SERBIA (SRBIJA) Presented By: Gordana Oehmen
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WORKING ACROSS CULTURES SERBIA (SRBIJA) Presented by: Gordana Oehmen Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag. - Alexander Solzhenitsyn Southeastern Europe-Serbia Serbia has connected West with East for centuries – a land in which civilizations, cultures, faiths, climates and landscapes meet and mingle. International roads and railway lines, which run through the country’s river valleys, form the Serbia is a shortest link between crossroads of Western Europe and the Europe and a Middle East. geopolitically important territory. Serbia: Country Background • Official Name: the Republic of Serbia • Location: the central part of the Balkan Peninsula in Central Southeastern Europe. • Climate: in the north, continental climate (cold winter and hot summers); central portion, continental and Mediterranean climate; to the south, hot, dry summers and autumns and relatively cold winters with heavy snowfalls inland. • Languages: Serbian (official) 88%, Hungarian 3.4%, Bosnian 1.9%, Romani 1,4%, other 3.4%. • Ethnicity: Serb 83%, Hungarian 3.5%, Romany 2.1%, Bosnian 2%, other 5.7% • Religions: Serbian orthodox 84%, Catholic 5%, Muslim 3.1%, Protestant 1%, Atheist 1.1%. Serbia: Country Background • Area: 77,474 km2 (excluding Kosovo) • Population: 7,209 million • GDP per capita: $5,924 (excluding Kosovo) • Currency: Serbian Dinar (RSD) ($100 = 10,921 RSD) • Capital: Belgrade (Beograd) YUGOSLAVIA – Land of South Slavs (JUGOSLAVIA) • Serbia was the largest of six republics forming a new Yugoslavia that emerged as a federal socialist state after World War II. • However, with the collapse of communism throughout central and eastern Europe at the end of the 20th century, Yugoslavia broke up in a series of wars. • Serbia, led by nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic during the Balkans wars of the 1990s, remained allied with Montenegro until June 2006 when the latter voted and declared independence. History of Serbia • Yugoslavia Serbia • After five centuries of Ottoman rule Serbia’s independence was formally recognized at the Berlin congress in 1878. After World War I, Serbia, along with Croatia and Slovenia, formed a kingdom later named Yugoslavia, which was dissolved after Nazi German, Italian fascist troops and their allies occupied the country in 1941. • Serbia was the largest of six republics forming a new Yugoslavia that emerged as a federal socialist state after World War II. But with the collapse of communism throughout central and eastern Europe at the end of the 20th century, Yugoslavia broke up in a series of wars. Serbia, led by nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic during the Balkans wars of the 1990s, remained allied with Montenegro until June 2006 when the latter voted and declared independence. • Serbia lost its southern province Kosovo after a 1998-99 conflict with separatist ethnic Albanians which ended after a NATO air campaign. Kosovo came under United Nations administration in June 1999 and proclaimed independence in 2008. Serbia: History • Medieval State late 8th century • Serbian Kingdom 1346 • Serbian empire 1346 • Ottoman conquest 1459 • Kingdom of Serbia 1882 • Unification of Yugoslavia 1918 • Independent Republic 2006 Serbia Facts • Within Serbia, there are several national cultures. • Serbian tradition. • A large Hungarian population in the Northern province of Vojvodina, where Hungarian is the common language and the culture is highly influenced by Hungary (which border the province to the north). • In Southern Serbia, the province of Kosovo, is primarily Albanian, and practices Islamic culture. Serbia Facts Natural resources: Oil, gas, coal, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, antimony, chromite, nickel, gold, silver, magnesium, pyrite, limestone, marble, salt. Agriculture products: Wheat, maize, sugar beets, sunflower, beef, pork, milk, fruits, vegetables, tobacco Industries: Machine building, metallurgy, mining, consumer goods. Exports: Manufactured goods, food & live animals, raw materials. Serbian Alphabet (AZBUKA- Азбука) • The Republic of Serbia officially uses the Serbian language and Cyrillic script. However, on public signs and in the media the Latin script is very often used, and both scripts are taught in school. • The Serbian language is a member of the South Slavic language family. Serbian Cyrillic has 30 characters, and each letter corresponds directly to one sound, which makes it unique in comparison to other writing systems. write as you speak, read as it is written principle • Ethnic minorities have the constitutional and legal right to officially use their languages and alphabets in the areas they inhabit. In the autonomous provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo and