Kosovo is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, bordered by Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, and North Macedonia, with a population of nearly 1.6 million, of whom around 92% are ethnic Albanians. Its ancient core was the Illyrian Kingdom of Dardania (attested from the 4th century BCE), which later became a Roman province and a Byzantine territory before integrating into the Serbian medieval state in the 13th century; however, after the pivotal Battle of Kosovo in 1389, the Ottoman Empire ruled for nearly five centuries until 1912. In the 20th century, Kosovo became part of Yugoslavia, but escalating ethnic tensions erupted into the Kosovo War (1998–99), leading to a Yugoslav withdrawal and the establishment of a United Nations administration. Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, and has since gained recognition from at least 110 UN member states—although Serbia still claims it as its province under the 2013 Brussels Agreement. It is a developing, upper-middle-income economy that has experienced strong growth and joined institutions like the IMF and World Bank, formally applying for EU membership in December 2022. The name Kosovo derives from the South Slavic word for "blackbird field," referring to the historical karst plain where the famous battle took place.