Raška (region)

Raška (Serbian Cyrillic: Рашка; Latin: Rascia) is a geographical and historical region of Serbia. Initially a small borderline district between early medieval Serbia and Bulgaria (city/area of Ras), and the Byzantine Empire, it became the center of the Grand Principality of Serbia and of the Serbian Kingdom in the mid-12th century. From that period on, the name of Raška became associated with the state of Serbia, eventually covering the south-western parts of modern Serbia, and historically also including north-eastern parts of modern Montenegro, and some of the most eastern parts of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its southern part covering the modern region of Sandžak.