev''). Due to limited use of international typewriters and unicode computer encoding, the suffix may be simplified to ''-ic'', historically transcribed with a phonetic ending, ''-ich'' or ''-itch'' in foreign languages. Other common surname suffixes found among Serbian surnames are ''-
ov'', ''-
ev'', ''-
in'' and ''-
ski'' (without ''-ić'') which is the Slavic genitive case, possessive case suffix, thus Nikola's son becomes Nikolin, Petar's son Petrov, and Jovan's son Jovanov. Other, less common suffices are ''-alj/olj/elj'', ''-ija'', ''-ica'', ''-ar/ac/an''. The ten most common surnames in Serbia, in order, are Jovanović, Petrović, Nikolić, Marković, Đorđević, Stojanović, Ilić, Stanković, Pavlović and Milošević.
Religion
Serbs are predominantly Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox Christians. The autocephaly of the
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...
, was established in 1219, as an Archbishopric, and raised to the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć, Patriarchate in 1346. It is led by the List of heads of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Serbian Patriarch, and consists of three archbishoprics, six metropolitanates and List of eparchies of the Serbian Orthodox Church, thirty-one eparchies, having around 10 million adherents. Followers of the church form the largest religious group in Serbia and Montenegro, and the second-largest in
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...
and
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
. The church has an archbishopric in
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...
and dioceses in Western Europe, North America, South America and Australia.
The identity of ethnic Serbs was historically largely based on Orthodox Christianity and on the Serbian Church in particular. The conversion of the South Slavs from paganism to Christianity took place before the Great Schism of 1054. During the time of the Great Schism, Serbian rulers including Mihailo I of Duklja, Mihailo Vojislavljević and
Stefan Nemanja
Stefan Nemanja (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: , ; – 13 February 1199) was the Grand Prince (Grand Župan#Serbia, Veliki Župan) of the Grand Principality of Serbia, Serbian Grand Principality (also known as Raška (region), Raš ...
were Roman Catholics, with the former being a vassal of the Papal States. In 1217, the Serbian ruler Stefan the First-Crowned, Stefan Nemanja II was crowned by Pope Honorius III of the Roman Catholic Church. However in 1219, Nemanja II was crowned once again by the newly independent Serbian Orthodox Church. This shift solidified the Christian Orthodox religion in Serbia.
With the arrival of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
, some Serbs converted to
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
. This was particularly, but not wholly, the case in Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bosnia. Since the second half of the 19th century, a small number of Serbs converted to Protestantism, while historically some Serbs were Roman Catholics (especially in Bay of Kotor and
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...
; e.g. Serb-Catholic movement in Dubrovnik).
In a personal correspondence with author and critic dr. Milan Šević in 1932, Marko Murat complained that Orthodox Serbs are not acknowledging the Roman Catholic Serb community on the basis of their faith. The remainder of Serbs remain predominantly Serbian Orthodox Christians.
Symbols
Among the most notable national and ethnic symbols are the flag of Serbia and the coat of arms of Serbia. The flag consists of a red-blue-white tricolour (flag), tricolour, rooted in Pan-Slavism, and has been used since the 19th century. Apart from being the national flag, it is also used officially in
Republika Srpska
Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, ; also referred to as the Republic of Srpska or Serb Republic) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other bein ...
(by Bosnian Serbs) and as the official ethnic Flag of Serbs of Croatia. The coat of arms, which includes both the Serbian eagle and Serbian cross, has also been officially used since the 19th century, its elements dating back to the Middle Ages, showing Byzantine and Christian heritage. These symbols are used by various Serb organisations, political parties and institutions.
["Grb Srbije: Dvoglavi orao menja perje"](_blank)
(in Serbian) The Three-finger salute (Serbian), Three-finger salute, also called the "Serb salute", is a popular expression for ethnic Serbs and Serbia, originally expressing Serbian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodoxy and today simply being a symbol for ethnic Serbs and the Serbian nation, made by extending the thumb, index, and middle fingers of one or both hands.
