 Location in Kosovo | |
| Country |  Kosovo |
| Capital | Ferizaj |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1,030 km2 (400 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 185,806 |
| • Rank | 5th |
| • Density | 180/km2 (470/sq mi) |
| Postal code | 70000 |
| Municipalities | 5 |
| Settlements [1] | 126 |
District of Ferizaj [lower-alpha 1] is one of the districts of Kosovo. Ferizaj is the seat of the district.
The district of Ferizaj consists of five municipalities and 126 settlements. [1]
| Municipality | Population (2011) | Area (km2) | Density (km2) | Settlements |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferizaj | 108,690 | 345 | 315 | 45 |
| Kaçanik | 33,454 | 221 | 151.4 | 31 |
| Shtime | 27,324 | 134 | 203.9 | 23 |
| Hani i Elezit | 9,389 | 83 | 113.1 | 11 |
| Štrpce | 6,949 | 247 | 28.1 | 16 |
The city of Ferizaj was inhabited during the prehistoric era by the Starčevo culture, Vinča culture and Baden cultures. During the Ottoman period, Ferizaj was a trading center on the route between Belgrade and Thessaloniki. Camp Bondsteel, a United States Army base and the largest, most expensive American foreign military base in Southeast Europe since the Vietnam War, was built there in 1999. [2]
Ferizaj is in south-eastern Kosovo, about halfway between Pristina and Skopje, North Macedonia. It is about 230 kilometres (140 mi) north-east of Tirana, 55 kilometres (34 mi) north of Skopje, 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Sofia, 35 kilometres (22 mi) south of Pristina and 300 km east of Podgorica. Ferizaj is a location of a river bifurcation; the Nerodimka river divides into two branches, which flow to two different seas.
All the municipalities have an Albanian majority: Ferizaj (95.9 percent), Shtime (96.8 percent), Kaçanik (99.9 percent) and Hani i Elezit (99.5 percent). Štrpce has a mixed population of Albanians (54.1 percent) and Serbs.
| Group | Number | % |
|---|---|---|
| Albanians | 177,075 | 95.4 |
| Serbs | 3,230 | 1.7 |
| Roma (Ashkali) | 4,661 | 2.5 |
| Other or no response | 677 | 0.4 |
The town (known as Ferızovık when it was part of the Ottoman Empire) was little more than a village until 1873, when it became part of the Belgrade-Thessaloniki railway. Its name derives from a hotel owned before 1873 by Feriz Shasivari.
The oldest known cultural group, in the 6th and 5th millennia BC in Kosovo, was the Starčevo culture. They lived near rivers and river terraces. Their houses were built of willows and mud, and their main occupation was agriculture. [3]
The Vinča culture, who replaced the Starčevo culture around 4300 BC, also lived near rivers. The settlements were unfortified, with dense rows of willow-and-mud houses. Remnants of their culture include ceramic vessels and large numbers of baked-clay figures. [4] The Bubanj-Hum culture, which replaced the Vinča culture from present-day Bulgaria, left few artifacts. [4] The Baden culture arrived from the Danube in its southernmost expansion, ending before the end of the 3rd millennium BC. [5]
From the 8th century BC to the Roman conquest, the Dardani inhabited the region. [5] They cremated their dead and buried their remains in tumuli. Two necropolises have been found; one in the Kuline area near the railway station in Gërlicë, and the other in the Mollopolc region along the Ferizaj-Štimlje road. [6]
Around 280 BC, the Dardani were reportedly ruled by a king. [6] Most surviving information on the Dardani concerns their wars against the Macedons. The first contact between the Dardani and the Romans was in 200 BC, when they offered military assistance against Macedonia. In 96 BC, the Roman emperor Sulla subdued the Dardani. [6] A number of Roman settlements were founded across the valley, on the old lake terraces. These settlements had a road network connecting cities such as Ulpiana and Skopje, part of the road connecting Macedonia to Dalmatia via Ferizaj and the gorge of Kaçanik. Parts of the road were discovered on the riverbed of the Lepenac and near the villages of Doganaj and Reka. [6]
The region was on a road which ran south from Slovenia and Croatia through Sarajevo, Vushtrri, Pristina and Lipjan to Skopje and crossed the Shkodër–Prizren road. [7] According to an anonymous 1559–1560 manuscript in the library of St Mark's Basilica in Venice by a traveler from Venice to Istanbul, "On July 3 set off and came to a place named Villa Negra Carraleva) ... The valley is surrounded on all sides by hills." The writer then passed Sopotnice, a village near Kaçanik, and reached Skopje on July 5. [7] Many artifacts have been found at Nerodimë e Poshtme and Shtime. [8]
