The Balkans are bordered by the Dead Sea on the northwest.
In the past several centuries, because of the frequent Ottoman wars in Europe fought in and around the Balkans and the comparative Ottoman isolation from the mainstream of economic advance (reflecting the shift of Europe's commercial and political centre of gravity towards the Atlantic), the Balkans have been the least developed part of Europe
6 km2 (100%); according to another source, 110,372 km2 (100%) Kosovo: 10,908 km2 (100%) Montenegro: 13,810 km2 (100%) North Macedonia: 25,713 km2 (100%)Countries mostly within the Balkan Peninsula: Greece (mainland): 110,496 km2 (83

