TRENDEFRARAtlas of the Sultans · Cities and countries
2 cities
Today's Kosovo became one of the centres of the Ottomans' lasting settlement in the Balkans after the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, and remained Ottoman until 1912.
With the defeat in 1389 of the allied army led by the Serbian ruler Lazar, the Ottomans settled permanently in the Balkans; the region came under direct rule in the mid-15th century. Pristina and Prizren became important cities of Ottoman Rumelia. Kosovo was lost in the Balkan War of 1912.
After the Battle of Kosovo, Bayezid I left the area to his vassal Stefan Lazarević.
From 1439 to 1444 the city was under direct Ottoman rule, governed by Gazi İsa Bey.
After the peace of Edirne-Szeged the area was returned to the Serbian despotate.
Mehmed the Conqueror annexed the city for good and built two mosques there.
On 20 June 1455 the army of Mehmed the Conqueror took the city after fighting Đurađ Branković; Prizren became a district capital.
The Habsburg occupation in the winter of 1689–1690 did great damage to the city.
In the Balkan War the Serbian army took the city in October 1912.
In the First Balkan War Serbs under General Janković took the city.
Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, article “KOSOVA” (in Turkish) and the atlas's city pages. Present-day borders are used.