Drenica
Drenica (, ), also known as the Drenica Valley, is a hilly region in central Kosovo, covering roughly around of Kosovo's total area (6%). It consists of two municipalities, Drenas and Skenderaj, and several villages in Klina, Zubin Potok, Mitrovica and Vushtrri. It is located west of the capital, Pristina. According to the 2011 Census, the population of the region is 109,389, excluding the surrounding villages. Albanians form the absolute majority of the region. Geography Drenica is located in the center of what is today Kosovo, in the western part of the region itself of Kosovo. It is sometimes regarded as a region in its own right. Drenica is divided into Upper Drenica, also called Red Drenica and Lower Drenica, also called Pasha's Drenica. The highest mountains in the region are Mount Caraleva (1,177m) and Mount Çiçavica (1,091m). History Middle Ages Between 1246 and 1255, Stefan Uroš I had reported Albanian toponyms in the Drenica valley. A chrisobull of the Serbian ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shaban Polluzha
Shaban Mustafë Kastrati (1871 – 21 February 1945), known as Shaban Polluzha, was a Kosovo Albanian military leader of Drenica Brigade which was formed in December 1944 to support the 6th Albanian communist Brigade during World War II. He served in the Royal Albanian gendarmerie and as a commander of the '' Vulnetari'' militia. He was briefly a member of the Balli Kombëtar. Early life Shaban was born in Polluzha, in the Drenica region (now central Kosovo). He came from a middle-class family and he was not educated, but as a young man he became involved in political life, which was imposed on him by the circumstances and injustices of the occupying regimes. World War I and II He fought against the Bulgarians and Austrians during the First World War, afterwards he fought for the Kaçak movement against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1924 he was part of a unit led by Azem Galica, and he covered their retreat to Albanian territory after Galica had been wounded. Shaban Polluzha w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Skenderaj
Skenderaj ( sq-definite, Skënderaji) or Srbica ( sr-Cyrl, Србица) is a List of cities in Kosovo, town and Municipalities of Kosovo, municipality located in the District of Mitrovica, Mitrovica District of Kosovo. According to the 2021 census, the municipality of Skënderaj has 52,586 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the Drenica geographical region of Kosovo. It is mainly populated by ethnic Albanians. It is the place where the Kosovo War began in 1998, and to which the most damage was done. Etymology Albanians use the name Skenderaj from the name Skanderbeg, while the Serbian name was applied after the First Balkan War in an attempt to naturalize the region. Geography The settlement is by the Klina River, Klina river, in the Klina field. It is the main settlement of the Drenica region. The Klina river belongs to the Metohija region, while the settlement morphologically and hydrologically gravitates towards the Kosovo (region), Kosovo region. The municipality cove ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Azem Galica
Azem Bejta (10 December 1889 – 15 July 1924), commonly known as Azem Galica, was an Albanian nationalist, resistance fighter and rebel who fought for the unification of Kosovo with Albania. He is known for leading the Kachak Movement against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Early life Azem Bejta was born into a poor Albanian family in the village of Galicë in the broader Drenica region. His family descended from the Kuçi tribe (''fis''). He was the son of Bejta Galica, a rebel who died fighting against the Ottoman Empire and Serbian forces. Azem began fighting the Kingdom of Serbia in 1912, opposing their rule in Kosovo. Early activities Balkan Wars Azem Galica and his Kaçak fighters resisted the Serbian invasion of Kosovo during the Balkan Wars and in the early parts of World War I. World War I In the winter of 1915–1916, during World War I, Serbia was occupied by the Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary after the Central Powers won a victory in Kosovo in late November 1915 - ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Drenas
Drenas or Gllogovc/Gllogoc ( sq-definite, Drenasi or ''Gllogovci/Gllogoci'') or Glogovac ( sr-Cyrl, Глоговац) is a town and municipality in the District of Pristina in Kosovo. The municipality has an area of . According to the last census of 2024, the municipality has a population of 48,079. History The municipality was established before World War II as a distinct social, political, and administrative unit. Over the past eighty years, economic development has been very limited, as previous governments, directed from the central authorities of Yugoslavia, largely neglected the municipality. Historically, Drenas was focused on extensive agricultural development. In the 1970s, the first initiatives for economic development in Drenas began to emerge. These efforts were accompanied by urban spatial development as well. In 1981, the settlement of Drenas was officially declared a town, becoming the main administrative, cultural, social, and municipal center of the area. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kosovo Albanians
The Albanians of Kosovo (, ), also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars (), constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians belong to the Albanians, ethnic Albanian sub-group of Ghegs, who inhabit the north of Albania, north of the Shkumbin River, Shkumbin river, Kosovo, southern Serbia, and western parts of North Macedonia. They speak Gheg Albanian, more specifically the Northwestern and Northeastern Gheg variants. According to the 1991 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav census, boycotted by Albanians, there were 1,596,072 ethnic Albanians in Kosovo or 81.6% of population. By the estimation in the year 2000, there were between 1,584,000 and 1,733,600 Albanians in Kosovo or 88% of population; as of 2011, their population share is 92.93%. History Pre-7th century Toponymical evidence suggests that Albanian was spoken in western and eastern Kosovo and the Niš region before the Migration Period. In this era, Albanian ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vuk Branković
