1.
Kosovo
–
Kosovo is a disputed territory and partially recognised state in Southeastern Europe that declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 as the Republic of Kosovo. Kosovo is landlocked in the central Balkan Peninsula, with its strategic position in the Balkans, it serves as an important link in the connection between central and south Europe, the Adriatic Sea, and Black Sea. Its capital and largest city is Pristina, and other urban areas include Prizren, Pejë. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, the Republic of Macedonia to the southeast, Montenegro to the west, while Serbia recognises administration of the territory by Kosovos elected government, it still continues to claim it as its own Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. In antiquity, the Dardanian Kingdom, and later the Roman province of Dardania was located in the region, the area was inhabited by several ancient Illyrian tribes. In the Middle Ages, it was part of the Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian Empires, Kosovo was the core of the medieval Serbian state and it has been the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church from the 14th century when its status was upgraded into a patriarchate. After being part of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th to the early 20th century, the war ended with a military intervention of NATO, which forced the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to withdraw its troops from Kosovo, which became a UN protectorate under UNSCR1244. On 17 February 2008 Kosovos Parliament declared independence and it has since gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 111 UN member states, Taiwan, the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Cook Islands and Niue. Serbia refuses to recognise Kosovo as a state, although with the Brussels Agreement of 2013 it has accepted the legitimacy of Kosovar institutions, the entire region is commonly referred to in English simply as Kosovo and in Albanian as Kosova or Kosovë. The name of the plain was applied to the Kosovo Province created in 1864, Albanians refer to Kosovo as Dardania, the name of a Roman province located in Central Balkans that was formed in 284 AD which covered the territory of modern Kosovo. The name is derived from the Albanian word dardha/dardā which means pear, the former Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova had been an enthusiastic backer of a Dardanian identity and the Kosovan flag and presidential seal refer to this national identity. However, the name Kosova remains more widely used among the Albanian population, the official conventional long name of the state is Republic of Kosovo, as defined by the Constitution of Kosovo, and is used to represent Kosovo internationally. This arrangement, which has dubbed the asterisk agreement, was agreed in an 11-point arrangement agreed on 24 February 2012. By the independence declaration in 2008, its long name became Republic of Kosovo. In prehistory, the succeeding Starčevo culture, Vinča culture, Bubanj-Hum culture, the area in and around Kosovo has been inhabited for nearly 10,000 years. During the Neolithic age, Kosovo lay within the area of the Vinča-Turdaş culture which is characterised by West Balkan black, bronze and Iron Age tombs have been found in Metohija. However, life during the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age is not confirmed yet, therefore, until arguments of Paleolithic and Mesolithic man are confirmed, Neolithic man, respectively the Neolithic sites are considered as the chronological beginning of population in Kosovo. From this period until today Kosovo has been inhabited, and traces of activities of societies from prehistoric, ancient, whereas, in some archaeological sites, multilayer settlements clearly reflect the continuity of life through centuries
2.
Serbia
–
Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
3.
Republic of Macedonia
–
Macedonia, officially the Republic of Macedonia, is a country in the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the states of the former Yugoslavia. A landlocked country, the Republic of Macedonia has borders with Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, the countrys geography is defined primarily by mountains, valleys, and rivers. The capital and largest city, Skopje, is home to roughly a quarter of the nations 2.06 million inhabitants, the majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25 percent, followed by Turks, Romani, Serbs, Macedonias history dates back to antiquity, beginning with the kingdom of Paeonia, a Thracian polity. In the late sixth century BCE the area was incorporated into the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Romans conquered the region in the second century BCE and made it part of the much larger province of Macedonia. Macedonia remained part of the Byzantine Empire, and was raided and settled by Slavic peoples beginning in the sixth century CE. Following centuries of contention between the Bulgarian and Byzantine empires, it came under Ottoman dominion from the 14th century. Between the late 19th and early 20th century, a distinct Macedonian identity emerged, although following the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, Macedonia remained a constituent socialist republic within Yugoslavia until its peaceful secession in 1991. Macedonia is a member of the UN and of the Council of Europe, since 2005 it has also been a candidate for joining the European Union and has applied for NATO membership. Although one of the poorest countries in Europe, Macedonia has made significant progress in developing an open, the countrys name derives from the Greek Μακεδονία, a kingdom named after the ancient Macedonians. The name is believed to have meant either highlanders or the tall ones. However, Robert S. P. Beekes supports that both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology, the Republic of Macedonia roughly corresponds to the ancient kingdom of Paeonia, which was located immediately north of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia. In the late 6th century BC, the Achaemenid Persians under Darius the Great conquered the Paeonians, following the loss in the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 479 BC, the Persians eventually withdrew from their European territories, including from what is today the Republic of Macedonia. In 356 BC Philip II of Macedon absorbed the regions of Upper Macedonia, the Romans established the Province of Macedonia in 146 BC. Roman expansion brought the Scupi area under Roman rule in the time of Domitian, and it fell within the Province of Moesia. Whilst Greek remained the dominant language in the part of the Roman empire. Slavic peoples settled in the Balkan region including Macedonia by the late 6th century AD, during the 580s, Byzantine literature attests to the Slavs raiding Byzantine territories in the region of Macedonia, later aided by Bulgars. Historical records document that in c.680 a group of Bulgars, Slavs and Byzantines led by a Bulgar called Kuber settled in the region of the Keramisian plain, presians reign apparently coincides with the extension of Bulgarian control over the Slavic tribes in and around Macedonia
4.
Albania
–
Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeastern Europe. It has a population of 3.03 million as of 2016, Tirana is the nations capital and largest city, followed by Durrës and Vlorë. The country has a coastline on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea to the west. Albania is less than 72 km from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which connects the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea. In antiquity, the area of Albania was home to several Illyrian, Thracian. After the Illyrian Wars, it part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Macedonia and Moesia Superior. In 1190, the first Albanian state, the Principality of Arbanon was established by archon Progon in the region of Krujë, the territory of Albania was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, of which it remained part of for the next five centuries. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, following the Balkan Wars, the Kingdom of Albania was invaded by Italy in 1939, which formed Greater Albania, before becoming a Nazi German protectorate in 1943. The following year, a socialist Peoples Republic was established under the leadership of Enver Hoxha, Albania experienced widespread social and political transformations in the communist era, as well as isolation from much of the international community. In 1991, the Socialist Republic was dissolved and the Republic of Albania was established, Albania is a democratic and developing country with an upper-middle income economy. The service sector dominates the economy, followed by the industrial. After the fall of communism in Albania, Free-market reforms have opened the country to foreign investment, especially in the development of energy, Albania has a high HDI and provides universal health care system and free primary and secondary education to its citizens. Albania is a member of the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and it is also an official candidate for membership in the European Union. Albania is one of the members of the Energy Community, Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. It is home to the largest lake in Southern Europe and one of the oldest lakes in Europe, Albania is the Medieval Latin name of the country. The name may have a continuation in the name of a settlement called Albanon and Arbanon. During the Middle Ages, the Albanians called their country Arbëri or Arbëni, Albanians today call their country Shqipëri. As early as the 17th century the placename Shqipëria and the ethnic demonym Shqiptarë gradually replaced Arbëria, the two terms are popularly interpreted as Land of the Eagles and Children of the Eagles
5.
Croatia
–
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a sovereign state between Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital city is Zagreb, which one of the countrys primary subdivisions. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres and has diverse, mostly continental, Croatias Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The countrys population is 4.28 million, most of whom are Croats, the Croats arrived in the area of present-day Croatia during the early part of the 7th century AD. They organised the state into two duchies by the 9th century, tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Petar Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs which seceded from Austria-Hungary, a fascist Croatian puppet state backed by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany existed during World War II. After the war, Croatia became a member and a federal constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991 Croatia declared independence, which came wholly into effect on 8 October of the same year, the Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration. A unitary state, Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system, the International Monetary Fund classified Croatia as an emerging and developing economy, and the World Bank identified it as a high-income economy. Croatia is a member of the European Union, United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, the service sector dominates Croatias economy, followed by the industrial sector and agriculture. Tourism is a significant source of revenue during the summer, with Croatia ranked the 18th most popular tourist destination in the world, the state controls a part of the economy, with substantial government expenditure. The European Union is Croatias most important trading partner, since 2000, the Croatian government constantly invests in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors. Internal sources produce a significant portion of energy in Croatia, the rest is imported, the origin of the name is uncertain, but is thought to be a Gothic or Indo-Aryan term assigned to a Slavic tribe. The oldest preserved record of the Croatian ethnonym *xъrvatъ is of variable stem, the first attestation of the Latin term is attributed to a charter of Duke Trpimir from the year 852. The original is lost, and just a 1568 copy is preserved—leading to doubts over the authenticity of the claim, the oldest preserved stone inscription is the 9th-century Branimir Inscription, where Duke Branimir is styled as Dux Cruatorvm. The inscription is not believed to be dated accurately, but is likely to be from during the period of 879–892, the area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period
6.
