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Article: Balkans
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BALKANS
BALKANS.
The term "Balkans" stems from the Ottoman Turkish word
balkan,
defined as a pass through wooded and rocky mountains. The designation is quite recent and, in fact, was not universally accepted until the end of the nineteenth century. Earlier European n
ames for the peninsula included Hellenic peninsula, Greek peninsula, Illyrian peninsula, European Turkey, and
Haemus
peninsula. In English, names such as "Balkan Mountains" or "Great Balkans" appear as early as 1835, but the term "Balkan Peninsula" was first used in a book by J. G. C. Minchin on the post-1878 political situation in the region, published in 1886.
GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES
The ...