BALKAN PENINSULA. A name commonly applied to the easternmost of the three great southern peninsulas of Europe, hounded by the Adriatic Sea on the west and the Black and _Egean seas on the east. Its northern boundary is generally considered to be the Danube, with its tributary, the Save. Thus defined, the peninsula comprises. within an area of about 175.000 square miles, the following countries: European Turkey, Bulgaria (including Eastern Rumelia), Servia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, and the Turkish district of Novibazar (occupied by Austria-Hungary I , a nd Greece. More accurately speaking, however, the northern boundary of the Balkan Peninsula is the parallel of 45° N. In this broader designation. the peninsula embraces, in addition, the southern half of Rumania, Dalmatia, and part of Croatia.
The eastern coast of the peninsula, overlooking the Black Sea, is generally low and marshy, and almost unbroken, except for the Gulf of Burgas. Through the Bosporus, a narrow channel about 20 miles long, the Black Sea communicates with the Sea of which adjoins the penin sula on the southeast. The shores of the latter sea differ but little from those of the Black Sea in their general appearance. The Sea of Mar morn communicates with the .-Egean Sea through the Dardanelles channel. The coasts of the _,Egean Sea form numerous gulfs and safe har bors of great commercial importance. The coasts of the Greek Peninsula are greatly in dented, and surrounded by numerous islands. The western coast of the Balkan Peninsula, above the Gulf of Arta, which separates Greece from Albania. is generally mountainous. The greater hart of the peninsula is covered with numerous mountain-chains, the chief of which is the Balkan (q.v.). to which the peninsula owes its name.
Owing to the mountainous character of the country, the rivers which traverse the peninsula are mostly short, and very few of them navigable.
The most important of them are the Maritza, Vardar, and Drina. There are also several lakes, the most important of which is that of Scutari. The climate is colder than in the other _Mediter ranean regions in the same latitude, and the snowfall during the winter is considerable.
The leading inhabitants of the peninsula (in the narrower sense) are the Bulgarians, Serbs, Bosniaks, and l\lontenegrins, all of whom be long to the Slavic stock, lhe Turks, Greeks, and the Albanians. who are considered to be the de scendants of the Illyrians, and are mostly found in Turkey and Greece. Turkey exercises suzer ainty over Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia, and nominally retains possession of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have virtually become part of the Austro-Thinga•ian monarchy. The States which are absolutely independent, in addition to Turkey, are Servia, Greece, and Montenegro. The Turks first. obtained a foothold in the Bal kan Peninsula in the middle of the Fourteenth Century. conquered Constantinople in 1453, put ting an end to the Byzantine or Greek Empire. and soon after were masters of the whole penin sula. The Turkish Empire in Europe fell to pieces in the course of the Nineteenth Century, and at the present time Turkish rule extends over only about one-third of the region. The strife of nationalities is intense in the Balkan Peninsula, and threatens at any moment to dis turb the existing order. Consult: Miller, Travels and Polities in the Near East (Lon don. 1S9S) ; D. G. Hoga•th, The Nearer East (New York, 1902) ; and TIMM, Dic osiliche Balkan-llaibinscl (Vienna, 1886).