Traditions and customs

Traditional clothing varies due to diverse geography and climate of the territory inhabited by the Serbs. The traditional footwear, ''opanak, opanci'', is worn throughout the Balkans. The most common Serbian national costume, folk costume of Serbia is that of Šumadija, a region in central Serbia,
which includes the national hat, the Šajkača. Older villagers still wear their traditional costumes.
[ The traditional dance is the circle dance, called '' kolo''. Zmijanje embroidery is a specific technique of embroidery practised by the women of villages in area Zmijanje on mountain Manjača and as such is a part of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists, UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Pirot carpet is a variety of flat tapestry woven rug traditionally produced in Pirot, a town in southeastern Serbia.
''Slava (tradition), Slava'' is the family's annual ceremony and veneration of their patron saint, a social event in which the family is together at the house of the patriarch. The tradition is an important ethnic marker of Serb identity.] Serbs usually regard the Slava as their most significant and most solemn feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...
.
Serbs have Serbian Christmas traditions, their own customs regarding Christmas, which includes the sacral tree, the ''Badnjak (Serbian), badnjak'', a young oak. On Orthodox Easter, Serbs have the tradition of Egg decorating in Slavic culture, Slavic Egg decorating. Čuvari Hristovog groba is a religious/cultural practice of guarding a representation of Jesus, Christ's grave on Good Friday in the Church of St. Nicholas, Vrlika, Church of St. Nicholas by the Serbian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox inhabitants in the town of Vrlika.
Cuisine
Serbian cuisine is largely heterogeneous, with heavy Oriental, Central European and Mediterranean influences. Despite this, it has evolved and achieved its own culinary identity. Food is very important in Serbian social life, particularly during religious holidays such as Christmas, Easter and feast days, i.e., ''slava''. Staples of the Serbian diet include bread, meat, fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. Traditionally, three meals are consumed per day. Breakfast generally consists of eggs, meat and bread. Lunch is considered the main meal, and is normally eaten in the afternoon. Traditionally, Turkish coffee, Domestic or turkish coffee is prepared after a meal, and is served in small cups. Bread is the basis of all Serbian meals, and it plays an important role in Serbian cuisine and can be found in religious rituals. A traditional Serbian welcome is to offer bread and salt to guests, and also ''slatko'' (fruit preserve). Meat is widely consumed, as is fish. Serbian specialties include ''kajmak'' (a dairy product similar to clotted cream), ''proja'' (cornbread), ''kačamak'' (corn-flour porridge), and ''gibanica'' (cheese and kajmak pie). Ćevapčići, caseless grilled and seasoned sausages made of minced meat, is the national dish of Serbia.
Slivovitz#Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia, Šljivovica (Slivovitz) is the national drink of Serbia in domestic production for centuries, and plum is the national fruit. The international name ''Slivovitz'' is derived from Serbian. Plum and its products are of great importance to Serbs and part of numerous customs. A Serbian meal usually starts or ends with plum products and Šljivovica is served as an aperitif.[ A saying goes that the best place to build a house is where a plum tree grows best.][ Traditionally, Šljivovica (commonly referred to as "rakija") is connected to Serbian culture as a drink used at all important rites of passage (birth, baptism, military service, marriage, death, etc.), and in the Serbian Orthodox patron saint celebration (''slava'').][ It is used in numerous folk remedies, and is given certain degree of respect above all other alcoholic drinks. The fertile region of Šumadija in central Serbia is particularly known for its plums and Šljivovica. Serbia is the largest exporter of Slivovitz in the world, and second largest plum producer in the world. Winemaking tradition in modern-day Serbia dates back to the Roman times in the 3rd century, while Serbs have been involved in winemaking since the 8th century.
]
Sport
Serbs are known for their sporting achievements, and have produced a number of talented athletes.
The Hungarians, Hungarian citizen Momčilo Tapavica was the first Slavs, Slav and Serb to win an Olympic medal, in the 1896 Summer Olympics.