Metohija the ethnic minority languages of Hungarian, Slovakian, Croatian, Romanian, Rusyn and Albanian are in official use. • Literacy: 98% Serbia: Society & Population • Serbia has always been pulled between East and West, not only in a geographical sense, but also politically and culturally. • between the Byzantine and Roman empires. • a frontier between the Ottoman Empire and the Christian West. • The ethnic makeup of Serbia’s population is diverse, with around 40 nationalities living side by side with the Serb majority. • Serbs comprise 82.86% of the population, Hungarians 3.91%, Bosniaks 1.81%, Roma 1.44%, Yugoslavs 1.08%, Croatians 0.94%, Montenegrins 0.92%, Albanians 0.82%, Slovaks 0.79%, Vlachs 0.53%, Romanians 0.46%, Macedonians 0.34%, Bulgarians and Bunjevci 0.27% each, Muslims 0.26%, Rusyns 0.21%, Slovenes and Ukrainians 0.07% each, Gorani 0.06%, Germans 0.05% and Russians and Czechs 0.03% each. Serbia: Religion • The majority of the population of Serbia is of the • Ckve dzamija Christian Orthodox faith. The Serbian Orthodox Church, has played an important role in the development and preservation of the Serbian national identity. • The majority of religious believers in Serbia are Orthodox Christians (84.98%), followed by Roman Catholics (5.48%), Muslims (3.2%) and Protestants (1.08%). Other religions are also present in Serbia. • the Serbian Orthodox Church • the Roman Catholic Church • the Slovakian Evangelical Church • the Reformed Christian Church • the Evangelical Christian Church • the Islamic Religious Community • the Jewish Religious Community People in Serbia • Serbia is generally perceived a s being a land of “warm hearted people” where the hospitability and catering to the guests is of central importance. • Serbian people are generally open, friendly, and direct . • Shaking hands is essential, when you first meet someone and every time you see the person again. • Eye contact is valued . • Hand gestures are very common when speaking and people are very entertaining and will joke frequently. • Three kisses on the cheek is usually common among very good friends or relatives, but not at work. • It is common to hear people speaking in loud voices. This does not signify anger, people just to be very expressive. Serbia: People Belgrade (Beograd): something for everyone • Old and new, past and present, come together in Belgrade. • The capital that lies on two rivers – the Danube and the Sava. • Belgrade is one of the oldest cities in Europe, first settled in the 3rd century BC by the Celts, before becoming the Roman settlement of Singidunum. • It was destroyed and rebuild 40 times. Serbia: Belgrade • Knez Mihajilova Street • Skadarlija Serbia: People • Explain which goods and • Picture services are produced in your country. How do people typically provide for the needs of themselves and their families? Serbia: Monasteries • The building of Serbia’s numerous monasteries, which are often surrounded by serenity and green forests, is also closely connected with the establishment of the Serbian state, founded on a tradition of monastic life and spirituality. • For the most part, the Serbian monasteries were built in the Middle Ages, when the overall • European culture was being developed under the aegis of the church, so the monasteries transformed themselves from places of praying and pilgrimage into important national anchorages and hotbeds for education and culture. • As master-pieces of medieval art and architecture, our monasteries represent a valuable part of the European cultural heritage. • Today, there are more than two hundred monasteries in Serbia; 54 of which have been declared cultural monuments, while importantly, Stari Ras (Old Ras) with Sopoćani, Studenica and medieval Serbian monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija – namely Dečani, Gračanica, Pećka patrijaršija (Patriarchate of Peć) and Bogorodica Ljeviška (Our Lady of Ljeviš) are listed as UNESCO world cultural heritage sites. Serbia: Fortresses • In Serbia, there are the remains of nearly forty fortified medieval cities and fortresses. They were built at strategically important geographical points alongside rivers, key roads or on the defense borderlines. They were raised to be impossible to conquer; however, their ruins tell the story of the invasion and the appearance and disappearance of the cultures they once defended. • Some fortresses were only military outposts while others protected manor-houses and their squires’ estates and some fortresses were intended for defending the monasteries. Many fortresses were the root of contemporary cities. Their tower and defensive-wall systems encompassed the whole settlements – houses, shops, public buildings and churches. • As the significant monuments of the European military architecture, today, Serbia’s fortresses are part of the rich