|kosovo.net : History : The Saga of Kosovo| The Saga of Kosovo
Serbs And Albanians Under Turkish Rule The end of the Serbian
Despotate in 1459 was followed by the demise of the Kingdom of
Bosnia (1463). The Ottoman Empire now ruled not only over all
Serbs (except those in Montenegro of which more will be said
later), but stretched all the way from Mesopotamia to the
Danube, and westward to the Adriatic. Serbs, Greeks, Bulgars,
and Albanians were subjugated, and they had no idea how long
their plight would last. At the same time, some among them
concluded that life would be easier if they converted to Islam.
Many others decided to move out--to Hungary or to head for the
coast and to look for a haven in Venice or in Venetian held
territories in Dalmatia, or to try the gates of Dubrovnik, which
in exchange for tribute to the Sultan, was allowed to retain its
small territory free of Turks. Those who stayed and did not
convert had one thing in common: all of them were classified as
"giaurs," a category that lumped