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Serbs
South Slavic ethnic group From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Serbs (Serbian: Срби, romanized: Srbi, pronounced [sr̩̂bi]) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in their nation-state of Serbia, and in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, and Kosovo, with smaller communities in North Macedonia, Hungary, and Romania. They also constitute a significant diaspora with communities across Europe, the Americas, and Oceania.
The Serbs are predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christians and speak Serbian language which is official in Serbia, co-official in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, and spoken by the plurality in Montenegro.
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Etymology
The origin of the ethnonym *Sŕbъ (plur. *Sŕby) is unclear. The most prominent theory holds that it is of Proto-Slavic origin, meaning "family kinship" or "alliance".[27][28] Word *srъb- / *sьrb- roots in Slavic words meaning "to sip, munch", found in Polish s(i)erbać, Russian serbat', and also cognates in non-Slavic languages, such as Lithuanian suřbti, Middle German sürfen, which all derive from Indo-European onomatopoeic roots *serbh- / *sirbh- / *surbh- meaning "to sip, to breast-feed, to flow". Thus the basis of the ethnonym lies in "milk kinship" and "brotherhood in milk" which was widespread in early ethnic groups (between both relatives and non-relatives) and thus carried the secondary meanings of "those who belong to the same family, kinsman"; "member of the same kin, tribe"; and, finally, an ethnonym.
The earliest mention of the Serbs in the Balkans are from Einhard's Royal Frankish Annals, written in 822 AD.[29][30][31] Einhard mentions "the Serbs, a people that is said to hold a large part of Dalmatia" (Latin: ad Sorabos, quae natio magnam Dalmatiae partem obtinere dicitur).[32][33]
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Genetic origins
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According to a three genetic systems – paternal, maternal, and autosomal — of available data from large-scale studies on Balto-Slavs and their proximal populations, the whole genome SNP data place Serbs in the middle between a Western South Slavic cluster (Croats, Bosniaks and Slovenes) and Eastern South Slavic cluster (Macedonians and Bulgarians). The western cluster has an inclination toward Hungarians, Czechs, and Slovaks, while the eastern cluster toward Romanians and, to some extent, Greeks.[34]
Y chromosome results show that haplogroups I2a and R1a together account for the majority of the Serb makeup.[35][36] Recent studies indicate that roughly half of Serbian I2a lineages trace their recent origin to Herzegovina/Old Herzegovina, reflecting strong historical gene flow from that region.[37][38]
Mitochondrial DNA studies of Serbs show a predominantly Slavic maternal gene pool, with common U haplogroups shared with other Slavic populations. At the same time, a significant presence of Balkan-specific lineages and southern European lineages points to considerable genetic continuity with pre-Slavic Balkan populations. These findings support both the impact of early medieval Slavic migrations to the Balkans and a strong autochthonous substrate.[39][40][41]
Based on the autosomal IBD survey, the speakers of Serbian share a very high number of common ancestors dated to the migration period approximately 1,500 years ago with Poland and Romania-Bulgaria cluster among others in Eastern Europe. It is concluded to be caused by the Hunnic and Slavic expansion, which was a "relatively small population that expanded over a large geographic area", particularly "the expansion of the Slavic populations into regions of low population density beginning in the sixth century" and that it is "highly coincident with the modern distribution of Slavic languages".[42]
According to 2023 archaeogenetic study autosomal qpAdm modelling, the modern-day Serbs are 58.4% of Central-Eastern European early medieval Slavic ancestry, 39.2% local Balkan pre-Slavic, and 2.3% West Anatolian ancestry.[43]
Several recent studies showed that Serbia's people are among the tallest in the world,[44] with an average male height of 1.82 metres (6 ft 0 in).[45][46]
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History
