TheOttomancadastraltax census (defter) of 1455 in theDistrict of Branković (defter Vuk-ili) is one of the oldest Ottoman tax registers in theBalkans. At the time of the defter, theDistrict of Branković included parts of centralSerbia (present-dayToplica District and the historicalRaška Region), part of northeasternMontenegro and parts of easternKosovo (theKosovo Plain).^[2] The defter recorded:

• 480 villages
• 13,693 adult males
• 12,985 dwellings
• 14,087 household heads (480 widows and 13,607 adult males)

In 1972, theSarajevo Institute of Middle Eastern Studies translated the original Turkish census and published an analysis of it.^[3] Subsequently, others have covered the subject, such as Vukanović Tatomir,Srbi na Kosovu, Vranje, 1986.

• 13,000Serb dwellings present in all 480 villages and towns
• 75Vlach dwellings in 34 villages
• 46Albanian dwellings in 23 villages
• 17Bulgarian dwellings in 10 villages
• 5Greek dwellings in Lauša, Vučitrn
• 1Jewish dwelling in Vučitrn
• 1Croat dwelling

Of the names mentioned in this census, conducted by the Ottomans in 1455 and covering a part of Eastern Kosovo, 96.3% were of Slavic origin, 1.90% of Roman origin, 1.56% of uncertain origin, 0.26% of Albanian origin, and 0.25% of Greek origin. Serbian scholars consider that the defter indicates an overwhelmingly Serbian local population. However, Madgearu argues that the series of defters from 1455 onward "shows that Kosovo... was a mosaic of Serbian and Albanian villages", while Prishtina and Prizren already had significant Albanian Muslim populations, and that the same defter of 1455 indicates the presence of Albanians in Tetovo.^[4] The accuracy and the consistency of the registration have been doubted, as shown in the example ofJanjevo (a primarily Catholic Croat village in eastern Kosovo), which according to the reading of the register had only one Croat household.^[5]

As the defter only recordedtimar holders and dependent farmers, groups which socially weren't part of either of these two classes were not included. That is most probably the reason why Vlachs (a social category which was not part of the Ottoman feudal hierarchy) were not recorded in the region which the defter covered.^[6]

The scholar Selami Pulaha, studying the defter of 1455, considered nearly 100 villages and the towns to of mentioned inhabitants with Albanian names such as 'Gjon', 'Gjin', 'Lesh' etc. or inhabitants with Slavic names but which have 'Arbanas', meaning Albanian, as a last name or cases where placenames of Albanian origin would have inhabitants with Slavic names such as theArbanas village in the Toplica district.^[7] Pulaha noted also the defter did not include theDukagjini plain.^[7]

• 
  A map depicting The District of Branković drawn based on toponyms from the defter^[8]
• 
  The territory of The District of Branković marked with diagonal lines within The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1946–1992)^[8]

• Demographic history of Serbia
• Demographic history of Kosovo

• Bobić, Mirjana (2015). "The Reconstruction of Domestic Communities in the Branković Region of Serbia in 1455". In Sović, Silvia; Thane, Pat; Viazzo, Pierpaolo (eds.).The History of Families and Households: Comparative European Dimensions. BRILL.ISBN 9004307869.
• Orijentalni institut u Sarajevu (1972)."Oblast Brankovića – Opširni katastarski popis iz 1455. godine".
• "Turski katastarksi popisi iz 1455. godine za Oblast Vuka Brankovića"(PDF). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2014-11-08. Retrieved2015-02-18.

• 15th century in Serbia
• Demographic history of Serbia
• Defter

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata