Brief History of Kosovo

For my Social Studies project I decided to do a poster board display on Kosovo. Kosovo is located in the Balkans in the southeastern part of Europe and is now an independent Country. Lets start in the 14th Century when the Ottoman Empire invaded the area which is known as Kosovo. The Ottomans ruled the area with strict laws until the First Balkan War of 1912 when Serbia reacquired control.

Yugoslavia was formed after World War I and was ruled by King Alexander I who drew up new boundaries for provinces which is a type of State like in the United States. Italy, Germany and the Soviet Union where Stalin became absolute ruler. None of these regimes favored the policy pursued by Alexander I. King Alexander was assassinated in France during an official Visit in 1934. He was succeeded by his Eleven-year-old son Peter II and a regency council headed by his cousin, Prince Paul. On March 27, 1941 senior military officers launched a coup d'etat seizing power and exiled Paul giving 17 year-old King Peter full power. Hitler decided to attack Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941 at 5:12 am. On April 17th, representatives of Yugoslavia's various regions signed an armistice with Germany ending 11 days of resistance.

On January 31, 1946 the new constitution of Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, modeled after the Soviet Union, establishing six republics, an autonomous province and district's that were part of SR Serbia. One of which was the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo. With the fall of the Soviet Union in the late 1980's and with the Berlin wall coming down in 1989 Yugoslavia started to fight within with the political leaders arguing over how the new elections should be held. Each of the republics held there own elections in 1990 soon after the elections in August 1990 Croatia attempted to replace the police and military forces with there own forces. This kicked off a civil war. On November 27, 1991 the United Nations adopted UN resolution 721 which paved the way for peacekeeping operations in Yugoslavia. Kosovo declared independence in February 2008.

Kosovo people are the poorest in Europe with the average family income of $2800. Unemployment is around 40% and 30% are below the poverty line which is a significant problem that encourages black market activity. The official currency of Kosovo is the euro, but the Serbian dinar is also used in Serb enclaves. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) $5.3 Billion.

There are three main religion's in Kosovo Muslim, Serbian Orthodox and Roman Catholic. The majority of the population is Muslim at about 81%. Religion is a very important part of the people of Kosovo. They have strong beliefs that are past on from generation to generation. This sometimes has its problems by changing facts with there own views and beliefs.

Art in Kosovo has exploded since the people have been able to express there feeling and views threw painting, music, sculpture