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Arrival of the Slavs
Early Slavs, especially Sclaveni and Antae, including the White Serbs, invaded and settled Southeastern Europe in the 6th and 7th century.[47] Up until the late 560s, their activity was raiding, crossing from the Danube, though with limited Slavic settlement mainly through Byzantine foederati colonies.[48] The Danube and Sava frontier was overwhelmed by large-scale Slavic settlement in the late 6th and early 7th century.[49] What is today central Serbia was an important geo-strategical province, through which the Via Militaris crossed.[50] This area was frequently intruded by barbarians in the 5th and 6th centuries.[50] The numerous Slavs mixed with and assimilated the descendants of the indigenous population Illyrians, Thracians, Dacians, as well as Romans and Celts.[51] White Serbs from White Serbia came to an area near Thessaloniki and then they settled area between Dinaric Alps and Adriatic coast.[52] The region of "Rascia" (Raška) was the center of Serb settlement and Serb tribes also occupied parts of modern-day Herzegovina and Montenegro.[53] 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.[54]
Middle Ages
The first Serb states, Serbia (780–960) and Duklja (825–1120), were formed chiefly under the Vlastimirović and Vojislavljević dynasties respectively.[55][56] The other Serb-inhabited lands, or principalities, that were mentioned included the "countries" of Paganija, Zahumlje, Travunija.[57][58] 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.[59] Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja (r. 1169–96) conquered the neighbouring territories of Kosovo, Duklja and Zachlumia. The Nemanjić dynasty 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 in the year 1219, and became known as Saint Sava after his death.[60] Parts of modern-day Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and central Serbia would come under the control of Nemanjić.[61]
Over the next 140 years, Serbia expanded its borders, from numerous smaller principalities, reaching to a unified Serbian Empire. 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, who ruled the state from 1331 until his death in 1355. Ruling as Emperor from 1346, his territory included Macedonia, northern Greece, Montenegro, and almost all of modern Albania.[62] When Dušan died, his son Stephen Uroš V became Emperor.[63]
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 (1371),[63] in which the Serbs were defeated.[64] With the death of two important Serb leaders in the battle, and with the death of Stephen Uroš that same year, the Serbian Empire broke up into several small Serbian domains.[63] 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 holding today's Central Serbia and a portion of Kosovo.[64] Hrebeljanović was subsequently accepted as the titular leader of the Serbs because he was married to a member of the Nemanjić dynasty.[63] In 1389, the Serbs faced the Ottomans at the Battle of Kosovo on the plain of Kosovo Polje, near the town of Priština.[64] Both Lazar and Sultan Murad I were killed in the fighting.[64] The battle most likely ended in a stalemate, and afterwards Serbia enjoyed a short period of prosperity under despot Stefan Lazarević and resisted falling to the Turks until 1459.[64]
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;[65][66] because of this, they suffered persecution and their territories were devastated – major migrations from Serbia into Habsburg territory ensued.[67] After allied Christian forces had captured Buda from the Ottoman Empire in 1686 during the Great Turkish War, Serbs from Pannonian Plain (present-day Hungary, Slavonia region in present-day Croatia, Bačka and Banat regions in present-day Serbia) joined the troops of the Habsburg monarchy as separate units known as Serbian Militia.[68] Serbs, as volunteers, massively joined the Austrian side.[69]
Many Serbs were recruited during the devshirme system, a form of slavery in the Ottoman Empire, in which boys from Balkan Christian families were forcibly converted to Islam and trained for infantry units of the Ottoman army known as the Janissaries.[70][71][72][73] A number of Serbs who converted to Islam occupied high-ranking positions within the Ottoman Empire, such as Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha and Minister of War field marshal Omar Pasha Latas.
