Korçë District
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Korçë District ( sq, Rrethi i Korçës), was one of the 36 districts of Albania, which were dissolved in July 2000 and replaced by 12
counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
. It had a population of 143,499 in 2001, and an area of . Its capital was the city of
Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the eighth most populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population is 75,994 (2011 census), in a total area of . It stands on a plateau som ...
. Its territory is now part of
Korçë County Korçë County ( sq, Qarku Korçë, italic=unset), officially the County of Korçë ( sq, Qarku i Korçës, italic=unset), is a county in the Southern Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the largest by area and the seventh most populous of ...
: the
municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
of
Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the eighth most populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population is 75,994 (2011 census), in a total area of . It stands on a plateau som ...
,
Maliq Maliq ( sq-definite, Maliqi) formerly known as Malik, is a town and a municipality in Korçë County of eastern Albania. It is the smaller of two cities in the district, the other being Korçë, southeast of Maliq. The current enlarged municipalit ...
and
Pustec Pustec ( sq, Pustec; mk, Пустец) formerly known as Liqenas (1973–2013), is a village in Pustec Municipality, Korçë County, eastern Albania. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Prespa, it is home to much of the Macedonian minorit ...
. Korçë District was considered one of two main minority regions of the country's south. During
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
the French created the Republic of Korça in the area.


Geography

It had an area of , making it the largest district in
Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
. It was situated in the southeastern part of Albania, from lat. 40°27'N to lat. 40°57'N and from long. 21°4'E to 20°19'E. It was bordered by Pogradec District to the north, by
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
with the Florina regional unit (
Greek Macedonia Macedonia (; el, Μακεδονία, Makedonía ) is a geographic and former administrative region of Greece, in the southern Balkans. Macedonia is the largest and Greek geographic region, with a population of 2.36 million in 2020. It is ...
) to the east,
Devoll District Devoll (; sq-definite, Devolli) is a municipality in Korçë County, southeastern Albania. The municipality consists of the administrative units of Hoçisht, Miras, Progër and Qendër Bilisht with Bilisht constituting its seat. As of the In ...
to the southeast, by
Kolonjë District Kolonjë is a municipality in Korçë County, southeastern Albania. It was created in 2015 by the merger of the former municipalities Barmash, Çlirim, Ersekë, Leskovik, Mollas, Novoselë, Qendër Ersekë and Qendër Leskovik. The seat of t ...
and Përmet District to the southwest, and by Gramsh District and Skrapar District on the west.


History


Antiquity

The Copper Age lasted from 3000 BC to 2100 BC. Mycenean
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
was introduced in the plain of Korçë during the late Bronze Age ( Late Helladic IIIc), and has been claimed that the tribes living in this region before the Dark Age migrations, probably spoke a northwestern Greek dialect. The area was on the border between Illyria and
Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
and according to a historical reconstruction was ruled by an Illyrian dynasty until 650 BC, after which by a
Chaonian The Chaonians ( grc, Χάονες, Cháones) were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region of Epirus currently part of north-western Greece and southern Albania.; ; ; ; ; . Together with the Molossians and the Thesprotians, they formed t ...
dynasty. During this period the area was inhabited by Greek-speaking tribes, possibly
Chaonians The Chaonians ( grc, Χάονες, Cháones) were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region of Epirus currently part of north-western Greece and southern Albania.; ; ; ; ; . Together with the Molossians and the Thesprotians, they formed ...
or
Molossians The Molossians () were a group of ancient Greek tribes which inhabited the region of Epirus in classical antiquity. Together with the Chaonians and the Thesprotians, they formed the main tribal groupings of the northwestern Greek group. On t ...
, two of the three major Epirotic tribes. Archaeologists have found a gravestone of the 2nd or 3rd century AD depicting two Illyrian blacksmiths working iron on an anvil near modern Korçë.


19th century

Yuriy Venelin (1802–1839) a Russian scholar who specialised in Bulgarian studies noted that the Korçë District in 1833 (at which point its boundaries were quite different from the modern district, including all of Devoll and various other differences) had 50 villages with two thirds being Muslim and a third being Christian. Settlements of significance during that time were Moscopole, Vithkuq, Kamenicë, Floq, Boboshticë, Drenovë, Borje, Voskop and so on. Houses of the area numbered a total of 2400 containing some 22,000 people according to the Ottoman census. The Muslims and Christians of the region were noted as being "Albanians by nationality — speaking the same language, having the same customs" involved in agricultural employment, many unskilled and illiterate apart from those in Korçë and Moscopole that conduct trade. The villagers of Moscopole were mainly Aromanians in addition to Greeks and Albanians, while some Bulgarians living nearby. "The district of Korcha includes some 50 villages. One third of them are Christian, the others — Mohammedan. More important are Voskopol or Moskopol, Vitkuki, Kamenitsa, Flioki, Boboshtitsa, Drenovo, Borya, Boskopy and others. The total number of the houses is almost 2400 and the number of the inhabitants is 22,000, according to the royal census taken in that district. Both the Turks (the Moslems) and the Christians are Albanians by nationality — speaking the same language, having the same customs, illiterate and unskilled, poor farmers and shepherds, with the exception of the inhabitants of Korcha and Moskopol, who carry on some trade. The inhabitants of Voskopol are Walachians; there also are some Bulgarians in the vicinity."; p.83. "Юрий Венелин, Древние и нынешние болгаре (Yuril Venelin, Ancient and modern Bulgarians), Moscow, 1833, pp.2–3, 11–12; the original is in Russian."


