Drenica

Drenica
Historical region of Kosovo
Country	Kosovo
Municipalities	Drenas/Glogovac Skenderaj/Srbica
Area
• Total	668 km2 (258 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	109,389
• Density	160/km2 (420/sq mi)

Drenica (Albanian: Drenicë, Drenica, Serbian Cyrillic: Дреница) also known as the Drenica Valley, is a hilly region in central Kosovo, covering roughly around 700 square kilometres (270 sq mi) of Kosovo's total area (6%). It consists of two municipalities, Glogovac and Skenderaj (sr. Srbica), and several villages in Klina, Mitrovica and the area of Vučitrn. It is located west of the capital, Pristina.

According to the 2011 Census, the population of the region is 109,389, excluding the surrounding villages. Albanians form the absolute majority of the region.

Drenica is located in the center of what is today Kosovo, in the western part of the region itself of Kosovo. It is sometimes regarded as a region in its own right (apart from Kosovo and Metohija).

In the 18th century, Drenica was divided into gornja ("upper") and donja ("lower") Drenica. The center of Upper Drenica is Sedlar, that of Lower Drenica, Lauša.

Draškovina was the name of a medieval Serbian župa (county) that included parts of Metohija and northern Drenica. The area of Kosovo, including Drenica, was part of Vuk Branković's land during the Fall of the Serbian Empire. Drenica was first mentioned as a župa at the end of the Middle Ages. It was first mentioned in 1413, when Đurađ Branković, his mother Mara, and brothers Đurađ and Lazar, endowed the village of Dobroševce to the Monastery of Saint Paul of Mount Athos. Despot Đurađ Branković (1427–1456) founded the Devič monastery in the region.

...
Wikipedia