Hungary
–
Hungary is a unitary parliamentary republic in Central Europe. With about 10 million inhabitants, Hungary is a member state of the European Union. The official language is Hungarian, which is the most widely spoken language in Europe. Hungarys capital and largest metropolis is Budapest, a significant economic hub, major urban areas include Debrecen, Szeged, Miskolc, Pécs and Győr. His great-grandson Stephen I ascended to the throne in 1000, converting the country to a Christian kingdom, by the 12th century, Hungary became a middle power within the Western world, reaching a golden age by the 15th century. Hungarys current borders were established in 1920 by the Treaty of Trianon after World War I, when the country lost 71% of its territory, 58% of its population, following the interwar period, Hungary joined the Axis Powers in World War II, suffering significant damage and casualties. Hungary became a state of the Soviet Union, which contributed to the establishment of a four-decade-long communist dictatorship. On 23 October 1989, Hungary became again a democratic parliamentary republic, in the 21st century, Hungary is a middle power and has the worlds 57th largest economy by nominal GDP, as well as the 58th largest by PPP, out of 188 countries measured by the IMF. As a substantial actor in several industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds 36th largest exporter and importer of goods, Hungary is a high-income economy with a very high standard of living. It keeps up a security and universal health care system. Hungary joined the European Union in 2004 and part of the Schengen Area since 2007, Hungary is a member of the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the AIIB, the Council of Europe and Visegrád Group. Well known for its cultural history, Hungary has been contributed significantly to arts, music, literature, sports and science. Hungary is the 11th most popular country as a tourist destination in Europe and it is home to the largest thermal water cave system, the second largest thermal lake in the world, the largest lake in Central Europe, and the largest natural grasslands in Europe. The H in the name of Hungary is most likely due to historical associations with the Huns. The rest of the word comes from the Latinized form of Medieval Greek Oungroi, according to an explanation the Greek name was borrowed from Proto-Slavic Ǫgǔri, in turn borrowed from Oghur-Turkic Onogur. Onogur was the name for the tribes who later joined the Bulgar tribal confederacy that ruled the eastern parts of Hungary after the Avars. The Hungarians likely belonged to the Onogur tribal alliance and it is possible they became its ethnic majority. The Hungarian endonym is Magyarország, composed of magyar and ország, the word magyar is taken from the name of one of the seven major semi-nomadic Hungarian tribes, magyeri
7.
Montenegro
–
Montenegro is a sovereign state in Southeastern Europe. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Old Royal Capital. In the 9th century, three Slavic principalities were in the territory of Montenegro, Duklja, roughly corresponding to the half, Travunia, the west, and Rascia. In 1042, archon Stefan Vojislav led a revolt that resulted in the independence of Duklja, Duklja reached its zenith under Vojislavs son, Mihailo, and his grandson Bodin. By the 13th century, Zeta had replaced Duklja when referring to the realm. In the late 14th century, southern Montenegro came under the rule of the Balšić noble family, then the Crnojević noble family, large portions fell under the control of the Ottoman Empire from 1496 to 1878. Parts were controlled by Venice and the First French Empire and Austria-Hungary, from 1515 until 1851, the prince-bishops of Cetinje were the rulers. The House of Petrović-Njegoš ruled the country from 1697 to 1918, from 1918, it was a part of Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which was succeeded by SFR Yugoslavia in 1945, FR Yugoslavia in 1992, and subsequently by the state union of Serbia and Montenegro in 2003. On the basis of a referendum held on 21 May 2006. Montenegro is also a candidate negotiating to join the European Union, on 2 December 2015, Montenegro received an official invitation to join NATO, whereby it would be the 29th member country. This invitation was meant to start accession talks. The countrys name in most Western European languages reflects an adaptation of the Venetian Montenegro, many other languages, particularly nearby ones, use their own direct translation of the term black mountain. Examples are the Albanian name for the country, Mali i Zi, the Greek name Μαυροβούνιο, the Chinese name 黑山, all Slavic languages use slight variations on the Montenegrin name Crna Gora, examples include the Czech Černá Hora and the Polish Czarnogóra. Chechen and Ingush people call the country Ӏаьржаламанчоь, the name Crna Gora came to denote the majority of contemporary Montenegro only in the 15th century. The aforementioned region became known as Old Montenegro by the 19th century to distinguish it from the acquired territory of Brda. Its borders have changed little since then, losing Metohija and gaining the Bay of Kotor, the ISO Alpha-2 code for Montenegro is ME and the Alpha-3 Code is MNE. By 1000 BC, a common Illyrian language and culture had spread across much of the Balkans, interaction amongst groups was not always friendly – hill forts were the most common form of settlement – but distinctive Illyrian art forms such as amber and bronze jewellery evolved. In time, the Illyrians established a federation of tribes centred in what is now Macedonia
8.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
–
Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, in short, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeastern Europe located on the Balkan Peninsula. Sarajevo is the capital and largest city, in the central and eastern interior of the country the geography is mountainous, in the northwest it is moderately hilly, and the northeast is predominantly flatland. The inland is a larger region and has a moderate continental climate, with hot summers and cold. The southern tip of the country has a Mediterranean climate and plain topography, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a region that traces permanent human settlement back to the Neolithic age, during and after which it was populated by several Illyrian and Celtic civilizations. Culturally, politically, and socially, the country has a rich history, the Ottomans brought Islam to the region, and altered much of the cultural and social outlook of the country. This was followed by annexation into the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which lasted up until World War I. In the interwar period, Bosnia was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and after World War II, following the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the country proclaimed independence in 1992, which was followed by the Bosnian War, lasting until late 1995. The country is home to three ethnic groups or, officially, constituent peoples, as specified in the constitution. Bosniaks are the largest group of the three, with Serbs second and Croats third, a native of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of ethnicity, is identified in English as a Bosnian. The terms Herzegovinian and Bosnian are maintained as a rather than ethnic distinction. Moreover, the country was simply called Bosnia until the Austro-Hungarian occupation at the end of the 19th century, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a bicameral legislature and a three-member Presidency composed of a member of each major ethnic group. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is itself complex and consists of 10 cantons, additionally, the country has been a member of the Council of Europe since April 2002 and a founding member of the Mediterranean Union upon its establishment in July 2008. The name is believed to have derived from the hydronym of the river Bosna coursing through the Bosnian heartland. According to philologist Anton Mayer the name Bosna could be derived from Illyrian Bass-an-as which would be a diversion of the Proto-Indo-European root bos or bogh, meaning the running water. According to English medievalist William Miller the Slavic settlers in Bosnia adapted the Latin designation Basante, to their own idiom by calling the stream Bosna, the name Herzegovina originates from Bosnian magnate Stephen Vukčić Kosačas title, Herceg of Hum and the Coast. Hum, formerly Zahumlje, was a medieval principality that was conquered by the Bosnian Banate in the first half of the 14th century. Bosnia is located in the western Balkans, bordering Croatia to the north and west, Serbia to the east and it has a coastline about 20 kilometres long surrounding the city of Neum. It lies between latitudes 42° and 46° N, and longitudes 15° and 20° E, the countrys name comes from the two regions Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have a very vaguely defined border between them
9.
Gora dialect
–
The Gorani or Našinski language is the variety of South Slavic spoken by the Gorani people in the border area between Kosovo, Albania, and Macedonia. It is part of the Torlakian dialect group, which is transitional between Eastern and Western South Slavic languages, spoken across the Gora region in 19 villages in Kosovo,11 in Albania, and 2 in the Republic of Macedonia. In Kosovo and Macedonia, it is written in either the Serbian or Macedonian Cyrillic Alphabets, whereas in Albania. In the 1991 Yugoslav census,54. 8% of the inhabitants of the Gora municipality said that they spoke the Gorani language, in the same census, a little less than half of the inhabitants of Gora considered their language Serbian. Gorani has also classified as a part of the Bulgarian dialect area. In 2007, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences sponsored and printed the first Gorani–Albanian dictionary by Goranian researcher Nazif Dokle, on the other hand, former Yugoslav linguists Vidoeski, Brozović and Ivić identify the Slavic dialect of the Gora region as Macedonian. According to some sources, in 2003, the Kosovo government acquired Macedonian language, Gorani shares with standard Serbian, the northernmost dialects of Macedonian, and western dialects of Bulgarian, the vocalisation of earlier syllabic /l/ in words like vuk. With Serbian it also shares the reflex of */tj, dj/ as /tɕ/, with the westernmost Macedonian varieties, as well as most of the Bulgarian varieties, it shares the reflex of big Yus as /ə/ in words like pǎt. With standard Macedonian and some Bulgarian dialects it shares the reflexes of */ĭ, ŭ/ as /e, o/ in words like den, with standard Macedonian, standard Serbian and some Bulgarian dialects it shares the retention of syllabic /r/ in words like krv. Što se beli, gore Šar planina, Da lje snegče, ilje belo stado. Da je snegče, bi se rastopilo, Da je stado, več toj beše Milkino čadorče, Pod čadorče bolna Milka lega. Brata i gu Turci zarobili, Zarobili, paj ga obesili, verno libe Gledaj me gledaj libe, abe verno libe, nagledaj mi se dur ti som ovde. Utre ke odim abe vrno libe dalek-dalek na pusti Gurbet, racaj, poracaj libe šo da ti kupim, ti da mi kupiš abe gledaniku cerna šamija, ja da ga nosim abe gledaniku i da ga želam. Evo, donco je dar na novu kuću, sinove ženio, kćeri udavao Živio sto ljeta imao sto kmeta i na ćabu ostišao Gorani Mašala mašala, fala mu, živuav. Evo donco je poklon na nova kuća Sinoi oženiv, dejčica izmuziv, Živiv sto leta imav sto kmeta i na hadžillak osov
10.
