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'Kosovo' (Albanian: ''Kosova'' or ''Kosovë'', Serbian: Косово и Метохија, transliterated ''Kosovo i Metohija''; also Космет, transliterated ''Kosmet'') is a region in southern Serbia which has been under United Nations administration since 1999. While Serbia's sovereignty is recognised by the international community, in practice Serbian governance in the province is virtually non-existent (see also Constitutional status of Kosovo). The province is governed by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the local Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, with security provided by the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR).
The Province of Kosovo borders Montenegro, Albania, and the Republic of Macedonia. It has a population of just over two million people, predominantly ethnic Albanians, with smaller populations of Serbs, Turks, Bosniaks, Romani people, and other ethnic groups. Priština is the capital and largest city.
The province is the subject of a long-running political and territorial dispute between the Serbian (and previously, the Yugoslav) government and Kosovo's largely ethnic-Albanian population. International negotiations began in 2006 to determine the final status of Kosovo (''See Kosovo status process'').

Contents

Geography

History

Kosovo in the Middle-Ages

Ottoman Empire

Modern era

Kosovo War

Kosovo after the war

Politics and governance

Kosovo status process

Economy

Demographics

Administrative divisions

Cities

Culture

Music

Gallery

See also

References

External links

Pro-Albanian

Pro-Serbian

Geography

Main articles: Geography of Kosovo


With an area of 10,887 square kilometres^[1] (4,203 sq mi) and a population of over two million on the eve of the 1999 crisis, Kosovo borders Montenegro to the northwest, Serbia to the north and east, the Republic of Macedonia to the south, and Albania to the south west. The province's present borders were established in 1945. The Republic of Serbia has one other autonomous province, Vojvodina, located in the north of the country.
The largest cities are Priština (), the capital, with an estimated 600,000 inhabitants, Prizren () in the south west with a population of 165,000, Peć () in the west with 154,000, and Kosovska Mitrovica () in the north. Five other towns have populations in excess of 97,000.
The climate in Kosovo is continental, with warm summers and cold and snowy winters.
There are two main plains in Kosovo. The Metohija basin (known as ''Rrafshi i Dukagjinit'' to ethnic Albanians) is located in the western part of the province, and the Plain of Kosovo occupies the eastern part.
Much of Kosovo's terrain is rugged. The Šar (or Sharr) Mountains are located in the south and south-east, bordering Macedonia. This is one of the region's most popular tourist and skiing resorts, with Brezovica and Prevalac as the main tourist centres. Kosovo's mountainous area, including the highest peak Ðeravica (), at 2656 m above sea level, is located in the south-west, bordering Albania and Montenegro.
The mountain range dividing Kosovo from Albania is known in English as the "Cursed Mountains" or as the Dinaric Alps (). The Kopaonik mountain is located in the north, bordering Central Serbia. The central region of Drenica, Carralevë/Crnoljevo and the eastern part of Kosovo, known as Gollak, are mainly hilly areas.
There are several notable rivers and lakes in Kosovo. The main rivers are the White Drin (), running towards the Adriatic Sea), with the Erenik among its tributaries), the Sitnica, the South Morava in the Gollak area, and Ibar (or Ibri) in the north. The main lakes are Gazivoda (380 million m³) in the north-western part, Radoniqi (113 million m³) in the south-west part, Batllava (40 million m³) and Badovc (26 million m³) in the north-east part.

History

Main articles: History of Kosovo

The last disputed region of the now defunct communist Yugoslavia, the province of Kosovo has an extensive and rich history. Inhabited by several different groups, it was initially (circa 1300 B.C.E.) inhabited by Illyrians, which eventually became incorporated into the Roman empire and subsequently the Byzantine empire. From c. 6th century AD it was settled by Slavs (Montenegrins and Serbians) migrating from the north. It was conquered by the Ottoman empire during their take-over of south-eastern Europe. However, it was re-occupied by the Serbs after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the 1912-13 Balkan Wars. Kosovo has since been a region or province of modern Yugoslavia and its successor state of Serbia.

Kosovo in the Middle-Ages

The Kosovo region has been taken, retaken, and ruled by several empires. It lies both on the outer fringes of the Byzantine Empire and directly in the path of Slavic invasions in the 5th and 6th centuries, culminating with the arrival of White Serbs in the first half of the 7th who formed the realm of Rascia, the center of which was in northwest Kosovo. From 863 to 971, most of the remainder of Kosovo was ruled by Bulgaria, cementing the ''slavic'' character of Kosovo. Various Slavic rebellions wanted to restore the Bulgarian Empire, like the one from Macedonia in 976 to 1014 or the one raised in the 1040s. The Serbs from Doclea also tried in 1070 to 1072 to restore the Bulgarian Empire, but they were defeated in the Battle of Sitnica. From the 1090s, most of Kosovo is incorporated into the Grand Principality of Rascia under the Vukanović family. Although it would not be until 1208 that Grand Prince Stefan Nemanjić would finally conquer Prizren that Kosovo got fully incorporated into Serbia.

During the rule of the Nemanjić dynasty, many Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were built throughout Kosovo. Kosovo became the core of the Serbian realm in the second half of the 13th and in the 14th century; the Nemanjić rulers alternatively used both Prizren and Priština as their capitals. Large estates were given to the monasteries in Metohija (Western Kosovo) (which included parts of modern-day Albania and Montenegro). The most prominent churches in Kosovo - the Patriarchate at Pec, the church at Gračanica and the monastery at Visoki Dečani near Dečani - were all adopted during this period. At the end of the 13th century, Pec became the center of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which became a Patriarchate in 1346. Kosovo was economically important, as the modern Kosovo capital Priština was a major trading centre on routes leading to ports on the Adriatic Sea. As well, mining was an important industry in Novo Brdo and Janjevo which had its communities of émigré Saxon miners and Ragusan merchants.
Ethnic identity from the Middle Ages was somewhat fluid throughout Europe, and people at that time do not appear to have defined themselves rigidly by a single ethnic identity. Those of Slavic origin, particularly of the Serbian background, appear to have been the dominant population culturally and were probably a demographic majority as well.
In the second half of the 14th century the Serbian Empire fell into feudal anarchy on the death of Tsar Stefan Dušan and local fiefdoms rose to power