Drenica

Drenica (Drenicë, Drenica, Дреница), also known as the Drenica Valley, is a hilly region in central Kosovo, covering roughly around of Kosovo's total area (6%). It consists of two municipalities, Drenas and Skenderaj, and several villages in Klina, Zubin Potok, Mitrovica and Vushtrri. 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. The etymology of the name is disputed. Explanations can be found in both Albanian and Serbian. It might derive from Albanian dren meaning deer or from Serbian: дрен/dren meaning cornel. Same toponym exist as Drenas in Drenica, Drenova in Albania and Drenoc (also called as Dreni), all derived from the Albanian origin. 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. Drenica is divided into Upper Drenica, also called Red Drenica and Lower Drenica, also called Pasha's Drenica. The highest mountains in the region are Mount Caraleva (1,177m) and Mount Çiçavica (1,091m). Between 1246 and 1255, Stefan Uroš I had reported Albanian toponyms in the Drenica valley. A chrisobull of the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan that was given to the Monastery of Saint Mihail and Gavril in Prizren between the years of 1348-1353 states the presence of Albanians in the Plains of Dukagjin, the vicinity of Prizren and in the villages of Drenica. Draškovina was the name of a medieval Serbian župa (county) that included parts of Dukagjini and northern Drenica. The area of Kosovo, including Drenica, was part of Vuk Branković's territory during the fall of the Serbian Empire. Drenica was first mentioned as a župa at the end of the Middle Ages. It was 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.