Toponym: Kosovo.
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Kosovo (/ˈkɒsəvoʊ, ˈkoʊ-/; Albanian: Kosova [kɔsɔva]; Serbian Cyrillic: Косово) is a disputed territory and partially recognised state in Southeast Europe that declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 as the Republic of Kosovo. While Serbia recognises administration of the territory by Kosovo's elected government, it still continues to claim it as its own Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija.
Kosovo is landlocked in the central Balkan Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pristina. It is bordered by the Republic of Macedonia and Albania to the south, Montenegro to the west, and the uncontested territory of Serbia to the north and east.
In antiquity, the Dardanian Kingdom, and later the Roman province of Dardania was located in the region. In the Middle Ages it was part of the Byzantine Empire, Bulgarian Empire and Serbia, and many consider the Battle of Kosovo of 1389 to be one of the defining moments in Serbian medieval history. After being part of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th to the early 20th century, in the late 19th century Kosovo became the centre of the Albanian independence movement with the League of Prizren. As a result of the defeat in the First Balkan War (1912–13), the Ottoman Empire ceded the Vilayet of Kosovo to the Balkan League; the Kingdom of Se