In 1688, the Habsburg army took Belgrade and entered the territory of present-day Central Serbia. Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden called Serbian Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević 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; after this talk he sent a note to all Serb bishops to come to him and collaborate only with Habsburg forces.[74] A Great Migration of the Serbs (1690) to Habsburg lands was undertaken by Patriarch Arsenije III.[75] 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.[75] Smaller groups of Serbs also migrated to the Russian Empire, where they occupied high positions in the military circles.[76][77][78]
The Serbian Revolution for independence from the Ottoman Empire lasted eleven years, from 1804 until 1815.[79] The revolution comprised two separate uprisings which gained autonomy from the Ottoman Empire that eventually evolved towards full independence (1835–1867).[80][81] During the First Serbian Uprising, led by Duke Karađorđe Petrović, Serbia was independent for almost a decade before the Ottoman army was able to reoccupy the country. Shortly after this, the Second Serbian Uprising began. Led by Miloš Obrenović, it ended in 1815 with a compromise between Serbian revolutionaries and Ottoman authorities.[82] Likewise, Serbia was one of the first nations in the Balkans to abolish feudalism.[83] Serbs are among the first ethnic groups in Europe to form a nation and a clear sense of national identity.[84]
Modern period
In the early 1830s, Serbia gained autonomy and its borders were recognized, with Miloš Obrenović 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.[85] 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 in 1878.[67]
Serbia fought in the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, which forced the Ottomans out of the Balkans and doubled the territory and population of the Kingdom of Serbia. In 1914, a young Bosnian Serb student named Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, which directly contributed to the outbreak of World War I.[86] In the fighting that ensued, Serbia was invaded by Austria-Hungary. Despite being outnumbered, the Serbs defeated the Austro-Hungarians at the Battle of Cer, which marked the first Allied victory over the Central Powers in the war.[87] Further victories at the battles of Kolubara and the Drina meant that Serbia remained unconquered as the war entered its second year. However, an invasion by the forces of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria 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.[88] Serbia suffered the biggest casualty rate in World War I.[89]
Following the victory in WWI, Serbs subsequently formed the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes with other South Slavic peoples. The country was later renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and was led from 1921 to 1934 by King Alexander I of the Serbian Karađorđević dynasty.[90] During World War II, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis powers in April 1941. The country was subsequently divided into many pieces, with Serbia being directly occupied by the Germans.[91] Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) were targeted for extermination as part of genocide by the Croatian ultra-nationalist, fascist Ustaše.[92][93][94][95] 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.[96][97][98] Jasenovac camp was notorious for the barbaric practices which occurred in it.[93] Sisak and Jastrebarsko concentration camp were specially formed for children.[99][100][101] 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.[102][103][104] Diana Budisavljević, a humanitarian of Austrian descent, carried out rescue operations from Ustaše camps and saved more than 15,000 children, mostly Serbs.[105][106]
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 until 1943, when Allied support shifted to the Communist Yugoslav Partisans, 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.[107][108] During the entire course of the WWII in Yugoslavia, 64.1% of all Bosnian Partisans were Serbs.[109] Later, after the fall of Italy in September 1943, other ethnic groups joined Partisans in larger numbers.[91]
At the end of the war, the Partisans, led by Josip Broz Tito, emerged victorious. Yugoslavia subsequently became a Communist state. Tito died in 1980, and his death saw Yugoslavia plunge into economic turmoil.[110] 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, Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose Serb populations rebelled and declared independence. The war in Croatia ended in August 1995, with a Croatian military offensive known as Operation Storm put a stop to the Croatian Serb rebellion and causing as many as 200,000 Serbs to flee the country. The Bosnian War ended that same year, with the Dayton Agreement 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.[111] Subsequently, more than 200,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians fled the province.[112] On 5 October 2000, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosević was overthrown in a bloodless revolt after he refused to admit defeat in the 2000 Yugoslav general election.[113]
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Demographics
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Serbs are the titular nation and largest ethnic group in Serbia, their nation-state, numbering 5.3 million and making up 80.6% of the population.[114] The Serb population in countries and territories bordering Serbia is approximately 1.5 million, almost identical to the estimated 1.6 million Serbs living in the diaspora.
Serbs in the countries and territories bordering Serbia, commonly termed Срби у Региону / Srbi u Rеgionu (lit. "Serbs in the Region"), are not regarded as part of the Serb diaspora, since they constitute autochthonous communities that have the legal status of recognized ethnic minorities or, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the constituent peoples. Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbs in Montenegro are the second-largest ethnic group in their respective countries and constitute about one-third of the population in each.[115][116] Serbs in Croatia and Serbs in Kosovo are also the second-largest ethnic group, but their share of the population is relatively small (3% and 5%, respectively).[117] Small ethnic Serb communities are to be found in North Macedonia, Romania, and Hungary.
