Kosovo Province, Ottoman Empire
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| Ancient Kosovo | |||
| Dardania | |||
| Medieval Kosovo | |||
| First Battle of Kosovo | |||
| Second Battle of Kosovo | |||
| Ottoman Kosovo | |||
| Vilayet of Kosovo | |||
| League of Prizren | |||
| Modern Kosovo | |||
| Kosovo War | |||
| Kosovo | |||
The Province of Kosovo (Turkish: Kosova Vilayeti) was a vilayet of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Peninsula only roughly corresponding to the current region of Kosovo. It was created from the former Rumelia Province as part of an Ottoman administrative reform law of 1864. As a result of the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, the province was split between Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, and Bulgaria.
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[edit] Name
At the time, Kosovo was often spelled with a double "s" (Kossovo) so as to render the sound to English speakers clearly as /s/ rather than /z/. Since first forming a part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, followed by the three incarnations of Yugoslavia and now under UN occupation whilst within Serbia's borders, the common English spelling has been a transliteration of the Serbian Cyrillic Косово, ie. with a single "s."
[edit] History
The Province of Kosovo was an area much larger than today's Kosovo; not only was it today's province which was incorporated into the Ottoman administered district, but also parts of north-western Macedonia including the capital city, Skopje (then Uskub). Just as Skopje is double the size of Priština today (Kosovo's administrative seat), it was significantly larger then too but with a population twelve times smaller in both towns. Skopje was the provincial capital of the Kosovo province when serving as a Turkish vilayet. Kosovo also encompassed sections of the Sandžak region cutting into present-day Serbia-proper and Montenegro along with the Kukës municipality and surrounding region in present-day Albania.
The province's boundaries shifted as a the Ottoman Empire lost territory to neighboring states in the Treaty of Berlin following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 and parts were also internally transferred to Monastir Province and from Salonica Province. From 1878-1908, the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, a subdivision of the Province of Kosovo, was under Austro-Hungarian military occupation in accord with the Berlin treaty.
[edit] Population
The population of the province was predominantly Slavs (mostly Serbs) and Albanians who were followers of three major faiths (Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Islam). As they were living outside of both Serbia and Bulgaria, these rival states strived for influence over the remaining Slavic enclaves still a part of the Ottoman Empire.
[edit] Subdivisions
The province was subdivided into the following sanjaks:
- Üsküb (Skopje) including the towns of Skopje, Kumanovo, Kaçanik/Kačanik, Štip, Kratovo, and Kočani
- Prizren including the towns of Prizren and Tetovo/Tetovë
- İpek (Pejë/Peć) including the towns of Pejë/Peć, Gjakovë/Ðakovica, Gusinje, Berane, and Trgovište
- Priştine (Prishtinë/Priština) including the towns of Prishtinë/Priština, Kosovska Mitrovica/Mitrovicë, Vushtrri/Vučitrn, Gjilan/Gnjilane, and Preševo/Preshevë
- Yenipazar (Novi Pazar) including the towns of Novi Pazar, Sjenica, Kolašin, Nova Varoš, and Prijepolje.
[edit] Governors
List of the governors of the province:
- Ibrahim Edem Pasha, until 1893
- Hafiz Mehmed Pasha, 1894-1899
- Reshad Bey Pasha, 1900-1902
- Shakir Pasha Numan, 1903-1904
- Mehmed Shefket Pasha, 1905-1907
- Hadi Pasha, 1908
- Mazhar Bey Pasha, 1909-1910
- Halil Bey Pasha, 1911
- Ghalib Pasha, 1912
