Central Serbia - Name

Name

Besides the name "Central Serbia", the term "Serbia Proper" was also used in English to refer to the region. "Serbia Proper" is simply an English translation of the Serbian term "Uža Srbija" (Ужа Србија), which was used as a name of the region during the existence of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The term "Uža Srbija" was controversial and, due to that, Serbian government publications used "Centralna Srbija" (Central Serbia) instead. The term "Uža Srbija" was rejected because it implied a distinction between Serbia and its autonomous provinces.

According to the Library of Congress, "Serbia Proper" denoted "the part of the Republic of Serbia not including the provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo; the ethnic and political core of the Serbian state." However, the ethnic and political center of the Serbian people in one part of the Middle Ages was in Kosovo, while in one part of the Early modern period it was in Vojvodina. The region designated as "Serbia Proper" became the political center of Serbs in the 19th century, although its parts had important political role between 12th and 15th centuries.

The term "Serbia Proper" has also been used to differentiate the whole of Serbia (including the autonomous provinces) from the Serbian statelets in Croatia and Bosnia, and to differentiate the rest of Serbia (including Vojvodina) from Kosovo.

The use of the term "Serbia Proper" in English was purely geographical without any particular political meaning being implied. It has been used most often by the (non-Serbian) English-language media but also by the United Nations, English-language reports by the Serbian media and even on occasion by the Serbian government. Its usage crossed political boundaries, with both pro- and anti-Serbian groups employing it.