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                                    Geography of the Balkans

       Kosovo is a very small province that is located in the Balkans. The Balkans, meaning "mountains" in Turkish, include Albania, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania, and parts of Turkey. Kosovo is a province of Serbia, also called an autonomous zone.


Yugoslavia is a mix of different people, religions
and languages. It means the land of the southern
Slavs. Yugoslavia is mostly occupied by Slavic
people. These include Serbs, Montenegrins,
Slovenes, Bosnians, and Croats. However other
majorities are Macedonians and Albanians.
Macedonians are similar to Slavs and Greeks.
Albanians on the other hand, are not closely
related to Slavs. They also have a much
different language then Slavic languages.

Yugoslavia contains three major religions. These
are Roman Catholic (Serbs and Macedonians),
Eastern Orthodox Christian (Croats and Slovenes),
and Muslim (Albanians and Bosnians).

      Kosovar Albanians have the highest birthrate in Europe. They make about ninety percent of Kosovo's population. The other part is mostly Serbs. In the last three decades the Albanian population nearly tripled while the Serb population was not changing much. This caused the percentage of the Albanians to be higher than the Serbs. The Serbs complain that the Albanians are kicking them out so they can establish their goal of a "Purified Kosovo". Albanians stick to the above argument of the population increase.

ETHNIC COMPOSITION OF KOSOVO POPULATION ACCORDING TO CENSUSES OF 1961, 1971, 1981
                       1961       %        1971         %             1981           %

Albanians        647,000   67.1       916,000     73.7        1,227,000    77.5
Serbs               227,000   23.5      228,000      18.3       210,000        13.2
Montenegrins 38,000     3.9        32,000        2.5         27,000         1.7
Turks              26,000     2.7        12,000        1.0         13,000         0.8
Muslims           8,000      0.8        26,000        2.1         59,000         3.7
Other              19,000     2.0        29,000        2.4         49,000         3.1
Total                964,000   100       1,224,000   100         1,585,000    100
Source: Rilindja (Albanian-language daily), Pristina, 17 March 1982, p.7.

      Kosovo borders Montenegro to the West, Macedonia to the South, and Albania to its Southwest. It has limited sovereignty, because it is controlled by the Serbian Government. Lately, after the new resolutions, Kosovo has a little more powers, but it cannot have international relations on its own. It is an autonomous zone.

Albanian father and sons dressed in traditional Albanian clothes.