Raška
From Freepedia
Raška (Raschka, Rascia, Rassa) was the central and most successful medieval Serbian state (or župa, area ruled by a župan) that unified neighboring Serbian tribes into the main medieval Serbian state in Balkans.
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos describes Raška (Rascia) in De Administrando Imperio as being settled by Serbs at the start of the 7th century. Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos writes in De Administrando Imperio that the Serbs received in Rascia/Raška, Zachumlie/Zahumlje, Trebounia/Travunia, Zeta/Duklja, Bosnia/Bosna and Pagania/Paganija. The house of Vlastimirović, (named for Knez Vlastimir who was the great great grandson of the Unknown Archont who led the Serbs to the Balkans from White Serbia (modern day Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine) during the reign of Byzantine emperor Heraclius somewhere between 610 - 641) ruled from Raška.
From the early 7th century, the history of Raška becomes intimately bound with the history of the Serb House of Vlastimirović.
The present Raška is the area of south-central Serbia, in the Raška District of Serbia and Montenegro. Raška is also called Sandžak by Slavic Muslims.