Serb diaspora consist of ethnic Serbs and their descendants living predominantly in Europe and, to a much lesser extent, overseas. There is a particularly large Serb diaspora in German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), while significant overseas communities exist in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Serb emigration has occurred in several distinct and massive waves over the past century and a half. The first major wave began in the late 19th century and continued until the outbreak of the World War II. It was almost entirely economic in character and drew people from the poorest and most inaccessible regions: Herzegovina, Montenegro, Lika, Dalmatian Hinterland.[118] The second wave was much smaller but politically sharp and took place immediately after the World War II, when the victory of Yugoslav Partisan forces forced tens of thousands of defeated soldiers (mainly members of the royalist Chetnik movement) to flee the new communist Yugoslavia to the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, and, to a lesser degree, the United Kingdom and France.[119] By far the largest wave was the exodus that began in the mid-1960s and lasted until the late 1980s - this generation of diaspora is collectively known as gastarbajteri, after German gastarbeiter ("guest worker"), since most of the emigrants headed for German-speaking countries. The fourth wave, during the 1990s, was the most dramatic: the breakup of Yugoslavia and the subsequent Yugoslav Wars drove hundreds of thousands of Serbs from their homes in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the same time, the rump Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) suffered hyperinflation, international sanctions, economic collapse, and finally the NATO bombing of 1999. Many headed to Canada, Australia, and the traditional European destinations, but new countries such as Norway, Denmark, and even New Zealand, also appeared on the map of Serb emigration.
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Language
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Serbs speak Serbian, a member of the South Slavic group of languages. Standard Serbian is a normative variety of Serbo-Croatian, and therefore mutually intelligible with Bosnian, Croatian, and Montenegrin (see Comparison of standard Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian).[120]
Serbian is an official language in Serbia, co-official in Bosnia-Herzegovina and disputed territory of Kosovo, and a recognized minority language in Montenegro (spoken by a plurality of population), Croatia, North Macedonia, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Older form of literary Serbian is Church Slavonic of the Serbian recension, which continues to be used in the liturgy of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Serbian has active digraphia, using both Cyrillic and Latin scripts.[121] Serbian Cyrillic, widely regarded as a key symbol of Serb cultural identity, was devised in 1814 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić, who designed it according to strict phonemic principles (one letter per sound).[122] It differs from other Slavic Cyrillic alphabets by omitting several letters. The Serbian Latin alphabet was created by Ljudevit Gaj and designed to correspond perfectly, letter-for-letter, to the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet that Vuk Karadžić had standardized a more than a decade earlier.[123] In Serbia, Serbian Cyrillic has the constitutional status of "official script", while the Latin script is designated as "script in official use" for practical purposes. Serbian Cyrillic is also script in official use in both Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, alongside the Latin alphabet.
Loanwords in the Serbian language besides common internationalisms are mostly from Greek,[124] German,[125] and Italian,[126] while words of Hungarian origin are present mostly in the north. The Ottoman conquest began a linguistical contact between Ottoman Turkish and South Slavic languages.[127] 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).[127] There is considerable usage of French words as well, especially in military related terms.[125] One Serbian word that is used in many of the world's languages is "vampire" (vampir).[128][129][130][131]
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Culture
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Serbs share a common ancestry and culture.[132][133][134][135]
Literature, icon painting, music, dance, and medieval architecture are the artistic forms for which Serbs are best known. Traditional Serbian visual art, specifically frescoes, and to some extent icons, as well as ecclesiastical architecture, are highly reflective of Byzantine traditions, with some Mediterranean and Western influence.[136]
Many Serbian monuments and works of art have been lost forever due to various wars, thievery and peacetime marginalizations.[137][138]
Since the 19th century, Serbs have made noteworthy contributions to classical music and philosophical thought.[139] Notable philosophers include Svetozar Marković, Branislav Petronijević, Ksenija Atanasijević, Radomir Konstantinović, Nikola Milošević, Mihailo Marković, Justin Popović and Mihailo Đurić.[140]
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, Studenica, Sopoćani, Mileševa, Gračanica and Visoki Dečani were built.[141] The architecture of some of these monasteries is world-famous.[60] Prominent architectural styles in the Middle Ages were Raška architectural school, Morava architectural school and Serbo-Byzantin architectural style. During the same period UNESCO protected Stećak monumental medieval tombstones were built. The Independence of Serbia in the 19th century was soon followed with Serbo-Byzantine Revival in architecture.
