An autonomous region of the former Yugoslavia. Slobodan Milosevic's support of the Serbian minority here against the Albnian majority in 1987 is viewed by many as the beginning of the end for the former Yugoslavia. It is an area with deep significance for the Serbs: In 1389 the Ottoman Turks ended the reign of medieval Serbia here by beheading Prince Lazar.

Today the name "Kosovo" applies to a large region of southwestern Serbia. In the epics it refers specifically to a large plain where the famous battle took place. (The plain was also the site of several lesser battles both before and after 1389.) The plain is about 15 miles wide and 50 miles long (about one-fifth of the Kosovo region) roughly following the Sitnica River. The plain is often called "Kosovo Polje" [POHL-yeh], and a town on the plain goes by that name. The word polje means "field", and kosovo is the genitive form of kos, meaning "blackbird"; thus Kosovo Polje is sometimes called the "Field of Blackbirds". In this English translation of the poems "Kossovo" is pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable. Kroushévatz

a Serbian province in southern Yugoslavia populated predominantly by Albanians

A place in Eastern Europe. See Europe.