Rascians

Rascians ( / Raši, Rašani; ) was a historical term for Serbs. The term was derived from the Latinized name for the central Serbian region of Raška (; ). In medieval and early modern Western sources, exonym Rascia was often used as a designation for Serbian lands in general, and consequently the term Rasciani became one of the most common designations for Serbs. Because of the increasing migratory concentration of Serbs in the southern Pannonian Plain, since the late 15th century, those regions also became referred to as Rascia, since they were largely inhabited by Rasciani (Rascians). Among those regions, term Rascia (Raška) was most frequently used for territories spanning from western Banat to central Slavonia, including the regions of Syrmia, Bačka, and southern Baranja. From the 16th to the 18th century, those regions were contested between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy, and today they belong to several modern countries (Serbia, Romania, Hungary, Croatia).

thumb|right|270px|Approximate territory, according to various sources, ethnographically identified as new "Rascia" between the 16th and 18th centuries