At one of the great world crossroads, between the East and the West, six Slav ethnic groups live together in the Federal Republic of Yugoslovia, with its six constituent republics. In recent centuries various foreign powers have crossed swords over this territory, leaving behind imprints of their cultures and civilizations. The conquerers generally settled in the larger population centres, and their cultural influence in these centres was much stronger than in the villages where the greater part of the Yugoslav population lived. Thus the Yugoslav villager was in such areas able to retain more of his traditional cultural forms, such as folk music, song, dance and instruments.