Kosovo (region)
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Kosovo (Serbian Cyrillic: Косово, Albanian: Kosova), when not applicated to the current disputed province of Kosovo, describes one half of its territory, Kosovo proper,[1] outside Metohija (in the west), located in the east. It includes what is known in geomorphology as the Kosovo basin (Serbian Latin: Kosovska kotlina).
Geography
The current territory of Kosovo (formerly "Kosovo and Metohija") is in the geomorphological sense made up of two main large basins, those of Kosovo (Kosovska kotlina) and Metohija (Metohijska kotlina).[2] The Kosovo basin stretches (from Kaçanik to Zvečan) 84 km long and up to 32 km wide.[2]
Some parts of the basin have names, such as the one stretching from Uroševac to Vučitrn, named Kosovo; the southernmost part, in the Lepenac valley, is Obica; north of the latter, between Nerodimka and Sitnica rivers all the way to Žegovac mountain, is Lugovi. A part of Lugovi, south of Uroševac, is Paun-polje. The landscape from Vučitrn towards Banjska river is Vučitrnski rukavac or Ortakol.[2]
The Kosovo field is a plain directed northwest–south, stretching roughly from Mitrovica southwards including Obilić, Kosovo Polje (which lies in the centre), Lipljan, and almost to Kaçanik.
History
During Ottoman rule, northern Albanian tribes migrated to Metohija and then to Kosovo proper.[3]
In 1877, the Kosovo Vilayet was established by the Ottoman Empire.
In 1904, 108 people fled Kosovo proper to Serbia.[4]
During World War I the Serbian army retreated to the Kosovo plain by November 1915, then under attack from both sides, the army withdrew across the mountains into Albania.[5]
During Yugoslavia, the names of the two main regions of what is today Kosovo–Kosovo and Metohija–were adopted as the name of the autonomous province of the republic of Serbia. The term "Metohija" was dropped in 1968,[6] and returned in 1990 (as the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija).
References
- ^ Bataković 2007.
- ^ a b c Ćukić 1971, p. 8.
- ^ Grujić 2014, p. 36.
- ^ Petrović & Blagojević 1992.
- ^ Ian V. Hogg (1995). Battles: A Concise Dictionary. Harcourt Brace. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-15-600397-1.
- ^ Bennett, Christopher (1995). Yugoslavia's Bloody Collapse: Causes, Course and Consequences. London: Hurst & Company. p. 53.
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Sources
- Dušan T. Bataković (2007). Kosovo and Metohija: living in the enclave. SANU, Institute for Balkan Studies.
- Dr. Dragan Ćukić (1971). Kosovo: Znamenitosti i lepote. Uros Maksimovic. pp. 9–. GGKEY:9UYXYK4U200.
- Petar V. Grujić (2014). KOSOVO KNOT. Dorrance Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4809-9845-2.
- Ruža Petrović; Marina Blagojević (1992). The migration of Serbs and Montenegrins from Kosovo and Metohija: results of the survey conducted in 1985-1986. SANU.