District of Ferizaj (Uroševac) is one of the districts of Kosovo. Ferizaj is the seat of the district. Municipalities The district of Ferizaj consists of five municipalities and 126 settlements. The city of Ferizaj was inhabited during the prehistoric era by the Starčevo culture, Vinča culture and Baden cultures. During the Ottoman period, Ferizaj was a trading center on the route between Belgrade and Thessaloniki. Camp Bondsteel, a United States Army base and the largest, most expensive American foreign military base in Southeast Europe since the Vietnam War, was built there in 1999. Ferizaj is in south-eastern Kosovo, about halfway between Pristina and Skopje, North Macedonia. It is about north-east of Tirana, north of Skopje, west of Sofia, south of Pristina and 300 km east of Podgorica. Ferizaj is a location of a river bifurcation; the Nerodimka river divides into two branches, which flow to two different seas. Ethnic groups All the municipalities have an Albanian majority: Ferizaj (95.9 percent), Shtime (96.8 percent), Kaçanik (99.9 percent) and Hani i Elezit (99.5 percent). Štrpce has a mixed population of Albanians (54.1 percent) and Serbs. History The town (known as Ferızovık when it was part of the Ottoman Empire) was little more than a village until 1873, when it became part of the Belgrade-Thessaloniki railway. Its name derives from a hotel owned before 1873 by Feriz Shasivari. The oldest known cultural group, in the 6th and 5th millennia BC in Kosovo, was the Starčevo culture. They lived near rivers and river terraces. Their houses were built of willows and mud, and their main occupation was agriculture. The Vinča culture, who replaced the Starčevo culture around 4300 BC, also lived near rivers. The settlements were unfortified, with dense rows of willow-and-mud houses. Remnants of their culture include ceramic vessels and large numbers of baked-clay figures. The Bubanj-Hum culture, which replaced the Vinča culture from present-day Bulgaria, left few artifacts. The Baden culture arrived from the Danube in its southernmost expansion, ending before the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Antiquity From the 8th century BC to the Roman conquest, the Dardani inhabited the region. They cremated their dead and buried their remains in tumuli. Two necropolises have been found; one in the Kuline area near the railway station in Gërlicë, and the other in the Mollopolc region along the Ferizaj-Štimlje road. Around 280 BC, the Dardani were reportedly ruled by a king. Most