Religion and settlement as preservers of ethnicity

A separate ethnic group living in an isolated settlement could preserve ethnic identity even when surrounded by an alien ethnic environment. This is even more likely to happen if the ethnic group in question has a different religious affiliation than the rest, since the religious affiliation and ethnicity were often equated in the area examined. This paper presents a few cases of ethnicity preservation (sometimes its loss), namely: (1) The Saraka ans group (a Greek speaking ancient Balkan population); that is, its lineage A ana in Go (nearby Kraljevo); (2) Serbs in White Krajina (Slovenia) and Zumberka (Croatia); (3) Serbs from former Montenegro settled in the village of Peroj, in Istria; (4) Catholic Albanians, tribe Klimenti settled in Srem' villages Nikinci, Hrtkovci and Jarak, who declare themselves to be Croatians today; (5) A Serbian population from Montenegro and parts of Herzegovina (various tribes from Ceklina, Bjelopavli , Rije ka nahija, Njegu , Grahovo and Zubac), from Petlovo Selo, in northeast Serbia (6) Torbe a families, from the group Mijaka, an originally Slav-Islamic population in the Crni Drim area, that immigrated in the 1960's to Izmir, in Turkey; (7). Janjevci, Catholics of a mixed Slavic origin, from Janjevo near Pri tina; in the past they declared themselves natives of Dubrovnik but lately declared themselves Croatians; (8). Slovak Adventists from Gospo inci, in Srem, who declare themselves to be Serbs; and (9). Slovaks Greco-Catholic, from Ku ura, Ba ka, who declare themselves as Ruthenians although their native language is Slovakian. In conclusion, the author argues that ethnic identity preservation depends on a lot of factors and circumstances, among which the most important are settlement and religious affiliation. Many of the positive experiences of multilingual, multinational and multireligious tolerances in the area could serve as a model in other potentially troubled multicultural environments.