20th century

In the 1908 statistics of Amadore Virgili as presented by Nicholas Cassavetes for the Pan-Epirotic Union of Northern Epirus showed the entire
kaza A kaza (, , , plural: , , ; ota, قضا, script=Arab, (; meaning 'borough') * bg, околия (; meaning 'district'); also Кааза * el, υποδιοίκησις () or (, which means 'borough' or 'municipality'); also () * lad, kaza , ...
of Korçë, which also included surrounding rural areas as well as the modern
Devoll District Devoll (; sq-definite, Devolli) is a municipality in Korçë County, southeastern Albania. The municipality consists of the administrative units of Hoçisht, Miras, Progër and Qendër Bilisht with Bilisht constituting its seat. As of the In ...
as having a Muslim majority which was not differentiated by nationality alongside a Christian minority of which there were 43,800 Albanian speakers and 1,214
Aromanians The Aromanians ( rup, Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgaria, northern and ...
(Vlachs), with no Greek speakers found, while Bulgarians were not counted for.Cassavetes, Nicholas J (1919). ''The Question of Northern Epirus in the Peace Conference''. New York: Pan-Epirotic Union of Northern Epirus, American Branch, 1919. Page 77. Cited in Psomas, Lambros (2008), ''The Religious and Ethnographic Synthesis of the Population of Southern Albania (Northern Epirus) in the Beginning of the 20th Century'', discusses on pages 248–252. For the same area, the 1913 statistics of Destani, which did not differentiate subjects by faith but only language, found 89829 Albanian speakers, 3190 Aromanian speakers, 3985 Bulgarian speakers, no Greek speakers and 527 "others".Psomas, Lambros (2008). ''The Religious and Ethnographic Synthesis of the Population of Southern Albania (Northern Epirus) in the Beginning of the 20th Century''. Statistics of Destani discussed on 256–260 With regard to the Aromanian population, Lambros Psomas argues the study of Virgili likely undercounted the Aromanian speakers while the study of Destani is more reliable with regard to the Aromanians but he also argues the study of Destani was pro-Albanian in motive and drastically undercounted the number of Greek speakers in the Himara and Leskovik kazas, while Psomas also excludes Korçë from the collection of regions with notable Greek-speaking presence. British historian Tom Winnifrith states that during the delineation of the Greek-Albanian border a part of the local pro-Greek element included communities whose native speech was Greek. In 1919, US diplomat Joseph Emerson Haven on special detail in Albania wrote a detailed report regarding the political circumstances in the country. Haven wrote that the province of Korçë numbered some 60,000 people of whom 18% had a preference for union with Greece and within that group half were doing so from fear or from being promised financial gain through attainment of Muslim properties and land. "One commissioner from the delegation Sederholm noted the population of Korçë being “entirely Albanian” with “the number of Greeks there” being “quite insignificant”.... "Joseph Emerson Haven, a U.S. diplomat based in Italy on special detail in Albania during the spring of 1919, had already come to a similar conclusion. In his detailed report on the political situation in the country, Haven suggested that the disputed province of Korçë had roughly 60,000 inhabitants, roughly 18 per cent of whom were in favour of Greek sovereignty. Of those 18 per cent, he argued, half were seeking that end out of fear or had been promised material gain in the form of Moslem land and property.... Haven found that the ‘most intense hatred and loathing exists in Southern Albania for Greece, this hatred being shown by both Orthodox Christians and Musselmen. The cry is “We are Albanians first and religionists second.” With the exception of comparatively few residents in the province of Coritsa orçëand a few towns in the region of Chimara imarë the country is absolutely Albanian in sentiment." Haven also noted that in 1919 there was a degree of antipathy shown by both Muslims and Christians in the district toward Greece, and an ethnic affinity among Albanians that, at the time, came before religious affinity. At the Peace Conference in Paris, the Greek delegation argued that all Christians in North Epirus, including those that spoke Albanian, should be classified as Greeks because, they argued, their sentiments were Greek, and they had a common religion with Greeks; Lambros Psomas, however, argued that this did not apply in Korçë kaza, where there were many Orthodox Albanian nationalists.


