The Pešter Plateau ( sr, Пештерска висораван, Pešterska visoravan; sq, Rrafshnalta e Peshterit), or simply Pešter ( sr-Cyrl, Пештер, ; sq, Peshter), is a

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, Dolomite (rock), dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathe ...

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

in southwestern

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

, in the Raška (or

Sandžak Sandžak (; sh, / , ; sq, Sanxhaku; ota, سنجاق, Sancak), also known as Sanjak, is a historical geo-political region in Serbia and Montenegro. The name Sandžak derives from the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, a former Ottoman administrative dis ...

) region. It lies at the

altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

of 1150–1492 m, (''Kuljarski vrh'') at 1492 meters. The territory of the plateau is mostly located in the municipality of Sjenica, with parts belonging to Novi Pazar and Tutin.

Name

The name of the region comes from the common Slavic word for

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

( cu, пещера, peštera). In the speech of people native to the area, the original feminine

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most culture ...

of the word is preserved despite the loss of the ''-a'' ending (nominative ''Pešter'', genitive and locative ''Pešteri''), but in standard Serbian the gender is masculine (nominative ''Pešter'', genitive ''Peštera'', locative ''Pešteru'').

Geography

Afternoon landscape with sheep and shepherds at the Pester Plateau in Serbia

The plateau is actually a large field (''Peštersko polje'') surrounded by mountains of

Jadovnik Jadovnik (Serbian Cyrillic: Јадовник, ) is a mountain in southwestern Serbia, on the western edge of Pešter plateau, between towns of Prijepolje and Sjenica Sjenica ( sr-cyr, Сјеница, ) is a town and municipality located in the ...

(1734 m), Zlatar (1627 m), Ozren (1693 m),

Giljeva Giljeva (Serbian Cyrillic: Гиљева) is a mountain in southwestern Serbia, on the western edge of Pešter plateau, near the town of Sjenica Sjenica ( sr-cyr, Сјеница, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of ...

(1617 m), Javor (1519 m),

Golija Golija ( sr-Cyrl, Голија, ) is a mountain in southwestern Srbija, Serbia, between towns of Ivanjica and Novi Pazar. It is part of the Dinarides, Dinaric mountain range. The mountain is heavily forested with significant biodiversity. It conta ...

(1833 m), Žilindar (1616 m), Hum (1756 m),

Ninaja Ninaja (Serbian Cyrillic: Нинаја) is a mountain in southwestern Serbia, between cities of Novi Pazar and Sjenica Sjenica ( sr-cyr, Сјеница, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. The p ...

(1462 m) and Jarut (1428 m). With the area of around 50 km², the Pešter field is the largest field in Serbia, and the highest one in the Balkans. The rivers of Uvac, Vapa, Jablanica and Grabovica flow through this plateau. In the geologic past, the field was a large lake, of which only a small lake (in Sjenica) near the village of Tuzinje remained. The soil is mostly

interspersed with

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

s. Economy of the area relies primarily on cattle breeding, chiefly

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...

. Pešter is famous for its

dairy product Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items i ...

s, especially the "Sjenica cheese" (''Sjenički sir''), as well as lamb and pršut (or prosciutto). The plateau is sparsely populated: most settlements are on the edge of the field, and the remainder is settled only during summer months. Pešter is famous for its microclimate, which is particularly harsh in the winter months, and due to this, it is often called the "Siberia of Sandžak". The lowest temperature in Serbia since measurements are taken, is measured at Karajukića Bunari village on 26 January 2006, beating the previous record of measured in Sjenica in 1954. In the near geological past, the field used to be a highland lake, which gradually drained through karst ruptures, leaving marshy remnants in the lowest parts, around the flow of the sinking river Boroštica. Those areas are home to a wet peatbog habitat that's unique for a karst area. On the 1st of May in 2006,

Ramsar Ramsar may refer to: * Places so named: ** Ramsar, Mazandaran, city in Iran ** Ramsar, Rajasthan, village in India * Eponyms of the Iranian city: ** Ramsar Convention concerning wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran ** Ramsar site, wetland listed i ...

included the wetland area of 3,455

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre i ...

s into its list of wetlands of international importance. Pešter is home to a number of endangered plant species, such as Fumana bonapartei, Halacsya sendtneri, and Orchis tridentata. The only nesting place of Montagu's harrier in Serbia is in this area.

History

In 1700 the High Porte of the Ottoman Empire instructed the Pasha of Peja to pacify Rugova, resulting in 274 families being displaced from Rugova to Pešter. At that time, some members of the Shkreli and Kelmendi have begun migrating into the Pešter region. The Kelmendi chief had converted to Islam, and promised to convert his fellow tribe members as well. A total of 251 Kelmendi households (1,987 people) were resettled in the Pešter area on that occasion, however five years later, the exiled Kelmendi managed to fight their way back to their homeland, and in 1711 they sent out a large raiding force to bring back some other from the Pešter region as well. The remaining Kelmendi and Shkreli converted to Islam and became Slavophones by the 20th century, and as of today they now self-identify as part of the

Bosniak The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, ...

ethnicity, although in the Pešter plateau they partly utilized the Albanian language until the middle of the 20th century particuarily in the villages of Ugao, Boroštica, Doliće and Gradac. Factors such as some intermarriage undertaken by two generations with the surrounding Bosniak population along with the difficult circumstances of the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

during the 90s made the local Albanians opt to refer to themselves in censuses as ''Bosniaks,'' in order to avoid persecution by the Serb-dominated government.Andrea Pieroni, Maria Elena Giusti, & Cassandra L. Quave (2011).
Cross-cultural ethnobiology in the Western Balkans: medical ethnobotany and ethnozoology among Albanians and Serbs in the Pešter Plateau, Sandžak, South-Western Serbia.
''Human Ecology''. 39. (3): 335. "The current population of the Albanian villages is partly "bosniakicised", since in the last two generations a number of Albanian males began to intermarry with (Muslim) Bosniak women of Pešter. This is one of the reasons why locals in Ugao were declared to be "Bosniaks" in the last census of 2002, or, in Boroštica, to be simply "Muslims", and in both cases abandoning the previous ethnic label of "Albanians", which these villages used in the census conducted during "Yugoslavian" times. A number of our informants confirmed that the self-attribution "Albanian" was purposely abandoned in order to avoid problems following the Yugoslav Wars and associated violent incursions of Serbian para-military forces in the area. The oldest generation of the villagers however are still fluent in a dialect of Ghegh Albanian, which appears to have been neglected by European linguists thus far. Additionally, the presence of an Albanian minority in this area has never been brought to the attention of international stakeholders by either the former Yugoslav or the current Serbian authorities." Shkrelis continued to migrate from Rugova to the territory of Pešter until the 19th century. Catholic Albanian groups which settled in the early 18th century were converted to Islam in that period. Their descendants make up the large majority of the population of the Pešter plateau.

Gallery

Pester plateau in Serbia - 0855.jpg, Pester Plateau in Serbia - 1128.jpg, Pester Plateau in Serbia - 9663.CR2.jpg, Pester Plateau, Serbia - 0123.CR2.jpg, Pester Plateau, Serbia - 0193.CR2.jpg,

References

External links