Geography: Kosovo covers an area of 11,000 sq km in southern Serbia.

Main town: Pristina (200,000 inhabitants).

Population: 2 million inhabitants, over 90 per cent ethnic Albanian. Remainder is principally Serb.

Language: Official language is Serbian, though Albanian is spoken by most people.

History: Serbs consider Kosovo as the "birthplace" of the Serb state since it was once the seat of the Serb Orthodox Church and because of the 1389 defeat of the Serb army at the hands of the Turks at Kosovo Polje. Since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, Kosovo has remained part of Serbia apart from a brief period during the second World War when German-led Axis powers incorporated it into Greater Albania. Kosovo acquired autonomy in 1974 during the communist era, but after Tito's death in 1981 there were growing calls by Albanians for greater independence. The province's autonomous status was revoked by Belgrade in 1989, and the provincial assembly and government were dissolved.

Society: Kosovo society remains rigidly divided into two camps, Serb and Albanian, with the majority of the latter adhering to the peaceful resistance campaign organised by their leaders who have established a "parallel" state providing education, health and other services.

Economy: Landlocked Kosovo is the poorest region in Yugoslavia, though it has rich deposits of coal, lead, zinc, chromium and silver. It borders on northern Albania, itself the poorest region within the poorest country in Europe.