Dinaric

Dinaric is an adjective used in geography and anthropology to denote connections with the Dinaric Alps region of Southeastern Europe. It appears in historical ethnography to describe people and populations associated with the Dinarides, and in modern contexts mainly for geographic or cultural references rather than a defined ethnicity.

Geographically, the Dinaric Alps, or Dinarides, run along the Adriatic coast from Slovenia and Croatia through Bosnia and Herzegovina to Montenegro, Albania, and parts of Kosovo and Serbia. The range is notable for karst landscapes, rugged limestone peaks, and extensive river canyons; highest points exceed 2,000 meters in several subranges, such as Korab and Prokletije. The region has been a natural boundary between the Pannonian Basin to the east and the Adriatic Sea to the west.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, anthropologists described a "Dinaric race" or Dinaric physiognomy associated with populations in the Dinaric zone. These racial typologies are now considered obsolete; modern genetics shows complex admixture across the Western Balkans and cannot be divided into a single Dinaric "type."

Today the term is used mainly in geographic, historical, or cultural contexts and is not used to define a distinct contemporary population. The Dinaric Alps and the broader Dinarides remain important geographic features of the Balkans.