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Largely mountainous in the west and south, Serbia lies within several mountain systems: the Dinaric Alps in the west, the North Albanian Alps and Sar Mts. in the southwest, and the Balkan Mts. in the east. Much of Serbia slopes generally north toward the Danube and Sava rivers and is drained chiefly by the Drina (which forms part of the western border), Kolubara, Morava, and Timok rivers and their tributaries. The northeast is part of the fertile Danubian plain; it is drained by the Danube, Sava, Tisa (Tisza), and Morava rivers. The fertile plains of Vojvodina are the most productive agricultural areas. Politically, the constituent republic consists of Serbia proper with the cities of Belgrade, Nis, and Kragujevac, Vojvodina province with Subotica and Novi Sad, and Kosovo province with Pristina. The republic's population consists primarily of Serbs, with Albanian, Magyar (Hungarian), Croat, Montenegrin, and Macedonian minorities. The Serbs distinguish themselves culturally from the very closely related Croats through their membership in the Orthodox Eastern Church and use of the Cyrillic rather than the Roman alphabet.
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