Kosovo Serbs

Kosovo Serbs are one of the ethnic groups of Kosovo and they form the largest ethnic minority community in Kosovo (5–6%). There are around 100,000 Kosovo Serbs as of 2014 and about half of them live in North Kosovo. Other Kosovo Serb communities live in the Southern municipalities of Kosovo.

The medieval Kingdom of Serbia (1217–1346) and the Serbian Empire (1346–1371) included parts of the territory of Kosovo until its annexation by the Ottomans following the Battle of Kosovo (1389), considered one of the most notable events of Serbian history. Afterwards, it was a part of the Serbian Despotate. Modern Serbian historiography considers Kosovo in this period to be the political, religious and cultural core of the medieval Serbian State.

In the Ottoman period (1455–1913), the situation of the Serb population in Kosovo went through different phases. In the 16th century, the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć was re-established and its status strengthened even more. At the end of 18th century, the support of the Patriarchate to the Habsburgs during the Great Turkish War of 1683–1699 triggered a wave of Serb migrations to locations under the control of the Habsburg monarchy. After the independence of the Principality of Serbia to its north, Kosovo came increasingly to be seen by the mid-19th century as the "cradle of Serb civilization" and called the "Serbian Jerusalem". Kosovo was annexed by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1912, following the First Balkan War.

As a region of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Kosovo was divided in several banovinas. In the pre-World War II period, the Yugoslav colonisation of Kosovo took place which aimed to increase the number of Serbs in Kosovo with colonists from Central Serbia and Montenegro. After World War II, Kosovo's districts were reunited. They were referred to as the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo. Serbs were one of the people of the province within the Socialist Republic of Serbia (1944–1992). As a result of the Kosovo War and following by its declaration of independence, in 2008 it is partially recognized by the international community. Serbs are the second largest community in Kosovo.

More than half of Kosovo's pre-1999 Serb population (226,000), including 37,000 Romani, 15,000 Balkan Muslims (including Ashkali, Bosniaks, and Gorani), and 7,000 other non-Albanian civilians were expelled to central Serbia and Montenegro, following the Kosovo War. According to the 2013 Brussels Agreement the establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities, a self-governing association of municipalities with a majority Serb population in Kosovo is proposed.