Monday, August 12, 2013

Geography of Serbia and Motenegro

Serbia covers a total of 88,361 km², which places it at 113th place in the world. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km (Albania 115 km, Bosnia and Herzegovina 302 km, Bulgaria 318 km, Croatia 241 km, Hungary 151 km, Macedonia 221 km, Montenegro 203 km and Romania 476 km). All of Serbia's border with Albania, and parts of the borders with Macedonia, Montenegro, are under control of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. It has 6,167 registered settlements, 207 urban and 5960 others (rural).
Arable land covers 19,194 km² and woods cover 19,499 km²  of the territory of Serbia without Kosovo
Serbia's terrain ranges from rich, fertile plains of the northern Vojvodina region, limestone ranges and basins in the east, and in the southeast ancient mountains and hills. The north is dominated by the Danube River. A tributary, the Morava River flows through the more mountainous southern regions.
In central parts of Serbia, the terrain consists chiefly of hills, low and medium-high mountains, interspersed with numerous rivers and creeks. The main communication and development line stretches southeast of Belgrade, towards Niš and Skopje (in Republic of Macedonia), along the valley of Great and South Morava river. Most major cities are located on or around that line, as well as the main railroad and highway. On the East of it, the terrain quickly rises to limestone ranges of Stara Planina and Serbian Carpathians, relatively sparsely populated. On the West, height of mountains slowly rises towards southwest, but they do not form real ridges. The highest mountains of that area are Zlatibor and Kopaonik.
Mountains cover the largest parts of the country.[citation needed] Four mountain systems meet in Serbia: Dinaric Alps in the west cover the greatest territory, and stretch from northwest to southeast. Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in north-south direction in the eastern Serbia, west of the Morava valley. Ancient mountains along the South Moravabelong to Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system.
The most significant mountains in Serbia are:
The highest peak in Serbia is Đeravica on Prokletije (2,656 m) in Kosovo.