Serbia

Serbia: capital Belgrade, population 6.5M, area 88,361 km². The 108th most populous country, in Europe. Facts, map, neighbours and more.

Serbia's archaeological record reaches the trapezoidal houses and fish-faced sculptures of Lepenski Vir, built beside the Danube more than eight millennia ago. Its 1835 constitution divided power into three branches but survived only 55 days, while Vuk Karadžić's phonetic Cyrillic was officially adopted in 1868. The same landscape holds Studenica's white-marble churches, Golubac's ten towers and a living epic-song tradition accompanied by the single-stringed gusle.

• Between 6300 and 6000 BC, Lepenski Vir's residents built trapezoidal houses beside the Danube and carved monumental stone figures with human and fish-like faces.
• In 1219, Sava became the first Serbian archbishop and compiled the Zakonopravilo, a nomocanon that organized both church rules and secular law.
• Serbia's Sretenje Constitution divided authority into legislative, executive and judicial branches in 1835, but international pressure led to its suspension after only 55 days.
• The Treaty of Berlin formally recognized Serbia's independence on 13 July 1878, at the close of a month-long congress attended by Europe's major powers.

• Nikola Tesla was born in 1856 at Smiljan, in present-day Croatia, to a Serbian Orthodox priest's family; Westinghouse licensed his polyphase AC patents in 1888.
• Milutin Milanković calculated how slow changes in Earth's orbit redistribute sunlight; the resulting Milankovitch cycles help explain the pacing of glacial and interglacial periods.
• Mihajlo Pupin extended long-distance telephone range by placing loading coils at calculated intervals along transmission wires, a technique that became known as pupinization.
• For her 1974 performance Rhythm 0 in Naples, Marina Abramović stood still for six hours while visitors could use any of 72 objects placed on a table.

• Founded by Stefan Nemanja in the late 12th century, Studenica Monastery pairs two white-marble churches with 13th- and 14th-century Byzantine paintings; UNESCO listed it in 1986.
• Golubac Fortress rises above the Danube in three compounds built in stages during the 14th century; its ten towers were later adapted for firearms.
• Đavolja Varoš, or Devil's Town, gathers about 200 earth pyramids on Radan Mountain, each formed as erosion removed softer volcanic soil around a protective stone cap.
• Resava Cave's mapped corridors extend about 4.5 kilometres beneath eastern Serbia near Despotovac, through chambers lined with stalactites, stalagmites and flowstone.

• Vuk Karadžić reformed Serbian Cyrillic on the principle ‘write as you speak’; officially adopted in 1868, its letters correspond one-to-one with the parallel Latin alphabet.
• Slava is a family's annual observance of its patron saint, passed between generations through the household; UNESCO added the Serbian practice to its list in 2014.
• Kolo dancers link into a chain, often forming a circle and repeating coordinated steps to music; UNESCO inscribed Serbia's folk-dance tradition in 2017.
• A gusle player bows one string while singing epic poetry, holding the instrument vertically between the knees; UNESCO listed Serbia's accompanying song tradition in 2018.

What is the capital of Serbia?

The capital of Serbia is Belgrade.

What is the population of Serbia?

Serbia has about 6.5M people — the 108th most populous country in the world.

How big is Serbia?

Serbia covers 88,361 km², making it the 111th largest country by area.

Which region is Serbia in?

Serbia is in Southeast Europe, Europe.