The current differences in culture are obvious in the education and political system. In the last 10 years, Kosovo, a majority-Albanian province of Serbia, was taken back by Serbians. This region was previously autonomous to the Albanians with in the former Yugoslavia. In 1989, Serbian government revoked the autonomous status. This heated already-stressed relations between the Serbian authorities and Albanian civilians. Kosovo Albanians are struggling for an Albanian-language university, media and national system, as they push for independence from Serbia. Albanians are gaining a few opportunities in government. They now have their own political parties and hold a few offices. However they are still largely underrepresented in local government, law enforcement and military. (www.crisisweb.org/mac03,

The nomadic peoples of Yugoslavia made some drastic changes to their way of life in the 1300's. They changed from a warrior way of life to protecting their new religion at all cost, specifically against the Byzantine Empire. Osman, a Turkish emir (1299-1326) and founder of the Ottoman Empire, extended his authority from the capital at Bursa into the Anatolian Peninsula. This expansion required more military to control the region. Thus, the army previously based on volunteers became more formalized with recruitment and organization. The source of income for the area was from booty gained by the army from war and the revenues from taxes. The Ottoman government looked down on business and trade and focused on the revenue from war and taxes, yet they still maintained trade routes. However, the commercial life of the empire was in the hands of the non-Muslim and non-Turkish merchants and artisans, not the government. Although, they still paid taxes to the Ottoman government, the merchants and artisans still made large fortunes from lucrative trade with Europeans. There was a large Jewish community in Ottoman, and they enjoyed considerable prosperity under Ottoman rules, too. (World History, pg. 345) Even in the 1300's the differe

Some common words found in the essay are:
Albanians Serbians, Liberation Army, Anatolian Peninsula, Balkans Kosovo, Kosovo Sarajevo, Samarkand Timbulane's, Serbia Albanians, Serbia Serbians, Serbians Albanians, World History, albanians serbians, kosovo liberation army, world history pg, taxes ottoman government, grudges albanians, serbians albanians, living kosovo, long-standing grudges, ottoman government, history pg, long-standing grudges albanians, world history, push independence, merchants artisans, grudges albanians serbians,
Approximate Word count = 831
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)