Kosovo and Metohia, two central regions of perennial Serbia, are the very essence of Serbian

spiritual, cultural identity and statehood since Middle Ages to date. Fertile and clement planes of
Kosovo with mild climate, and reach in water resources, with high mountain chains bordering with
Albania have been good-blessed environment for a fruitful development of the highest achievements
in all fields in medieval Serbia. The cultural and demographic strength of the Serbs is best illustrated
by the presence of 1.500 monuments of Serbian culture identified so far. Numerous outstanding noble
Serbian families used to live in these regions, as families Brankovic, Hrebeljanovic, Music, Vojinovic,
some of which were the inceptors of Serbian dynasties.

A great number of noble castles existed all over Kosovo with rich aristocratic life going on inside their
walls. They were also meeting places of Serbian nobility and centers where important political and
other decisions have been taken and places attended by foreign envoys and outstanding guests from
noble foreign ruling families. Here are some of famous medieval castles: Svrcin, Pauni, Nerodimlja,
Stimlje and many others. In Svrcin, for example, the famous Serbian Emperor Dusan was first
crowned king in 1331, and Pauni, famous for its beauty, were favored place of king Milutin. In Pauni in
1342 Serbian Emperor Dusan had received Jovan VI Kantakuzin, one of the pretenders to the
Byzantine throne at that time. Nerodimlja, with the fortress of Petric over the castle, was favorite
residence of Stevan Decanski.It is in the Stimlje castle that king Uros issued his charges. In Ribnik,
near Prizren, were the castles of Serbian Emperors Dusan and Uros.

The Serbian elite and minor nobility has built in these regions hundreds of smaller chapels and several
dozens of monumental Christian monasteries. Some of them have been preserved to date, such as
Patriarchy of Pec (since 1346 site of the Serbian Patriarch), Decani, Gracanica, Bogorodica Ljeviska,
Banjska, Sveti Arhandjeli near Prizren and others. Serbian churches and monasteries had been for
centuries owners of great complexes of fertile land. Metohia, the name originated from the Greek word
metoh means church land. Highly developed economic life was an integral part of a high level of
civilization attained in medieval Serbia. Prizren, for example, was a famous economic and commercial
center, with developed silk production, fine crafts, and numerous settlements where the merchants
from Kotor and Dubrovnik had their houses, and in 14 century, Prizren was the site of the consul from
Dubrovnik for the whole Serbian State. And many other commercial centers such as Pristina, Pec,
Hoca, Vucitrn, testify of the strength of highly developed economic life in these regions. Famous
mining center were Trepca, Novo Brdo and Janjevo, out of which in the 15 century Novo Brdo had
become one of the most important mining centers of the Balkans. Silver and gold were exported to the
big European centers in great quantities. The Serbian society of the Middle Ages was in all respects
identical to European social, economic and cultural developments of that time, much more integrated
in Europe then it may seem when analyzed from the later perspective.

Turkish invasion means a fatal turning point in Serbian history in the second half of the 15 century. As
known from history, the advance of the Turks towards Europe was a rather slow process. Prince Lazar
Hrebeljanovic and Serbian nobility in the famous battle of Kosovo in 1389 did everything humanly
possible to stop the Turkish invasion toward south eastern Europe. It was not only a clash of two
armies led by their rulers Serbian prince Lazar and Turkish sultan Murat (who both perished in the
battle of Kosovo), but also a clash of two civilizations, one Christian and European and other Islamic
and Asiatic. Later on, in Serbian national conscience the battle of Kosovo has acquired mythical
dimension of a crucial historical event, greatly affecting the consequence destiny of the whole Serbian
nation. The Serbian epic poetry is very rich and the cycle of poems devoted to Kosovo are a pearl of
that treasure and moral and psychological support to Serbian people during the centuries of forendous
slavery under the Turks till the 19 century, and speaking of Kosovo and Metohia till 1912, when they
were finally liberated from the Turks. This is the reason why in Serbian national poetry we find such a
great number of representatives of Serbian nobility, of Serbian castles and outstanding Serbian
monasteries from Kosovo and Metohia. Prizren, from example, in our national poetry is called the
"Serbian Constantinople". All topics connected with Kosovo are symbols of a high medieval
civilizational level of the Serbian society and culture, its aristocratic wealth and glamour on the one
hand, and on the other the fall of that civilization due to the violent and cruel blow of the Ottoman
invaders.

