Drenica

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

History

Drenica is 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.

The villages surrounding the towns of Glogovac and Skenderaj are the birthplace of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the stronghold of albanian nationalism, which began armed operations in Drenica in 1996. A KLA stronghold during the 1998-1999 Kosovo War, the region saw many armed conflicts against the security forces of FR Yugoslavia, then the host nation. The hilltop village of Likovac served as regional headquarters for the KLA until the Serbs recaptured it in an offensive in September 1998. The area around Čičavice also saw activity between Serb forces and the 114th Brigade of the KLA.

Drenica (river)

The Drenica (Serbian Cyrillic: Дреница, Albanian: Drenica) is a river in Kosovo, a 50 km-long right tributary to the Sitnica river. It flows entirely within Kosovo and gives its name to the surrounding Drenica region.

The Drenica originates from the central section of the Crnoljeva mountain, in Drenica region. The river originally flows to the north and receives many streams coming down from the Crnoljeva (on the left) and Goleš (from the right) mountains. The composite valley of the river is densely populated, with several large villages (Krajmirovce, Sedlare, Rusinovce, Banjica, Komorane, Donja Koretica, Dobroševac) and a small town of Glogovac, one of two regional centers of Drenica region.

At Glogovac, the Drenica receives the Vrbovačka reka from the left and forms a large elbow turn to the north to the southern slopes of the Čičavica mountain. Near the village of Veliki Belaćevac, the Drenica turns to the south but at the village of Velika Slatina makes another elbow turn to the north, splits in two arms and empties into the Sitnica near the town of Kosovo Polje.