Following the Great Turkish War, a number of Serbs migrated northwards to Habsburg territories near the Danube and Sava rivers led by Serbian Patriarch Arsenije III Crnojević. In 1389, as the Ottoman Empire expanded northwards through the Balkans, Ottoman forces under Sultan Murad I met with a Christian coalition led by Moravian Serbia under Prince Lazar in the Battle of Kosovo. The First Bulgarian Empire acquired Kosovo by the mid-9th century, but Byzantine control was restored by the late 10th century. The Bulgarians that pushed westwards across modern Macedonia and eastern Serbia, until by the 850's had taken over Kosovo and were pressing on the border of Serbian Principality. Expansion of Slavs into the region is thought to have led to the spread of the Vlachs (Romanian and Aromanian) into other areas of the Balkans.
The contemporary music artists Rita Ora, Dua Lipa and Era Istrefi are all of Albanian origin and have achieved international recognition for their music. Roots dating to the 5th century BC have been found in paintings on stones of singers with instruments. In 2014, Kosovo submitted their first film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, with Three Windows and a Hanging directed by Isa Qosja. International exposure of Kosovan art was limited in the 1990s due to Slobodan Milošević's regime and the difficult circumstances during the struggle for independence. In 2006, the property was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to difficulties in its management and conservation stemming from the region's political instability. In the Dukagjini region, at least 500 kullas were attacked, and most of them destroyed or otherwise damaged.
Notably, the Albanian ethnic group constitutes over 92% of its population, highlighting the country's diverse cultural fabric. The country's population rose steadily over the 20th century and peaked at an estimated 2.2 million in 1998. The Kosovo Security Force (KSF) is the national security force of Kosovo commissioned with the task of preserving and safeguarding the country's territorial integrity, national sovereignty and the security interests of its population.
Additionally, 0.5% of population reported affiliation with other religions, 0.5% stated they have no religious belief, and 1.5% chose not to disclose their religious affiliation. In the 2024 census, 93.5% of the population of Kosovo were Sunni Muslims, 2.3% were Eastern Orthodox and 1.8% Roman Catholics. Kosovo's society is strongly secularised and is ranked first in Southern Europe and ninth in the world as free and equal for tolerance towards religion and atheism. At the municipal level, Turkish, Bosnian, and Romani may also be granted official status when a linguistic community constitutes at least 5% of the local population.
Despite declining foreign assistance, the GDP has mostly grown since its declaration of independence. Pristina does not have any regional hospital and instead uses University Clinical Centre of Kosovo for health care services. Students from Kosovo performed very poorly on several PISA tests, and this result has sparked debates about the education system. According to the Ministry of Education, children who are not able to get a general education are able to get a special education (fifth phase).Higher education can be received in universities and other higher-education institutes. The third phase (high secondary education) consists of general education but also professional education, which is focused on different fields.
Kosovar Albanians responded with a non-violent separatist movement, employing widespread civil disobedience and creation of parallel structures in education, medical care, and taxation, with the ultimate goal of achieving the independence of Kosovo. In 1989, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, employing a mix of intimidation and political maneuvering, drastically reduced Kosovo's special autonomous status within Serbia and started cultural oppression of the ethnic Albanian population. At the same time Serbs and Montenegrins dominated the government, security forces, and industrial employment in Kosovo. Tensions between ethnic Albanians and the Yugoslav government were significant, not only due to ethnic tensions but also due to political ideological concerns, especially regarding relations with neighbouring Albania. An official investigation conducted by the Yugoslav government in 1964 recorded nearly 8,000 war-related fatalities in Kosovo between 1941 and 1945, 5,489 of them Serb or Montenegrin and 2,177 Albanian. A three-dimensional conflict ensued, involving inter-ethnic, ideological, and international affiliations.
The Dukagjin Plain is drained by the southward-flowing Drini i Bardhë, or White Drin (Beli Drim). The Kosovo Plain is drained by the northward-flowing Sitnicë (Sitnica) River, a tributary of the Ibër (Ibar) River. The interior terrain comprises high plains and rolling hills; about three-fourths of the country lies between about 1,600 and 5,000 feet (500 and 1,500 metres) above sea level. Kosovo, about the same size as Jamaica or Lebanon, is the smallest country in the Balkans. nixbet casino login A landlocked country, Kosovo is bordered by Serbia to the north and east, North Macedonia to the south, Albania to the west, and Montenegro to the northwest. In the early 20th century Kosovo was incorporated into Serbia (later part of Yugoslavia).
The movie Shok was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 88th Academy Awards in 2016. In 2010, Dokufest was voted as one of the 25 best international documentary festivals. Dokufest, an international documentary and short film festival, is the largest film event in Kosovo. Kosovafilm was reestablished after Yugoslav withdrawal from the region in June 1999 and has since been endeavoring to revive the film industry in Kosovo. One widely recognised musician from Prizren is guitarist Petrit Çeku, winner of several international prizes.
The warmest places are in the far south, near the border with Albania. It is a landlocked region in the center of the Balkans. In February 2008, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia. In the 13th century, Kosovo became part of Serbia. In the 10st century BC, it was annexed by the Roman Empire.
The Kosovo Police is the main police force in the country. Each district is divided into smaller areas called municipalities (local government areas). This means that the leader of the political party with the most seats in the Assembly becomes the Prime Minister, who is the head of government.
A transitional dialect, the Torlak dialect, is considered to have developed later when the Serbo-Croat speakers expanded into the region in the late medieval period and came in contact with Bulgarian speakers. A pre-Slavic population in this territory served as a border zone between the early Serbs and Bulgarians which created a division between the Serbo-Croat language and the Bulgarian-Macedonian one. The overwhelming presence of towns and municipalities in Kosovo with Slavic in their toponymy suggests that the Slavic migrations either assimilated or drove out population groups already living in Kosovo.
Turkish holds official language status in the Municipality of Prizren, regardless of the size of the Turkish-speaking population. In Kosovo, Albanian and Serbian are the official languages at the national level, but Albanian is the predominant language in Kosovo, spoken by over 92% of the population. A 2020 research report funded by the EU shows that there is a limited scale of trust and overall contact between the major ethnic groups in Kosovo.
Kosovo's notable challenges are identified in the realms of persistent conflicts and societal safety and security, both of which are intertwined with the country's diplomatic ties to neighbouring countries and its domestic social and political stability. Functioning under the president of Kosovo as the commander-in-chief, the security force adheres to the principle of non-discrimination, guaranteeing equal protection for its personnel regardless of gender or ethnicity. Since declaring independence, it has become a member of international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, though not of the United Nations. By 1998, international pressure compelled Yugoslavia to sign a ceasefire and partially withdraw its security forces.