 Independent principality in the region of Morava was established in 1371, and attained its largest extent in 1379 through the military and political activities of its first ruler, prince Lazar Hrebeljanović.In 1402 it was raised to the Serbian Despotate, which would exist until 1459 ("de jure" until the 1560s).The adjective "Moravian" does not imply that the state (Moravian Serbia) is affiliated in any way with the region of Moravia in the present-day Czech Republic.