According to a 1455 Turkish census of the former Branković dynasty, the Ferizaj region had 646 villages. Agriculture was the basic source of income, and other occupations included blacksmiths, potters, furriers, ranchers, and priests and monks. [9]
After the Austrian-Turkish wars of the late 17th century and the first half of the 18th century, rapid Islamization began under the Ottoman Empire. According to Turkish sources, "Feriz-Bey" was founded with the railway from Skopje to Mitrovica. Although it was first known as "Tasjon" by the surrounding villagers (the Turkish pronunciation of the French station), the name Ferizaj derived from Feriz Shasivari. [10]
Inns, warehouses and a market followed the railway station. Traders passed through Kosovo from Prizren to Shkodër by caravan en route to Thessaloniki. Cereals were exported through Ferizaj in exchange for goods from Thessaloniki and Skopje. For about 30 years, Ferizaj had about 400 houses and 200 shops, and most of its population were traders or craftsmen. Some 20th-century visitors described the city as having more stores than houses. [11]
When Ferizaj fell to Serbia during the First Balkan War, the local Albanian population offered a determined resistance and fighting reportedly lasted for three days. [12] The Serbian commander ordered the population to surrender. Three to four hundred men were executed [12] and, according to the Archbishop of Skopje Lazër Mjeda, only three Muslim Albanians over age fifteen were left alive. [13] The destruction of Albanian-occupied villages around Ferizaj followed. [14] Before the 1913 Treaty of London in 1913 made Ferizaj part of the Kingdom of Serbia, its name was changed to Uroševac after Stefan Uroš V of Serbia. [15]
The beginning of the First World War separated Serbia and Montenegro. [16] In October 1915, Bulgaria entered the war and Ferizaj was part of the main artery connecting Kumanovo and Skopje with Kosovo. The city was a stopping point for the Bulgarian attack from the Kaçanik Gorge. Serb resistance ended on 25 November 1915, when it was conquered by the Bulgarian Army with aid from the Albanians. [16] The army withdrew on 1 April 1916, leaving the Prizren-Albania railway under Austro-Hungarian command.
The early Second World War negated a 1938 agreement between Yugoslavia and Turkey which would have resettled large numbers of Albanians in Turkey from 1939 to 1944. [17] After the Axis invasion, Italian troops were deployed in Ferizaj and its auxiliary army airport. [18]
In 1941, the district Communist party encouraged enlistment in Albania's National Liberation Movement. After the Italian surrender the district was occupied by Germany, which treated the Albanian population somewhat better. [19] In 1943, the arrest and deportation of all National Liberation Movement participants began. [20] The city was liberated on 2 December 1944, and the district's economy needed to be rebuilt. [21]
The city of Ferizaj experienced some damage during the 1999 Kosovo War, with some of its Albanian neighborhoods shelled and burned by the Yugoslav People's Army.
Camp Bondsteel, the main base of the United States Army detachment of the KFOR peacekeeping force in Kosovo, is on rolling hills and farmland near the city. The camp, established immediately after the war, covers 955 acres (360,000 square meters). [22]
Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo is a country in Southeast Europe with partial diplomatic recognition. Kosovo lies landlocked in the centre of the Balkans, bordered by Serbia to the north and east, North Macedonia to the southeast, Albania to the southwest, and Montenegro to the west. Most of central Kosovo is dominated by the vast plains and fields of Metohija and the Kosovo field. The Accursed Mountains and Šar Mountains rise in the southwest and southeast, respectively. Its capital and largest city is Pristina.
The Vardar Banovina, or Vardar Banate, was a province (banate) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941.
Metohija or Dukagjin is a large basin and the name of the region covering the southwestern part of Kosovo. The region covers 35% (3,891 km2) of Kosovo's total area. According to the 2011 census, the population of the region is 700,577.
The history of Kosovo dates back to pre-historic times when the Starčevo culture, Vinča culture, Bubanj-Hum culture, and Baden culture were active in the region. Since then, many archaeological sites have been discovered due to the abundance of natural resources which gave way to the development of life.
