Breštani (, ) is a
village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
in the
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
of
Centar Župa
Centar Župa (; ) is a village and seat in the Municipalities of North Macedonia, municipality of Centar Župa Municipality, Centar Župa, North Macedonia. The town is inhabited mainly by Turkish people, Turks.
Demographics
Centar Župa is a new v ...
,
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...
.
Demographics
Breštani (''Birzdan'') appears in the
Ottoman ''
defter
A ''defter'' was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire.
Etymology
The term is derived from Greek , literally 'processed animal skin, leather, fur', meaning a book, having pages of goat parchment used along with papyrus ...
'' of 1467 as a village in the
vilayet
A vilayet (, "province"), also known by #Names, various other names, was a first-order administrative division of the later Ottoman Empire. It was introduced in the Vilayet Law of 21 January 1867, part of the Tanzimat reform movement initiated b ...
of
Dulgobrda. The settlement had a total of 11 households and the anthroponyms recorded attest to a mixed Albanian-Slavic character, with instances of
Slavicisation (e.g., ''Martin Shpani, Dimitri Filsha, Haranec son of Sima etc.''). Breštani is again recorded in the
Ottoman ''
defter
A ''defter'' was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire.
Etymology
The term is derived from Greek , literally 'processed animal skin, leather, fur', meaning a book, having pages of goat parchment used along with papyrus ...
'' of 1583 as a village in the
vilayet
A vilayet (, "province"), also known by #Names, various other names, was a first-order administrative division of the later Ottoman Empire. It was introduced in the Vilayet Law of 21 January 1867, part of the Tanzimat reform movement initiated b ...
of Dulgobrda. The settlement had grown to 107 households with 80 Muslim families. Alongside Muslim anthroponyms, which due to
Islamisation sometimes appear in combination with Albanian names (i.e ''Pervane Gjoni; Bali Hasani; etc.''), mixed Slavic-Albanian names also appear, with the
Albanian anthroponyms often exhibiting instances of
Slavicisation (e.g., ''Kolë Bozhiq-i; Gjon Baro; Gjon Jovan-i; Pal Pejo; Ivan Duka; Bojko Gjini; Petko Pali'' etc.).
Breštani is inhabited by a Turkish speaking population consisting of
Turks.
[ p.214. "Турски етнички елемент живее во Жупа - во селата: Коџаџик, Новаци, Брештани, Елевци, Евла, Долгаш, Ослоница и Праленик, и нешто во градот Дебар." p. 326.][ "Është kjo arsyeja që pranë kalasë së Koxhaxhikut sot gjenden 6 fshatra turqishtfolës, që janë: Pralanik, Breshtan, Novak, Elefc, Koxhaxhik dhe Dollgash."]
According to the 1942
Albanian census, Breštani was inhabited by 258 Muslim Albanians.
As of the
2021 census, Breštani had 104 residents with the following ethnic composition:
Total resident population of the Republic of North Macedonia by ethnic affiliation, by settlement, Census 2021
/ref>
*Turks 101
*Persons for whom data are taken from administrative sources 3
According to the 2002 census, the village had a total of 120 inhabitants.[ Ethnic groups in the village include:][Macedonian Census (2002)]
''Book 5 - Total population according to the Ethnic Affiliation, Mother Tongue and Religion''
The State Statistical Office, Skopje, 2002, p. 188.
* Turks 120
References
Villages in Centar Župa Municipality
Turkish communities in North Macedonia
{{CentarŽupa-geo-stub