Albanians are a recognized ethnic minority in Serbia. According to data from the 2022 census, the population of ethnic Albanians in Serbia is 61,687, constituting 0.9% of the total population. The vast majority of them live in the Preševo Valley, the southernmost part of the country bordering the disputed Kosovo and North Macedonia.
History Late antiquity In late antiquity, the contact zone between Late Proto-Albanian and Balkan Latin was located in eastern and southeastern Serbia. This area included Niš, a city in southeastern Serbia. The toponym Niš in Slavic evolved from a toponym attested in Ancient Greek as ΝΑΙΣΣΟΣ (Naissos), which achieved its present form via phonetic changes in Proto-Albanian and thereafter entered Slavic. This indicates that Proto-Albanians lived in the region in pre-Slavic times. When this settlement happened is a matter of debate, as Proto-Albanians might have moved relatively late in antiquity in the area which might have been an eastern expansion of Proto-Albanian settlement as no other toponyms known in antiquity in the immediate area presuppose an Albanian development.
The development of Niš < Nish < Naiss- may also represent a regional development in late antiquity Balkans which while related may not be identical with Albanian. The potential spread of the Albanian language in the pre-Slavic era was possibly up to Drobeta-Turnu Severin on the banks of the Danube. Proto-Albanian speakers in the wider region shifted to Balkan Latin and contributed to the emergence of Proto-Romanian populations. The Torlak Slavic dialects are influenced by the features which emerged in the Albanian and Eastern Romance spoken in southeastern Serbia.
Middle Ages Toponyms such as Arbanaška, Arbanaška river, Arbanaška Mountain, Arbanaška Hill and Đjake shows an Albanian presence in the Toplica and Southern Morava regions (located north-east of contemporary Kosovo) since the Late Middle Ages.Uka, Sabit (2004). Jeta dhe veprimtaria e sqiptarëve të Sanxhakut të Nishit deri më 1912 [Life and activity of Albanians in the Sanjak of Nish up to 1912]. Verana. pp. 244–245. "Eshtë, po ashtu, me peshë historike një shënim i M. Gj Miliçeviqit, i cili bën fjalë përkitazi me Ivan Begun. Ivan Begu, sipas tij ishte pjesëmarrës në Luftën e Kosovës 1389. Në mbështetje të vendbanimit të tij, Ivan Kullës, fshati emërtohet Ivan Kulla (Kulla e Ivanit), që gjendet në mes të Kurshumlisë dhe Prokuplës. M. Gj. Miliçeviqi thotë: "Shqiptarët e ruajten fshatin Ivan Kullë (1877–1878) dhe nuk lejuan që të shkatërrohet ajo". Ata, shqiptaret e Ivan Kullës (1877–1878) i thanë M. Gj. Miliçeviqit se janë aty që nga para Luftës se Kosovës (1389). Dhe treguan që trupat e arrave, që ndodhen aty, ata i pat mbjellë Ivan beu. Atypari, në malin Gjakë, nodhet kështjella që i shërbeu Ivanit (Gjonit) dhe shqiptarëve për t’u mbrojtur. Aty ka pasur gjurma jo vetëm nga shekulli XIII dhe XIV, por edhe të shekullit XV ku vërehen gjurmat mjaft të shumta toponimike si fshati Arbanashka, lumi Arbanashka, mali Arbanashka, fshati Gjakë, mali Gjakë e tjerë. Në shekullin XVI përmendet lagja shqiptare Pllanë jo larg Prokuplës. Ne këtë shekull përmenden edhe shqiptarët katolike në qytetin Prokuplë, në Nish, në Prishtinë dhe në Bulgari..... M. Đj. Miličević. Kralevina Srbije, Novi Krajevi. Beograd, 1884: 354. "Kur flet mbi fshatin Ivankullë cekë se banorët shqiptarë ndodheshin aty prej Betejës së Kosovës 1389. Banorët e Ivankullës në krye me Ivan Begun jetojnë aty prej shek. XIV dhe janë me origjinë shqiptare. Shqiptarët u takojnë të tri konfesioneve, por shumica e tyre i takojnë atij musliman, mandej ortodoks dhe një pakicë i përket konfesionit katolik." Oblast Brankovića, Opširni katastarski popis iz 1455 godine, përgatitur nga M. Handžic, H. Hadžibegić i E. Kovačević, Sarajevo, 1972: 216. Skënder Rizaj, T, K "Perparimi" i