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Revision as of 11:36, 12 October 2003 by G-Man (talk | contribs) (Big changes and expansion)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Priština (Приштина) (Serbian) or Prishtina/Prishtinë (Albanian) is the capital city of the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohia, located at 42°65' N, 21°17' E. The population is 204,500 (2003). The city now has a majority of Albanians. Most of the city's Serb population left after the Kosovo War.
History
In Roman times a large urban centre existed 15 kilometres (9 miles) to the south of modern day Prishtina called Ulpiana, this city was destroyed but was restored by the Emperor Justinian. Today the village of Lipijan stands on the site of the Roman city, and ruins of the old city can still be seen.
In Medieval times Prishtina grew from the ruins of the former Roman city. The city was located at a juction of roads leading in all directions throughout the Balkan peninsular and with Istanbul. For this reason Prishtina rose to become an important trading centre. It also became important for mining.
During the time of the Medieval Serbian state, Pristina was the capital of King Milutin (1282 - 1321) and of other Nemanjices, and Brankovices until the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 where an invading Ottoman army inflicted heavy casualties upon the Serbian army. From whereupon the whole of Serbia was conquested by the Ottoman Empire in 1459 and driving many Serbs northwards.
From the 1870s onwards Albanians in the region formed the League of Prizren to resist Ottoman rule, and a provisional government was formed in 1881. In 1912 Kosova was briefly included in the newly independent state of Albania. But the following year the Great Powers forced Albania to cede the region to Serbia. In 1918 Kosove became a part of the newly formed Yugoslavia
Before the Second World War , Priština was a mixed town with a joint Turkish and Serb majority. However, Priština's Turkish caracter began to fade slowly in the late 1930's with migrations to the Republic of Turkey which was eager to settle the lands that it had just stripped bare of its Greek and Armenian inhabitants.
The Second World War saw the decline of Pristina's Serbian and Jewish communities as well as the settling of the Albanians in the town. Between (1939-1945) Kosova was briefly assigned to Albania. In 1946 it was granted autonomous status within Serbia. By the end of the war the Albanian share in the population grew rapidly but the Turks and Serbs jointly still formed an absolute majority .
The Communist period of the 1960's saw a massive influx of Albanians from all over the former Yugoslavia (particularly the Socialist Republics of Montenegro and Macedonia) . Priština's non Albanian communities shrunk to just over 40% by the 1970's although still occupying most of the town quarters.
Relations between the Albanian and Serb communities were particularly tense in following the 1981 Demonstrations and eventually blew up during the Kosovo War. A large portion of the city's Albanians fled from Serb atrocities and fighting in 1999 The United Nations estimated that nearly 640,000 Albanians were forced from Kosova between March 1998 and the end of April 1999. Most of the refugees went to Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Almost all returned the by the war's end as which also saw a new wave of Albanian settlers who swelled the town's population immigrating from the rural areas of the Serb province of Kosovo as well Albania.