Old Serbia
Old Serbia (Serbian: Стара Србија, Stara Srbija) is a term used for the territory which was the core of medieval Serbia.[1] It included the regions of Raška, Kosovo and Metohija and the northwestern part of Macedonia.[2] The Serb population of this territory was referred to as Old-Serbians (Serbian: Старосрби).[3][4]
It was used by Christian Slavs in these regions of Ottoman Turkey to denote the areas where they live in their native tongue, as well as in Austria and Russia, but completely ignored by the Turks who referred to the region as either Sanjak of Novi Pazar and Vilayet of Kosovo[5] or simply Arnavutluk (Albanian lands).[6]
The Old Serbia had then no political definition, but was determined by the historical association of the regions that were under Ottoman rule. A traveler concludes that the northern border is the Sanjak of Novi Pazar and the region of Kosovo and Metohija.[6]
The term originated in common speech and was introduced by the refugees of the Great Serb Migrations in Austro-Hungarian regions of Serbs. It reemerged in the aspirations of liberating these areas during the time of the Serbian revolution and later would designate the areas not liberated by 1833.
In May 1877 a delegation of Serbs of Old Serbia presented their request to the government of Serbia to 'liberate' and unite Old Serbia with the Principality of Serbia.[7] They also informed representatives of the Great Powers and Emperor of Russia about their demands.[7] In the same year the Committee for the Liberation of Old Serbia and Macedonia was founded.[8]
In 1878 Niš and Vranje of South-East Serbia was liberated, it would take until 1913 when Sandžak, Kosovo and Vardar Macedonia became part of the Kingdom of Serbia.
Vuk Stefanović Karadžić referred to Old Serbia as the territory of the Serbian people, that was part of medieval Serbia prior to the Ottoman conquest. Spiridon Gopčević published ethnographic works on Old Serbia region.[9] The "Old Serbia" bank opened in Skopje in 1923 to dominate and accelerate the economy of the region.[10]
References, Notes
- ↑ Др Јевто Дедијер, Стара Србија
- ↑ The National Question in Yugoslavia: Origins, History, Politics, Ivo Banač, Cornell University Press, 1988, ISBN 0801494931, p. 38.
- ↑ Georgina Mary Sebright (lady.); Adelina Paulina Irby (1877). Travels in the Slavonic provinces [&c.].. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ↑ Michael W. Evanoff (1986). St. John St: A Remembrance : an Ethnic Feature of The St. John St. Community, Flint, Michigan, 1874-1974. Edelweiss Press. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ↑ History of the Balkans: Twentieth Century. Volume 2, Barbara Jelavich, Cambridge University Press, 1983, ISBN 0521274591, p.29.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 http://books.google.se/books?id=-a8WAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA243
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Stojan Novaković; Andrej Mitrović (1996). Stojanu Novakoviću u spomen: o osamdesetogodišnjici smrti. Srpska književna zadruga. p. 68. Retrieved 21 May 2013. "Представници Ста- росрбијанаца, које су предводили јеромонах дечански Сава, Тодор Станковић из Ниша и Деспот Баџовић из Крушева, дошли су у мају 1877. у Београд с представком за српску владу којом су тражили ослобођење и уједињење Старе Србије са Кнежевином Србијом."
- ↑ Dragoslav Srejović; Slavko Gavrilović; Sima M. Ćirković (1983). Istorija srpskog naroda: knj. Od Berlinskog kongresa do Ujedinjenja 1878-1918 (2 v.). Srpska književna zadruga. p. 291. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
- ↑ http://www.archive.org/details/starasrbijaimak00kasugoog
- ↑ http://scindeks.nb.rs/article.aspx?artid=1450-84869901123S