History

Main article: History of Serbia

Early history
Main articles: Prehistoric sites in Serbia and Roman heritage in Serbia

Sirmium, one of 4 Roman capitals during Tetrarchy Approximately 8,500 years ago, during the Neolithic Era, Neolithic, Starevo, and Vina cultures existed in or near modern-day Belgrade and dominated the Balkans, (as well as parts of Central Europe and Asia Minor).[15][16] Two important local archeological sites from this era, Lepenski Vir and Vina-Belo Brdo, still exist near the banks of the Danube. During the Iron Age the Balkans saw the development of the Paleo-Balkan peoples known as Thracians, Dacians, and Illyrians around 1000 BC. These peoples were encountered by the Ancient Greeks during their expansion into the south of modern Serbia in the 4th century BC; the northwesternmost point of Alexander the Great's empire being the town of Kale-Krevica.[17] The Greek influx was followed shortly after by the Celtic tribe of Scordisci, who settled throughout the area in the 3rd century BC. The Scordisci formed their own tribal state in this area, and built several fortifications, including their state capital at Singidunum (present-day Belgrade) and Naissos (presentday Ni). The Romans conquered much of modern-day Serbia in the 2nd century BC. In 167 BC the Roman province of Illyricum was established; the remainder of central present-day Serbia was conquered around 75 BC, forming the Roman province of Moesia Superior; the modern-day Srem region was conquered in 9 BC; and Baka and Banat in 106 AD after the Dacian wars. As a result of this, contemporary Serbia extends fully or partially over several former Roman provinces, including Moesia, Pannonia, Praevalitana, Dalmatia, Dacia and Macedonia. The chief towns of Upper Moesia (and wider) were: Singidunum (Belgrade), Viminacium (now Old Kostolac), Remesiana (now Bela Palanka), Naissos (Ni), and Sirmium (now Mitrovika), the latter of which served as a Roman capital during the Tetrarchy.[18]

Seventeen Roman Emperors were born in the area of modern-day Serbia, second only to contemporary Italy.[19] The most famous of these was Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor, who issued an edict ordering religious tolerance throughout the Empire. When the Roman Empire was divided in 395, the region remained under the eastern Byzantine Empire. By the early 6th century, native Serbs and Southern Slavs were present throughout the Byzantine Empire in large numbers.[20]

Old Ras, medieval royal capital, UNESCO

Coronation of Duan I as East Roman Emperor in 1346.

Siege of Belgrade (1456)

Middle Ages
Main article: Serbia in the Middle Ages The Serbs, as Slavs in the Byzantine world, lived in the so-called Slav lands, territories initially out of Byzantine control and independent.[21] In the 8th century, the Vlastimirovi dynasty established the Serbian Principality. In 822, Serbia "stretched over the greater part of Dalmatia",[22] and Christianity was adopted as state religion in ca 870.[23] In the mid-10th century the state had emerged into a tribal confederation that stretched to the shores of the Adriatic Sea by the Neretva, the Sava, the Morava, and Skadar.[24] The state disintegrated after the death of the last known Vlastimirid ruler; the

Byzantines annexed the region and held it for a century, until 1040 when the Serbs under the leadership of what would become the Vojislavljevi dynasty revolted in Duklja, a maritime region.[25] In 1091, the Vukanovi dynasty established the Serbian Grand Principality, based in Rascia.[25] The two-halves were reunited in 1142.[26] In 1166, Stefan Nemanja assumed the throne, marking the beginning of a prospering Serbia, henceforth under the rule of the Nemanji dynasty.[27] Nemanja's son Rastko (posth. Saint Sava), gained autocephaly for the Serbian Church in 1217 and authored the oldest known constitution, and at the same time Stefan the First-Crowned established the Serbian Kingdom.[28] Medieval Serbia reached its peak during the reign of Duan the Mighty, who took advantage of the Byzantine civil war and doubled the size of the state by conquering territories to the south and east at the expense of Byzantium, reaching as far as the Peloponnese, also being crowned Emperor of Serbs and Greeks along the way. The Battle of Kosovo in 1389 marks a turning point and is considered as a beginning of the fall of the medieval Serbian state. The magnate families Lazarevi and Brankovi ruled the suzerain Serbian Despotate afterwards (in the 15th and 16th centuries). After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 and the Siege of Belgrade, the Serbian Despotate fell in 1459 following the siege of the provisional capital of Smederevo. The Smederevo Fortress is the largest medieval lowland type of fortresses in Europe. By 1455, central Serbia was completely conquered by the Ottoman Empire.[29] After repelling Ottoman attacks for over 70 years, Belgrade finally fell in 1521, opening the way for Ottoman expansion into Central Europe. Vojvodina, as a part of Habsburg Empire, resisted Ottoman rule until well into the 16th century.