Archeological findings show that Bronze and Iron Age tombs were found only in Metohia, not in Kosovo proper.
Romans, Greeks and Thraco-Illyrians dominated the region of present Kosovo prior to the 5th century.
In the early 7th century, Serbs settled in Balkans (including Kosovo)
[10]. In the 12th century, according to the Byzantine Empress Anna Angelina Komnenos, the Serbs were the main inhabitants of Kosovo (Eastern Dalmatia and former Moesia Superior)
[11]. Archeological findings from the 7th century onwards show a Serb (Slavic) cultural domination in case of glagolithic letters, pottery, cemeteries, churches and monasteries
[12].
[edit] 14th century
The
Dečani Charter from 1330 contained a detailed list of households and chartered villages in
Metohija and northwestern
Albania:
3 of 89 settlements were
Albanian, the other being Serb.
However, in the literature we see several references to land being taken from Arbanasi (Albanians) and given to the Church or Serb settlement, and 'Latins and Albanois [are] under the servitude of the lordship of the Slavs'.
[3]"
"The monastery at Decani stands on a terrace commanding passes into High Albania. When Stefan Uros III founded it in 1330, he gave it many villages in the plain and catuns of Vlachs and Albanians between the Lim and the Beli Drim. Vlachs and Albanians had to carry salt for the monastery and provide it with serf labour.17 A large number of churches were sited strategically at Prizren and in 1348 Dusan is recorded as giving Albanian catuns to a monastery there. Metohija in fact was a great monastic estate."
[4]
The ethnic composition of Kosovo's population during this period included Serbs, Albanians, and
Vlachs along with a token number of
Greeks,
Armenians, Saxons, and
Bulgarians, according to Serbian monastic charters or
chrysobulls (
Hristovulja). A majority of the given names in the charters are overwhelmingly Serbian (Of 24,795 names, 23,774 were ethnic Serb names, 470 of Roman origin, 65 of Albanian origin and 61 of Greek origin). This claim is supported by the
Turkish cadastral tax-census (
defter) of 1455 which took into account religion and language and found an overwhelming
Serb majority.
1455: Turkish cadastral tax census (defter)[13] of the
Brankovic dynasty lands (covering 80% of present-day
Kosovo) recorded 480 villages, 13,693 adult males, 12,985 dwellings, 14,087 household heads (480 widows and 13,607 adult males). Totally there were around 75,000 inhabitants in 590 villages comprising modern-day Kosovo. By ethnicity:
- 13,000 Serb dwellings present in all 480 villages and towns
- 75 Vlach dwellings in 34 villages
- 46 Albanian dwellings in 23 villages
- 17 Bulgarian dwellings in 10 villages
- 5 Greek dwellings in Lauša, Vučitrn
- 1 Jewish dwelling in Vučitrn
- 1 Croat dwelling
1487: A census of the House of Branković
- City of Ipek - 68% Serbs
- 121 Christian household
- 33 Moslem households
- 131 Christian household of which 52% in Suho Grlo were Serbs
- 6,124 Christian housings (99%)
- 55 Moslem houses (1%)
[edit] 17th - 18th century
The
Great Turkish War of 1683–1699 between the
Ottomans and the
Habsburgs led to the flight of a substantial part of
Kosovan Serbian population to
Austrian held
Vojvodina and the
Military Frontier - about 60-70,000 Serb refugees total settled in the Habsburg Monarchy in that time of whom many were from Kosovo. Following this an influx of
Muslim Albanian[14] from the highlands (
Malesi) occurred, mostly into
Metohija. The process continued in 18th century.
[14]
The same was repeated during the Second Migration of Serbs in 1737.
[edit] 19th century
Ethnographic map of the Balkans and west Asia Minor,
Atlas Général Vidal-Lablache, Paris, 1898
19th century data about the population of
Kosovo tend to be rather conflicting, giving sometimes numerical superiority to the
Serbs and sometimes to the
Albanians. The Ottoman statistics are regarded as unreliable, as the empire counted its citizens by religion rather than nationality, using birth records rather than surveys of individuals.
A study in 1838 by an Austrian physician, dr.
Joseph Müller found
Metohija to be mostly Slavic (Serbian) in character.
[15] Müller gives data for the three counties (
Bezirke) of
Prizren,
Peć and
Đakovica which roughly covered
Metohija, the portion adjacent to Albania and most affected by Albanian settlers. Out of 195,000 inhabitants in Metohija, Müller found:
Müller's observations on towns:
Map published by French ethnographer
G. Lejean[16] in 1861 shows that Albanians lived on around 57% of the territory of today's province while a similar map, published by British travellers
G. M. Mackenzie and
A. P. Irby[16] in 1867 shows slightly less; these maps don't show which population was larger overall. Nevethless, maps cannot be used to measure population as they leave out density.
A study done in 1871 by
Austrian colonel
Peter Kukulj[17] for the internal use of the
Austro-Hungarian army showed that the mutesarifluk of
Prizren (corresponding largely to present-day Kosovo) had some 500,000 inhabitants, of which:
Miloš S. Milojević travelled the region in 1871–1877 and left accounts which testify that
Serbs were majority population, and were predominant in all cities, while
Albanians were minority and lived mostly in villages.
[18] According to his data,
Albanians were majority population in southern
Drenica (
Muslim Albanians), and in region around
Djakovica (
Catholic Albanians), while the city was majorly Serbian. He also recorded several settlements of
Turks,
Romas and
Circassians.
Maps published by German historian
Kiepert[16] in 1876,
J. Hahn[16] and Austrian consul
K. Sax,
[16] show that
Albanians live on most of the territory of today's province, however they don't show which population is larger. According to these, the regions of
Kosovska Mitrovica and
Kosovo Polje were settled mostly by
Serbs, whereas most of the terrirory of western and eastern parts of today's province was settled by
Muslim Albanians.
An Austrian statistics
[19] published in 1899 estimated:
Kosovo/Serbia [Attilavolciak07 vs Milos98] Commentary Thread
Originally Posted by clandestino
