Kaçanik

Early history

The region of Kaçanik was one of the pathways, which were employed during Central European (akin to the Lusatian culture) migrations in the southern Balkans between 1200 and 1150 BCE.^[5] Roman era monuments include an altar that dates to 158–9 CE and is dedicated to a deity named Andinus (Deo Andino). The name Andinus appears among the central Illyrian and Dalmatian names, but the worship of Andinus seems to have been a local cult of southwestern Dardani as it doesn't appear in other parts of Illyria or the Roman Empire.^[6]

Middle Ages

After 9th century part of kingdom Raška and empire Serbia. Kaçanik was captured by the Ottomans in the 1420s.^[7] At that time Kaçanik was only a village registered by the Ottomans in 1455 defter as nahiyah.^[8][9]

Kaçanik was founded by Koca Sinan Pasha, who erected a tower, the town mosque which exists even today, a public kitchen for the poor (imaret), a school near the mosque, two hane (inns similar to caravanserais), one hammam (Turkish bathhouse), the town fortress called Llanishta Fortress and a few mills on the Lepenci river.

Kaçanik became known administratively as a town by the end of the 16th century, and up to year 1891 it was a part of the Ottoman Sanjak of Üsküb, which again belonged to the Kosovo Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire.

Modern

On January 2, 1690 Albanian insurgents participated in a battle on the side of the Austrian forces fought against the Ottomans at the Valley of Kaçanik.^[10]

In 1878, Kaçanik was intended to become a part of the Principality of Bulgaria according to the Treaty of San Stefano, but per the Treaty of Berlin it was returned to the Ottomans.^[11]

During the Albanian Revolt of 1910, the area of Kacanik was the battlefield between Ottoman and Albanian forces.^[12]

After 1912 the town became part of the Kingdom of Serbia, and after 1918 part of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (the first incarnation of Yugoslavia). From 1929 to 1941 Kaçanik was part of the Vardar Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

During World War II, from 1941 to 1945, the town became part of the Kingdom of Bulgaria. Albanians looted and demolished the Serbian church in the village.^[13]

In 1990, after the suspension of Kosovo's autonomy, the members of the Kosovan assembly gathered in the town and adopted the Kaçanik Constitution, based on which the Republic of Kosova was proclaimed in 1991.^[14]

During the Kosovo War, Yugoslav forces including the army, police and paramilitary groups carried out operations in the town that led to high numbers of civilian casualties and mass flights of civilians from Kaçanik.^[15]

Sport