Metohija ( sr-Cyrl, Метохија, ) or Dukagjin ( sq, Rrafshi i Dukagjinit, ) is a large basin and the name of the region covering the southwestern part of

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Eur ...

. The region covers 35% (3,891 km²) of Kosovo's total area. According to the 2011 census, the population of the region is 700,577.

Districts

It encompasses three of the seven districts of Kosovo:

Names

The name ''Metohija'' derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word (''metóchia''; singular , '' metóchion''), meaning "monastic estates" – a reference to the large number of villages and estates in the region that were owned by the Serbian Orthodox monasteries and

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the peni ...

during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

In 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 The Dukagjini are an Albanian feudal noble family who ruled over an area of Northern Albania and Western Kosovo known as the Principality of Dukagjini in the 14th and 15th centuries. They may have been relatives or descendants of the earlier ...

who ruled a large part of Metohija during the 14th-15th centuries, hence the name. Dukagjini (late 14th century)

The term "Kosovo and Metohija" ( sr-cyr, Косово и Метохија) was in official use for the

Autonomous Region of Kosovo and Metohija The Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Socijalistička Autonomna Pokrajina Kosovo, Социјалистичка Аутономна Покрајина Косово, separator=" / ", sq, Krahina Socialiste Autonome e Kosovë ...

(1945-1963), and also for the

Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija The Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija ( sr, Косово и Метохиja, Kosovo i Metohija; sq, Kosova dhe Metohija), commonly known as Kosovo and abbreviated to Kosmet or KiM, is an autonomous province defined by the constituti ...

(1963-1968). The term "Metohija" was dropped from the official name of the province in 1968, and thus the term "

" became the official name of the province as a whole. The change was not welcomed by Serbs, who continued to use the old name (for example in the 1986 Draft Memorandum of SANU). In September 1990, the new Constitution of the Republic of Serbia was adopted, changing the official name of the province back to the

. This time, the change was not welcomed by ethnic Albanians, who protested against the official use of the term "Metohija". In 2008, after the Kosovo declaration of independence, Serbia included the term "Metohija" into the official name of the newly formed

Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija The Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija ( sr, Министарство за Косово и Метохију, Ministarstvo za Kosovo i Metohiju) was the ministry in the Government of Serbia responsible for the issues relating to Kosovo and Metohija. ...

, which was transformed in 2012 into the

Office for Kosovo and Metohija The Office for Kosovo and Metohija ( sr, Канцеларија за Косово и Метохију, Kancelarija za Kosovo i Metohiju) is a coordination body of the Government of Serbia. It was constituted on 2 August 2012 after the dissolution ...

Geography

Metohija is wide at its broadest point and about long, at an average

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 above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. Its principal river is the

White Drin The White Drin or White Drim ( sq, Drini i Bardhë,/ ''Beli Drim'') is a river in Kosovo and northern Albania, a ca. -long headstream of the Drin. Course Kosovo The Kosovo section of the White Drin flows entirely in the semi- karst part of ...

. It is bordered by the mountain ranges

Mokra Gora Mokra Gora ( sr-cyr, Мокра Гора; ), meaning the ''Wet Mountain'' in English, is a village located in the city of Užice, southwestern Serbia. It is situated on the northern slopes of the Zlatibor mountains. Emphasis on historical recons ...

in the north and northwest, the

Accursed Mountains The Accursed Mountains ( sq, Bjeshkët e Nemuna; sh-Cyrl-Latn, Проклетије, Prokletije, ; both translated as "Cursed Mountains"), also known as the Albanian Alps ( sq, Alpet Shqiptare), are a mountain group in the western part of the B ...

in the west, Pashtrik in the southwest, the

Šar Mountains The Šar Mountains (Serbian and mk, Шар Планина, Šar Planina, colloquially also ) or Sharr Mountains ( sq, Malet e Sharrit), form a mountain range in the Balkans that extends from Kosovo and the northwest of North Macedonia to north ...

( sq, Malet e Sharrit) in the south and southeast, and

Drenica Drenica ( al, Drenicë, 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 Kl ...

, which distinguishes it from the rest of Kosovo in the east and northeast. The geographic division between Metohija and the rest of Kosovo causes differences between the two areas'

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

and

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''biota''. Zoo ...

. Metohija has the characteristic influences of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

. Metohija consists of fertile arable land with many small rivers which provide water for irrigation and, in combination with the Mediterranean climate, give excellent fields except for

cereals A cereal is any grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran. Cereal grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more foo ...

. This area is well known for its high-quality

vineyards A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vine ...

, fruit orchards, and for the growing of

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelate ...

and almond trees. The geographical region of Metohija is further divided into four parts: Podgor, Llapusha, Reka and Rugova.

History

Prehistory

Based on archaeology, the region of Kosovo and Metohija and the Morava Valley were interconnected in the Neolithic ( Starčevo and Vinča) and Eneolithic. The

Triballi The Triballi ( grc, Τριβαλλοί, Triballoí, lat, Triballi) were an ancient people who lived in northern Bulgaria in the region of Roman Oescus up to southeastern Serbia, possibly near the territory of the Morava Valley in the late Iron ...

of Morava entered Kosovo in two waves in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, then took part in the genesis of the

Dardani The Dardani (; grc, Δαρδάνιοι, Δάρδανοι; la, Dardani) or Dardanians were a Paleo-Balkan people, who lived in a region that was named Dardania after their settlement there. They were among the oldest Balkan peoples, and their ...

. Necropolises near

Zhur Zhur ( sq, Zhur or , sr, Жур / Žur) is a village in the Prizren Municipality in southwestern Kosovo. History After the Kingdom of Serbia acquired Kosovo in the first Balkan War (1912), Serbia arranged a Military Administration named ''Žur' ...

suggest that the southwesternmost part of Metohija at the end of 6th century BC was subject to Illyrian influx. After the Roman conquests, the Metohija region was divided into Dardania and

Praevalitana Praevalitana (also ''Prevalitana'', ''Prevaliana'', ''Praevaliana'' or ''Prevalis'') was a Late Roman province that existed between c. 284 and c. 600. It included parts of present-day Montenegro, northern Albania, and part of present-day Kosovo. ...

Middle Ages

Coinciding with the decline of the Roman Empire, many "barbarian" tribes passed through the Balkans, most of whom did not leave any lasting state. The Slavs, however, overwhelmed the Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries. The

Principality of Serbia The Principality of Serbia ( sr-Cyrl, Књажество Србија, Knjažestvo Srbija) was an autonomous state in the Balkans that came into existence as a result of the Serbian Revolution, which lasted between 1804 and 1817. Its creation was ...

included the city of Destinikon, which is mostly believed to have been in Metohija. The region was conquered by Bulgaria in the early 10th century, after which Byzantine rule was restored, briefly ca. 970-975, and again after 1018. In terms of ecclesiastical administration, the region of Metohija belonged to the Eparchy of Prizren, created in 1019. During the 11th and the 12th century, the region was contested between the

Grand Principality of Serbia Grand Principality of Serbia ( sr, Великожупанска Србија, Velikožupanska Srbija), or Rascia ( sr, Рашка, Raška), was a medieval Serbian state that existed from the second half of the 11th century up until 1217, when it ...

and the Byzantine Empire. Serbian Grand Prince