Kosovo
Kosovo lies at the centre of the Balkans with an area of 10,887 km2 (4,203 sq mi) with Prishtina as its capital and largest city, bordered by Serbia to the north and east, North Macedonia to the southeast, Albania to the southwest, and Montenegro to the west. Most of central Kosovo is dominated by vast plains and fields, the rugged Accursed Mountains and Shar Mountains rise in the southwest and southeast, respectively. In classical antiquity, the central tribe which emerged in the territory of Kosovo were Dardani, who formed an independent polity known as the Kingdom of Dardania in the 4th century BCE. It has a very rich history being annexed by the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empires in the 1st century BCE, Slavic invasions beginning in the 6th–7th century CE, the First Bulgarian Empire thereafter and by the 13th century, Kosovo became the core of the Serbian medieval state, then the Ottoman Empire ruled the area until the early 20th century, followed by Yugoslavia after World War I and the declaration of its independence in 2008.