Albanian language
–
Centuries-old communities speaking Albanian-based dialects can be found scattered in Greece, Southern Italy, Sicily, and Ukraine. Due to the large Albanian diaspora, the number of speakers is much higher than the native speakers in Southeast Europe. The first audio recording of Albanian was made by Norbert Jokl on 4 April 1914 in Vienna, the Albanian language is part of the Indo-European language group. In general there is insufficient evidence to connect Albanian with one of those languages, Albanian is now considered an isolate within Indo-European, no extant language shares the same branch. The only other languages that are the surviving member of a branch of Indo-European are Armenian. Although Albanian shares lexical isoglosses with Greek, Balto-Slavic, and Germanic languages, in 1995, Ann Taylor, Donald Ringe and Tandy Warnow described as surprising their finding, using quantitative linguistic techniques, that Albanian appears to comprise a subgroup with Germanic. This theory is reinforced by subsequent research by the same authors, Albanian also shares two features with Balto-Slavic languages, a lengthening of syllabic consonants before voiced obstruents and a distinct treatment of long syllables ending in a sonorant. Other conservative features of Albanian include the retention of the distinction between active and middle voice, present tense and aorist. In another but uncommon hypothesis, Albanian is grouped with both Balto-Slavic and Germanic based on the merger of Proto-Indo-European *ǒ and *ǎ into *ǎ in a northern group. However, this shift is now regarded as only part of a larger push chain that affected all long vowels. The earliest loanwords attested in Albanian come from Doric Greek, whereas the strongest influence came from Latin, curtis, the loanwords do not necessarily indicate the geographical location of the ancestor of Albanian language. However, according to linguists, the borrowed words can help to get an idea about the place of origin. The period during which Proto-Albanian and Latin interacted was protracted and drawn out roughly from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD. This is borne out into three layers of borrowings, the largest number belonging to the second layer, which may be compared to, for example. The first, with the fewest borrowings, was a time of less important interaction, the final period, probably preceding the Slavic or Germanic invasions, also has a notably smaller number of borrowings. Other formative changes include the syncretism of several case endings, especially in the plural. Such borrowing indicates that the Romanians migrated from an area where the majority was Slavic to an area with a majority of Albanian speakers and their movement is probably related to the expansion of the Bulgarian Empire into Albania around that time. Jernej Kopitar was the first to note Latins influence on Albanian, Kopitar gave examples such as Albanian qiqer from Latin cicer, qytet from civitas, peshk from piscis and shigjetë from sagitta
11.
Bosniaks
–
The Bosniaks are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group inhabiting mainly the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A native minority of Bosniaks live in countries in the Balkans, especially in the Sandžak region of Serbia and Montenegro. Over two million Bosniaks live in the Balkans, with an additional million settled and living around the world. Ethnic cleansing and genocide during the Bosnian War have had an effect on the distribution of the population. Partly due to this, a significant Bosniak diaspora exists in a number of countries, including Austria, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Turkey, Canada and the United States. The modern spelling is contained in the 1836 Penny Cyclopaedia V. 231/1, The inhabitants of Bosnia are composed of Bosniaks, a race of Sclavonian origin. In the Slavic languages, -ak is a suffix appended to words to create a masculine noun, for instance also found in the ethnonym of Poles. As such, Bosniak is etymologically equivalent to its non-ethnic counterpart Bosnian, from the perspective of Bosniaks, bosanstvo and bošnjaštvo are closely and mutually interconnected, as Bosniaks connect their identity with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The earliest attestation to a Bosnian ethnonym emerged with the historical term Bošnjanin which denoted the people of the medieval Bosnian kingdom, Bosniak, as well as the older term Bošnjanin, is originally a name defining the inhabitants of the medieval Bosnian state. The Bosniaks derive their ethnonym from Bosnia, first mentioned in De Administrando Imperio by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII as the horion of Bosona, some scholars also connect the Roman road station Ad Basante, first attested in the 5th century Tabula Peutingeriana, to Bosnia. According to philologist Anton Mayer the name Bosna could essentially be derived from Illyrian Bass-an-as which would be a diversion of the Proto-Indo-European root *bhoĝ-, other theories involve the rare Latin term Bosina, meaning boundary, and possible Slavic and Thracian origins. Nevertheless, leaders and intellectuals of the Bosniak community may have various perceptions of what it means to be Bosniak, some may point to an Islamic heritage, while others stress the purely secular and national character of the Bosniak identity and its connection with Bosnian territory and history. Moreover, individuals outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina may hold their own interpretations as well. Some people, such as Montenegrin Abdul Kurpejović, recognize an Islamic component in the Bosniak identity, still others consider all Slavic Muslims in the former Yugoslavia to be Bosniaks. In Yugoslavia, unlike the preceding Austro-Hungarian Empire, there was no recognition of Bosniak ethnicity. In other ex-Yugoslav countries with significant Slavic Muslim populations, adoption of the Bosniak name has been less consistent, the effects of this phenomenon can best be seen in the censuses. For instance, the 2003 Montenegrin census recorded 48,184 people who registered as Bosniaks and 28,714 who registered as Muslim by nationality. Although Montenegros Slavic Muslims form one community with a shared culture and history
12.
Bulgarians
–
Bulgarians are a South Slavic ethnic group who are native to Bulgaria and its neighboring regions. Bulgarian citizenship shall further be acquirable through naturalization, the population of Bulgaria descend from peoples with different origins and numbers. They became assimilated by the Slavic settlers in the First Bulgarian Empire, from the indigenous Thracian people certain cultural and ethnic elements were taken. Other pre-Slavic Indo-European peoples, including Dacians, Celts, Goths, Romans, Greeks, the Thracian language has been described as a southern Baltic language. Some pre-Slavic linguistic and cultural traces might have preserved in modern Bulgarians. Medieval historians claimed that the Triballi are the largest tribe and that subsequently changed their name to Bulgarians or Serbs. Others claimed that the Paeonians are Bulgarians, others claimed that the Moesi, according to archeological evidence from the late periods of Roman rule, the Romans did not decrease the number of Thracians significantly in major cities. The latter gradually inflicting total linguistic replacement of Thracian if the Thracians had not already been Romanized or Hellenized and they continued coming to the Balkans in many waves, but also leaving, most notably Justinian II settled as many as 30,000 Slavs from Thrace in Asia Minor. The Byzantines grouped the numerous Slavic tribes into two groups, the Sklavenoi and Antes, some Bulgarian scholars suggest that the Antes became one of the ancestors of the modern Bulgarians. The control of the Bulgars in the west was indirect and in the hands of the Slavic chiefs, the Bulgars are first mentioned in the 4th century in the vicinity of the North Caucasian steppe. However, any connection between the Bulgars and postulated Asian counterparts rest on little more than speculative and contorted etymologies. The Bulgars are not thought to have numerous, becoming a ruling elite in the areas they controlled. Their archeological evidence is concentrated in northeast Bulgaria and in Macedonia, mixed Bulgar-Slavic settlements emerged according to archeological evidence. Omurtag was the last ruler with a Turkic name and during the reign of Boris the Slavonic language reached an official level, a substantional number of loan words of the Bulgar language remained in the Medieval Bulgarian Slavic language and fewer survived in the modern. During the Early Byzantine Era, the Roman provincials in Scythia Minor and Moesia Secunda were already engaged in economic, the major port towns in Pontic Bulgaria remained Byzantine Greek in their outlook. The establishment of a new state molded the various Slav, Bulgar, in different periods to the ethnogenesis of the local population contributed also different Indo-European and Turkic people, who settled or lived on the Balkans. The First Bulgarian Empire was founded in 681, after the adoption of Orthodox Christianity in 864 it became one of the cultural centres of Slavic Europe. Its leading cultural position was consolidated with the invention of the Cyrillic script in its capital Preslav at the eve of the 10th century
13.
