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Janjevci

Janjevci are inhabitants of the Kosovo town of Janjevo and surrounding villages, located near Pristina as well as villages centered around Letnica near Vitina.

The Janjevci as a specific group are one of two Roman Catholic South Slavic regional subgroups in Kosovo. The Janjevci are descended from traders who came to Kosovo in 14th century (earliest recorded date is 1303) from the Dubrovnik Republic, modern-day Croatia. They kept their Catholic religion and Croatian identity since then. Ever since 1974, they have been migrating from Kosovo to Croatia, during the process of Yugoslavia's disintegration and the Yugoslav wars.

In 1992, some inhabitants from Letnica (another Croatian village in Kosovo) emigrated to Croatia and settled in abandoned homes of Serbs in the villages of Voćin and Varešnica in western Slavonia. Their Serb inhabitants had previously fled due to the war in Croatia.

Many of the Janjevci settled in Serb homes in inner Dalmatia in 1996, particularly the village of Kistanje which was abandoned in 1995 following Operation Storm. After some of the Serbian refugees returned, the village became divided between two hostile communities. The Janjevci have since returned the Serbian houses to their owners and instead had houses built for themselves in a new part of Kistanje caled Novo Naselje (lit. New Settlement).

Before the Kosovo War began, there were 8,062 Janjevci in Kosovo. After it, only around 350 remained, the rest fled mostly to Croatia.

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