Page 474 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

Mirčeta Vemić
on older maps of either wider or narrower geographic range, is bounded by natural geographic boundaries, pri- marily relief and hydrography, although there are detailed maps on which borders are drawn. This is particularly ex- pressively shown in respect to the position of Serbia and albania. Thus on the map of Waldeseemüller from 1513, which is part of the revived and modernized Ptolemy’s map, the Balkan Peninsula is shown with natural-geo- graphic territorial division between countries.
“The mountain ranges of the central ridge, known as Catena mundi, separate Serbia (Zevia) and Bosnia (Bos- sina) from Slovenia (Solavonia), Dalmatia (Dalmatia) and Greece (Graecia) on the map. The territory of Greece is divided into several areas: Thessaly (abbreviated Thessa- lo.), achaia (achaia), athens (Ducat athenie) and Morea (Morea). among the Greek regions, the area of northern epirus, south of the Crni Drim River with the source from the Ohrid Lake, the toponym albania is placed” (Vemić & Strugar, 2007). Strabon (62 BC–23 aD), a long time ago, at the turn of the old to the new era, found that the natural division or natural boundary was the best among the countries and peoples. in this sense logically follows that the earliest maps show orographic separation of Ser- bia and albania, as it has long been known that in that area two major mountain ranges are expending and fac- ing: Prokletije (2,694 m) and Šar Mountain (2,748 m) which are mutually connected by a series of small mountains: Bogićevica (2,366 m), Djeravica (2,656), junik Mountain (2,305 m), Paštrik (1,986 m) and Koritnik (2,393 m). The orographic boundary is continuously shown on the maps as follows: 1) in the ancient layer, between the Roman prov- inces of Upper Moesia (with Dardania) and Macedonia, north and south in relation to the aforementioned moun- tain range, 2) in the medieval layer, between Serbia (Ras- cia, Raška) and Zeta or Greece and 3) at the present time, between Serbia and albania.
The cartographers who tied their representations with the river basins, for example, M. V. Coronelli, ’the cos- mographer of the republic’ of Venice, or N. Sanson, a French ’royal geographer’, in addition to orographic also wrote over the borders on rivers, confirming completely the mentioned truth of Strabon. Thus on the map of Cor- onelli, The Course of the Rivers Drim and Bojana in Dal- matia (Corso delli fiumi Drino, e Boiana nella Dalmatia) [1:315.000], (1688) boundaries are drawn in dashed lines between all the territories that had some kind of self-gov- ernment in pre-Ottoman time (kingdoms, duchies, par- ishes, cities, republic) depicting the noble coats of arms on them. On this “map albania is not mentioned any- where, although the names of some albanian tribes are mentioned” (Vemić & Strugar, 2007), which are located on the left bank of the Drim River. in this part of the ter- ritory boundary is drawn between the parts of the terri- tory of the Kingdom of Serbia and Zeta and it is on the rivers Valbona (Crnica), the Drim and the Crni Drim.
The boundary on three rivers is also repeated later on maps of G. Cantelli, N. Sanson, P.C. Monath, j.B. Homann, T. C. Lotter, etc., and appears as an ethnographic bound- ary between Serbian and albanian settlements, as well as the language spoken line, on the theme, ethnic and lin- guistic maps from the end of the 19th and early 20th cen- tury.
Toponyms. in addition to natural, orographic struc- ture and hydrographical lines that on the macro-plan de- fine the affiliation of territories, a number of settlements with the toponyms is presented on the analyzed maps which confirm and complete the affiliation of a territory, at the middle plan. On the map of Waldeseemüller from 1513, on the territory of Serbia, small but significant num- ber of toponyms is written, of which three in Kosovo and Metohija: the medieval mining town of Novo Brdo (Nouo- mont), then Lake Svrčin, that is, Sazlija and Robovo spa, where Svrčin was (Suercegino), the castle of the Serbian line of Nemanjić and the third, the area of Sitnica (Sitim- za), shown as a settlement. These Serbian toponyms are usually repeated on maps from the early period, and are becoming more numerous, especially on larger scales. Thus on the map of Coronelli (1688), in addition to Novo Brdo (Novo Monte), all today’s larger cities in Kosovo and Metohija are shown: Mitrovica (Mctrouiza), Vučitrn (Wcit- erna), Priština (Priština), Suva Reka (Suha Riesca), Peć (Pechia), Dečani (Deciani), Djakovica (iacoua, iacouizza) and Prizren (Prisrendi, Prisren), as well as other settle- ments: Gušterica (Gusteriza), janjevo (iagneuo), Vragoli- ja (Vragolia), Ribare (Ribare), Krajmirovce (Kraimirouc), Graždanik (Grasdanico), etc. On the map of Cantelli (1689) Trepča (Treppcia) appears with Mitrovica, Hoča (Hocia) with Suva Reka, and with Prizren Ljubižda (iubossida), Graždanik (Grasdanico) Gorožup (Gorosupi) etc. it is characteristic that all the major towns of Metohija, Peć, Dečani, Djakovica and Prizren are shown on all maps in Serbia, and never in albania, which indicates that the eu- ropean cartographers knew that fact for the last five cen- turies.
Ethnic, linguistic and other maps. a more detailed anal- ysis of the territory and border belonging of Old Serbia, near Kosovo and Metohija, in the studied period, can be made on the basis of thematic maps in the atlas with eth- nic, religious-confessional and linguistic contents, such as maps: C. Sax (1878), D. Žegligović (1885), V. Karić (1887), S. Gopčević (1889), j. Cvijić (1906, 1913, 1918), a. Stead (1909), a. evans (1916), R. W. Seton-Watson (1917), fol- lowed by ethnic and Linguistic Map of Central europe with italy and the Balkan Peninsula (1917) published by cartographic house Freytag from Vienna and the like. These maps were created as a result of detailed research and data collection (knowledge) of european travellers and explorers in the territory of the Balkan countries (H. Pouqville., a. Boué, j. Müller, j. G. von Hahn, a. Grise- bach, H. Kiepert et al.), and had a great impact on euro-
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