Macedonian Muslims
–
The regions inhabited by these Slavic-speaking Muslims are Debarska Župa, Drimkol, Reka, and Golo Brdo. The Macedonian Muslims are largely the descendants of Orthodox Christian Slavs from the region of Macedonia who converted to Islam during the centuries when the Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkans, the various Sufi orders all played a role in the conversion of the Macedonian and Paulician population. The largest concentration of Macedonian Muslims can be found in western Macedonia, most of the villages in Debar regions are populated by Macedonian Muslims. The Struga municipality also holds a number of Macedonian Muslims who are primarily concentrated in the large village of Labuništa. Further north in the Debar region many of the villages are inhabited by Macedonian Muslims. The Dolna Reka region is primarily populated by Macedonian Muslims. They form the remainder of the population emigrated to Turkey in the 1950s and 1960s. Places such as Rostuša and Tetovo also have large Macedonian Muslim populations, most of the Turkish population along the western Macedonian border are in fact Macedonian Muslims. Another large concentration of Macedonian Muslims is in the so-called Torbešija which is just south of Skopje, there are also major concentrations of Macedonian Muslims in the central region of the Republic of Macedonia, surrounding the Plasnica municipality and the Dolneni municipality. The exact numbers of Macedonian Muslims are not easy to establish, the historian Ivo Banac estimates that in the old Kingdom of Yugoslavia, before World War II, the Macedonian Muslim population stood at around 27,000. Subsequent censuses have produced dramatically varying figures,1,591 in 1953,3,002 in 1961,1,248 in 1971 and 39,355 in 1981, commentators have suggested that the latter figure includes many who previously identified themselves as Turks. Meanwhile, the Association of Macedonian Muslims has claimed that since World War II more than 70,000 Macedonian Muslims have been assimilated by other Muslim groups, most notably the Albanians. It can be estimated that the Macedonian Muslim population in the Republic of Macedonia in the year 2013 is 40.000 people, like their Christian ethnic kin, Macedonian Muslims speak the Macedonian language as their first language. Despite their common language and racial heritage, it is almost unheard of for Macedonian Muslims to intermarry with Macedonian Orthodox Christians, Macedonian ethnologists do not consider the Muslim Macedonians a separate ethnic group from the Christian Macedonians, but instead a religious minority within the Macedonian ethnic community. Intermarriage with the countrys other Muslim groups are more accepted, given the bonds of a common religion. When the Socialist Republic of Macedonia was established in 1944, the Yugoslav government encouraged the Macedonian Muslims to adopt an ethnic Macedonian identity. This has since led to tensions with the Macedonian Christian community over the widespread association between Macedonian national identity and adherence to the Macedonian Orthodox Church. The principal outlet for Macedonian Muslim political activities has been the Association of Macedonian Muslims and it was established in 1970 with the support of the authorities, probably as a means of keeping Macedonian Muslim aspirations in control
14.
Pomaks
–
The term has also been used as a wider designation, including also the Slavic Muslim populations of the Republic of Macedonia and Albania. The Bulgarian dialect spoken by the Pomaks in Greece and Turkey, is referred there as the Pomak language, the origin of the Pomaks has been debated, but usually they are considered descendants of native Bulgarians, who converted to Islam during the Ottoman rule of the Balkans. They are not officially recognized as one people with the ethnonym of Pomaks, the term is widely used colloquially for Eastern South Slavic Muslims, considered derogatory. However, it should be noted that in Greece and Turkey the practice for declaring the group at census has been abolished for decades. Different members of the group today declare a variety of identities, Bulgarian, Pomak, Muslim, Turkish, Albanian. The Pomaks in Bulgaria are referred to as Bulgarian Muslims, and under the locally used names Ahryani, Pogantsi, Poturani, Poturnatsi, Eruli, Charaklii and they mainly inhabit the Rhodope Mountains in Smolyan Province, Kardzhali Province, Pazardzhik Province and Blagoevgrad Province. There are Pomaks in other parts of Bulgaria as well, there are a few Pomak villages in Burgas Province, Lovech Province, Veliko Tarnovo Province and Ruse Province. Officially no ethnic Pomaks are recorded, while 67,000 declared Muslim and ethnic Bulgarian identity, down from 131,000 who declared Muslim Bulgarian identity at the 2001 census. Unofficially, there may be between 150,000 and 250,000 Pomaks in Bulgaria, though not in the ethnic sense as one part declare Bulgarian. The first two campaigns were abandoned after a few years, while the second was reversed in 1989 and these attempts were met with stiff resistance by some Pomaks. A Pomak community is present in Turkey, mostly in Eastern Thrace and fewer in Anatolia, where they are called in Turkish Pomaklar, the Pomak community in Turkey is unofficially estimated between 300,000 and 600,000. Today the Pomaks in Greece inhabit the province of East Macedonia and Thrace in Northern Greece, particularly the regional units of Xanthi, Rhodope. Their estimated population is 50,000, only in Western Thrace, german sightseer Adolf Struck in 1898 describes Konstantia as a big village with 300 houses and two panes, inhabited exclusively by Pomaks. The 1941 census recorded that the vast majority of the Pomaks in Greece, especially in the Xanthi area had Turkish national identity, less than these in Komotini. However, at the 1943 census after pro-Bulgarian education, those who declared as Bulgarians were more, the Macedonian Muslims, are occasionally also referred to as Pomaks, especially in historical context. However the estimated 100,000 Pomaks in Macedonia maintain an affiliation to the Turkish identity. Slavic-speaking Muslims, sometimes referred to as Pomaks, live also in the Albanian region of Golloborda, however these people are also referred to as Torbeš. They speak the Drimkol-Golo Brdo dialect of the Macedonian language, part of this people still self-identify as Bulgarians
15.
Serbs
–
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group that formed in the Balkans. The majority of Serbs inhabit the state of Serbia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. They form significant minorities in Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia, there is a large Serb diaspora in Western Europe, and outside Europe there are significant communities in North America and Australia. The Serbs share many traits with the rest of the peoples of Southeast Europe. They are predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christians by religion, the Serbian language is official in Serbia, co-official in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is spoken by the majority in Montenegro. The modern identity of Serbs is rooted in Eastern Orthodoxy and traditions, in the 19th century, the Serbian national identity was manifested, with awareness of history and tradition, medieval heritage, cultural unity, despite living under different empires. When the Principality of Serbia gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, Orthodoxy became crucial in defining the national identity, instead of language which was shared by other South Slavs. The tradition of slava, the family saint feast day, is an important ethnic marker of Serb identity, the origin of the ethnonym is unclear. Serbia has among the tallest people in the world, after Montenegro and Netherlands, Slavs invaded and settled the Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries. Up until the late 560s their activity was raiding, crossing from the Danube, the Danube and Sava frontier was overwhelmed by large-scale Slavic settlement in the late 6th and early 7th century. What is today central Serbia was an important geo-strategical province, through which the Via Militaris crossed and this area was frequently intruded by barbarians in the 5th and 6th centuries. The numerous Slavs mixed with and assimilated the descendants of the indigenous population, numerous small Serbian states were created, located in modern Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. With the decline of the Serbian state of Duklja in the late 11th century, Raška separated from it, prince Stefan Nemanja conquered the neighbouring territories of Kosovo, Duklja and Zachlumia. The Nemanjić dynasty ruled over Serbia until the 14th century, over the next 140 years, Serbia expanded its borders. Its cultural model remained Byzantine, despite political ambitions directed against the empire, the medieval power and influence of Serbia culminated in the reign of Stefan Dušan, who ruled the state from 1331 until his death in 1355. Ruling as Emperor from 1346, his territory included Macedonia, northern Greece, Montenegro, when Dušan died, his son Stephen Uroš V became Emperor. With the death of two important Serb leaders in the battle, and with the death of Stephen Uroš that same year, hrebeljanović was subsequently accepted as the titular leader of the Serbs because he was married to a member of the Nemanjić dynasty. In 1389, the Serbs faced the Ottomans at the Battle of Kosovo on the plain of Kosovo Polje, both Lazar and Sultan Murad I were killed in the fighting
16.
Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
–
The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is an adaptation of the Cyrillic script for the Serbian language, developed in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two used to write standard modern Serbian, Bosnian and Montenegrin, the other being Latin. During the same period, Croatian linguists led by Ljudevit Gaj adapted the Latin alphabet, in use in western South Slavic areas, using the same principles. As a result of this joint effort, Cyrillic and Latin alphabets for Serbo-Croatian have a complete one-to-one congruence, with the Latin digraphs Lj, Nj, and Dž counting as single letters. Vuks Cyrillic alphabet was adopted in Serbia in 1868, and was in exclusive use in the country up to the inter-war period. Both alphabets were co-official in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and later in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in Serbia, Cyrillic is seen as being more traditional, and has the official status. It is also a script in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro, along with Latin. The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet was used as a basis for the Macedonian alphabet with the work of Krste Misirkov, Cyrillic is in official use in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Serbian language in Croatia is officially recognized as a minority language, however, Cyrillic is an important symbol of Serbian identity. In Serbia, official documents are printed in Cyrillic only even though, according to a 2014 survey, Glagolitic appears to be older, predating the introduction of Christianity, only formalized by Cyril and expanded to cover non-Greek sounds. Cyrillic was created by the orders of Boris I of Bulgaria by Cyrils disciples, the earliest form of Cyrillic was the ustav, based on Greek uncial script, augmented by ligatures and letters from the Glagolitic alphabet for consonants not found in Greek. There was no distinction between capital and lowercase letters, the literary Slavic language was based on the Bulgarian dialect of Thessaloniki. Part of the Serbian literary heritage of the Middle Ages are works such as Vukan Gospels, St. Savas Nomocanon, Dušans Code, Munich Serbian Psalter, the first printed book in Serbian was the Cetinje Octoechos. Vuk Stefanović Karadžić fled Serbia during the Serbian Revolution in 1813, there he met Jernej Kopitar, a linguist with interest in slavistics. Kopitar and Sava Mrkalj helped Vuk to reform the Serbian language and he finalized the alphabet in 1818 with the Serbian Dictionary. Karadžić also translated the New Testament into Serbian, which was published in 1868 and he wrote several books, Mala prostonarodna slaveno-serbska pesnarica and Pismenica serbskoga jezika in 1814, and two more in 1815 and 1818, all with the alphabet still in progress. In his letters from 1815-1818 he used, Ю, я, Ы and Ѳ, in his 1815 song book he dropped the Ѣ. The alphabet was adopted in 1868, four years after his death
17.
