LAND: Kosovo covers about 4,200 square miles - roughly the size of Connecticut - and borders Albania and Macedonia.
PEOPLE: About 2 million - 90 percent ethnic Albanian, of whom most are Muslim, and the rest Catholic. The remaining 10 percent are mainly Orthodo x Christian Serbs.
STATUS: Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999, when Slobodan Milosevic's forces were ousted after a NATO air war launched to end his crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. About 10,000 people were killed and nearly 1 million others driven from their homes.
HISTORY: Kosovo, the site of an epic battle between Serbs and Turks in 1389, is considered hallowed ground by Serbs, and the birthplace of their identity. Ethnic Albanians say they are descendants of the ancient Ilyrians, Kosovo's first inhabitants.
WHAT'S NEXT: Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership is counting on swift recognition from the United States and key European powers. Serbia, backed by Russia, fiercely opposes the bid and has vowed to block it at the UN Security Council.
