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This article includes information on the demographic history of Kosovo.
Contents
Prehistory
Archeological findings show that Bronze and Iron Age tombs were found only in Metohija, not in Kosovo proper. The region was originally inhabited by Thracians, and subsequently by Illyrians, Celts and Thracians. During antiquity, the area was inhabitet by Dardani and by the fourth century the Dardanian Kingdom was found. The Dardani, whose exact ethno-linguistic affiliation is difficult to determine, were a prominent group in the region during the late Hellenistic and early Roman eras. The area was originally populated with Thracians who were then exposed to Illyrian influence. After Roman conquest of Illyria at 168 BC, Romans colonized and founded several cities in the region, like Ulpiana, Theranda, Vicianum, incorporating it into the Roman province of Illyricum in 59 BC. Subsequently, it became part of Moesia Superior in AD 87. The region was exposed to an increasing number of 'barbarian' raids from the 4th century AD onwards, culminating with the Slavic migrations of the 6th and 7th centuries. Archaeologically, the early Middle Ages represent a hiatus in the material record, and whatever was left of the native provincial population fused into the Slavs.
Early and High Middle Ages
Slavs are mentioned in the area since the 520s AD, with the Slav tribe of Sklavenoi settling the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum, the mythological founders of the Serbs were the White Serbs; "who settled in the Balkans during the rule of Emperor Heraclius" (610-641) and they mixed with the natives. Archaeological findings suggest that there was steady population recovery and progression of the Slavic culture seen elsewhere throughout the Balkans. The region was absorbed into the Bulgarian Empire in the 850s, where Christianity and a Byzantine-Slavic culture was cemented in the region. It was re-taken by the Byzantines after 1018, and became part of the newly established Theme of Bulgaria. In 1054, the Great Schism divided the historical Roman Empire into a Western and Eastern part on religious basis; Kosovo, located in the Eastern part, became part of the Orthodox world. As the centre of Slavic resistance to Constantinople in the region, the region often switched between Serbian and Bulgarian rule on one hand and Byzantine on the other, until Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja secured it by the end of the 12th century. An insight into the region is provided by the Byzantine historian-princess, Anna Comnena, who wrote of "Serbs" being the main inhabitants of the region (referring to it as "eastern Dalmatia" and the "former Moesia Superior"). The earliest reference of Albanians comes from Michael Attaleiates, who spoke of the "Arbanitai" located around the hinterland districts of Dyrrachium, modern Durrës.
1321–31
The Dečani chrysobulls (1321–31) of Serbian king Stefan Dečanski contains a detailed list of households and villages in Metohija and northwestern Albania. The first charter concludes that this region was ethnically Serb. 89 settlements with 2,666 households were recorded, out of which 86 were Serb (96,6%), and 3 were Albanian (3,3%); there were 2,166 livestock households of 2,666 agricultural households, out of which 2,122 were Serb (98%), and 44 were Albanian (2%).
1455
The Ottoman cadastral tax census (defter) of 1455 in the Branković lands (covering most of present-day Kosovo) recorded:
Yugoslav and Serbian scholars have researched the defter, concluding that:
Out of all names mentioned in this census, conducted by the Ottomans in 1455, covering areas of most of present-day Kosovo, 95.88% of all names were of Serbian origin, 1.90% of Roman origin, 1.56% of uncertain origin, 0.26% of Albanian origin, 0.25% of Greek origin, etc.
1487
The defter of 1487 in the Branković lands recorded:
1520–1535
1582–83
The 1582–83 defter of the Sanjak of Scutari recorded the Peć nahiya as having 235 villages of which some 30 have Albanian families besides the majorital Orthodox Serbs. The Altun-li nahiya had 41 villages with a Serb majority and Albanian minority.
1591
Ottoman defter from 1591:
17th – 18th centuries
The Great Turkish War of 1683–1699 between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs led to the flight of a substantial numbers of Serbs and Albanians who had sided with the Austrians, from within and outside Kosovo, to Austrian held Vojvodina and the Military Frontier – Patriarch Arsenije III, one of the refugees, referred to 30,000 or 40,000 souls, but a much later monastic source referred to 37,000 families. Serbian historians have used this second source to talk of a Great Migration of Serbs. Wars in 1717–1738 led to a second exodus of refugees (both Serbian and Albanian) from inside and outside Kosovo, together with reprisals and the enslavement and deportation of a number of Serbs and Albanians by the victorious Ottomans.
19th century
19th century data about the population of Kosovo tend to be rather conflicting, giving sometimes numerical superiority to the Serbs and sometimes to the Albanians. The Ottoman statistics are regarded as unreliable, as the empire counted its citizens by religion rather than nationality, using birth records rather than surveys of individuals.
