tcreath

I have been planning my trip to Croatia for November, and am a little confused on the neighboring countries.

First, is Montenegro and Serbia one country or two separate countries? In one of my guidebooks Montenegro is outlined and labeled as a country separate from Serbia but in another map, and on the Lonely Planet Destinatin guide on lonelyplanet.com they are labeled as one country.

Second question; in my Lonely Planet Croatia guidebook, Serbia/Montenegro and Bosnia still are labeled as "Yugloslavia", and referred to as such throughout the book. Do Europeans refer to this area as Yugloslavia (I believe the Lonely Planet books are written by the British) and not Americans?

I'm not trying to start any conflicts; just curious.

Tracy

flanneruk

Europeans, by and large, are so dismally ignorant about what used to be called Yugoslavia that there's no consistency. Australians are even worse (Lonely Planet is editorially directed from Sydney, though the bio will usually reveal some complexity in most authors' national background).

Some official European systems sometimes still refer to "Yugoslavia", neaning Serbia and Montenegro. No-one with half a brain includes Croatia in that any more - though your LP book may simply be very old (in the early 90s, Bosnia and Kosovo were still in Yugoslavia)

Serbia-Montenegro is a federal state: the two components are called republics. Under S-M's constitutional charter, from this year, either republic may call a referendum to determine independence, and some EU arrangements treat Montenegro slightly differently from Serbia. But then the EU treats the Channel Islands differently from the Isle of Man. The difference is rarely of much significance.

tcreath

flanneruk, thank you for your reply. It definitely clears some confusion up, as apparently I'm not the only on who is confused. My Lonely Planet book isn't too old; I think it was published sometime within the last 5 years, although I would have to take a look at it when I get home to give an exact date.

Thank you again for your explinations.

Tracy

KT

After the rest of the former Yugoslav republics broke away in the 1990s, Serbia and Montenegro were the only ones left and continued to use the name Yugoslavia. They did so until early 2003, when they officially changed their name. So there was a "Yugoslavia" of sorts until then.

tcreath

KT, that probably explains the Lonely Planet map I have in my book. The book was probably published before 2003.

Thank you,
Tracy

Neil_Oz

A useful current reference to country facts and figures is the CIA World Factbook. I can understand some readers approaching it with a soupcon of scepticism, but I think that would be unwarranted.

www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

shantihhh

On April 30 2006 there is to an election as to the separating of Serbia and Montenegro into 2 countries.

Croatians are mainly Catholics and Serbs are mainly Orthodox and get fiesty if confused. Also Bosnians and Albanians and those in Kosovo are mainly Muslim.

It is sad but even here in the US the refugees from the former Yugoslavia carry this hatred here. How do I know? My son-in-law is from Croatia, but a refugee as his parents were of different religions. They came here via Kosovo 6 years ago. And he is so proud to be an American citizen now!

JJ5

Yes, shantihhh, I personally have seen the same intense animosity here near Chicago between these two groups, both thousands of miles away from their homelands. It's one of the worst I have ever witnessed.

When the Serbia/Montenegro team entered the Torino Olympics Opening Ceremonies the commentator said that that country would probably divide itself legally in the Spring. That must be the same reference to the April elections noted above.

One of my professors is from Montenegro and is Serbian Orthodox in religion and USED TO BE a priest in that tradition. He's about 68 years old right now, and you should hear his stories. Every time he tells me I get so confused about the "locations". He had to "escape" to a Serbian monestary at night, crossing a mountain to get to the school there when he was a boy. I still don't really get it. Were they one or not??? Doesn't sound like it.

aeiger

Hi
Just to add to this discussion, don't forget, Slovenia was also part of yugoslavia and broke away in the early 1990's.

ira

If they hadn't broken up the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1919, we wouldn't have this problem.

tcreath

Thank you all for your replies. It seems like I am not the only confused one! Just today I was checking aa.com to see the award travels for Europe and I clicked on "Europe" and it listed "Yugoslavia" as a country.

And aeiger, obviously you are very right. I just usually don't see Slovenia, or Croatia for that matter, still being lumped together with the others to form "Yugloslavia" on recent maps.

Tracy