Kaçanik or Kačanik, is a town and municipality located in the Ferizaj District of southern Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Kaçanik has 15,634 inhabitants, while the municipality has 33,409 inhabitants.
The Vilayet of Kosovo was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Peninsula which included the current territory of Kosovo and the north-western part of the Republic of North Macedonia. The areas today comprising Sandžak (Raška) region of Serbia and Montenegro, although de jure under Ottoman control, were in fact under Austro-Hungarian occupation from 1878 until 1909, as provided under Article 25 of the Treaty of Berlin. Üsküb (Skopje) functioned as the capital of the province and the midway point between Istanbul and its European provinces. Üsküb's population of 32,000 made it the largest city in the province, followed by Prizren, also numbering at 30,000.
Jeton Neziraj is a playwright from Kosovo. He was the Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Kosovo and now he is the Director of Qendra Multimedia, a cultural production company based in Prishtina.
Pristina is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and district.
Idriz Seferi was an Albanian leader and guerrilla fighter (rebel). During his 56 year military career, he fought in 35 battles. A member of the League of Prizren and League of Peja, he was the right-hand man of Isa Boletini, with whom he organized the 1910 Uprising against the Ottoman Empire in the Kosovo Vilayet. After the suppression of the uprising, Seferi continued warfare, in the 1912 Uprising. In the First Balkan War, Boletini and Seferi rose up against Serbia, with whom they had previously been allies to during the 1910 and 1912 Uprisings, and continued to attack Serbian posts in the subsequent occupation and initial phase of World War I (1913-1915). In the second phase of the war (1916-1918), he led troops against Bulgarian forces.
Transport in Kosovo consists of transport by land and air. After the Kosovo's independence, improvements to the road infrastructure, urban transport, and air travel have all led to a vast improvement in transportation. These upgrades have played a key role in supporting Kosovo's economy.
This is a timeline containing events regarding the history of Kosovo.
The Kingdom of Serbia was one of the major parties in the Balkan Wars, gaining land in both conflicts. It experienced significant territorial gains in the Central Balkans, nearly doubling its territory.
The Albanian revolt of 1910 was a reaction to the new centralization policies of the Young Turk Ottoman government in Albania. It was the first of a series of major uprisings. Rebels were supported by the Kingdom of Serbia. New taxes levied in the early months of 1910 led to Isa Boletini's activity to convince Albanian leaders who had already been involved in a 1909 uprising to try another revolt against the Ottoman Empire. The Albanian attacks on the Ottomans in Priştine and Ferizovik, the killing of the Ottoman commander in İpek, and the insurgents' blocking of the railway to Skopje at the Kaçanik Pass led to the Ottoman government's declaration of martial law in the area.
Ferizaj, or Uroševac, is the sixth largest city in Kosovo by population and seat of Ferizaj Municipality and Ferizaj District.
Vlashnjë is a village in the Prizren municipality of Kosovo. It has 1,700 inhabitants as of 2011. Vlashnjë is a multi-layered settlement and site area. Archaeological excavations have identified habitation and use of the area since the Neolithic era. The rock art paintings at Mrrizi i Kobajës are the first find of prehistoric rock art in Kosovo. In late antiquity, Vlashnja was a fortified settlement part of the fortification network which Justinian I rebuilt along the White Drin in Dardania.
Kosovo has a rich heritage in archaeology, however the field suffers from a lack of substantial institutional research. Since prehistory, the advantageous geostrategic position and abundant natural resources of the area have been suitable for the emergence of life. This is shown by the by traces of hundreds of archaeological sites discovered throughout the country, displaying the abundant archaeological legacy.
Ferizaj is a city and municipality in southern Kosovo, located 38 kilometers (24 mi) south of the capital city, Pristina. Ferizaj is the third most populated city in Kosovo, after Pristina and Prizren. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous district. The central city postal code is 70 000, and the currency is euro (€).
Ferizaj, the fifth largest city in Kosovo, has been populated since the pre-historic era. The history of Ferizaj is significant due to its impact on the economic, political, social culture of the region from antiquity to the present.
The R 6 Motorway, also commonly Autostrada Prishtinë-Han i Elezit and Autostrada Prishtinë-Shkup or Autostrada Arbën Xhaferi, is a motorway in Kosovo running 60 kilometres (37 mi) in the districts of Ferizaj and Pristina. The motorway connects Pristina with Skopje in North Macedonia.
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