In antiquity, the mountains were known as Scardus, Scodrus, or Scordus (το Σκάρδον ὂρος in Polybius and Ptolemy).

Lithuanian: skardús 'steep'),[5] and has been compared to the toponym Scardona[5] and to the tribal name Scordisci (with Scardus featuring the Illyrian vocalism /a/).

[6] The theory according to which the modern Sharr/Šar represents an evolution of the ancient name Scardus through Albanian sound changes is untenable on the basis of current historical-linguistic research.

Sharr/Šar rather can be traced to Albanian: sharrë meaning 'saw', denoting the jagged peaks and 'saw-toothed ridge', ultimately from Latin: sĕrra (also used in some Romance languages: cf.

[7][5] In the early 16th century, it was recorded that the mountain was called "Catena Mundi" (Latin for "the chains of the world").

[1] Sometimes the range is called "Carska Planina" (Cyrillic: Царска Планина, "Tsar's Mountain"), as a reference to the capitals (Prizren and Skopje), courts (Nerodimlje, Pauni, Svrčin, etc.)

The border now follows the road to the small, mountainous, town of Restelica, the rivers of Globocica, Plava and the White Drin and finally reaches the city of Prizren.

[1] The Šar Mountains extend to Mount Korab (2,764 m or 9,068 ft) in the southwest, and pass into northeastern Albania with very small part (0.63% of the entire length).

Remnants of the fort on the Kradište hill, near Prizren, dates from the 2nd to the 6th century and testifies the change of civilizations in this region: it started in the pre-Roman period, then became a Roman town and later a Byzantine one.

Locality of Ravna Gora, predating the 6th century, where Slavs later cremated their dead, is situated in the area.

Remains of the Višegrad Fort, older part of the Prizren Fortress, are located in the gorge of the Bistrica river.

Emperor Dušan later expanded the fort to the river and built his endowment, the Monastery of the Holy Archangels.

Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in the village of Gotovuša in Sirinićka Župa was built in 16th century.

The park encompasses several different types of topographic relief: glacial (cirques, moraines and glacial lakes), periglacial (snow cirques, sliding blocks, "tundra mosaic" type of micro-shapes in the deposits of silt), karstic and fluvial.

Other perennial plants include King Alexander's yarrow (Achillea alexandri-regis), Nikolić's silene (Heliosperma nikolicii), Bornmuellera dieckii, Šar carnation (Dianthus scardicus Wettst.

It went extinct from the most of Europe during the last ice age and today grows as an endemic species in several gorges in Serbia, North Macedonia and Greece.