Kosovo: overview, history, and current status

Kosovo usually refers to the entire territory. Kosovo is also used in Serbo-Croatian with the same meaning. In addition, nationally conscious Serbs use the term Kosmet, a word combination of Kosovo and Metohija, in parallel.

Kos in Serbo-Croatian refers to the blackbird. The region is named after the Blackbird Field (Serbian Kosovo Polje, Albanian Fushë Kosovë) near Pristina. The word kosovo is a possessive adjective ("belonging to the blackbird") and therefore actually incomplete without an additional polje ("field"). However, the abbreviation has become common in this form.

The name Metohija for western Kosovo is derived from the Greek μετοχή (metochí "monastic estate"). This name, which describes a landscape characterized by many churches and monasteries, was no longer used by the state in Yugoslavia after 1974. The Kosovo Albanians call this region Dukagjini or Rrafshi i Dukagjinit.

Dardania is a common historical name for Kosovo among Albanians. It derives from the ancient Illyrian people of the Dardans, who lived in the area of present-day Kosovo. It included the present territory of Kosovo, as well as some areas in southern Serbia and northern Macedonia. In October 2000, the future President Ibrahim Rugova presented his proposal for a future flag of Kosovo. On it was a banner with the name "Dardania", which Rugova proposed as the country name of an independent Kosovo.

Kosovo is landlocked in the centre of the Balkan Peninsula. It borders Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the northwest, Serbia and central Serbia to the north and east, and northern Macedonia to the southeast. Tectonically, the levelled areas of the Blackbird Field and Metohija are entirely bordered by mountains. The mountain ranges of the Prokletije border Kosovo with Montenegro and Albania, the Kopaonik with Serbia and the Šar Planina with northern Macedonia.

With 10,877 km², Kosovo, the smallest country in Southeast Europe, has about two thirds of the area of Thuringia and is comparatively densely populated with 195 inhabitants per square kilometre. 53 % of the area is used for agriculture, 42 % is forest and 5 % is built-up or urban area.

Due to the spatial structure of a depression surrounded by high mountains, Kosovo has always been an important agricultural region - the Amselfeld wine is well known - as well as the centre of the Balkan long-distance grazing economy, in which the lowlands of Metohija in particular were used as winter grazing areas and were still visited by Thessalian and North Serbian migrant shepherds in the 19th century. A special feature of livestock farming is the use of water buffaloes, which in some cases continues to this day.

In terms of settlement geography, the higher-lying Blackbird Field with its capital Pristina, which stretches between the Ibar and the Southern Morava as a long depression, is today the economically more important region. Historically, Metohija was more important, with the oldest urban centres of Prizren, the ancient Roman administrative centre and later Serbian imperial city, and Peja. The plains are separated from each other by hilly low mountainous terrain, largely covered by sparse oak forests, which makes communication routes difficult.

The high mountain landscapes on the borders with Albania, Montenegro and northern Macedonia reach 2500 m throughout. The highest mountains are Rudoka (in Šar Planina, 2658 m), Gjeravica (in the municipality of Peja, 2656 m), Bistra (municipality of Ferizaj, 2640 m), Marjash (Peja, 2530 m), Ljuboten (alb. Luboten, Ferizaj, 2496 m) and Koproniku (Peja, 2460 m). Largely built up of silicate rocks, the mountains are usually also rich in water and well suited for cattle herding. Karst mountains such as Koproniku and the central parts of Šar Planina with Bistra are built of Cretaceous limestones and are therefore less accessible and have less water.

Waters

The White Drin, which rises near Peja, flows through the west of the country. The Drin is the most important and, at about 113 km, the longest river in Kosovo. Some reservoirs are located in the interior of the country and on the borders with Serbia and Albania. The largest of them is Lake Gazivode with 11.9 km², followed by Lake Radoniq and Lake Batllava.

Numerous glacial lakes can be found especially in Šar Planina. In the metochian Prokletije, three small lakes around the Gjeravica River remain as evidence of glacial glaciation of the mountains.

Climate

Kosovo has a predominantly continental climate due to its landlocked location. However, depending on the geographical location, the continental climate characteristics are different. For this reason, Kosovo is divided into three climatic regions, namely the Blackbird Field, Metohija (alb. Dukagjin), and mountainous and forested parts.

In the area of the Blackbird field, which includes the eastern half of the country with the capital Pristina, the continental climate is predominant. Thus, winters are cold with an average temperature of -10 °C, but can reach lows of -26 °C. Summers, on the other hand, are very warm with an average temperature of 20 °C, but temperatures as high as 37 °C are not uncommon. This region is also characterized by a rather dry climate, as the annual rainfall averages around 600 mm.

In Metohija, which occupies the western half of the country, the continental climate is strongly influenced by the warm air masses of the Mediterranean Sea. The average daily temperature in winter ranges from 0.5 to 22.8 °C. The average annual precipitation of this region is about 700 mm. Heavy snowfalls are typical in winter.

The third climatic region includes the mountainous areas of Montenegro, Albania and northern Macedonia, as well as the forested parts of the hilly and mountainous areas in the centre and north of Kosovo. Unlike the other two regions, this one receives more precipitation (between 900 and 1300 mm annually). And while summers are quite short and mild, winters are usually cold and rainy.

For Kosovo as a whole, December and January are among the coldest months of the year, and July and August are among the warmest. Most precipitation falls between October and December.