Baroque and rococo trends in Serbian art emerged in the 18th century and are mostly represented in icon painting and portraits.[142] Most of the Baroque authors were from the territory of Austrian Empire, such as Nikola Nešković, Teodor Kračun, Teodor Ilić Češljar, Zaharije Orfelin and Jakov Orfelin.[143][144] Serbian painting showed the influence of Biedermeier and Neoclassicism as seen in works by Konstantin Danil[145] and Pavel Đurković.[146] Many painters followed the artistic trends set in the 19th century Romanticism, notably Đura Jakšić, Stevan Todorović, Katarina Ivanović and Novak Radonić.[147][148] Since the mid-1800s, Serbia has produced a number of famous painters who are representative of general European artistic trends.[141] One of the most prominent of these was Paja Jovanović, who painted massive canvases on historical themes such as the Migration of the Serbs (1896). Painter Uroš Predić was also prominent in the field of Serbian art, painting the Kosovo Maiden and Happy Brothers. While Jovanović and Predić were both realist painters, artist Nadežda Petrović was an impressionist and fauvist and Sava Šumanović was an accomplished cubist. Painters Petar Lubarda, Vladimir Veličković and Ljubomir Popović were famous for their surrealism.[149] Marina Abramović is a world-renowned performance artist, writer, and art filmmaker.[150]
Traditional Serbian music includes various kinds of bagpipes, flutes, horns, trumpets, lutes, psalteries, drums and cymbals.[151] 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.[152] Composer and musicologist Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac is considered one of the most important founders of modern Serbian music.[153][154] Other noted classical composers include Kornelije Stanković, Stanislav Binički, Petar Konjović, Miloje Milojević, Stevan Hristić, Josif Marinković, Luigi von Kunits, Ljubica Marić[155] and Vasilije Mokranjac.[156] Well-known musicians include Zdravko Čolić, Arsen Dedić, Predrag Gojković-Cune, Toma Zdravković, Milan Mladenović, Radomir Mihailović Točak, Bora Đorđević, Momčilo Bajagić Bajaga, Đorđe Balašević, Ceca and others.
Serbia has produced many talented filmmakers, the most famous of whom are Slavko Vorkapić, Dušan Makavejev,[157] Živojin Pavlović, Slobodan Šijan, Goran Marković, Goran Paskaljević, Emir Kusturica, Želimir Žilnik, Srđan Dragojević,[158] Srdan Golubović and Mila Turajlić. Žilnik and Stefan Arsenijević won the Golden Bear award at Berlinale,[159][160][161] while Mila Turajlić won the main award at IDFA.[162] Kusturica became world-renowned after winning the Palme d'Or twice at the Cannes Film Festival, numerous other prizes, and is a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia.[163] Several Americans of Serb origin have been featured prominently in Hollywood. The most notable of these are Academy Award winners Karl Malden,[164][165] Steve Tesich, Peter Bogdanovich, Tony-winning theatre director Darko Tresnjak, Emmy-winning director Marina Zenovich and actors Iván Petrovich, Brad Dexter, Lolita Davidovich, Milla Jovovich and Stana Katic.
