d where three of the world's oldest religions intersect head-on: Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Roman Catholicism. Looking on a map one can see how the Balkans is the most direct route between the Western world of Europe and the vastly different world of the Middle East. The primary reason why this region has such a diverse ethnic and religious population is due to its location between these other major areas of the world.
             The Balkans region, of which Yugoslavia was a major portion, is a triangular shaped peninsula with a wide northern border that narrows as extends to the south. It is surrounded by the Black and the Aegean Seas to the east and the Mediterranean and the Adriatic Seas to the west and south. To the west, the Italian peninsula is only forty miles across the Adriatic from Albania thus explaining the close ties of Albanian culture to Roman and Italian influences. The bodies of water surrounding the Balkan Peninsula allowed easy access to the region and allowed relatively easy diffusion of vastly different cultures, religions and peoples to the area.
             Similarly, those parts of the Balkans that are not surrounded by water provided relatively easy access to the area by land. To the east, the narrow straits of the Dardanelles provided a natural pathway between the Balkans and Turkish Anatolia, and Asia beyond. In the northeast, the open, steppe regions of the Ukraine provided for a natural invasion route from prehistoric times to the present. In the northwest, the valley of the Danube river and the flat plains of Hungary were also easy points of entry for invading forces and emigrants. As a result of these geographical features, most of the ethnic groups in the region entered by one of these paths.
             With such easy access from sea and by land, it is not surprising that this area became a confluence of religions, cultures and peoples of vastly different origins.
             The mountainous topology of the entire region...