Kmetoci lies about 7 km northeast of Gjilan and is a hilly-lowland settlement divided into neighbourhoods. At Shavarinë, old burial grounds survive, traditionally described locally as “Roman” graves.
The settlement is mentioned in 1437 in the debt book of the merchant Mikel Llukari as Chmetovzi in Morava. A 1498 Ottoman register also records a settlement called Varvarica in this area. Between the two world wars Serbian and Montenegrin colonist families were established here; some Albanian families later migrated to Turkey.
In March 1999 the Albanian population was expelled to North Macedonia. Before the war the village had a mixed Albanian, Serbian and Roma population.
Source
Source and further reading
Principal source: Prof. Dr. Jusuf Osmani, Vendbanimet e Kosovës 6 — Gjilani, Prishtinë, 2004.
Source entry: KMETOCI
This page presents a selected summary from the published study of the settlement. For complete archival references, family histories, microtoponymy and the full treatment, consult the original volume.