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Although many think that the borders of Europe are one of the strongest in the world due to
the progressive delimitation that it has suffered throughout history,
sometimes we see this map,
and sometimes we see this one here.
The difference lies in those who recognize Kosovo as an independent country from Serbia and those who do not.
Who is right?
Are you interested in knowing its history, and determine which of the two maps is correct?
Then stick around until the end of the video.
The territory of Kosovo has been inhabited for about 10,000 years.
During the Neolithic, cultures such as Turdas-Vinca culture stand out, which covered a large part of the Balkans.
However, it would not be until the last moments of the Hellenic era that the inhabitants of the region,
known as the Dardanians, whose origin is estimated to be a mixture between Illyrians and Thracians,
villages allegedly related to the Albanians, would be documented.
The first organized state to occupy the territory would be Rome around 160 B.C.
incorporating it first into the Illyrian province and then into Moesia Superior.
From the 3rd century A.D.
the provinces would be prey to constant barbarian invasions.
The most representative was the Slavic villages,
who began to settle from the 6th century, mixing with the local population.
During the Middle Ages, the demographic history of Kosovo is ambiguous.
It is known that South Slavic villages continued to inhabit the region.
Although de facto it came under the control of the Byzantine Empire, the territory was neglected by Constantinople,
and later absorbed by the First Bulgarian Empire around the 850s.
Bulgaria falls towards the beginning of the 12th century and its territory, including Kosovo, is annexed again by Byzantium.
It is important to emphasize that the Slavs who had settled since the 6th century
became the current Serbs.
Serbia, had been formed as a principality since the 8th century,
but being a minor state at that time, it did not spread to the area of ​​present-day Kosovo until the 13th century.
During the centuries of the late Middle Ages, the territory was constantly disputed by Serbs, Byzantines, and Bulgarians.
Between arguments, Serbia, which became a kingdom in 1217, consolidates its rule over Kosovo by the 14th century
To be more precise, in 1346 it was proclaimed as an empire that was managed to spread throughout much of the Balkans.
The imperial era of Serbia was characterized by the reign of Stefan Dusan, who established the city of Prizren,
located in present-day Kosovo, as its capital.
The emperor proclaimed himself an autocrat of the Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians and Albanians who inhabited the territory.
Remember this last ethnic group.
The region also became the political, cultural and religious center of Serbia.
Shortly after Dusan's death, the Serbian Empire fragmented into various states in 1371.
Most of Kosovo became the domain of the House of Brankovic.
It is here when the remembered Battle of Kosovo (1389) occurs,
where the Serbs face a new threat, the ascendant Ottoman Empire.
This episode is considered the decline of Serbia after the vassalage before the Ottomans.
Here lies the historical importance of the region to Serbs.
This moment is also crucial for the Albanians, since in the face of the growing Ottoman influence,
this ethnic group has formed various states since the beginning of the 15th century that unite in the League of Lezhe,
against the Venetian and Ottoman dominions.
Part of Kosovo was thus annexed to the Principality of Dukagjini.
And yes, this is when the migrations of Albanians to Kosovo intensify.
Lezhe's league would last until 1478, when all the states were finally defeated and annexed by the Ottomans.
As you can imagine, this resistance was taken up by Kosovar Albanians to argue the independence of Serbia.
The Ottoman period was characterized by the spread of Islam.
Albanians would be the ethnic group in the Balkans that would most embrace the new faith,
which is professed to this day.
In this way, the ethnic group would gain status within the empire; multi-denominational,
but with tax preferences for Muslims.
And of course, it would be a new way to differentiate them from the Serbs
who remained faithful to Orthodox Christianity.
Territorially speaking, Kosovo was first part of the Rumelia Eyalet and later became the Kosovo Vilayet.
During the 19th century, the awakening of nationalism occurred throughout Europe.
Then the Prizren League was formed, a political organization that sought to unify all the Albanians of the Ottoman Empire,
which by then were already a majority in Kosovo.
The Serbs, for their part, had become a principality in 1815 after gaining their independence.
And it’s in 1877 when the origin of the conflict between the two nations occurs:
the expulsion of Albanians from Serbia between 1877 and 1878 that occurred during the Serbian-Ottoman War.
The Albanians respond with the massacres of Serbs in 1901 in the Vilayato of Kosovo, still part of the Ottoman Empire.
The latter was in decline.
After losing the first Balkan war, Albania gains its independence, but only from the western territory.
The Kosovo region is annexed by the now Kingdom of Serbia.
This would be the prelude to the First World War, in which the Ottomans were defeated again,
which led to the formation of the State of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes with Serbia as the axis of Yugoslav unification.
The successor of this state, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, considered Kosovo as part of
the southern Serbian region divided into the districts of Prizren and Pristina.
