Sandžak in the context of "Bosnian language"

The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynasty (replaced by the Karađorđević dynasty for a short time). The Principality of Serbia, under the suzerainty of the Turkish Empire, de facto achieved full independence when the very last Ottoman troops left Belgrade in 1867. The Congress of Berlin in 1878 recognized the formal independence of the Principality of Serbia, and in its composition Nišava, Pirot, Toplica and Vranje districts entered the South part of Serbia.

In 1882, Serbia was elevated to the status of a kingdom, initially maintaining a foreign policy friendly to Austria-Hungary before turning to the Russian Empire and France following a coup d'état in 1903. Between 1912 and 1913, Serbia greatly enlarged its territory through engagement in the First and Second Balkan Wars – Sandžak-Raška, Kosovo Vilayet and Vardar Macedonia were annexed. At the end of World War I in 1918 it united with Vojvodina and the Kingdom of Montenegro, and in December 1918 it merged with the newly created State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as Kingdom of Yugoslavia) under the continued rule of the Karađorđević dynasty.

Central Serbia (Serbian: централна Србија, romanized: centralna Srbija), also referred to as Serbia proper (Serbian: ужа Србија, romanized: uža Srbija), is the region of Serbia lying outside the autonomous province of Vojvodina to the north and the disputed Kosovo region to the south. Central Serbia is a term of convenience, not an administrative division of Serbia as such, and does not have any form of separate administration.

Broadly speaking, Central Serbia is the historical core of modern Serbia, which emerged from the Serbian Revolution and subsequent wars against the Ottoman Empire. In the following period, Serbia gradually expanded south, acquiring Southern Serbia, Kosovo, Sandžak, and Vardar Macedonia, and in 1918 – following the unification and annexation of Montenegro and unification of Austro-Hungarian areas left of the Danube and Sava (Vojvodina) – it merged with other South Slavic territories into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The current borders of Central Serbia were defined after World War II, when Serbia became a republic within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with Kosovo and Vojvodina as its autonomous provinces.

The term "Muslim Europe" refers to the predominantly Muslim countries of Europe, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, Kosovo, and Azerbaijan. (Islam has had a historical stronghold in the Balkans since the Ottoman wars in Europe.) It also includes Muslim-majority regions in other European nations, including western parts of North Macedonia, the Sandžak region within Serbia and Montenegro, the Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria, and many Muslim-majority republics within Russia. "Muslim Europe" can also be used to describe the Muslim community in Europe.

As of 2012, the number of Muslims in Europe was estimated at 45 million, or 6% of the total population of Europe.

Raška (Serbian Cyrillic: Рашка; Latin: Rascia) is a geographical and historical region of Serbia. Initially a small borderline district between early medieval Serbia and Bulgaria (city/area of Ras), and the Byzantine Empire, it became the center of the Grand Principality of Serbia and of the Serbian Kingdom in the mid-12th century. From that period on, the name of Raška became associated with the state of Serbia, eventually covering the south-western parts of modern Serbia, and historically also including north-eastern parts of modern Montenegro, and some of the most eastern parts of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its southern part covering the modern region of Sandžak.

The Sanjak of Novi Pazar (Albanian: Sanxhaku i Pazarit të Ri; Serbo-Croatian: Novopazarski sandžak, Новопазарски санџак; Turkish: Yeni Pazar sancağı) was an Ottoman sanjak (second-level administrative unit) that was created in 1865. It was reorganized in 1880 and 1902. The Ottoman rule in the region lasted until the First Balkan War (1912) and the treaty of London(1913) The Sanjak of Novi Pazar included territories of present-day northeastern Montenegro and southwestern Serbia, also including some northern parts of Kosovo. In modern day terms the region is known as Sandžak.

Novi Pazar (Serbian Cyrillic: Нови Пазар) is a city located in the Raška District of southwestern Serbia. As of the 2022 census, the urban area has 71,462 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 106,720 inhabitants. The city is the cultural center of the Bosniaks in Serbia and of Sandžak. A multicultural area of Muslims and Orthodox Christians, many monuments of both religions, like the Altun-Alem Mosque and the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, are located in the region which has a total of 30 protected monuments of culture.

The Pešter Plateau (Serbian: Пештерска висораван, romanized: Pešterska visoravan), or simply Pešter (Serbian Cyrillic: Пештер, pronounced [pɛ̌ʃtɛr]) is a karst plateau in southwestern Serbia, in the Raška (or Sandžak) region.

It lies at an altitude of 1,150–1,492 metres (3,773–4,895 ft), with the highest point (Kuljarski vrh) at 1,492 meters. The territory of the plateau is mostly located in the municipality of Sjenica, with parts belonging to Novi Pazar and Tutin.

Kuči (Montenegrin and Serbian: Кучи, Kuči; Albanian: Kuçi, pronounced [ˈkutʃi]) is a tribe of Albanian origin, historically located in modern central and eastern Montenegro (Brda region), north-east of Podgorica, extending along the border with Albania. Processes of Slavicisation during the Ottoman era and onwards facilitated ethno-linguistic shifts within much of the community. As such, people from the Kuči today largely identify themselves as Montenegrins and Serbs, with a minority still identifying as Albanians. In other areas such as the Sandžak, many Muslim descendants of the Kuči today identify as Bosniaks.

The Kuči first appear in historical records in 1330 as a brotherhood from an Albanian katun near Lake Shkodra under the jurisdiction of the Dečani Monastery. The region itself is first mentioned in 1485 as a nahiyah of the Sandjak of Shkodra. Over time, several waves of settlers came to populate the region and form the historical community of Kuči. The region is known for its resistance against Ottoman rule and its key role in the creation of modern Montenegro. Until the 17th century, the Kuči region was equally Orthodox and Catholic. Today, it is mostly Orthodox except for the Catholic community of Koja. Muslim converts appear since 1485. In the 17th and 18th centuries, both voluntarily and non-voluntarily many people from the pleme began to settle in the Plav-Gusinje, Rožaje and the wider Sandžak region. Many of their descendants identify as Muslim Bosniaks.