European Maps of Kosovo and Metohija as the Primary Core of Old Serbia from the 16th to the 20th Century
European Maps of Kosovo and Metohija as the Primary Core of Old Serbia from the 16th to the 20th Century

Author(s): Mirčeta Vemić, Suzana Lović Obradović
Subject(s): Historical Geography, Maps / Cartography, Modern Age
Published by: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije
Keywords: Old Serbia; Kosovo and Metohija; Serbs; Albanians; atlas;
Summary/Abstract: The aim of this paper is delimitation and territorial origin of Old Serbia with its primary core Kosovo and Metohija in the historical, ethnic, cultural, geopolitical and national respect from the time of the Turkish invasion of the Balkans, as well as its withdrawal. This was accomplished by analysis and comparison of geographic, ethnographic, historiographic, memorial, political, military and other maps of the leading European cartographers from the 16th to the 20th century, who had a high government official titles, such as ‘The Cosmographer of the Republic’, ‘The Royal Geographer’, ‘The Imperial Geographer’, or were military architects, high-ranking General Staff officers, Princes, Consuls, Professors, scientists, etc., which implies a high level of their knowledge and great seriousness in the authorization of their map. Forty historical and historiographical maps of the Dutch, Venetian, French, Austrian, German and Serbian cartographers were analyzed, which were collected, systematized and published in the form of the atlas in 2007, “An Atlas of Old Serbia – European maps of Kosovo and Metohija” by M. Vemić and M. Strugar. It is clearly and indisputably shown on all analysed maps that Kosovo and Metohija have always been the Serbian territory, and never Albanian. These two geographic areas are represented on the maps only in the natural historical and ethnical boundaries of state creations of the Serbian people, even over a long period of decline of the medieval Serbian state under the Turkish rule, in 1459. Until the middle of the 19th century, main separate boundary, that is, ethnographic border between fixed Serbian and Albanian settlements was on the rivers of Valbona (Crnica) and Crni Drim (northern Albania) that were considered both as geographical borders of Albania and (Old) Serbia, but also as a language-speech line that divided the Albanians of northern Albania from the Metohija Serbs.

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