Literature
Most literature written by early Serbs was about religious themes. The founders of the Serbian Orthodox Church wrote various gospels, psalters, menologies, hagiographies, along with essays and sermons.[166] 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.[60] The Crnojević printing house was the first printing house in Southeastern Europe and is considered an important part of Serbian cultural history.[167]
Notable Baroque-influenced authors were Andrija Zmajević, Gavril Stefanović Venclović, Jovan Rajić, Zaharije Orfelin 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's collections of folk songs in the 19th century, and the writings of 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.[168]
The first Serb authors who appeared after World War II were Mihailo Lalić and Dobrica Ćosić.[169] Other notable post-war Yugoslav authors such as Ivo Andrić and Meša Selimović were assimilated to Serbian culture, and both identified as Serbs.[168] Andrić went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1961.[169] Danilo Kiš, another popular Serbian writer, was known for writing A Tomb for Boris Davidovich, as well as several acclaimed novels.[170] Amongst contemporary Serbian writers, 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, Pavić is considered one of the most intriguing writers from the beginning of the 21st century.[171] Charles Simic is a notable contemporary Serbian-American poet, former United States Poet Laureate and a Pulitzer Prize winner.[172] Contemporary writer Zoran Živković authored more than 20 prose books and is best-known for his SF works which have been published in 23 countries.[173][174]
Education and science
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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.[175] Medical specialists from Serbia have performed a number of operations which have been described as pioneer works.[176][177]
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[178] took part in construction of the Apollo spaceship.[179] 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 caused by changes in the position of the Earth in comparison to the Sun, now known as Milankovitch cycles.[180] 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.[181]
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[182][183][184][185] (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 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.[186] Biologist and physiologist Ivan Đaja performed research in the role of the adrenal glands in thermoregulation, as well as pioneering work in hypothermia.[187][188] 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 roots: e.g., Vuk, Bojan, Goran, Zoran, Dragan, Milan, Miroslav, Vladimir, Slobodan, Dušan, Milica, Nevena, Vesna, Radmila. Other names are of Christian origin, originating from the Bible (Hebrew, through Greek), such as Lazar, Mihailo, Ivan, Jovan, Ilija, Marija, Ana, Ivana. Along similar lines of non-Slavic Christian names are Greek ones such as: Stefan, Nikola, Aleksandar, Filip, Đorđe, Andrej, Jelena, Katarina, Vasilije, Todor, while those of Latin origin include: Marko, Antonije, Srđan, Marina, Petar, Pavle, Natalija, 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) ([itɕ]), a Slavic diminutive, originally functioning to create 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 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.[191]
Religion
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Left: Patriarchal Monastery of Peć, the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church from the 14th century and a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Right: Church of Saint Sava, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world, dedicated to Saint Sava, the traditional patron saint of the Serbs
Right: Church of Saint Sava, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world, dedicated to Saint Sava, the traditional patron saint of the Serbs
Serbs are predominantly Orthodox Christians and are at least nominally members of the Serbian Orthodox Church, one of the ecclesiastically independent Eastern Orthodox churches. Led by the Serbian Patriarch church is organized into metropolitanates and eparchies, located in Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Croatia; other congregations are located in the Serb diaspora.[192] Around 8 million people worldwide adhere to the Serbian Orthodox Church.[193][194][195] During the centuries of Ottoman rule, the Serbian Orthodox Church remained the only permitted Serb institution. Through its monasteries and clergy, it preserved the Serbian language, literacy, written history, and national consciousness when all other forms of statehood and education had been extinguished.
Prior to their Christianization in the 9th century, the Serbs followed Slavic paganism. After the East–West Schism of 1054 they aligned with Eastern Orthodoxy. Over subsequent centuries, however, smaller groups of Serbs converted to other religions. During Ottoman rule, a substantial number of Serbs converted to Islam, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sandžak.[196] Historically, some ethnic Serbs in coastal region of Dalmatia (particularly Bay of Kotor and Dubrovnik), belonged to the Catholic Church; this Serb Catholic identity was later associated with the Serb-Catholic movement in Dubrovnik.[197][198][199] When the Principality of Serbia gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, Orthodoxy became crucial in defining the national identity, instead of language which was shared by other South Slavs.[200] Thus, while Eastern Orthodoxy has been the dominant and defining faith of the Serbs for a millennium, minority communities of Catholic and Muslim Serbs have existed at various points in history.
Symbols
The most widely recognized symbols of ethnic Serbs are the pan-Serb tricolour flag, the Serbian cross, and the three-finger salute.
