Delvinë ( or , ) is a town and a municipality in

Vlorë County Vlorë County (; ) is one of the 12 counties of Albania with the city of Vlorë being the county capital. The county spans and has a total population of 146,681 people as of 2023. It borders the counties of Fier and Gjirokastër, as well as th ...

, southern

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 ...

, northeast of

Sarandë Sarandë (; sq-definite, Saranda; ) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in the Republic of Albania and the seat of Sarandë Municipality. Geographically, the city is located on an open sea gulf of the Ionian Sea within the Mediterrane ...

. It was formed in the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Delvinë and Vergo, which became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the town Delvinë. The population of the municipal unit Delvinë at the 2023 census was 4,952 and of the municipality was 6,166. The town is built on a mountain slope. It has a mosque, a Catholic church, a Protestant church, and an Orthodox church. Nearby are the remainders of a mediaeval castle. To the southwest of the city is the site of ancient

Phoenice Phoenice or Phoenike () was an ancient Greek city in Epirus and capital of the Chaonians.: "To the north the Chaonians had expelled the Corcyraeans from their holdings on the mainland and built fortifications at Buthrotum, Kalivo and Kara-Ali- ...

, which was declared an Archaeological Park in 2005. The town's population consists of a majority of Albanians and a substantial

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

minority. Other communities include Balkan Egyptians and until WWII, Jews. There is little local employment apart from that provided by the state, and Delvinë benefits little from the tourist boom in Sarandë.

Etymology

The Albanian toponym ''Delvinë'' ( sq-definite, Delvina) is connected to the Albanian ''

dele A dele or deleatur (, ) is an obelism (a proofreading symbol) used to mark something for deletion. Name ''Dele'', the more common term in modern American English (sometimes used as a verb, e.g. "Dele that graf"), coincides with the imperative ...

'', '' delmë'', meaning 'sheep'. Linguist Xhelal Ylli translates ''Delvinë'' as 'white sheep'. In Greek it is known as , and in Turkish as .

History

In antiquity, the region was inhabited by the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

tribe of the

Chaonians The Chaonians () were an Ancient Greeks, ancient Greek people that inhabited the historical Epirus, region of Epirus which today is part of northwestern Greece and southern Albania.; ; ; ; ; Together with the Molossians and the Thesprotians, the ...

. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, Delvinë was part of the

Despotate of Epirus The Despotate of Epirus () was one of the Greek Rump state, successor states of the Byzantine Empire established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 by a branch of the Angelos dynasty. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the ...

. After defeat of the Slavic tribes in 616, when they unsuccessfully besieged

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

, one of the tribes ( Vajunites) migrated to

Epirus Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...

. In the 14th century, Delvinë was ruled by Pietro Bua Shpata lord of Angelokastron and Delvinë according to Karl Hopf. Pietro was the father of Gjin Bua Shpata and Skurra Bua Shpata of the Shpata family, and they were likely born within the regions of Delvinë down to Angelokastron. Pietro is the first noble of the Shpata family mentioned in history and he may have been from the region he controlled including Delvinë but nothing conclusive can be said.

Ottoman period

The separate Sanjak of Delvina was established in the mid-16th century due to the need to secure Ottoman control in the region towards potential Venetian infiltration from nearby Butrinto and to control the rebellious zone of Himara. The county town was Delvinë, yet during the 18th century the local Pasha moved the seat of the sanjak from Delvinë to

Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in Southern Albania, southern Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë moun ...

. The official name did not change, however, as it was also referred to as the Sanjak of Gjirokastër. In an

ecclesiastical {{Short pages monitor