The Turkish invasion of south eastern Europe and the Serbian lands as its part, have not only brought
about the fall of Christian civilization, but are also responsible for the destruction of all social
structures, the elimination of the Serbian elite and the destruction of the most outstanding cultural
achievements. One part of Serbian nobility was killed, one part expelled to Asia, one part forced to
take up Islam, and one part managed to emigrate north, west and across the Adriatic to Italy. Average
people deprived from its leaders had no option but to stick to the traditional national values. It is thanks
to the Orthodox Church which managed to revive its work in 1557 (renewal of the Patriarchy of Pec),
that Serbian people kept alive the awareness of the medieval national state and high achievements of
its civilization. Many medieval castles and towns were destroyed, many churches were raised to the
ground , and some of them turn into the mosques. At the beginning of the 17 century, Sveti Arhandjeli
(where emperor Dusan was buried), the monumental mausoleum of Emperor Dusan was totally
destroyed, and the precious polished stone out of which the church was built was used for building the
Sinan-pasa mosque, sill existing in Prizren to date. Bogorodica Ljeviska, the monumental legacy of
King Milutin, in 1756 was turned into the mosque and only after the First World War it was again
restored into a Christian church. Turkish invasion and the consequences of their conflict with Christian
Europe, particularly since the siege of Wienna in 1683, had considerably changed the ethnic and
demographic picture of that part of Serbia. The orthodox Serbs were the absolute majority population
until the end of the 17 century, and before the First Migration of the Serbs in 1690, due to the defeat of
the Christian Europe in the conflict with the Turks and the participation of the Serbs in that conflict of
the side of Christian Europe.The Turks settled in towns, and the Albanians (at that time called
Sqipetars) coming from the mountains of northern Albania of today started settling in smaller groups
on Serbian land in bordering regions of Metohia.

Until the 18th century, there are no Sqipetars* (now called Albanians) in Kosovo and Metohia in bigger
agglomerations. Actually, they began settling in this region in greater numbers only in the 18th and
19th century from today’s northern Albania. In addition to the newly settled Sqipetars (now called
Albanians) who were mostly Muslims or converted to Islam soon after settling in Kosovo, it is also the
islamization of the Serbs that brought about great changes in the cultural environment of this region.
Many of islamized Serbs gradually fused with predominantly Albanian Moslems and adopted their
culture and even language. At the beginning of the second half of the 19th century, the Turks also
settled Cherkeses in this region. Despite of all these artificial demographic changes, Orthodox Serbs
decreased for almost 50% of the total population living in Kosovo and Metohia. In the second half of
the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century the Serbian middle class in Prizren, Pec, Pristina and
other towns was the main driving force of the urban and economic development of the region . The
news paper "Prizren" was published both in Serbian and Turkish language. In 1871 the Orthodox
Theological School was founded in Prizren by Sima Igumanov. During the eighties and nineties a great
number of new schools, cultural institutions and banks were founded.

It is during the Second World War, that the most drastic changes in the demographic picture of Kosovo
took place. In Kosovo and Metohija the Albanian nationalists got free hand to terrorize the Serbs.
Under such pressure estimated 75,000 Serbs left Kosovo. In their empty houses about the same
number of Albanians from Albania settled. This definitelly tipped the ballance in the Albanian favour.
The first official census in post-WWII Yugoslavia (in 1948) showed 199,961 Serbs and Montenegrins in
Kosovo and 498,242.

After the Second World War, As a result of unbelievable demographic explosion Albanian population in
Kosovo doubled by 1971. The official Yugoslav census for that year shows 916,168 Albanians living in
Kosovo, while Serb and Montenegrin population reached only to number 259,819. This demographic
trend clearly demonstrates that the theory of Serb repression over Albanians after the WWII is
absolutely not correct. The truth is that the Commnist authorities favorized the Albanians on the
expense of Serbs allowing uncontrolled settlement of Albanian immingrants and tolerating different
methods of ethnic discrimination over the Serbs which made more and more Serbs leave the province
and seek better life in Central Serbia. By 1990ies more than 800 settlements in which Serbs lived with
Albanians became ethnically clean Albanian villages.

In an attempt to prevent the secession of Kosovo and Metohija Serbian government in 1990 abolished
Kosovo Albanian authonomy. A failure of Milosevic government to develop true democratic institutions
instead and using the police methods to prevent Albanian secession even more increased ethnic
Albanian wish to cut of from Serbia. When the KLA rebels began attacks on Serbs in 1998 the
Government brought the army and police to put the rebellion down. In the course of the civil war -
1998-1999 which ended by the NATO intervention against Yugoslavia more than 500.000 Kosovo
Albanians fled the province to Macedonia and Albania. After the war, despite the international
presence, KLA organized persecutions of Serb population and more than 200.000 Serbs fled Kosovo
and Metohija. Only 90.000 Serbs remained living in total isolation, dispersed in several KFOR
protected Serb enclaves.