The Serb tricolour consists of three horizontal stripes: red, blue, and white (from top to bottom). It has been in continuous use since 1835 and is used more as an ethnic rather than state symbol. It serves as the civil flag of Serbia, the flag of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the official ethnic flag of Serb minorities in Croatia and North Macedonia, and is widely used by Serb diaspora communities worldwide.
The Serbian cross is the main heraldic symbol and is widely used by Serbs as an ethnic identifier. The cross appears on the state flag and coat of arms of Serbia but is also a distinctly Serbian Orthodox Church symbol. It is composed of a cross symbol with four firesteels or, more commonly in heraldry, four stylised Cyrillic letters "С" (representing the motto Само слога Србина спасава / Samo sloga Srbina spasava – "Only Unity Saves the Serbs").
The three-finger salute (raising the thumb, index and middle finger while folding the ring and little fingers) is a distinctly Serb gesture, recognised as a sign of ethnic pride. The gesture is widely used in wide variety of events: from street demonstrations and celebrations, election campaign rallies, to sporting events and personal celebrations.[201][202]
Traditions
Slava is the Serbian Orthodox tradition of the veneration and observance of the family's patron saint.[203] Every family has their own patron saint that is celebrated on the feast day. The most common feast days are St. Nicholas (Nikoljdan, December 19), St. George (Đurđevdan, May 6), St. John the Baptist (Jovandan, January 20), Saint Demetrius (Mitrovdan, November 8), and St. Michael (Aranđelovdan, November 21). A key feature of Slava is its emphasis on hospitality: on that day, the family’s home is open to everyone who knows the date of their celebration: typically relatives, friends, neighbours, and acquaintances.[204]
Serbs have their own Christmas traditions, which include the badnjak, a young oak log regarded as a sacral tree. At Easter, egg decorating and egg tapping are common traditions.
The Serbian traditional folk costume varies from region to region, while the most common is that of Šumadija, a region in central Serbia.[205] It includes šajkača (hat with a V-shaped top, typically black or grey in colour, made of soft, homemade cloth) and opanci (footwear with low back, curved peak at front, with woven front upper, a low back and leather ties).[206]
Kolo is a traditional folk dancing. It is the circle dance, usually performed amongst groups of at least three people and up to several dozen people, with dancers holding each other's hands and forming a circle, a single chain or multiple parallel lines.[207] The most popular varieties include Užičko kolo and Moravac.[208]
There are numerous traditional Serb handicrafts that vary from region to region, including the renowned Pirot carpet as well as the UNESCO-listed Zmijanje embroidery and Zlakusa pottery.
Cuisine
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Serbian cuisine is largely heterogeneous, with heavy Oriental, Central European, and Mediterranean influences.[209] 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 Serbian Orthodox patron saint celebration (slava).[209] 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.[209] 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).[210] Meat is widely consumed, while fish is eaten to a much lesser extent. Serbian specialties include ćevapi (grilled dish of minced meat), pljeskavica (grilled dish consisting of a mixture of spiced minced pork, beef and lamb meat), Karađorđeva šnicla (breaded cutlet dish of veal or pork steak, stuffed with kajmak), gibanica (an egg and cheese pie made with filo dough), kajmak (dairy product similar to clotted cream), proja (cornbread), and kačamak (corn-flour porridge).[209]
Šljivovica (its international name, "Slivovitz", originates from the Serbian language), or plum brand, is Serbia’s national drink, distilled from plums, the country’s national fruit, and has been produced domestically for centuries.[211] Serbia is the world’s largest exporter of Slivovitz and the second-largest plum producer. Šljivovica holds a central place in Serbian culture: it is the traditional rakija, served as an aperitif, offered at the start or end of meals, and present at every major life event (birth, baptism, wedding, funeral) as well as at the slava.[212] Although šljivovica dominates, Serbia also has a long winemaking tradition, dating back to Roman times in the 3rd century, with Serbs actively involved since the 8th century.[213][214] Traditionally, Turkish coffee is prepared after a meal, and is served in small cups.