Vuk Branković ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Бранковић, , 1345 – 6 October 1397) was a Serbian medieval nobleman who, during the Fall of the Serbian Empire, inherited a province that extended over present-day southern and southwestern Serbia, entire Kosovo, the northern part of present-day Republic of North Macedonia, and northern Montenegro. His fief (and later state) was known as ''Oblast Brankovića'' (District of Branković) or simply as ''Vukova zemlja'' (Vuk's land), which he held with the title of ''Hospodar, gospodin'' (lord, sir), under Prince Lazar of Serbia. After the Battle of Kosovo (1389), Vuk was briefly the ''de facto'' most powerful Serbian lord. Origins Branković was born in 1345 and belonged to a Serb noble family that held a prominent role in the 14th century. Vuk was a son of Branko Mladenović (died before 1365), who received the high court title of ''sevastokrator'' from Emperor Stefan Dušan (r. 1331–1355) and served as governor of Ohrid (present-day Nort ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Metohija
Metohija (), also known in Albanian as Dukagjini, (, ) is a large drainage basin, basin and the name of the region covering the southwestern part of Kosovo. The region covers 35% (3,891 km2) of Kosovo's total area. According to the 2024 census, the population of the region is 570,147. Names The name ''Metohija'' derives from the Greek language, Greek word (''metóchia''; singular , ''metochion, metóchion''), meaning "monastic estates" – a reference to the large number of villages and estates in the region that were owned by the Serbian Orthodox Church, Serbian Orthodox monasteries and Mount Athos during the Serbia in the Middle Ages, Middle Ages. In Albanian language, Albanian the area is called ''Rrafshi i Dukagjinit'' and means "the plateau of Dukagjin", as the toponym (in Albanian) took the name of the Dukagjini family who ruled a large part of Dukagjini during the 14th-15th centuries. According to Jahja Drançolli, a professor at the University of Pristina, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Devič
The Devič Monastery (; ) is a Serbian Orthodox abbey in Kosovo. It was built in 1434 and is dedicated to St Joanikije of Devič. Devič was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1990. History The founder of the monastery is Despot Đurađ Branković, who had it built in memory of his daughter. In the Ottoman census from 1455, the monastery is mentioned as the church of the Theotokos (dedicated to The Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple). During Turkish occupation the monastery was pulled down, but the church and the site with the grave of St. Joanikije was reconstructed, and was painted in 1578. The monastery was destroyed and burnt down during World War II in 1941 by forces of the Albanian Fascist Party, the prior Damaskin Bošković was killed, and Italian troops disassembled the two big bells and took them away in 1942. It was rebuilt in 1947. Devič was a target of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in 1999. The monastery was vandalized ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kosovo
Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the north and east, and North Macedonia to the southeast. It covers an area of and has a population of approximately 1.6 million. Kosovo has a varied terrain, with high plains along with rolling hills and List of mountains in Kosovo, mountains, some of which have an altitude over . Its climate is mainly Continental climate, continental with some Mediterranean climate, Mediterranean and Alpine climate, alpine influences. Kosovo's capital and List of cities and towns in Kosovo#List, most populous city is Pristina; other major cities and urban areas include Prizren, Ferizaj, Gjilan and Peja. Kosovo formed the core territory of the Dardani, an ancient Paleo-Balkanic languages, Paleo-Balkanic people attested in classical sources from the 4th cent ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Prizren
Prizren ( sq-definite, Prizreni, ; sr-cyr, Призрен) is the second List of cities and towns in Kosovo, most populous city and Municipalities of Kosovo, municipality of Kosovo and seat of the eponymous municipality and District of Prizren, district. It is located on the banks of the Prizren Bistrica, Prizren River between the foothills of the Sharr Mountains in southern Kosovo. Prizren experiences a continental climate with some mediterranean climate, mediterranean influences. Prizren is constitutionally designated as the historical capital of the country. Archaeological excavations in Prizren Fortress indicate that its fortress area has seen habitation and use since the Bronze Age. Prizren has been traditionally identified with the settlement of Theranda in Roman Dardania (Roman province), Dardania, although other locations have been suggested in recent research. In late antiquity it was part of the defensive fortification system in western Dardania and the fort was recons ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mount Athos
Mount Athos (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism. The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed as an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous region in Greece by the monastic community of Mount Athos, which is ecclesiastically under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. The remainder of the peninsula forms part of the Aristotelis (municipality), Aristotelis municipality. By Greek law and by religious tradition, women are prohibited from entering the area governed by the monastic community. Mount Athos has been inhabited since ancient times and is known for its long Christian presence and historical monastic traditions, which date back to at least 800 AD during the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine era. Because of its long history of religious importance, the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Historical Region
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categorize history as a social science, while others see it as part of the humanities or consider it a hybrid discipline. Similar debates surround the purpose of history—for example, whether its main aim is theoretical, to uncover the truth, or practical, to learn lessons from the past. In a more general sense, the term ''history'' refers not to an academic field but to the past itself, times in the past, or to individual texts about the past. Historical research relies on Primary source, primary and secondary sources to reconstruct past events and validate interpretations. Source criticism is used to evaluate these sources, assessing their authenticity, content, and reliability. Historians strive to integrate the perspectives o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |