Metohija
| Метохија / Metohija Dukagjini |
|
|---|---|
| Geographical and historical region of Kosovo | |
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| Country | Kosovo |
| Districts |
Gjakova Peć Prizren |
| Area | |
| • Total | 3,891 km2 (1,502 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 700,577 |
| • Density | 180/km2 (470/sq mi) |
Metohija (Serbian Cyrillic: Метохија, pronounced [mɛtɔ̌xija]) or Dukagjini (Albanian: Rrafshi i Dukagjinit, pronounced [ˈrafʃi i dukaˈɟinit])) is a large basin and the name of the region covering the southwestern part of Kosovo. The region covers 35% (3,891 km2) of Kosovo's total area. According to the 2011 census, the population of the region is 700,577.
It encompasses three of the seven districts of Kosovo:
The name Metohija derives from the Greek word μετόχια (metókhia, ), meaning "monastic estates" – a reference to the large number of villages and estates in the region that were owned by the Serbian Orthodox monasteries and Mount Athos during the Middle Ages.
In Albanian the area is called Rrafshi i Dukagjinit and means the plateau of Dukagjin, as the toponym (in Albanian language) took the name of the Dukagjini family.
The term "Kosovo and Metohija" (Serbian Cyrillic: Косово и Метохија) was in official use of the province until 1974, when the constitutional status of Kosovo underwent major changes in a newly established constitution for the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The 1974 constitution dropped the term "Metohija", and "Kosovo" became the official term for the province as a whole. The change was not accepted in Serbia, where the old name continued to be in use (for example in the Memorandum of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1986). In 1989, the then Serbian President Slobodan Milošević promulgated a new constitution that greatly reduced the province's autonomy and restored the old name, thus symbolically undoing the earlier reforms.
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