Sport
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Prominent athletes (clockwise from top left): Novak Djokovic, Nikola Jokić, Nemanja Vidić, Tijana Bošković.
Serbs are renowned for their sporting achievements and have produced a remarkable number of world-class athletes.[215][216]
In football, Serbia is known internationally for many standout players like Dragan Džajić (generally recognized as the greatest Serbian footballer of all time and ranked third in the 1968 Ballon d’Or), Nemanja Vidić (two-time Premier League Player of the Season and two-time selection for the FIFPRO World 11), Branislav Ivanović (two-time selection for the PFA Team of the Year), Nemanja Matić (selection for the 2014–15 PFA Team of the Year), Dragan Stojković, Siniša Mihajlović, Dejan Stanković, and Dragoslav Šekularac.[217] Radomir Antić is the most famous Serbian football manager, the only person to have managed Spain’s three most decorated clubs: Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atlético Madrid.
Serbian basketball enjoys global prestige with Serbia ranking fourth among all countries for the most foreign NBA players, having produced 33 to date. Nikola Jokić is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time: three-time NBA Most Valuable Player, 2023 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, five-time selection for All-NBA First Team, and seven-time NBA All-Star.[218] Other standout players include Vlade Divac (member of the Hall of Fame) and Peja Stojaković (three-time NBA All-Star). Serbs left an equally enduring mark on European basketball: three FIBA Hall of Famers from the 1960s and 1970s (Radivoj Korać, Dragan Kićanović, and Zoran Slavnić) were followed by more recent standouts such as Aleksandar Đorđević (two-time Mr. Europa), Predrag Danilović (1998 Mr. Europa), Dejan Bodiroga (2002 European Player of the Year), Miloš Teodosić (2009–10 EuroLeague MVP), Nemanja Bjelica (2014–15 EuroLeague MVP), and Vasilije Micić (2020–21 EuroLeague MVP). The renowned "Serbian coaching school" has produced Europe's most successful coaches, including Željko Obradović (record nine EuroLeague titles), Božidar Maljković (four), Aleksandar Nikolić (three), Dušan Ivković (two), and Svetislav Pešić (one).[219]
Tennis has brought Serbs global fame through Novak Djokovic, considered the greatest tennis player of all time.[220][221] Djokovic has won 101 titles, including a record 24 majors, a record 40 Masters, a record seven year-end championships, and an Olympic gold medal; he has been ranked as the world No. 1 for a record 428 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 a record eight times. Other notable tennis players include Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Janković, both ranked as the world No. 1, while Nenad Zimonjić and Slobodan Živojinović were ranked No. 1 in doubles.[222][223][224]
Other prominent Serb athletes, including Olympic champions and medalists, feature: volleyball players Tijana Bošković (three-time CEV Female Player of the Year) and Nikola Grbić (1997 CEV Player of the Year); water polo players Filip Filipović (four-time World Aquatics Player of the Year), Dušan Mandić (two-time World Aquatics Player of the Year), and Vladimir Vujasinović (2001 World Aquatics Player of the Year); handball players Dragan Škrbić (2000 IHF World Player of the Year) and Svetlana Kitić; shooter Jasna Šekarić, swimmer Milorad Čavić, track and field athlete Ivana Španović, and taekwondoist Milica Mandić (two-time Olympic gold medalist).[225][226][227]
A number of athletes of ethnic Serb origin have represented countries other than Serbia: basketball players Pete Maravich (member of the Hall of Fame, named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary team and 75th Anniversary team), Nikola Vučević (two-time NBA All-Star), and Goran Dragić (2018 NBA All-Star); football players Milos Kerkez and Miodrag Belodedici; handball player Nikola Karabatić (regarded as one of the greatest handball players of all time); tennis players Milos Raonic and Jelena Dokic; ice-hockey players players Milan Lucic and Peter Zezel; gymnast Lavinia Miloșovici; wrestler Jim Trifunov; racing driver Bill Vukovich.[228]
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See also
Notes
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References
Sources
External links
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