Serbia

Discover Serbia

Fun Foods

Ćevapi, Pljeskavica, Kajmak, Ajvar, Sarma, Burek

In a museum in Belgrade, Serbia’s capital, sits a shiny golden ball.

Inside are the ashes of Nikola Tesla, the inventor whose alternating current, or AC, electricity system beat out Thomas Edison’s rival system.

Tesla was born in 1856 to a Serbian family in the village of Smiljan, which is in Croatia today. He moved to the United States in 1884, and his ashes came home to Belgrade after he died.

Belgrade sits where two great rivers, the Sava and the Danube, meet. That spot made it a prize.

Romans built a fort there, Huns and Goths attacked it, and the Ottoman Turks took it in 1521.

The Serbs had built their own kingdom by 1170. But in 1389 they lost the Battle of Kosovo to the Ottomans, who ruled Serbia for nearly 370 years.

In 1804, a leader named Karađorđe led a revolt, and in 1878 Serbia finally won full independence.

On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary.

Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia and attacked it, and World War I began. Afterward, Serbia joined its neighbors to form Yugoslavia.

In the 1990s, Yugoslavia broke apart in bloody wars. Serbia’s leader, Slobodan Milošević, backed Serb forces fighting in Croatia and Bosnia.

In 1999, NATO bombed Yugoslavia for nearly three months over the fighting in Kosovo.

In 2000, after he lost an election, huge crowds in Belgrade forced Milošević from power. He was put on trial for war crimes at an international court but died before a verdict.

Montenegro split away in 2006. Kosovo declared independence in 2008, but Serbia still considers it part of Serbia.

At the Nikola Tesla Museum, try hands-on electricity experiments. Then climb Belgrade Fortress, where you can still spot bullet holes in the old gate.

For food, try ćevapi, little grilled meat rolls tucked into flatbread with kajmak, a creamy, salty spread.

For a big appetite, order a pljeskavica, Serbia’s answer to the burger.

Sources: GlobalSecurity: Serbia History, In Your Pocket: Famous Serbians, Nikola Tesla, and Wikipedia: Slobodan Milošević.