People of the West Balkan Region
There were two different original peoples in the Balkans that can be dated back to about 1000 BC. The tribal group known as the Illyrians occupied the western regions while the Thracians were in the east. Following these original groups were several other peoples that came into the region.
The Slavs arrived in the Balkans and other regions around the modern countries of Poland, the Czech Republic, the eastern section of Germany, parts of Russia and the Ukraine in the first century. By the sixth century the Slav people had fully occupied the middle and lower Danube basins and crossed the river to start settling in the south. The migration of the Slavs continued in the seventh century and they settled as far as southern Greece. In Greece they assimilated within the local population.
The group known as the Slovenes were found with their own distinctive language in the northwest part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Slovenes were conquered by Charlemagne in 778, became Roman Catholics and adopted the Latin alphabet. Those who occupied the area southeast of Slovenia were known as the Croats and became Roman Catholics. They adopted the Latin alphabet, and were fully absorbed by the Hungarians by 1120.
The group known as the Serbs exist in close proximity to the Croats and there was not an exact line on the map, which separated them. They were different groups as the Serbs were members of the Eastern Orthodox Church and used the Cyrillic alphabet. They are found in the regions that are east and south of the Croatian territory.
The Montenegrins are found in the south and belong to the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church, and use both the Latin and the Cyrillic alphabets. The Macedonians are in the southeast and have a language that is like that used by the Bulgarians and Serbo-Croats.
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