Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe, covering the central part of the Balkan Peninsula and the southern part of the Pannonian Plain.
The capital is Belgrade.
Currency - Serbian dinar (RSD).
Internet top level domain - .rs official since September 2006, but former .yu is still in use until the current active leases expire.
Official languages: Serbian, Albanian, Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, Rusyn and Croatian.
Country calling code +381.
The Republic of Serbia is a democratic state of all its citizens. Its history and achievements make it an integral part of modern civilisation.
Apart from Serbia Proper, the Republic of Serbia contains two autonomous provinces: Vojvodina and Kosovo-Metohija. Belgrade is the capital of Serbia. With a population of 1.6 million, it is the country's administrative, economic and cultural centre.
Kosovo and Metohija is a province in southern Serbia which has been under United Nations administration since 1999. While Serbia's nominal sovereignty is recognised by the international community, in practice Serbian governance in the province is virtually non-existent (see also Constitutional status of Kosovo).
The province is governed by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the local Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, with security provided by the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR).
In 2005 Serbian GDP is estimated to have grown by 6.5% year-on-year driven by strong gains in trade, transportation, financial services and construction, more than offsetting a drop in agricultural output. Industrial production grew at a modest 1.3%, while showing a robust recovery in the second half of the year.
Inflation remained at double digits throughout the year and stood at 17.5% on the year-on-year basis in December, mainly driven by a strong domestic demand, increases in administered prices, rising cost of fuel imports and the one-off effect of the VAT introduced in January 2005, but was also aggravated by the widespread inflation and exchange rate indexation of prices.
The Serbian state as known today was created in 1170 A.D. by Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the Nemanjic dynasty. Serbia's religious foundation came several years later when Stefan's son, canonized as St. Sava, became the first archbishop of a newly autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church (1219).
Thus, at this time, the Serbs enjoyed both temporal and religious independence. After a series of successions, Serbia fell under the rule of King Milutin, who improved Serbia's position among other European countries. Milutin also was responsible for many of the brightest examples of Medieval Serbian architecture. Moreover, Serbia began to expand under Milutin's reign, seizing territory in nearby Macedonia from the Byzantines. Under Milutin's son, Stefan Dusan (1331-55), the Nemanjic dynasty reached its peak, ruling from the Danube to central Greece.
However, Serbian power waned after Stefan's death in 1355, and in the Battle of Kosovo (June 15, 1389) the Serbs were catastrophically defeated by the Turks. By 1459, the Turks exerted complete control over all Serb lands.
