[Revert]

Originally Posted by Variable

After I got a neg rep for that question ( ), I dug into it a little...

"Albanians claim that they are its original inhabitants, being the descendants of the ancient Illyrians.

The Serbs say that Kosovo lay at the heart of its medieval kingdoms and that during the middle ages few, if any, Albanians lived amongst them."

BBC News | Kosovo | History, bloody history

It looks like they might be both right - the Serbs moved into that area long before any sort of Serbian state took control, and even when it did there seemed to be little conflict. There may have been few Albanians there (and others), and those who were there got along fine with the Serbs. I found one source saying that both the Albanians and Serbs fought together against the Ottomans in 1389, while some Serbs actually fought for the Ottomans.

So when Serbia managed to gain autonomy from the Ottomans in many places (but not Kosovo), many Serbians fled to be with their newly independent kin, and that's when Kosovo became predominantly Albanian - the Albanians didn't have any similarly independent brethren.

In any case I haven't obviously conducted some kind of conclusive 'who was there first' research, but to me that's really not the point. The vast majority who live in that area now are Albanian, who aren't too keen on Serbian rule, (I don't blame them), so I'm glad they have their own little patch.

I see your point, I ahve done a bit of research, that shapes my viewpoint. However I agree with you on the last paragraph.