The Balkans, also known as the Balkan Peninsula, are a geographic area in southeastern Europe with various definitions and meanings, including geopolitical and historical.

In the Encyclopædia Britannica, John B Alcock, Former Head, Research Unit in South East European Studies, University of Bradford, England defines the Balkans, also called Balkan Peninsula as the easternmost of Europe’s three great southern peninsulas. There is not universal agreement on the region’s components. The Balkans are usually characterized as comprising Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romnia, Serbia, and Slovenia with all or part of each of those countries located within the peninsula. Portions of Greece and Turkey and  are also located within the geographic region generally defined as the Balkan Peninsula, and many descriptions of the Balkans include those countries too. Some define the region in cultural and historical terms and others geographically, though there are even different interpretations among historians and geographers.