Gora (region)
–
Gora is a geographical region in southern Kosovo, northeastern Albania, and northwestern Macedonia inhabited by Albanians, Bosniaks, Gorani, Macedonians, and Turks. The name Gora is a Slavic word for mountain or forest, between 1992 and 1999, the part of Gora in Kosovo was a municipality, and its population was 17,574 people according to the 1991 census. Today, the region is part of the municipality of Dragaš in Kosovo, the Albanian part of Gora is included in the Shishtavec and Zapod municipalities, while the Macedonian portion is in the northeastern part of Bogovinje Municipality. In the west of Gora is the region of Lumë, which extends in both Kosovo and Albania, the Ottoman defter from 1591 registers Gora as inhabited exclusively by Serbs, Opolje to the north is Albanian populated. According to the disputed 2011 census figures, just over two-thirds of the population in Shishtavec Municipality identified as Albanian, in Zapod Municipality, 79% identified as Albanian and 11. 7% identified as Macedonian. On 3 November 2013, 70% voted in favour of establishing the Gora municipality as part of the Community of Serb municipalities, jelovjane, one of Macedonias two Gora villages, according to the 2002 census, was made up primarily of Turks. The other Gora village, Urvič, was made up of Turks, Gora 1968 part 1 - Short Documentary film about Gora Gora 1968 part 2 - Short Documentary film about Gora
18.
Macedonians (ethnic group)
–
The Macedonians, also known as Macedonian Slavs or Slavic Macedonians, are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the region of Macedonia. They speak the Macedonian language, a South Slavic language, about two thirds of all ethnic Macedonians live in the Republic of Macedonia and there are also communities in a number of other countries. The origins of Macedonians are varied and rich, in antiquity, much of central-northern Macedonia was inhabited by Paionians who expanded from the lower Strymon basin. The Pelagonian plain was inhabited by the Pelagones, an ancient Greek tribe of Upper Macedonia, Roman conquest brought with it a significant Romanization of the region. During the Dominate period, barbarian federates were at times settled on Macedonian soil, in contrast to frontier provinces, Macedonia continued to be a flourishing Christian, Roman province in Late Antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Traditional historiography has equated these changes with the commencement of raids and invasions of Sclaveni and Antes from Wallachia, the exact details and chronology of population shifts remain to be determined. What is beyond dispute is that, in contrast to Bulgaria, northern Macedonia remained Roman in its cultural outlook into the 7th century, yet at the same time, sources attest numerous Slavic tribes in the environs of Thessaloniki and further afield, including the Berziti in Pelagonia. Apart from Slavs and late Byzantines, the settlement of Kuvers Pannonian Bulgars- a mix of Roman Christians, Bulgars and Avars- populated the Keramissian plain around Bitola in the late 7th century. Later pockets of settlers included Magyars in the 9th century, Armenians in the 10th-12th centuries, Cumans in the 11th-13th centuries, subsequently, the literary and ecclesiastical centres in Ohrid, not only became a second cultural capital of medieval Bulgaria, but soon eclipsed those in Preslav. Many aspects which now define Macedonian culture are a culmination of the so-called Byzantine commonwealth which consisted of Medieval Byzantine, Cultural, ecclesiastical and political developments of Slav Orthodox Culture occurred in Macedonia itself. Anthropologically, Macedonians possess genetic lineages postulated to represent Balkan prehistoric and historic demographic processes, such lineages are also typically found in other South Slavs, especially Bulgarians, Serbs, Bosniaks, Montenegrins, but also to the Greeks and Romanians. The large majority of Macedonians identify as Orthodox Christians, who speak a South Slavic language, the concept of a Macedonian ethnicity, distinct from their Orthodox Balkan neighbours, is seen to be a comparatively newly emergent one. The earliest manifestation of a Macedonian identity emerged in the late 19th century, however, modern researchers recognize that all nations are modern constructs. Even ethnic groups with long recorded history are characterized by marked discontinuity with the ancient past, heather Rae summarizes that Macedonian identity is no more or less artificial than any other identity. It merely has a more recent ethnogenesis – one that can more easily be traced through the recent historical record. During the formative Middle Ages, there was no distinct ethno-political Macedonian identity, references to Macedonians were varied, from geographical to administrative one. The Byzantine historians categorized the numerous Slavic tribal unions on the early Medieval Balkans as Sclavinias, in the ninth century, Theophanes the Confessor reported that the emperor Constantine V captured the Macedonian Sklavinias in the year 758-759. The modern Macedonian historians have described it as kind of primary ethno-political entity
19.
Muslims by nationality
–
Notably, Muslims were one of the constitutive nations of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, the Austrian administration officially endorsed Bošnjaštvo as the basis of a multi-confessional Bosnian nation, after World War I, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed and it recognized only those three nationalities in its constitution. After World War II, in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as a compromise, the Constitution of Yugoslavia was amended to list Muslims in a national sense, recognizing a constitutive nation, but not the Bosniak name. The use of Muslim as an ethnic denomination was criticized early on, however, to quote Bosnian president Hamdija Pozderac at the time, They dont allow Bosnianhood but they offered Muslimhood. We shall accept their offer, although the name is wrong, sometimes other terms, such as Muslim with capital M were used. On the other hand, some use the old name Muslimani, especially outside Bosnia. The election law of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Serbia, according to the 2011 census there were 22,301 Muslims by nationality and 145,278 Bosniaks. In Montenegro census of 2011,20,537 of the population declared as Muslims by nationality, while 53,605 declared as Bosniaks, while 11,110 Muslims by confession declared as Montenegrins. In 2002 Slovenia census,21,542 persons identified as Bosniaks,8,062 as Bosnians, in the Republic of Macedonia, the census of 2002 registered 17,018 Bosniaks and 2,553 Muslims by nationality. It is also important to note that most members of Pomaks, http, //www. savjetMuslimanacg. com Bosniaks Slavic Muslims Muslim minority of Greece
20.
Saint George's Day
–
Saint Georges Day is the feast day of Saint George as celebrated by various Christian Churches and by the several nations, kingdoms, countries, and cities of which Saint George is the patron saint. Saint Georges Day is celebrated on 23 April, the accepted date of the saints death in Diocletianic Persecution of AD303. For those Eastern Orthodox Churches which use the Julian calendar, this date falls on the day of 6 May of the Gregorian calendar. In Turkic culture the day is known as Hıdırellez or Xıdır Nəbi and is symbolic of spring renewal, in the General Calendar of the Roman Rite, the feast of Saint George is on 23 April. In the Tridentine Calendar it was given the rank of Semidouble, in Pope Pius XIIs 1955 calendar this rank is reduced to Simple. In Pope John XXIIIs 1960 calendar the celebration to just a Commemoration, in Pope Paul VIs revision of the calendar, that came into force in the 1969 it was given the equivalent rank of a Memorial, of optional use. In some countries, such as England, the rank is higher, similarly, the Eastern Orthodox celebration of the feast moves accordingly to the first Monday after Easter or, as it is sometimes called, to the Monday of Bright Week. The church celebration may also be moved if the 23rd April falls on a Sunday, eg, in England, besides the 23 April feast, some Orthodox Churches have additional feasts dedicated to St George. The country of Georgia celebrates the feast of St. George on 23 April and, more prominently,10 November, which currently fall on 6 May and 23 November, respectively. The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the dedication of the Church of St George in Kiev by Yaroslav the Wise in 1051 on 26 November, the earliest documented mention of St. George in England comes from the venerable Bede. His feast day is mentioned in the Durham Collectar, a ninth-century liturgical work. The will of Alfred the Great is said to refer to the saint, in a reference to the church of Fordington, at Fordington a stone over the south door records the miraculous appearance of St. George to lead crusaders into battle. Early dedications of churches to St. George are noted in England, for example at Fordingham, Dorset, at Thetford, Southwark and Doncaster. The declarations of the Province of Canterbury in 1415 and the Province of York in 1421 elevated the feast to a double major, Edward III put his Order of the Garter under the banner of St. George. This order is still the foremost order of knighthood in England and St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle was built by Edward IV, the badge of the Order shows Saint George on horseback slaying the dragon. Froissart observed the English invoking St. George as a battle cry on several occasions during the Hundred Years War, certain English soldiers also displayed the pennon of St George. At Agincourt many believed they saw him fighting on the English side, St Georges Day was a major feast and national holiday in England on a par with Christmas from the early 15th century. The Cross of St. George was flown in 1497 by John Cabot on his voyage to discover Newfoundland and later by Sir Francis Drake, in 1620 it was the flag that was flown on the foremast of the Mayflower when the Pilgrim Fathers arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts
21.