vitit XIX, Prishtinë 1973: 57. Jovan M. Tomić, O Arnautima u Srbiji, Beograd, 1913: 13. Albanians in the Niš region had been living there for at least 500 years prior to their expulsion, meaning that Albanians would have been present in Niš since the 1300s at the very least.: "Using secondary sources, we establish that there have been Albanians living in the area of Niš for at least 500 years, that the Ottoman Empire controlled the area from the fourteenth to nineteenth centuries which led to many Albanians converting to Islam, that the Muslim Albanians of Niš were forced to leave in 1878, and that at that time most of these Nišan Albanians migrated south into Kosovo, although some went to Skopje in Macedonia; pp. 557–558: In 1690 much of the population of the city and surrounding area was killed or fled, and there was an emigration of Albanians from the Malësia e Madhe (North Central Albania/Eastern Montenegro) and Dukagjin Plateau (Western Kosovo) into Niš."
By 1477, part of the Albanian Mataruge tribe lived in the kaza of Prijepolje, where they formed their own distinct community (nahiye) with 10 villages (katund). In Ottoman records on the regions of Toplica, Kruševac, and Leskovac that date between 1444 and 1446, a village by the name of Tanuš (derived from the Albanian anthroponym Tanush) appears. In the region of Toplica specifically, several settlements of Albanian toponomy were recorded during the first half of the 15th century, such as Gonzi, Castrat, Spanzi, Zur, Katun and Kriva Feja. All of these settlements are indeed older than and predate the time of their recording during the first half of the 15th century.
Ottoman era In 1700, after the Great Serb Migration, the Kelmendi and Kuçi and other tribes like the Shkreli of Rugova established themselves in the region of Rožaje and the neighboring town of Tutin, Serbia. The Shala, Krasniqi, and Gashi also moved in the region. Starting in the 18th century many people originating from the Hoti tribe have migrated to and live in Sandžak, mainly in the Tutin area, but also in Sjenica.
In the era of trade development in the Ottoman Balkans, Albanian merchants from Shkodra, Pristina, and Prizren had settled in the sanjak of Smederevo (Belgrade Pashalik). Groups of Albanians from Kosovo settled in the areas of Kraljevo and Ćuprija. Albanians were the most significant non-Slavic group of the Smederevo region, the second biggest Muslim group of the pashalik and part of its Muslim population with Muslim Serbs, Bosniaks and smaller communities. In urban areas, Albanians lived in the towns of Paraćin, Ćuprija, Aleksinac, Kruševac, and Karanovac. Austrian sources that in Karanovac there were 89 Turkish and Albanian and 11 Serb households. The biggest concentration of Albanians was in Ćuprija, where contemporary Serb author Joakim Vujić recorded more "Turkish Arnauts than Serbs" in 1826. Albanian villages of Smederevo were concentrated in the south and east of the region.
19th century
In the first decades of the Principality of Serbia, which included modern-day central and eastern Serbia, the population was about 85% Serb and 15% non-Serb. Of those, most were Vlachs, and there were some Albanians, which were the overwhelming majority of the Muslims that lived in Smederevo, Kladovo, and Ćuprija. The new state aimed to homogenize its population: as a result, from 1830 to the Serbian–Ottoman Wars of the 1870s, it has been estimated that up to 150,000 Albanians that lived in the territories of the Principality of Serbia had been expelled. Prince Miloš Obrenović asked his official Milosav Zdravković to buy the houses of Albanians at a higher price than the market one and ordered the expulsion of Muslims - most of whom were Albanians from western Serbia. The residences of these population were burnt and they were moved to Ottoman lands.
