Bulqizë (; sq-definite, Bulqiza) is a

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' ...

in Dibër County, northeastern

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. The municipality consists of the administrative units of Fushë-Bulqizë, Gjoricë, Martanesh, Ostren, Shupenzë, Trebisht, Zerqan with Bulqizë constituting its seat. As of the 2023 census, there were 7,875 people residing in Bulqizë and 26,826 in Bulqizë Municipality.

Demographic history

Bulqizë is 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 1467 as a '' hass-ı mir-liva'' and '' derbendci'' settlement 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 '' Dulgoberda''. Although the register's complete survey on the village is missing, the following household heads are attested: ''Dimitri Bogdani'', ''Kolë Sharqini'', ''Gjin Kimeza'', ''Gjin Kolandi'', ''Nikolla Budi'', ''Martin Bardi'', ''Progon Buljani'', ''Maqe Kimëza'', ''Istvan Nenada'', ''Progon Bogdani'', ''Dimitri'', ''Todor Damëza'', ''Banek Alakasa'', ''Nikolla Mesina'', ''Budi'', ''Gjergj Garuja'', and ''Gjergj Iglat'' (from ''i gjatë'', "the tall").

Geography

Bulqizë lies in the lower north-east of Albania adjacent to the border with

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 ...

. The municipalities of

Mat A mat is a hard or soft floor covering that generally is placed on a floor or other flat surface. Mats serve a range of purposes including: * serving to clean items passed over it, such as a doormat, which removes dirt from the soles of shoe ...

and Tirana lie to the west while at the south is the municipality of Librazhd. There are significant sources of

chromite Chromite is a crystalline mineral composed primarily of iron(II) oxide and chromium(III) oxide compounds. It can be represented by the chemical formula of Iron, FeChromium, Cr2Oxygen, O4. It is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. The ...

chromium Chromium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6 element, group 6. It is a steely-grey, Luster (mineralogy), lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium ...

ore) mined there since the 1980s, which supports most of the economy of the area. The Bulqizë mine has experienced several gas explosions since 1992 – including one with fatalities – recently likely attributed to seeps of natural hydrogen possibly formed from

ophiolites An ophiolite is a section of Earth's oceanic crust and the underlying upper mantle (Earth), upper mantle that has been uplifted and exposed, and often emplaced onto continental crustal rocks. The Greek word ὄφις, ''ophis'' (''snake'') is ...

and trapped within a faulted reservoir.

Notes

References

External links

bulqiza.gov.al
– Official Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulqize Administrative units of Bulqizë Municipalities in Dibër County Towns in Albania