Crnotince

Crnotince exists because the Preševo Valley needed settlements along the route to Kosovo—and because ethnic geography persists across administrative boundaries. This village of 1,454 in Preševo municipality (not Vranje, despite proximity) sits in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia, in the predominantly Albanian-inhabited corridor that remains part of Serbia while Kosovo, across the border, has declared independence.

The Albanian toponym Corroticë alongside Serbian Crnotince captures the bilingual reality of this region. The Preševo Valley—comprising Preševo, Bujanovac, and Medveđa municipalities—has an ethnic Albanian majority that has periodically sought greater autonomy or unification with Kosovo. Crnotince is one of dozens of villages where questions of national identity, language rights, and administrative belonging remain contested.

The 2002 census counted 1,454 residents; current figures depend on which population moves are counted and how. Some Albanian families have emigrated to Kosovo or Western Europe; some Serbian families have left for safer regions. By 2026, Crnotince's trajectory depends on the broader Serbia-Kosovo relationship: whether normalization agreements bring investment and stability, or whether the valley remains a demographic frontline where villages define themselves by the borders they might cross.