The 19th century was the period in which the Albanian question began to take on a distinct political, national and international form. Unlike the Balkan peoples who had previously established their own nation-states, the Albanians entered the 19th century without a nation-state and with their territories scattered across several administrative units of the Ottoman Empire.
This situation became particularly complicated after the Tanzimat reforms, when the Ottoman Empire undertook a reorganization of its administration, army, finances, and legal system. In this process, Albanian territories were incorporated into constantly changing administrative units.
One of these units was the Vilayet of Kosovo, created in its 1877 form, initially centered in Pristina, while the administrative center was later moved to Skopje on February 1, 1877.
This administrative area included territories with a majority or significant Albanian presence, including Kosovo, parts of present-day North Macedonia, the Sandzak, and other areas that were economically, familially, and historically connected to the Albanian world.
Basic characteristics of the Albanian question
The Albanian question of the 19th century had several fundamental characteristics:
First, Albanians constituted a large population concentrated in a continuous territory, but without a state of their own.
Second, Albanians were divided administratively and religiously. There were Muslim, Catholic, and Orthodox Albanians, while Albanian political and intellectual elites had to contend with the tendency of neighboring powers to interpret religious affiliation as national affiliation.
Third, in the second half of the 19th century, Serbian, Greek, Bulgarian and Montenegrin national projects were strengthened, claiming territories where Albanians also lived.
Fourth, the Ottoman Empire was weakening. The more central Ottoman authority weakened, the more room was created for the intervention of neighboring states and the Great Powers.
Fifth, Albanians began to move from local defense of traditional privileges and autonomies towards a clearer national consciousness.
The culmination of this phase was the Albanian League of Prizren of 1878, which emerged as a reaction to the danger of Albanian territories being fragmented among neighboring states.
The Russo-Ottoman War, Serbia and the changing map of the Balkans
The years 1877–1878 constitute a historical turning point.
Serbia, which had already gained autonomy and then international independence, entered the war against the Ottoman Empire. The Serbian army occupied significant territories in the south and southeast, including Niš, Vranje, Prokuplje, Leskovci and other territories. At one stage of the war, the Serbian military administration temporarily controlled Bujanovac and Preševo.
But the decisions of the European powers changed some of the results of the war.
The Treaty of San Stefano and then the Congress of Berlin of 1878 revised the territorial map of the Balkans.
For Albanians, the consequences were extraordinary.
Albanian-populated territories in Niš, Toplice, Vranje and their surroundings were annexed to Serbia. This was accompanied by large-scale expulsions and displacements of Albanians, who settled in Kosovo and the surrounding territories as muhajirs, and created one of the greatest Albanian demographic tragedies of the 19th century.
The formation of the Kaza of Preševo in 1878
Here lies one of the most important moments in the history of Presheva. Before 1878, Presheva was administratively connected to Kazan and Vranje. After the Congress of Berlin, the new Serbian-Ottoman border divided this area.
Vranje remained in Serbia, while Preševo, Bujanovac and the upper part of Pčinja remained in the Ottoman Empire. This part was organized as the Kaza of Preševo, within the Sandžak of Priština of the Vilayet of Kosovo.
So, the year 1878 is the starting point of a new political reality: Vranje – in Serbia; Preševo and Bujanovac – in the Ottoman Empire.
This was not just an administrative change. It created a new political border that cut through a historical, economic and social space connected to Vranje. Ristovci became an important Serbian-Ottoman border point. Geographical and historical studies describe Ristovci as the point where the Serbian-Ottoman border crossed and where the areas of Vranje were separated from the territory that remained under Ottoman administration.
Preševo as a border area
After 1878, Presheva was no longer just a local center. It became a political, military, and strategic frontier and fundamentally changed the lives of its inhabitants.
Families with ties to Vranje, merchants, farmers, and shepherds faced a new reality: an international border that had not previously existed in this form.
At the same time, Presheva gained strategic importance because it was located on the natural corridor connecting Morava with Kosovo and Macedonia.
Later, the construction of the Balkan Railway further increased its economic and strategic importance.
Ottoman sources from the late 19th century describe Kazana e Preševo as a sizable administrative unit, with tens of thousands of inhabitants and more than a hundred villages. An Ottoman yearbook from 1896 gives the Kazana population as around 42,000, although demographic figures for this period vary according to the source and method of counting.
Migrants and demographic changes
After the Serbian occupation of Niš, Toplica and Vranje, thousands of Albanians were expelled from their lands. Some of them settled in Kosovo, Preševo, Bujanovac and other territories of the Kosovo Vilayet.
This created the well-known phenomenon of Albanian emigrants. At the same time, Muslim populations displaced from other territories also settled in Kazana e Preševo, further changing the demographic structure of the area. Uroš Šešum’s study of Kazana e Preševo shows that during the period 1878–1912 there were significant population movements, including the arrival of emigrants and the gradual departure of a part of the Serbian population.
Therefore, the demographic changes in Presevo during this period cannot be explained solely by natural birth rates. They were also the result of wars, expulsions, migrations, and changes in political borders.
