Present-day Kosovo was originally the Thraco-Illyrian tribal territory of Dardania. In 6 AD the area was conquered by the Roman Empire and it later became part of the province of Moesia Superior. Around 284 AD Dardania was made a separate province. In the 7th Century AD Slav tribes from the Carpathian Mountains region moved into the region and displaced the Romanised population. In 839 AD the area was incorporated into the Bulgarian Empire, and soon became Christianised. In 1018 control passed to the powerful Byzantine Empire.

A Serb kingdom was formed in the 11th century, after a successful revolt against Byzantine control. In 1169 the Nemanjic ruling dynasty was founded and a process of territorial expansion began, absorbing Kosovo in 1241. In June 1389 Serbia and it's allies were decisively defeated by the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Kosovo Polje. After a period of resistance, the last areas of Serbian territory fell under Ottoman rule in 1459. The Viyalet of Kosovo was formed as a province of the Ottoman Empire, and Islam was introduced as the official religion.

In July 1878 the Treaty of Berlin formally gave full independence from Ottoman rule to Serbia. In March 1882 Serbia became a kingdom, but Kosovo remained under Ottoman control. During the 1800s Serbia transformed itself from a backward principality into a modern state comparable with any other in Europe. Rapid industrialisation soon bestowed growing economic and military power. In 1912, during the First Balkan War, most of Kosovo was taken by Serbia. This was confirmed by Treaty in 1913.

Following the surrender of Germany and Austro-Hungary after the First World War, a multi-national South Slav (Yugoslav) state was established on 1 December 1918 under Serbian leadership, formally entitled the "Triune Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes". In 1929 the name of the kingdom officially became Yugoslavia. Following the assassination of the King in 1934, the leadership became pro-German. On 27 March 1941, the leadership was deposed by an anti-German military coup, but the Germans immediately invaded the country. Croatian Fascists supported the Germans, while royalist Chetniks and communist Partisans offered resistance. With Allied support, the latter grew strong enough to liberate Yugoslavia in 1944-45.

On 29 November 1945 a communist controlled Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was established. The original Stalinist government was gradually replaced by an increasingly decentralised federation. In 1946 Kosovo was given the status of an autonomous region and in 1963 that of an autonomous province. Constitutional changes in 1974 meant that Kosovo became virtually self-governing. The majority ethnic Albanian population was able to live relatively freely. In 1989 a new multi-party constitution was introduced, which also severely curtailed the autonomy of Kosovo and the northern province of Vojvodina. A series of measures to limit the use of the Albanian language, and Albanian influence in government departments was progressively introduced by the Serbian Nationalist government.

From late 1997 there was increasingly violent unrest in Kosovo. Serbian citizens of ethnic Albanian descent, who formed the majority population of the province, were demanding the restoration of local autonomy. This activity has violently suppressed by Serb security forces. A local guerrilla force, known as the UCK, began attacking Serbian security forces within Kosovo. Throughout 1998, the escalating conflict attracted increasingly desperate attempts at a diplomatic solution by several countries. Before these attempts had been exhausted, Serb forces initiated a campaign of systematic expulsion and extermination of the ethnic Albanian population from Kosovo. Some 850,000 refugees were soon forced to flee into neighbouring countries.

On 24 March 1999, NATO was reluctantly forced to commence a series of increasingly severe air attacks on Yugoslavia, named Operation 'Allied Force', in an attempt to force a withdrawal of Serb forces from Kosovo. On 8 June 1999 an agreement was signed with NATO obliging Serbia to withdraw all it's armed forces from Kosovo. On 12 June 1999 Operation 'Joint Guardian' commenced when NATO and Russian peacekeeping forces entered Kosovo to restore order and assist in re-building the region.

On 5 October 2000, a popular uprising forced President Milosevic from office. New Serbian elections in November confirmed the take-over by pro-democracy parties. However, the new moderate Yugoslav president was immediately seen by ethnic-Albanian extremists as a obstacle to independence for Kosovo. From late in 2000, their terrorist campaign against Serbs inside Kosovo was stepped up and cross-border raids into Serbia itself were launched. In 2001 this campaign included rocket attacks on Serbian security forces in Serbia and bomb attacks on convoys of Serbian vehicles entering Kosovo. Kosovan Serbs inevitably retaliated. NATO forces attempted to maintain order.

In March 2004 Kosovo saw the worst ethnic violence since the 1999 Crisis, when riots left 19 dead and hundreds injured. Serbian homes and churches were attacked and burnt by ethnic Albanian mobs. The NATO-led peacekeeping force was able to restore order, but UN administration of the province was widely criticised.

Negotiations began in 2006 to resolve the final status of Kosovo, which was still a United Nations administered province. While the Albanian majority pressed for full independence, this was firmly resisted by Serbia. On 17 February 2008 the Kosovo parliament declared Kosovo to be independent from Serbia. Independence was subsequently recognised by the USA and most European states.