Summary
The text argues that the Vranje region and surrounding areas in southern Serbia and North Macedonia historically had a significant Albanian population that was later reduced or assimilated through war, state policies, and colonization after 1878. It states that Ottoman records, oral tradition, and Serbian authors such as Jovan Haxhivasiljević document Albanian families who were gradually Serbianized through changes in language, religion, and surnames. The study describes mass expulsions after the Serbo–Ottoman wars, followed by Serbian colonization and cultural assimilation. It also connects nearby regions such as Preshevo and Bujanovcë as areas preserving Albanian continuity and identity despite historical displacement and demographic change.
In addition to native Albanians, North Macedonia also includes Macedonian Slavs and native Macedonians. They are identified through surnames:
Balla – Baleski
Basha – Basheski
D/Toçi – Dojçevski
Kid/ta – Kitanovski
Malaj – Maleski
Mati – Matejski
Guri – Gjureski
Peçi – Pehçev
Pula – Pulevski
State colonization and the Serbianization of Vranje and its surroundings
Written by: Nehat Hyseni
The Albanian presence in Vranje until the end of the 19th century
Vranje and its surrounding villages, until the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, were an area with a strong Albanian ethnic presence—Muslims, Christians, and gradually Serbianized Christian Albanians, known in literature and popular speech as “Arnautašë”.
Ottoman documents, oral tradition, and Serbian writings themselves show that a large part of the urban neighborhoods of Vranje, as well as surrounding villages, were inhabited by indigenous Albanians.
Haxhivasiljević as an (unwilling) witness of Albanian presence
The Serbian scholar from Vranje, Jovan Haxhivasiljević, appears—often unintentionally—as a valuable witness to Albanian reality. Although a Serbian nationalist in worldview and part of the ideological apparatus of colonization, he left important evidence about the presence of Albanians, especially Christian Albanians in Serbia.
He documents hundreds of urban and rural families in Vranje and its surroundings with Albanian origins, who were formerly Muslim or Christian Albanians but were later Serbianized through changes of religion, surnames, language, and ethnic identity. He often writes that many families “are of Albanian origin but are today Serbs,” indicating an ongoing assimilation process.
In his works he provides family names, urban neighborhoods, places of origin, and data on “former Albanian identity.”
Haxhivasiljević mentions:
- Muslim Albanian families expelled after 1878
- Albanian families forced to convert to Christianity
- Families that preserved language but lost national identity
- Fully Serbianized families with documented Albanian origin
Displacement, violence, and assimilation processes
Vranje was historically an Albanian area where various state, administrative, and police mechanisms were used to erase Albanian national identity and carry out ethnic cleansing, especially during the Serbo–Ottoman Wars (1876–1878).
After the wars, tens of thousands of Albanians were expelled, their property confiscated, and Vranje lost its Albanian-Muslim core.
After the Congress of Berlin (1878), organized state pressure began:
- prohibition of the Albanian language
- use of the church as a cultural and identity instrument
- surname changes (addition of “-ić”)
- forced registration of Albanians as “Serbs”
State colonization was implemented through settlement of Serbian colonists in abandoned Albanian homes and properties, special land laws, and a repressive agrarian reform. Police and courts applied cultural, psychological, and physical pressure, creating incentives for “integration into the Serbian nation” and encouraging concealment of Albanian origin due to fear of punishment.
The result was the disappearance of the identity of a city once heavily populated by Albanians.
Vranje from an Albanian area to a Serbian city
By the late 20th century, Vranje—once a region with strong Albanian layers—appeared as a “Serbian city without Albanians.” However, Albanian roots remain:
- ancient toponymy still exists
- family memory persists
- historical documents are undeniable
These data challenge the thesis that “Serbs were assimilated into Albanians” during Ottoman rule; instead, they argue the opposite—that Christian and Muslim Albanians were assimilated into Serbs through a state-directed process.
The importance of Jovan Haxhivasiljević’s work
His works, especially “Južna stara Srbija – istorijska, etnografska i politička istraživanja” (1909, 1913), are key sources for studying Vranje’s population during the transition from Ottoman to Serbian rule.
Although nationally biased, he documented what Serbian policy sought to conceal: that a significant part of today’s Serbian population in Vranje was once Albanian.
Preševo – Bujanovac – Vranje – Toplica: a unified historical Albanian space
If Vranje is viewed together with Preševo, Bujanovac, and Toplica, the narrative becomes complete. Before 1877–1878, this was a single Albanian space, with Albanian villages, neighborhoods, toponyms, Muslim and Orthodox populations of Albanian origin, and uninterrupted family and tribal ties.
After the wars:
- Toplica was emptied and colonized
- Vranje was Serbianized and assimilated
- Preševo and Bujanovac became refuge areas for expelled Albanians and centers of continuity in southern Morava
Albanians in Preševo and Bujanovac today are largely descendants of Albanians from Vranje and Toplica, representing a case of survival of national identity through territorial concentration.
Conclusion
The history of this region is not a story of three separate areas, but of a single Albanian trunk with three different outcomes:
- Ethnic destruction through mass expulsion (Toplica)
- Assimilation and Serbianization (Vranje)
- Preservation and continuity of identity (Preševo, Bujanovac, and Medveđa)
This makes Vranje a unique case study in the history of Albanians in southern Serbia, reflecting a hidden but historically persistent reality.
Preševo, January 7, 2026
Sources
Haxhivasiljević, Jovan. Južna stara Srbija – istorijska, etnografska i politička istraživanja. Belgrade, 1909–1913.
Hyseni, Nehat. “Kolonizimi shtetëror dhe serbizimi i Vranjës me rrethinë.” Accessed via shared Facebook post.