South Slavs
–
The South Slavs are a subgroup of Slavic peoples who speak the South Slavic languages. The South Slavs include the Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs and they are the main population of the Southeastern European countries of Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. In the 20th century, the country of Yugoslavia united the regions inhabited by South Slavic nations – with the key exception of Bulgaria – into a single state. The concept of Yugoslavia, a state for all South Slavic peoples, emerged in the late 17th century. Little is known about the Slavs before the 5th century and their history prior to this can only be tentatively hypothesized via archeological and linguistic studies. Much of what we know about their history after the 6th century is from the works of Byzantine historians, in his work De Bellis, Procopius portrays the Sclavini as unusually tall and strong, with a tan complexion and reddish-blonde hair, living a rugged and primitive life. They lived in huts, often distant from one another and often changed their place of abode and they were not ruled by a single leader, but for a long time lived in a democracy. John of Ephesus, in his Ecclesiastical History portrays the Slavs as extremely violent people and they probably believed in many Gods, but Procopius suggests they believed in one, perhaps supreme god. He has often been identified as Perun, the creator of lightning, the Slavs went into battle on foot, charging straight at their enemy, armed with spears and small shields, but they did not wear armour. The lack of understanding may be attributed to matrilineal succession practiced among Southern Slavs and they made their homes in forests, by rivers and wetlands. Jordanes states that the Slavs have their homelands on the Danube, scholars have traditionally placed the Slavic Urheimat in the Pripet marshes of Ukraine, or alternatively between the Bug and the Dniepr. In the 5th century Slavs are mentioned as living north of the Danube in the sources from that era. From the 5th century, they supposedly spread outward in all directions, the Balkans was one of the regions which lay in the path of the expanding Slavs. Regarding the Slavs mentioned by 6th-century Byzantine chroniclers, Florin Curta states that their homeland was north of the Danube and he clarifies that their itinerant form of agriculture may have encouraged mobility on a micro regional scale. Material culture from the Danube suggests that there was an evolution of Slavic society between the early 7th century and the 8th century, as the Byzantines re-asserted the Danubian defences in the mid 6th century, the Slavs yield of pillaged goods dropped. As a reaction to this isolation, and external threats, political. As community elites rose to prominence, they came to embody a collective interest, if that group identity can be called ethnicity, and if that ethnicity can be called Slavic, then it certainly formed in the shadow of Justinians forts, not in the Pripet marshes. The Byzantines broadly grouped the numerous Slav tribes into two groups, the Sclaveni and Antes and they are both first encountered in the lower Danube region
22.
Migrant worker
–
The term migrant worker has different official meanings and connotations in different parts of the world. The United Nations definition is broad, many people were working outside of their home country, some of these are called expatriates. Several countries have millions of foreign workers, some have millions of illegal immigrants, most of them being workers also. According to the Panos Network, it is never appropriate to refer to asylum-seekers or refugees as “illegal migrants”, the term can also be used to describe someone who migrates with in a country, possibly their own, in order to pursue work such as seasonal work. The program is run jointly with the governments of Mexico and the participating Caribbean states, in Canada, non-agricultural companies are beginning to recruit temporary foreign workers under Service Canadas 2002 expansion of an immigration program for migrant workers. As of 2002, the government introduced the Low Skill Pilot Project. This project allows companies to apply to bring in foreign workers to fill low skill jobs. The classification of low skill means that workers require no more high school or two years of job-specific training to qualify. In 2006, the federal Conservatives expanded the list of occupations that qualified for the Low Skill Pilot Project, some inland cities have started providing migrants with social security, including pensions and other insurance. In 2012, there were a reported 167 million migrant workers in China, with trends of working closer to home (within their own or a neighbouring province but with a wage drop of 21%. Because so many migrant works are moving to the city from rural areas, Migrant workers in China are notoriously marginalized, especially due to the hukou system of residency permits, which tie one stated residence to all social welfare benefits. The recent expansions of the European Union have provided opportunities for people to migrate to other EU countries for work. For both the 2004 and 2007 enlargements, existing states were given the rights to impose various transitional arrangements to limit access to their labour markets, the 1st of March has become a symbolic day for transnational migrants strike. This day unites all migrants to them a common voice to speak up against racism. The transnational protests on 1 March were originally initiated in the US in 2006 and have encouraged migrants in other countries to organise and take action on that day. In Austria the first transnational migrants strike took place in March 2011, in the form of actions, e. g. a manifestation. Bulgarians, Kosovars and Estonians were the most likely victimised in the building trade, there has been a substantial flow of people from Bangladesh and Nepal to India over recent decades in search of better work. Bangladeshi women appear to be particularly vulnerable and these findings highlight the need to promote migrants rights with, amongst others, health staff, police and employers at destination
23.
Istanbul
–
Istanbul, historically known as Constantinople and Byzantium, is the most populous city in Turkey and the countrys economic, cultural, and historic center. Istanbul is a city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosphorus strait between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives on the Asian side, the city is the administrative center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, both hosting a population of around 14.7 million residents. Istanbul is one of the worlds most populous cities and ranks as the worlds 7th-largest city proper, founded under the name of Byzantion on the Sarayburnu promontory around 660 BCE, the city developed to become one of the most significant in history. After its reestablishment as Constantinople in 330 CE, it served as a capital for almost 16 centuries, during the Roman and Byzantine, the Latin. Overlooked for the new capital Ankara during the period, the city has since regained much of its prominence. The population of the city has increased tenfold since the 1950s, as migrants from across Anatolia have moved in, arts, music, film, and cultural festivals were established at the end of the 20th century and continue to be hosted by the city today. Infrastructure improvements have produced a complex transportation network, considered a global city, Istanbul has one of the fastest-growing metropolitan economies in the world. It hosts the headquarters of many Turkish companies and media outlets and accounts for more than a quarter of the gross domestic product. Hoping to capitalize on its revitalization and rapid expansion, Istanbul has bid for the Summer Olympics five times in twenty years, the first known name of the city is Byzantium, the name given to it at its foundation by Megarean colonists around 660 BCE. The name is thought to be derived from a personal name, ancient Greek tradition refers to a legendary king of that name as the leader of the Greek colonists. Modern scholars have hypothesized that the name of Byzas was of local Thracian or Illyrian origin. He also attempted to promote the name Nova Roma and its Greek version Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Romē, the use of Constantinople to refer to the city during the Ottoman period is now considered politically incorrect, even if not historically inaccurate, by Turks. By the 19th century, the city had acquired other names used by foreigners or Turks. Europeans used Constantinople to refer to the whole of the city, pera was used to describe the area between the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, but Turks also used the name Beyoğlu. The name İstanbul is commonly held to derive from the Medieval Greek phrase εἰς τὴν Πόλιν and this reflected its status as the only major city in the vicinity. The importance of Constantinople in the Ottoman world was reflected by its Ottoman name Der Saadet meaning the gate to Prosperity in Ottoman. An alternative view is that the name evolved directly from the name Constantinople, with the first, a Turkish folk etymology traces the name to Islam bol plenty of Islam because the city was called Islambol or Islambul as the capital of the Islamic Ottoman Empire
24.
Thessaloniki
–
Its nickname is η Συμπρωτεύουσα, literally the co-capital, a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα or co-reigning city of the Eastern Roman Empire, alongside Constantinople. The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general, Thessaloniki was the 2014 European Youth Capital. The city of Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, an important metropolis by the Roman period, Thessaloniki was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by the Ottomans in 1430, and passed from the Ottoman Empire to modern Greece on November 8,1912, the citys main university, Aristotle University, is the largest in Greece and the Balkans. Thessaloniki is a popular tourist destination in Greece, among street photographers, the center of Thessaloniki is also considered the most popular destination for street photography in Greece. All variations of the name derive from the original appellation in Ancient Greek, i. e. Θεσσαλονίκη. The alternative name Salonica derives from the variant form Σαλονίκη in colloquial Greek speech, in local speech, the citys name is typically pronounced with a dark and deep L characteristic of Macedonian Greek accent. The name often appears in writing in the abbreviated form Θεσ/νίκη, the city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and 26 other local villages. He named it after his wife Thessalonike, a half-sister of Alexander the Great, under the kingdom of Macedon the city retained its own autonomy and parliament and evolved to become the most important city in Macedon. After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, the city later became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia. Later it became the capital of all the Greek provinces of the Roman Empire because of the importance in the Balkan peninsula. At the time of the Roman Empire, about 50 A. D. Later, Paul wrote two letters to the new church at Thessaloniki, preserved in the Biblical canon as First and Second Thessalonians. Some scholars hold that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians is the first written book of the New Testament, in 306 AD, Thessaloniki acquired a patron saint, St. Demetrius, a native of Thessalonica whom Galerius put to death. A basilical church was first built in the 5th century AD dedicated to St. Demetrius, in 379, when the Roman Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between the East and West Roman Empires, Thessaloniki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum. In 390, Gothic troops under the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, led a massacre against the inhabitants of Thessalonica, by the time of the Fall of Rome in 476, Thessaloniki was the second-largest city of the Eastern Roman Empire. From the first years of the Byzantine Empire, Thessaloniki was considered the city in the Empire after Constantinople. With a population of 150,000 in the mid-12th century, the city held this status until its transfer to Venetian control in 1423. In the 14th century, the population exceeded 100,000 to 150,000
25.