Albanians in the territories which were included in the Kingdom of Serbia after 1912 were concentrated in three regions: Kosovo, Sanjak of Novi Pazar, and the Sanjak of Niš. Albanians were the majority of the population of Toplica (including Kuršumlija and Prokuplje), a significant part of the population of Leskovac and Vranje, and a part of the Muslim community in Niš. In the towns, a part of the Muslim population which were identified as Turks were in fact Albanians who had adopted an Ottoman urban culture. A part of the areas where Albanians lived, was administered under the Pashalik of Vranje. In 1843–1844, the pashalik was engulfed by the uprising of Dervish Cara against Huseyin Pasha of Vranje.
After the Tanzimat reforms, the local authorities exploited the situation in order to impose heavier taxation and abuse their authority even more against the majority of the population, which were peasant farmers. One particular event which aggravated even more the relations between the locals and Huseyin-Pasha is the ban on opening Albanian language schools in the district of Vranje even though the Tanzimat constitution allowed the opening of schools in the mother tongue of every ethnic community in the Ottoman Empire. In April 1844, rebels from the Preševo valley, Gjilan, Leskovac, Tetovo, Gostivar, Kumanovo defeated Huseyin-Pasha and took Vranje. The Ottoman army sent more than 10,000 troops with artillery support to suppress the rebellion. Local Albanians were led by Sulejman Tola of Veliki Trnovac, Selman Rogaçica, Ymer Aga of Preševo and Dervish Cara. The decisive battle which the Ottomans won and ended the rebellion took place on the Somolica Hill between Preševo and Bujanovac.
The Sanjak of Niš became the subject of territorial dispute in Serbian-Ottoman War (1876–1878). Albanians from Kuršumlja, Prokuplje, and Leskovac formed units which operated independently from the Ottoman army for the self-defense of villages against the Serbian troops. Albanian units joined the Ottoman frontline defense from Kosovo and Macedonia. The war caused the displacement of tens of thousands of civilians. More than 35,000 displaced Albanian civilians died just in the winter of 1876–1877. In the first stages of the war the Ottoman army won and enacted harsh repressive measures in Serbia. The entry of Russia in the war changed the situation and the Ottomans shifted their forces towards the eastern front. The Ottoman defeat in the Siege of Plevna secured Russian victory in the war and the Ottoman army retreated on all fronts. Ottoman forces surrendered Niš on 10 January 1878 and Serbian army continued its southwest advance entering the valleys of Kosanica, Pusta Reka, and Jablanica. Serbian army in the Morava Valley continued its advance to Vranje, with the intention of then turning west and entering Kosovo proper. The Serbian advance in the southwest was slow, due to the hilly terrain and much resistance by local Albanians who were defending their villages and also sheltering in the nearby Radan and Majdan mountains. Serbian forces took these villages one by one and most remained vacant. Albanian refugees continued to retreat toward Kosovo and their march was halted at the Goljak Mountains when an armistice was declared.
The Serbian army operating in the Morava Valley continued south toward two canyons: Grdelica (between Vranje and Leskovac) and Veternica (southwest of Grdelica). After Grdelica was taken, Serbian forces took Vranje. Local Albanians had left with their belongings prior to Serbian forces reaching the town, and other countryside Albanians experienced tensions with Serbian neighbors who fought against and eventually evicted them from the area. Albanian refugees defended the Veternica canyon, before retreating toward the Goljak Mountains. Albanians who lived nearby in the Masurica region did not resist Serbian forces and General Jovan Belimarković refused to carry out orders from Belgrade to deport them, but they were deported with other Albanians after Belimarković moved out of Masurica.