Over the years Serbia has been home to many internationally successful football players such as Dragan Džajić (officially recognized as "the best Serbian footballer of all times" by Football Association of Serbia; 1968 Ballon d'Or third place), Rajko Mitić, Dragoslav Šekularac and more recent likes of Dragan Stojković, Dejan Stanković, Nemanja Vidić (two-time Premier League Player of the Season and member of FIFPro World XI), Branislav Ivanović (Serbia's most capped player) and Nemanja Matić. Radomir Antić is a notable football coach, best known for his work with Serbia national football team, the national team, Real Madrid C.F. and FC Barcelona. Serbia has developed a reputation as one of the world's biggest exporters of expat footballers.
A total of 22 Serbian players have played in the National Basketball Association, NBA in the last two decades, including three-time List of NBA All-Stars, NBA All-Star Peja Stojaković, Predrag "Peja" Stojaković, as well as NBA All-Star and both FIBA Hall of Fame, FIBA and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, NBA Hall of Fame inductee Vlade Divac. The most notable is Nikola Jokić, the 2020–21 NBA season, 2020–21–2021–22 NBA season, 2022 NBA Most Valuable Player Award winner and 2023 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award, NBA finals MVP recipient. Serbian players that made a great impact in Europe include four members of the FIBA Hall of Fame from the 1960s and 1970s – Dragan Kićanović, Dražen Dalipagić, Radivoj Korać, and Zoran Slavnić – as well as recent stars such as Dejan Bodiroga (2002 All-Europe Player of the Year), Aleksandar Đorđević (1994 and 1995 Mr. Europa), Miloš Teodosić (2009–10 Euroleague MVP), Nemanja Bjelica (2014–15 Euroleague MVP), and Vasilije Micić (2020–21 Euroleague MVP). The "Serbian coaching school" produced many of the most successful European coaches of all times, such as Željko Obradović (a record nine Euroleague titles), Božidar Maljković (four Euroleague titles), Aleksandar Nikolić (three Euroleague titles), Dušan Ivković (two Euroleague titles), and Svetislav Pešić (one Euroleague title).
One of the most notable Serbian athletes is tennis player Novak Djokovic. He has won an all-time record 24 List of Grand Slam men's singles champions, Grand Slam men's singles titles, and has been year-end World No. 1 on a record eight occasions. Djokovic is regarded by many to be the greatest men's tennis player of all time. Other notable tennis players include Ana Ivanovic (champion of 2008 French Open) and Jelena Janković, who were both ranked No. 1 in the WTA rankings, WTA rankings, while Nenad Zimonjić and Slobodan Živojinović were ranked No. 1 in doubles.
Notable Serbia men's national water polo team, water polo players are Vladimir Vujasinović, Aleksandar Šapić, Vanja Udovičić, Andrija Prlainović and Filip Filipović (water polo), Filip Filipović.
Other noted Serbian athletes, including Olympic and world champions and medalists, are: swimmer Milorad Čavić, volleyball player Nikola Grbić, handball player Svetlana Kitić, long-jumper Ivana Španović, shooter Jasna Šekarić, Canoe sprint, sprint canoer Marko Tomićević, judoka Nemanja Majdov and taekwondoist Milica Mandić.
A number of sportspeople of Serb origin represented other nations, such as tennis players Daniel Nestor, Jelena Dokic, Milos Raonic and Kristina Mladenovic, NHL player Milan Lucic, basketball players NBA All-star Pete Maravich, Nikola Vučević, Goran Dragić, Luka Dončić, wrestler Jim Trifunov, sprint canoer Natasa Dusev-Janics, soccer player Miodrag Belodedici, artistic gymnast Lavinia Miloșovici, racquetball player Rhonda Rajsich and racing driver Bill Vukovich.
Historiography
See also
* List of Serbs
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
Byzantine Illiricum - The Slavs Settlement (History of Balkan, part 1, Official chanel)
Byzantine Dalmatian – The Arrival of Serbs (History of Balkan, part 1, Official chanel)
Project Rastko – Serbian cultural and historical research society
{{Authority control
Ethnic groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ethnic groups in Croatia
Ethnic groups in Hungary
Ethnic groups in Montenegro
Ethnic groups in Romania
Ethnic groups in Serbia,
Ethnic groups in Slovenia
Ethnic groups in North Macedonia
Serb people,
Society of Serbia
South Slavs
Ethnoreligious groups in Europe
Christian ethnoreligious groups
Ethnic groups in the Balkans