Muslims by ethnicity
–
Notably, Muslims were one of the constitutive nations of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, the Austrian administration officially endorsed Bošnjaštvo as the basis of a multi-confessional Bosnian nation, after World War I, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed and it recognized only those three nationalities in its constitution. After World War II, in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as a compromise, the Constitution of Yugoslavia was amended to list Muslims in a national sense, recognizing a constitutive nation, but not the Bosniak name. The use of Muslim as an ethnic denomination was criticized early on, however, to quote Bosnian president Hamdija Pozderac at the time, They dont allow Bosnianhood but they offered Muslimhood. We shall accept their offer, although the name is wrong, sometimes other terms, such as Muslim with capital M were used. On the other hand, some use the old name Muslimani, especially outside Bosnia. The election law of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Serbia, according to the 2011 census there were 22,301 Muslims by nationality and 145,278 Bosniaks. In Montenegro census of 2011,20,537 of the population declared as Muslims by nationality, while 53,605 declared as Bosniaks, while 11,110 Muslims by confession declared as Montenegrins. In 2002 Slovenia census,21,542 persons identified as Bosniaks,8,062 as Bosnians, in the Republic of Macedonia, the census of 2002 registered 17,018 Bosniaks and 2,553 Muslims by nationality. It is also important to note that most members of Pomaks, http, //www. savjetMuslimanacg. com Bosniaks Slavic Muslims Muslim minority of Greece
26.
Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija
–
Kosovo and Metohija, officially the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, known as short Kosovo or simply Kosmet, refers to the region of Kosovo as defined in the Constitution of Serbia. The territory of the province is disputed between Serbia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, who has de facto control, the territory of the province, as recognized by Serbian laws, lies in the southern part of Serbia and covers the regions of Kosovo and Metohija. The capital of the province is Pristina, the territory was previously an autonomous province of Serbia during Socialist Yugoslavia, and acquired its current status in 1990. The province was governed as part of Serbia until the Kosovo War, when it became United Nations protectorate, the control was then transferred to the UN administration of UNMIK. In 2008, Kosovo authorities declared independence, which is recognized by majority UN members, the same year, its Albanian majority – as well as the Republic of Albania – supported the proclamation of an independent Republic of Kosova. Following the end of the Kosovo War 1999, and as a result of NATO intervention, Serbia, in February 2008, the Republic of Kosovo declared independence. While Serbia has not formally recognised Kosovos independence, in the Brussels agreement of 2013, Kosovos independence is recognised by 111 UN member states. Constitutional changes were made in Yugoslavia in 1990, the parliaments of all Yugoslavian republics and provinces, which until then had MPs only from the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, were dissolved and multi-party elections were held within them. Kosovar Albanians refused to participate in the elections so they held their own unsanctioned elections instead, as election laws required turnout higher than 50%, a parliament in Kosovo could not be established. The new constitution abolished the individual provinces official media, integrating them within the media of Serbia while still retaining some programs in the Albanian language. The Albanian-language media in Kosovo were suppressed, funding was withdrawn from state-owned media, including those in the Albanian language in Kosovo. The constitution made the creation of privately owned media possible, however their operation was difficult because of high rents. State-owned Albanian language television or radio was also banned from broadcasting from Kosovo, the constitution also transferred control over state-owned companies to the Yugoslav central government. Some of those who were not sacked quit in sympathy, refusing to work for the Serbian government, although the sackings were widely seen as a purge of ethnic Albanians, the government maintained that it was removing former communist directors. Albanian educational curriculum textbooks were withdrawn and replaced by new ones, the curriculum was identical to its Serbian counterpart and that of all other nationalities in Serbia except that it had education on and in the Albanian language. Education in Albanian was withdrawn in 1992 and re-established in 1994, Albanians responded by boycotting state schools and setting up an unofficial parallel system of Albanian-language education. Kosovo Albanians were outraged by what they saw as an attack on their rights, in 1995, thousands of Serb refugees from Croatia were settled in Kosovo, which further worsened relations between the two communities. Albanian opposition to the sovereignty of Yugoslavia and especially Serbia had previously surfaced in rioting in the capital Pristina, in 2003, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was renamed the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro
27.
Socialist Republic of Serbia
–
The Socialist Republic of Serbia was one of the six constitutional republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It was the largest republic in terms of population and territory and its capital, Belgrade, was also the federal capital of Yugoslavia. From 1945 to 1963, the republic was known as Peoples Republic of Serbia. The republic had two provinces, Vojvodina and Kosovo, for most of its existence in the SFRY, Serbia was loyal and generally subordinate to the federal government. This changed after the death of Josip Broz Tito in 1980, the League of Communists was split on how to respond. In 1989, Milošević was elected as President of the republic and he demanded that the federal Yugoslav government act for the interests of Serbia in Kosovo by sending in the Yugoslav Peoples Army to take control of the province. Serbia opposed such action and demanded a one-member, one-vote system in the Yugoslav League of Communists, ethnic tensions increased and the League of Communists of Yugoslavia collapsed, followed by the fall of the government of Yugoslavia by 1991. After 1990, the state was simply as Republic of Serbia. In 1992, when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed, in 2003 this state union was re-formed into Serbia and Montenegro, and in 2006 Serbia became an independent state. Within Socialist Republic of Serbia two autonomous provinces existed, Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, the central part of the Socialist Republic of Serbia located outside of the two autonomous provinces was generally known as Serbia proper. Geographically SR Serbia bordered Hungary to the north, Romania and Bulgaria to the east, within Yugoslavia it bordered SR Macedonia to the south and SR Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia to the west. Afterwards, the Serbian League of Communists selected Milosevic as its leader, Milosevic took a hard stand on Albanian nationalism in Kosovo and pressured the Yugoslav government to give him emergency powers to deal with Kosovo separatists. Furthermore, he reduced the autonomy of the provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. The tactic failed and Slovenia, along with its ally Croatia and this caused the Yugoslav Communist party to fall apart, and then the state of Yugoslavia itself one year later
28.
Kosovo War
–
The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 5 March 1998 until 11 June 1999. After attempts at a diplomatic solution failed, NATO intervened, justifying the campaign in Kosovo as a humanitarian war and this precipitated a mass expulsion of Kosovar Albanians as the Yugoslav forces continued to fight during the aerial bombardment of Yugoslavia. The war ended with the Kumanovo Treaty, with Yugoslav and Serb forces agreeing to withdraw from Kosovo to make way for an international presence, Kosovos borders did not precisely match the areas of ethnic Albanian settlement in Yugoslavia. Kosovos formal autonomy, established under the 1945 Yugoslav constitution, initially meant relatively little in practice, the secret police cracked down hard on nationalists. In 1956 a number of Albanians went on trial in Kosovo on charges of espionage, the threat of separatism was in fact minimal, as the few underground groups aiming for union with Albania had little political significance. Demaci himself was imprisoned in 1964 along with many of his followers, Yugoslavia underwent a period of economic and political crisis in 1969, as a massive government program of economic reform widened the gap between the rich north and poor south of the country. Student demonstrations and riots in Belgrade in June 1968 spread to Kosovo in November of the same year, however, Tito conceded some of the students demands—in particular, representative powers for Albanians in both the Serbian and Yugoslav state bodies and better recognition of the Albanian language. The University of Pristina was established as an independent institution in 1970, the lack of Albanian-language educational materials in Yugoslavia hampered the Albanisation of education in Kosovo, so an agreement was struck with Albania itself to supply textbooks. In 1974 Kosovos political status improved further when a new Yugoslav constitution granted a set of political rights. Along with Vojvodina, Kosovo was declared a province and gained many of the powers of a fully-fledged republic, power was still exercised by the Communist Party, but it was now devolved mainly to ethnic Albanian communists. Titos death on 4 May 1980 ushered in a period of political instability, worsened by growing economic crisis. The disturbances were quelled by the Presidency of Yugoslavia proclaiming a state of emergency, sending in riot police and the army, hard-liners instituted a fierce crackdown on nationalism of all kinds, Albanian and Serbian alike. Kosovo endured a heavy secret-police presence throughout most of the 1980s that ruthlessly suppressed any unauthorised nationalist manifestations, according to a report quoted by Mark Thompson, as many as 580,000 inhabitants of Kosovo were arrested, interrogated, interned or reprimanded. Thousands of these lost their jobs or were expelled from their educational establishments, during this time tension between the Albanian and Serbian communities continued to escalate. Such concerns did attract interest in Belgrade, stories appeared from time to time in the Belgrade media claiming that Serbs and Montenegrins were being persecuted. There was a perception among Serbian nationalists that Serbs were being driven out of Kosovo, in addition to all this, the worsening state of Kosovos economy made the province a poor choice for Serbs seeking work. Albanians, as well as Serbs, tended to favor their compatriots when hiring new employees, Kosovo was the poorest entity of Yugoslavia, the average per capita income was $795, compared with the national average of $2,635. 33 nationalist formations were dismantled by Yugoslav police, who sentenced some 280 people and seized arms caches, in Kosovo an increasingly poisonous atmosphere between Serbs and Albanians led to wild rumors being spread and otherwise trivial incidents being blown out of proportion
29.
