Pristina

Priština (Приштина) (Serbian) or Prishtina (Albanian) is the capital city of the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohia, located at 42°65' N, 21°17' E. The population is 204,500 (2003). Its population is now predominantly Albanian.

History

A medieval capital of Serbia during the Nemanjic dynasty, it figured amongst the towns ruled by the Brankovic noble family. The town was overrun by the Ottomans in the 1430s however it would retain its almost exclusive Serb character for at least a quarter century more as the defter of 1455 would demonstrate. Following that, the town progressively became more and more Turkish, although it was noted that in the 17th century, most of the inhabitants were local Muslim converts (Slavic) rather than Albanians. After centuries of Ottoman rule the town gained a distinct Turkish caracter. In 1912 it was acquired by the Serbs.

Thus, Pristina, before the Second World War, was a mixed town, or rather yet a Turko-Serbian town. However, Pristina's Turkish character began to fade slowly in the late 1930s with migrations to the Republic of Turkey which was eager to settle the lands that it had just stripped bare of its Greek and Armenian inhabitants.

Following the Second World War the Albanian population of the city continued to grow and eventually form a majority by the 1970s.

Ethnic tensions between the Albanian and Serb populations of the city eventually blew up in the 1990s, and much of the city's Albanian population fled fighting and Serb atrocities during the Kosovo War in 1999. Following the end of the war and the arrival of the NATO-led KFOR, most of the city's Serb and other non-Albanian population fled fearing reprisals from returning Albanians.