Polac
Village in Mitrovicë, Kosovo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Polac or (Serbian Cyrillic: Пољанце; sometimes transliterated as Poljance) is a village in Kosovo. The village is exclusively inhabited by ethnic Albanians; in the 2024 census, it had 2115 inhabitants.[1]
Geography
It lies in the Drenica region, at the source of the Vrbica river, a left confluence of the Drenica river.[2] It lies on both sides of the regional Skenderaj-Glogavac road, 4–7 km southeast of Skenderaj.[2] It is 640–680 m over sea level.[2] The rural settlement lies on a cadastral area with the a total of 2195 hectares (K.O. Staro Poljance 694, K.O. Novo Poljance 767, K.O. Kraljica 734 ha).[2]
Poljance includes two major physiognomic parts: Staro Poljance (Džamijska, Gruda, Koca, Veljić and Zonić Mahala) and Novo Poljance, of which the latter was administratively joined into the present settlement in 1975.[2] Novo Poljance was an independent village before, situated to the east, established after World War I, with Serb and Montenegrin settlers from the vicinity of Danilovgrad, Nikšić, Mrkonjić Grad, Bosanska Krupa, among others.[2]
History
Middle Ages
The 1330 Dečani chrysobulls of Serbian King Stephen Uroš III (r. 1322–1331) mention the great village of "Strelac", and several surrounding villages: Čigotovo (Čikatovo), Vrbovec, Poljance, Glabotino and Kudrino (Kudrin).[3][4] Toponomastic study shows that Poljance bordered Strelac on the northeast.[4]
World War II
6 soldiers, hailing from Poljance, of the "Boro Bukmirović" and "Razim Sadiku" battalions of the First Macedonian-Kosovan National liberation Brigade (Yugoslav Partisans) fell in January and February 1945 during an uprising in Drenica.[5]
Kosovo War
According to the Serbian newspaper Pravda in January in February 1997, Jonuz Veliqi, an Albanian official working for the state structures of the Republic of Serbia, was nearly killed by during attacks of the Albanian paramilitaries.[6] On August 3, 1998, a civilian worker for the Serbian Interior Ministry was wounded by an automatic weapon.[7] Poljance was in the hands of the Kosovo Liberation Army until March 22, 1999, when Serbian police forces launched an offensive into Drenica.[8][9] After March 23, 1999, several abducted ethnic Serbs were held prisoners in an old mine near a brick factory in Poljance by Albanians.[10][11] The KLA regained control of Polac in 31 March 1999 when the Yugoslavs began their withdrawal from the positions in Drenica after fighting in the area.[12]