Srecka ( sq, Sreckë) or Sredačka Župa ( sr-Cyrl, Средачка Жупа, lit=County of Sredska) is a remote geographical region, a valley, in southeastern

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

, below the

Šar Mountains The Šar Mountains ( Serbian and mk, Шар Планина, Šar Planina, colloquially also ) or Sharr Mountains ( sq, Malet e Sharrit), form a mountain range in the Balkans that extends from Kosovo and the northwest of North Macedonia to nort ...

at the source of the

Prizren Bistrica The Lumbardhi i Prizrenit or Prizren Bistrica ( sq, Bistrica e Prizrenit; sr, Призренска Бистрица / ''Prizrenska Bistrica'') is a river in Kosovo. It flows through the villages of Sredska and Prizren, and empties into the White ...

Geography

The region, an oval basin, lies below the

, at the source, upper stream of the

. South of the region between the

Prizren ) , settlement_type = Municipality and city , image_skyline = Prizren Collage.jpg , imagesize = 290px , image_caption = View of Prizren , image_alt = View of Prizren , image_flag ...

mountains and

Koritnik Koritnik ( sq, Maja e Koritnikut) is a wooded, limestone mountain, located in northeastern Albania and southwest Kosovo between the cities of Kukës and Prizren. The mountain is entirely surrounded by branches of the White Drin river. The highest ...

mountain, lies the Gora region. It currently includes Sredska, Pousko, Jablanica, Lokvica, Rečane, Živinjane, Planjane, Nebregošte, Manastirica, Struže, Donje Ljubinje, Gornje Ljubinje, Drajčići, Mušnikovo, Gornje Selo.

History

It was a medieval ''

župa A župa (or zhupa, županija) is a historical type of administrative division in Southeast Europe and Central Europe, that originated in medieval South Slavic culture, commonly translated as "parish", later synonymous "kotar", commonly translate ...

'' (small administrative division) of the

Serbia in the Middle Ages Serbia in the Middle Ages refers to the medieval period in the history of Serbia. The period begins in the 6th century with the Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe, and lasts until the Ottoman conquest of Serbian lands in the second half ...

in modern-day southeastern

. It encompassed seven hamlets and was centered in the town of Sredska. In the early 19th century, Sredačka župa was inhabited by Serbs, and in the first decades Serbian schools were opened here. Between 1918 and 1945 Sredačka župa was a municipality of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in 1945, the Slavophone Muslims in Sredačka župa were ascribed Albanian ethnicity and names by state institutions (as was the case with Gorani and other Muslim non-Albanian speakers). The region was annexed into the municipality of Prizren by the

FPR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yugo ...

(1945–63). In 1953, there were 12 villages in the region, and the region was inhabited by "Serbs ..divided into Muslims and Orthodox" in all villages except Stružje (Struže) inhabited by Albanian Muslims. Church of the Holy Virgin in Sredska

Demographics and anthropology

The region is inhabited by a majority of

Bosniaks The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry ...

and minority of

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

(who left during and following the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

Notable people

* Vuk Isakovič (1696-1759), Austrian soldier *

Čolak-Anta Antonije "Anta" Simeonović, better known as Čolak-Anta ( sr-cyr, Чолак-Анта Симеоновић; 1777–1853) was a Serbian fighter and military commander (''Vojvoda''), one of the most important figures of the First Serbian Uprising ...

(1777-1853), Serbian revolutionary *

Jake Allex Aleksa Mandušić (Serbian Cyrillic: Алекса Мандушић; July 13, 1887 – August 28, 1959) was a Serbian-American soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his service in the U.S. Army during World War I. He was also known as Jake Al ...

(1887-1959), Serbian-American soldier

Annotations

It is known in historiography as Sredačka Župa ( sr-Cyrl, Средачка Жупа), Sredska Župa (Средска Жупа) and Sretečka Župa, meaning "County of Sredska")

References

Sources

* *