In this way, the government in Belgrade encouraged the migration of Serbs to Kosovo,
as well as the assimilation of Albanians into Serbian society, thereby achieving a balance between both populations.
During the 1930s, Yugoslavia agreed with Turkey the expatriation of 240,000 Albanians to its territory,
which would have practically turned them into a minority in Kosovo.
However, this did not occur due to the outbreak of the Second World War.
With the invasion of the Axis powers of Yugoslavia in 1941,
much of Kosovo was assigned to Albania controlled by Italy,
while the rest was divided between Germany and Bulgaria.
This period was characterized by a new mobilization.
Several Serbs had to leave Kosovo for the Italian Albania.
However, it is estimated that this was one of the least affected regions of the Balkans,
with deaths ranging between 7,000 and 12,000 people, mostly Serbs.
With the end of the war, and thanks to the partisans, the Yugoslavs were able to expel the axis and fully recover their territory,
now the Republic of Yugoslava.
Tito's new state would adopt a self-managed socialist system, which did not align itself with Stalin's communist bloc.
The region was converted into the Socialist Province of Kosovo as one of the two autonomous regions of
the Socialist Republic of Serbia and whose borders coincide with the current Republic of Kosovo.
During this period, Kosovo Albanians suffered from repressive measures due to suspicions of
rapprochement with the Enver Xoxha regime in Albania,
which ideologically rivaled Tito, as well as because of their Islamic faith.
However, the Serbs were giving in over time.
By 1974, the new constitution gave Kosovo greater autonomy,
being able to have its own legislative and judicial power,
in addition to sending representatives to the Yugoslav parliament.
The above enhanced Kosovo Albanian nationalism, which now demanded to become a federative Republic of Yugoslavia.
This triggered the 1981 protests in Pristina, which were put down by the Serbian government.
By the 1980s, and due to the high Muslim birth rate, the proportion of Albanians in Kosovo had risen to 90%.
With this, the Kosovar Albanians proclaimed the Republic of Kosova in 1991,
which was only recognized by Albania.
This happened during the beginning of the Yugoslav Wars, while Serbia
put all their attention in fighting against the separatists of Croatia and Bosnia.
This conflict ended with the disintegration of Yugoslavia,
which would only remain with Montenegro and Serbia,
which still claimed Kosovo as part of their territory.
Faced with the imminent Serbian attack after peace with Bosnia and Croatia, the Kosovo Liberation Army was formed.
This army would participate in the Kosovo War (1998 - 1999) that started in February 1998
and occurred due to Belgrade's refusal to recognize the Kosovar independence.
This was characterized by the direct intervention of NATO led by the United States,
alluding to humanitarian reasons given the large number of displaced Albanians
This caused Serbian troops to withdraw from Kosovo,
leading to the consequent political and economic separation of Pristina from Belgrade.
Likewise, a UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo was formed to guarantee peace,
while hundreds of thousands of displaced Albanians were able to return to Kosovo.
And of course, the United States was happy to contribute to a humanitarian cause
while being able to build Camp Bondsteel on Kosovar territory as a NATO military base in the Balkans.
After the war, between 65 and 250 thousand ethnic Serbs had to leave Kosovo for fear of reprisals,
currently remaining only 4% of the total population, becoming a minority in practically the entire territory.
Indeed, some attacks have been directed at Serbian cultural sites,
now considered to be a repressed ethnic group in the country.
In 2008, the Kosovo assembly once again declared its independence.
At present, 97 UN member states have recognized Kosovo as an independent nation,
including the United States and its allies, as well as most European countries.
For its part, Serbia continues to regard it as the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, as stipulated in its constitution.
Although Kosovo is not a member of the UN,
it has made progress such as joining the IMF and the World Bank.
So, recapitulating, the first documented inhabitants to inhabit Kosovo were the Thracians, related to the Albanians.
The Slavs arrived a few centuries later, and their Serbian descendants came to annex Kosovo,
making it their cultural center during their golden age.
Faced with growing Ottoman influence, the Albanians show resistance in Kosovar territory.
During the Ottoman period, Albanians convert to Islam and migrate en masse to Kosovo.
With the independence of Serbia, they perpetrated the expulsion of Albanians in 1877,
a fact answered with Albanian aggressions against Kosovo Serbs in 1901.
The region is later annexed to Yugoslavia.
After World War II, Kosovo became an autonomous province.
With the consolidation of the absolute Albanian majority in Kosovo towards the end of the Yugoslav era,
the province declared its independence.
In this way, the Kosovo War broke out, after which, with the support of NATO,
the Kosovar Albanians obtained the withdrawal of Serbia, who still considered it as part of their territory.
As you can see, it is a very mixed conflict with many arguments.
Both parts are based on historical events that can be approved or rejected depending on the perspective that is seen.
What do you think? Would you recognize Kosovo as an independent country from Serbia?
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