Balkan Peninsula

Mountainous area comprising easternmost of Europe's three great southern peninsulas; evidence of human habitation dates from 35,000 years ago, but dense settlement dates to Neolithic, 7000-3500 BC; later was settled by Illyrians & Thracians; the modern nations located here are Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, Slovenia, Yugoslavia & parts of Greece; site of ethnic strife for centuries.