THE GLORY AND TRAGEDY OF SACRED KOSOVO-METOHIJA
by Dr. Miljan Peter Ilich
The region of Kosovo has often been in the news as a result of the plight of the Albanian population and the related massive NATO bombings of Yugoslavia. However, the problems of the area did not arise in a vacuum. They are the consequences of a long historic development involving several of the major national groupings in the area. Today the focus is on the clashes of Albanians and Serbs. We cannot understand what is happening now without having some idea of the long historic roots of the present conflict. The past, after all, is prelude. So let us illuminate the history of Kosovo to shine a light on the present darkness shrouding the new Balkan war.
Kosovo is a largely mountainous region in southeast Yugoslavia. Though, at various times it was part of larger political units, it was never independent as such. It is now at about 4,200 square miles, somewhat smaller than the state of Connecticut and dominated by a movement that seeks independence. Noel Malcolm, a noted British historian, in his recent book on the history of Kosovo, has noted that it "contains the greatest concentration of mineral wealth in the whole of southeastern Europe." In ancient and medieval times, Kosovo