Drenica, also known as the Drenica Valley, is a hilly region in central Kosovo, covering roughly around of Kosovo's total area. It consists of two municipalities, Glogovac and Skenderaj, and several villages in Klina, Kërligatë village in Zubin Potok, 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.
Geography
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.
Draškovina was the name of a medieval Serbian župa 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 founded the Devič monastery in the region.
In the 18th century, Drenica was divided into gornja and donja Drenica. The center of Upper Drenica is Sedlar, that of Lower Drenica, Lauša.
Modern history
The villages surrounding the towns of Glogovac and Skenderaj were the birthplace of the ethnic Albanian separatist Kosovo Liberation Army and a stronghold of Albanian nationalism. The KLA began armed operations in Drenica in 1996. A KLA stronghold during the 1998–99 Kosovo War, the region saw many armed conflicts against the security forces of FR Yugoslavia. The hilltop village of Likovac served as regional headquarters for the KLA until government forces recaptured it in an offensive in September 1998. The area around Čičavica also saw activity between government forces and the 114th Brigade of the KLA. The Yugoslav army and paramilitary units used the Feronikel plant near Glogovac as a base for operations during the war. Before the war, the factory produced nickel and ore. After the Albanian workers were laid off or expelled, it was also used as a barracks and a fire base, in which cannons and rockets were fired against KLA positions. The plant was bombed by NATO forces on April 29, 1999, causing an unknown number of casualties and extensive damage.