The opening of the Serbian Consulate in Pristina in 1889
Another important development was the opening of the Consulate of the Kingdom of Serbia in Pristina in 1889. The Consulate was the official representation of the Kingdom of Serbia within the territory of the Ottoman Empire.
It opened in November 1889 and covered a large territory of the Vilayet of Kosovo. This was an important turning point.
Serbia had already established a direct institutional presence in the heart of the Vilayet of Kosovo. Even the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs itself admits that in 1889 a Political and Educational Department was established, which also had propaganda duties and worked with Serbian communities outside the borders of the Kingdom of Serbia; Serbian consulates in the Ottoman Empire fell within the scope of this department’s activities.
This shows that consular activity had not only a classical diplomatic character. It was also associated with:
Serbian education;
the Serbian Orthodox Church;
schools;
books and textbooks;
national propaganda;
information gathering;
political reporting;
supporting Serbian communities;
and the creation of a network of Serbian influence in Ottoman territories.
From consular protection to political and security activity
A very important historical distinction must be made here. There is evidence to show that Serbian state policy used a combination of diplomacy, education, propaganda, church networks, and clandestine activity to strengthen Serbian influence in Ottoman territories.
Official Serbian sources explicitly mention “confidential propaganda” structures and political and educational work outside Serbia’s borders.
There are also studies on the activities of the consulate that show that on several occasions the issue of arming the Serbian population was also discussed. Documents cited in the relevant literature mention requests for rifles and the idea that the Serbs should arm themselves for self-defense, due to the insecurity and weakness of the Ottoman administration.
The Serbian diplomatic and consular network in the Vilayet of Kosovo was used not only for the consular protection of Serbian citizens and the community, but also as an instrument of Serbian national politics, education, propaganda, information gathering, and strengthening political and organizational ties with the Serbian population in Ottoman territory.
Albanian-Serbian clash in the border area
After 1878, Albanian-Serbian relations in this area were strongly influenced by the creation of the border.
Serbia had clear territorial interests towards Kosovo and Macedonia.
Albanians saw Serbian expansion as a threat to their territories. This created a permanent zone of tension along the border. The importance of Presevo must be understood in this context.
Presheva was: border – communication corridor – administrative center – Albanian space – strategic zone.
For Serbia, it represented a corridor towards Kosovo and further towards Macedonia.
For Albanians, it was part of a wider ethnic and economic space that connected Kosovo with Macedonia and the Albanian territories south of the Morava.
The Albanian Question and the Failure of the International System of 1878
The Berlin Congress changed the map of the Balkans, but it did not solve the Albanian question. On the contrary, it made it more complicated.
Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece expanded their territorial claims, while the Ottoman Empire was weakening.
The Great Powers dealt with Balkan issues mainly in terms of their strategic balance.
Albanians did not have their own state and therefore were not on equal diplomatic footing with Serbia, Montenegro, Greece or Bulgaria.
This also explains the historical importance of the League of Prizren, which attempted to create an Albanian political platform for the protection of Albanian territories.
Presevo on the eve of 1912
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Preševo Kazaja had become one of the most important border areas of the Vilayet of Kosovo. It had:
Ottoman administration;
urban center in Presheva;
connection with Bujanovac and Tërgovište;
mixed population, with a strong Albanian presence;
economic and trade network;
railway importance;
direct border with Serbia;
and great strategic importance.
This situation continued until the First Balkan War of 1912. With the offensive of the Serbian army in the autumn of 1912, the Ottoman administration collapsed in this area. Serbian forces occupied Preševo and Bujanovac and continued towards Kosovo.
The end of Ottoman administration in Kosovo and these territories occurred in October–November 1912, when Serbo-Montenegrin forces occupied most of the Kosovo Vilayet. The period of the Kaza of Preševo ended with the Serbian invasion of 1912.
Conclusion
The history of Presheva at the end of the 19th century cannot be separated from the general history of the Albanian question.
The year 1878 was the decisive moment: the Congress of Berlin separated the Vranje area from Presheva, established the Serbian-Ottoman border in the Ristovac area, and created the Kazanka of Presheva within the Sandzak of Pristina of the Vilayet of Kosovo.
From that time until 1912, Preševo became a living frontier of political, national and strategic conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Serbia.
The opening of the Serbian Consulate in Pristina in 1889 institutionalized Serbia’s presence in the Vilayet of Kosovo. In addition to consular functions, the Serbian network carried out educational, ecclesiastical, propaganda, informational, and political activities; Serbian documentation also indicates the existence of a state structure for “confidential propaganda” outside Serbia’s borders.
Therefore, the period 1878–1912 can be considered as the phase of consolidation of the Albanian-Serbian conflict over the territory, population, and political control of Kosovo and the Preševo area.
In 1912, with the Serbian military invasion, Ottoman rule ended, but a whole new era began: the forcible integration of Kosovo, Preševo, Bujanovac and other areas into the Serbian state, transforming the Albanian question from an issue primarily within the Ottoman Empire into an international issue of Albanians under the rule of Balkan states.
Pristina, August 30, 2026
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