A study in 1838 by an Austrian physician, dr. Joseph Müller found Metohija to be mostly "Slavic" in character. Müller gives data for the three counties (Bezirke) of Prizren, Peć and Đakovica which roughly covered Metohija, the portion adjacent to Albania and most affected by Albanian settlers. Out of 195,000 inhabitants in this region, Müller found:
Müller's observations on towns:
Map published by French ethnographer G. Lejean in 1861 shows that Albanians lived on around 57% Kosovo while a similar map, published by British travellers G. M. Mackenzie and A. P. Irby in 1867 shows slightly less; these maps don't show which population was larger overall. Nevethless, maps cannot be used to measure population as they leave out density.
A study done in 1871 by Austrian colonel Peter Kukulj for the internal use of the Austro-Hungarian army showed that the mutesarifluk of Prizren (corresponding largely to present-day Kosovo) had some 500,000 inhabitants, of which:
Modern Serbian sources estimated that around 400,000 Serbs were cleansed out of the Vilayet of Kosovo between 1876 and 1912.
Maps published by German historian Kiepert in 1876, J. Hahn and Austrian consul K. Sax, show that Albanians live on most of the territory of what is now Kosovo, however they don't show which population is larger. According to these, the regions of Kosovska Mitrovica and Kosovo Polje were settled mostly by Serbs, whereas most of the territory of western and eastern parts of today's province was settled by Muslim Albanians.
An Austrian statistics published in 1899 estimated:
At the end of the 19th century, Spiridon Gopchevich, an Austrian traveller – comprised a statistics and published them in Vienna. They established that Prizren had 60,000 citizens of whom 11,000 were Christian Serbs and 36,000 Muslem Serbs. The remaining population were Turks, Albanians, Tzintzars and Roma. For Peć he said that it had 2,530 households of which 1,600 were Mohammedan, 700 Christian Serb, 200 Catholic Albanian and 10 Turkish.
Note: Territory of Ottoman Kosovo Vilayet was quite different from modern-day Kosovo.
Early 20th century
British journalist H. Brailsford estimated in 1906 that two-thirds of the population of Kosovo was Albanian and one-third Serbian. The most populous western districts of Gjakova and Peć were said to have between 20,000 and 25,000 Albanian households, as against some 5,000 Serbian ones. A map of Alfred Stead, published in 1909, shows that similar numbers of Serbs and Albanians were living in the territory.
German scholar Gustav Weigand gave the following statistical data about the population of Kosovo, based on the pre-war situation in Kosovo in 1912:
Metohija with the town of Gjakova is furthermore defined as almost exclusively Albanian by Weigand.
Citing Serbian sources, Noel Malcolm also states that in 1912 when Kosovo came under Serbian control, "the Orthodox Serb population [was] at less than 25%" of Kosovo's entire population.
1921 census
It should be noted that the Yugoslav government settled Serbs and Montenegrins in the region, after past depopulation due to wars and Muslim emigration to Turkey.
1931 census
World War II
Most of the territory of today's province was occupied by Italian-controlled Greater Albania, massacres of some 10,000 Serbs, ethnic cleansing of about 100 to 250,000 or more occurred.
Nazi Germany estimated that from November 1943 to February 1944, 40 000 Serbs fled Italian-occupied Kosovo for Montenegro and Serbia.
1948 census
727,820 total inhabitants:
1953 census
808,141 total inhabitants
1961 census
963,959 total inhabitants
1971 census
1,243,693 total inhabitants
1981 census
1,584,558 total inhabitants
Registered population
Official Yugoslav statistical results, almost all Albanians and some Roma, Muslims boycott the census following a call by Ibrahim Rugova to boycott Serbian institutions.
359,346 total population
By ethnicity:Estimated population
Statistical office of Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija estimated total number of Albanians, Muslims and Roma.
1,956,196 Total population
The corrections should not be taken to be fully accurate. The number of Albanians is sometimes regarded as being an underestimate. On the other hand, it is sometimes regarded as an overestimate, being derived from earlier censa which are believed to be overestimates. The Statistical Office of Kosovo states that the quality of the 1991 census is "questionable." [1].
In September 1993, the Bosniak parliament returned their historical name Bosniaks. Some Kosovar Muslims have started using this term to refer to themselves since.
2011 census
In the 2011 census there were 1,739,825 inhabitants. ECMI "calls for caution when referring to the 2011 census", due to the boycott by Serb-majority municipalities in North Kosovo and the partial boycott by Serb and Roma in southern Kosovo. According to the data, this is the ethnic composition of Kosovo:
The Ashkali and Balkan Egyptians,are in fact Roma, but who self identify in such terms to distinguish itself from the Romani people.