Kraishtë lies about 9–10 km southwest of Lipjan, at the foot of the Blinaja mountains. House foundations and traces of an earlier settlement have been found at Bregu and at the locality known as Mahallët. Local tradition also remembers a period of abandonment associated with plague.
The settlement has not been securely identified in medieval records, but it appears on an Austrian map based on information from 1689 and in the Deviç monastery register in 1762. Late-19th-century yearbooks record the form Kojishta. The interwar period brought emigration to Turkey and the settlement of Serbian colonist families.
In 1999 Kraishtë had around 180 houses and 1,335 residents. During Serbian attacks six houses and other buildings were burned; ten civilians and one fighter were killed. In March the Albanian population was expelled and took refuge in the Blinaja mountains.
Source
Source and further reading
Principal source: Prof. Dr. Jusuf Osmani, Vendbanimet e Kosovës 5 — Lypjani, Prishtinë, 2003.
Source entry: KROISHTA
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.