The Extreme Points and Highest Peaks of the Balkan Peninsula
This article is published originally in Bulgarian in 2018 by Ivan Vasilev. The Balkan Peninsula is the southeasternmost European peninsula. The name “Balkan” was introduced at the beginning of the 19th century by the German teacher, scholar, and publicist August Zeune. It is located in the southeastern part of Europe and almost entirely falls within the area that is politically and culturally perceived as the Balkans. Its territory is occupied by the following modern states: those traditionally considered Balkan: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro; states that are also assigned to other regions: Slovenia and Croatia (to Central Europe), Romania (to Eastern Europe), and Turkey (to Western Asia); small parts of states that are not Balkan in a political and cultural sense, such as Italy and Ukraine. In physical‑geographical terms, the Peninsula is bounded to the east, south, and west by the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmara, and...