Demographics


Ethnicity

Most of the population of the district of Korçë are ethnic Albanians, while a significant number of ethnic minorities (Aromanians) also inhabit the district. Aromanians are found residing in rural communities surrounding Korçë and number some 5,000 people, although other figures exist that inflate those numbers.
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
speakers are found in the city of Korçë as well as in the surrounding region and especially in
Korçë Plain The Korçë Plain ( sq, Fusha e Korçës) is the largest lowland in southeastern Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe ...
. A Slavic minority most concentrated in the municipality of
Pustec Pustec ( sq, Pustec; mk, Пустец) formerly known as Liqenas (1973–2013), is a village in Pustec Municipality, Korçë County, eastern Albania. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Prespa, it is home to much of the Macedonian minorit ...
also exists, as does a scattered presence of
Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...
.


Religion

The religious composition of the district of Korçë consists of Muslims and Orthodox Christians while the Muslims are divided between Sunni, Bektashi and Halveti groups. Additionally, among the Christians, there is a presence of Protestants, dating back to the actions of Gjerasim Qiriazi. Finally, a presence of Catholics was detected in the 2011 census.


Economy

During the 20th century, Korçë gained a substantial industrial capacity in addition to its historic role as a commercial and agricultural centre. The plateau on which the city stands is highly fertile and is one of Albania's main wheat-growing areas. Local industries include the manufacture of knitwear, rugs, textiles, flour-milling, brewing, and sugar-refining. Deposits of lignite coal are mined in the mountains nearby such as Mborje- Drenovë. The city is home to the nationally famous Birra Korça.


Administrative divisions

The district consisted of the following
municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
: * Drenovë *
Gorë Gorë is a former municipality in the Korçë County, southeastern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Maliq. The population at the 2011 census was 1,565. The municipal unit consists of the vill ...
*
Korçë Korçë (; sq-definite, Korça) is the eighth most populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population is 75,994 (2011 census), in a total area of . It stands on a plateau som ...
*
Lekas Lekas is a village and a former municipality in the Korçë County, southeastern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Korçë. The population at the 2011 census was 392.
* Libonik *
Maliq Maliq ( sq-definite, Maliqi) formerly known as Malik, is a town and a municipality in Korçë County of eastern Albania. It is the smaller of two cities in the district, the other being Korçë, southeast of Maliq. The current enlarged municipalit ...
* Moglicë * Mollaj * Pirg *
Pojan Pojan is a village and a former municipality in the Korçë County, southeastern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Maliq. The population at the 2011 census was 10,864.
*
Pustec Pustec ( sq, Pustec; mk, Пустец) formerly known as Liqenas (1973–2013), is a village in Pustec Municipality, Korçë County, eastern Albania. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Prespa, it is home to much of the Macedonian minorit ...
(Liqenas) * Qendër Bulgarec *
Vithkuq Vithkuq is a village and a former municipality in the Korçë County, southeastern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Korçë. The population at the 2011 census was 1,519. The municipal unit c ...
* Voskop *
Voskopojë Moscopole or Voskopoja ( sq, Voskopojë; rup, Moscopole, with several other variants; el, Μοσχόπολις, Moschopolis) is a village in Korçë County in southeastern Albania. During the 18th century, it was the cultural and commercial ...
* Vreshtaz


Other communities and settlements

*
Baban Baban () was a Kurdish principality existing from the 16th century to 1850, centered around Sulaymaniyah. The Baban principality played an active role in the Ottoman-Safavid conflict and gave significant military support to the Ottomans. They were ...
* Bickë * Boboshticë * Burim * Cerja * Dardhë * Diellas * Drenovë * Cangonj * Ekmeçi * Floq * Gollomboç * Goricë e Madhë * Goricë e Vogël * Kallamas * Kamenicë *
Kapshticë Kapshticë is a settlement in the Korçë County, southeastern Albania. It is part of the former municipality Qendër Bilisht. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Devoll. The village lies near the border crossing ...
* Kozeli * Kreshpanj * Lajthizë * Mançurisht * Pilur * Plasë * Progër *
Pustec Pustec ( sq, Pustec; mk, Пустец) formerly known as Liqenas (1973–2013), is a village in Pustec Municipality, Korçë County, eastern Albania. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Prespa, it is home to much of the Macedonian minorit ...
* Rakickë * Shtyllë * Sinicë * Voskopoja (Moscopole) * Vreshtas * Vranisht * Zaroshkë * Zemblak * Zvedzë


Notable residents

* Pellumb Kulla (born 1940), diplomat and author * Ibrahim Agha Father of
Muhammad Ali Pasha Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt and the Sudan ( sq, Mehmet Ali Pasha, ar, محمد علي باشا, ; ota, محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849), was ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Korce District Districts of Albania Geography of Korçë County