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372

Natural Scale I ' 7,OOO,OOO

English Miles

Long. East 22 of 6renich

FIG. 4.

often occupy the valleys and littoral plains. They have lost ground in the north-east since 1878 and the withdrawal of the Sultan's authority.

The Aramuni, numbering approximately 160,000, are found in 154 detached settlements of the southern peninsula. They are nomad shepherds migrating between the mountains and the littoral plains. Remnants of the primitive Latinized population, they have continued to decrease since the i8th century, when it is estimated they numbered 500,000. Some of them have set- tled in the mountains after having made money as shopkeepers in large towns.

The Yugoslavs, numbering about 15,000,000 south of the Danube and Sava, are the most numerous people in the peninsula. They are divided into Serbo-Croat-Slovenes (10,000,000) and Bulgars (4,700,000), all agriculturists. The majority of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes came from trans-Carpathian coun- tries in the 7th century. The distinction between them does not arise from any linguistic, racial or even religious difference. The national spirit of the Serbs gained force after the battle of Kosovo in 1389. At the end of the i5th century, the Orthodox

religion, diffused through the Serbians after metanastasic movements, became national, and it helps to maintain unity. The Serbo-Croat-Slovene Kingdom, generally called Yugoslavia, does not include all the Serbians, Croats and Slovenes of the Balkan Peninsula more than 400,000 were annexed to Italy by the Treaty of Rapallo. The Macedonian Slavs extend south- ward to Hellenic territory, almost to the river Bistritsa.

The Bulgars, who descend from a fusion of the Slavonic element with a later Ugro-Finnish immigration, inhabit the kingdom of Bulgaria, parts of Dobrudja and Thrace. On account of the proximity of Constantinople and of the general geographical conditions, they were more submissive to the Turks than any oth- er part of the population, so that the word "Bulgar" often meant a social state different from that of the Turkish conquerors. Its political meaning dates from the creation of the Exarchat in 1870 and the wars of liberation.

The remainder of the population is composed of Armenians, who live in trade centres like Constantinople ; of Jews, immigrants from Spain who form half of the inhabitants at Salonika; and of gipsies, wandering, or in scattered settlements near large towns.