Jugoslovenski Rotar

Pavle Ostovié VOW GOVE AW IAN

Geography. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia covers the north-western part of the Balkan Peninsula and extends practically from the gates of Salonica to the Karavanken-Alps.

Yugoslavia has an area of 248.987 sq. km. and is roughly equal in size to Great Britain (242.527 sq. km.).

The configuration of Yugoslavia is very varied. It is mainly a mountainous country, about four fifths of it being hilly, and only one fifth flat.

Yugoslavia is rich with rivers, lakes, forests and minerals, it has a sea-coast 550 km. long, as the crow flies, with some 600 islands.

High mountains, dense forests, large rivers, great lakes and a highly romantic sea-coast make of Yugoslavia one of the most attractive countries for tourists. j

Population. Yugoslavia has a population of about 14 million inhabitants of which about 85% are Yugoslavs. The term »Yugoslavs« means southern Slavs, viz. Slavs who live in the south and includes the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, who are all of the same Slavonic stock and speak tle same language.

The remaining 15% of the population is represented by non-Slavonic races of which the most numerous are the Germans (4% ), followed by the Hungarians, Albanians, Roumanians, Turks, Russians, Italians (about 0.1% ) and others.

The population is mainly agricultural (76% ), the remaining 24% being engaged in commerce and industry and other urban activities. The capital of Yugoslavia is Belgrade which was the capital of prewar Serbia, while the most important commercial and financial centre is Zagreb, the capital of pre-war Croatia. Other important economic centres are Ljubljana, Sarajevo and Skoplije. The chief ports of Yugoslavia are: Susak, Split and Dubrovnik.

History. The Slavonic race as a whole covers the territory from the gulf of Trieste to Vladivostok. The Slavs as a race fall into three groups: the northern (Russians), the western (Poles and Czechoslovaks), the southern (Serbs, Croats and Slovenes now united in Yugoslavia, and the Bulgars, who have thier own State). The territorial continuity between the Slavs of the south and western Slavs has been severed by the settlement of a Mongolian people (Hungarians or Magyars) in the valley of the Danube. The Slavonic languages are similar, deriving as they do from a common old Slavonic language and to-day the differences between various Slavonic languages are not greater than those between Spanish and Italian.

The Southern Slavs began to come down to the Balkans in the 6th century and in the 9th century they had already their own States. The Croats were the first to organize a State of their own which originated in Dalmatia and later on covered approximately the western half of

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