Albanians
–
Albanians are an ethnic group, native to Albania, Kosovo and neighboring countries. The term is used to refer to the citizens of the Republic of Albania. Ethnic Albanians speak the Albanian language and more than half of ethnic Albanians live in Albania, a large Albanian population lives in the Republic of Macedonia and Italy, with smaller Albanian populations located in Serbia and Montenegro. The majority of Albanians are nominally Muslims, and a minority are nominally Christians, during the 17th and 18th century Albanians in large numbers converted to Islam, often to escape higher taxes levied on Christian subjects. As Muslims, some Albanians attained important political and military positions within the Ottoman Empire, Albania gained its independence in 1912 and between 1945–1992, Albanians lived under a repressive communist regime. Between the 11th and 18th centuries, sizable numbers of Albanians migrated from the area of contemporary Albania to escape either various socio-political difficulties and/or the Ottoman conquest. Another population, who became the Arbëreshë settled in southern Italy and form the oldest continuous Albanian diaspora producing influential, smaller populations dating to migrations during the 18th century are located on Croatias Dalmatian coast and scattered communities across southern Ukraine. The Albanian diaspora also exists in a number of other countries, one of these is located in Turkey. Due to the Ottoman legacy, smaller populations of Albanians also exist in Egypt, in Western countries, a large and influential Albanian population exists in the United States formed from continuous emigration dating back to the 19th century. The Albanians and their country Albania have been identified by many ethnonyms, from these ethnonyms, names for Albanians were also derived in other languages that were or still are in use. The term for a people located in the area of contemporary Albania is first encountered in the works of Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates. He referred to them as Albanoi having taken part in a revolt against the Byzantine Empire in 1043 and these references have been disputed as to whether they refer to Albanians in an ethnic sense. A later reference to Albanians from the same Attaliates regarding the participation of Albanians in a rebellion around 1078 is undisputed. In later Byzantine usage, the terms Arbanitai and Albanoi with a range of variants were used interchangeably, the first reference to the Albanian language dates to the latter 13th century. The ethnonym Albanian has been hypothesized to be connected to and stem from the Albanoi, linguists believe that the alb part in the root word originates from an Indo-European term for a type of mountainous topography, of which other words such as alps is derived from. Through the root word alban and its rhotacized equivalents arban, albar, and arbar, the Albanian language was referred to as Arbnisht and Arbërisht. Two etymologies have been proposed for this ethnonym, one, derived from the etymology from the Albanian word for eagle, in Albanian folk etymology, this word denotes a bird totem, dating from the times of Skanderbeg as displayed on the Albanian flag. The other is within scholarship that connects it to the verb to speak from the Latin excipere, in this instance the Albanian endonym like Slav and others would originally have been a term connoting those who speak
30.
Opolje
–
Opolje is a region in the southern part of the municipality of Prizren in southern Kosovo. According to Milisav Lutovac, the name had to do with the inhabited localities dotted around a field, the name also appears in Lower Silesia, in Poland - Opole, and in Russia - Opolye. Gora, in a term, refers to both the Gorani-inhabited Gora, and its sub-region Opolje, which is inhabited by Albanians. According to the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Opolje had an area of ca.108 km2, sheltered by high mountain ranges of strong and cold winds, Gora and Opolje does not have harsh winters. There is no border between Gora and Opolje, while the northern part of the town of Dragaš has been considered part of Opolje as well. Opolje is one of the traditional župa in the Šar Mountains massif in southern Kosovo, alongside Sredačka Župa, Sirinićka Župa, Gora, in the west of Opolje is the region of Lumë, which extends in both Kosovo and Albania. The villages of Brodosavce, was mentioned in a charter dated 1330, the ruins of the Zinovo fortress is most likely located beneath Brodosavce. There exists ruins of medieval Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries in Brodosavce, Brut, Plajnik, the Serbian rulers King Stephen Uroš III and Emperor Stephen Dušan mentioned many of the Opolje and Gora villages in their charters, which shows that they existed before those dates. Opolje was an estate of the Church of the Holy Theotokos in Prizren throughout the Middle Ages. In 1455, the territories of the Serbian Despotate were annexed by the Ottomans. Gora, in its broadest meaning, became a nahiyah of the Sanjak of Prizren, in the 15th century, there were no Albanian settlements in Gora and Opolje. There are no sources which name Opolje a nahiya in the 15th century, the Ottoman defter from 1591 registers Gora as inhabited exclusively by Serbs, while Opolje to the north is Albanian populated. In the early 16th century, Opolje and the other Šar župas were governed by Kukli-Bey of Bukhara, Kukli-Bey was seated in Opolje, and after his death, the local villagers were given the lands, and used the mountains in the outskirts of the villages. In 1913, Sredska, Opolje and Ljuma were economically tied to Prizren, from 1945 to Opolje was part of the municipality of Gora, but was then given status of a municipality. It was abolished on November 3,1992, under the law of the federal Federal Yugoslav Republic of Serbia and it was merged with Gora to form the municipality of Dragaš from 2000-2008 by the United Nations Mission. The Republic of Kosovo joined the region with the municipality of Prizren, the population of Opolje, in 19 localities, is totally homogenously Albanian. According to the 1981 census, Albanians constituted 99. 9% of the Opolje population, the ethnic homogeneity of Opolje dates from long before, as evident from the 1948,1953 and 1961 censuses, when 99. 8% declared as Albanians. Opolje had a population growth in 1961-1971 of 33 per 1,000
31.
Shishtavec
–
Shishtavec is a village in Kukës County in northeastern Albania. It was also the seat of the municipality of the same name. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Kukës, the village consists of around 300 households with over 1,800 Gorani inhabitants. The area is part of the wider Gora region, most of it lies in the side of the border. The Gorani population in Albania identifies itself mostly with the Albanians, unlike the Gorani inhabitants of Kosovo, there are recent attempts to recognize them as forming their own minority group, as with others who identify with Bulgaria, Serbia, and Macedonia. Roughly 250 acres of potatoes are planted annually in Shishtavec, according to the 2011 census,68. 3% of the municipality identified ethnically as Albanian, while 7. 7% identified as Macedonian. The remainder did not declare an ethnicity
32.
Brod, Prizren
–
Brod is a village in south of Kosovo, in the region of Gora, in the municipality of Dragaš. It is part of the District of Prizren, the majority of people are Gorani. Brod is a big village with 900 houses, the people of Brod are Muslims. A small part near the cities also speak Albanian, as well as Serbian, Gorani are traditionally known as good confectioners and a variety of foods. Traditional Gorani folk music includes a dance called kolo, which is a circle dance focused on foot movements. The dance is started by using right foot and moving in a counterclockwise direction. Koło is usually accompanied by music made often with a Zurle or Kaval. Kolos are less frequently accompanied by singing as they are in neighboring groups such as the Albanians. There is also a part of Gorani history in their lyrics. Uniquely, they sing about the journey to Turkey, about broken hearts. Their songs are performed by men and women, there is a canyon near the village
33.
Roman Empire
–
Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
34.
Byzantine Empire
–
It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
35.
Sclaveni
–
The Sclaveni or Sklavenoi were early South Slavic tribes that raided, invaded and settled the Balkans in the Early Middle Ages. They were mentioned by early Byzantine chroniclers as barbarians having appeared at the Byzantine borders along with the Antes, the Sclaveni were differentiated from the Antes and Wends, however, described as kin. Eventually, most South Slavic tribes accepted Byzantine suzerainty, and came under Byzantine cultural influence, the term, along with the term Sklavinia was widely used until the emergance of separate tribal names by the 10th century. The Byzantines broadly grouped the numerous Slav tribes living in proximity with the Eastern Roman Empire into two groups, the Sklavenoi and the Antes, the Sclaveni were called as such by Procopius, and as Sclavi by Jordanes and Pseudo-Maurice. The derived Greek term Sklavinia is interpreted as Slav lands in Byzantium and these Slavic settlements were initially out of Byzantine control and independent. By 800, however, the term referred specifically to Slavic mobile military colonists who settled as allies within the territories of the Byzantine Empire. Slavic military settlements appeared in the Peloponnese, Asia Minor, Procopius gives the most detail about the Sclaveni and Antes. The Sclaveni are also mentioned by Jordanes, Pseudo-Caesarius, Menander Protector, Strategikon, the first Slavic raid south of the Danube was recorded by Procopius, who mentions an attack of the Antes, who dwell close to the Sclaveni, probably in 518. Scholar M. Kazanski identified the 6th-century Prague culture and Sukow-Dziedzice group as Sclaveni archaeological cultures, in the 530s, Emperor Justinian seems to have used divide and conquer and the Sclaveni and Antes are mentioned as fighting each other. Sclaveni are first mentioned in the context of the policy on the Danube frontier of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In 537,1,600 cavalry, made up of mostly Sclaveni, sometime between 533–34 and 545, there was a conflict between the Antes and Sclaveni in Eastern Europe. Procopius noted that the two became hostile to one another and engaged in battle until a Sclaveni victory, the conflict was likely aided or initiated by the Byzantines. In the same period, the Antes raided Thrace, the Romans also recruited mounted mercenaries from both tribes against the Ostrogoths. The two tribes were at peace by 545, notably, one of the captured Antes claimed to be Roman general Chilbudius. He was sold to the Antes and freed and he revealed his true identity but was pressured and continued to claim that he was Chilbudius. The Antes are last mentioned as anti-Byzantine belligerents in 545, the Antes became Roman allies by treaty in 545. Between 545 and 549, the Sclaveni raided deep into Roman territory, in 547,300 Antes fought the Ostrogoths in Lucania. In the summer of 550, the Sclaveni came close to Naissus, and were seen as a threat, however, their intent on capturing Thessaloniki
Kosovo
Serbia
Macedonia
Albania
Croatia
Hungary
Montenegro
Bosnia and Herzegovina.png)
.svg){kind=small}