Nationalism in the Balkan Peninsula
Pre-1878

Between 1000 B.C.E. and 500 A.C.E. the peninsula was ruled by Greeks, Romans and Macedonians. Slavic tribes began to move into the Balkan during part of the Byzantine Empire about 570-700 A.C.E. The Slavs are a people whose original home is now thought to have been in the region of the Pripet marshes between Russia and Poland. In the mid-1400's, the Turks conquered nearly all of the Balkans, bringing Islam to the peninsula. The Turks did not require their Christian subjects to become Muslim, however political power was restricted to those who converted to Islam.

Source: American Historical Association. http://www.theaha.org/Projects/GIroundtable/Balkans/Balkans2.htm