Demir Hisar ( ) (formerly Murgaševo until 1946) is a small town in

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 ...

. It is the seat of Demir Hisar Municipality.

Etymology

The name of the town comes from

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

''Demir Hisar'' (Iron Fortress) when the settlement was part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

History

In the 1467/1468 Ottoman defter, Murgaševo had 115 households, 8 bachelors and 3 widows. The majority of household heads bore Slavic or general Christian personal names, however, when including kinship ties, the Albanian element constituted just under a quarter. In statistics gathered by

Vasil Kanchov Vasil Kanchov (26 July 1862 – 6 February 1902) was a geographer, ethnographer and teacher who served as Minister of Education of Bulgaria. Early life and education Vasil Kanchov was born in Vratsa. Upon graduating from High school i ...

in 1900, the village of Murgaševo was inhabited by 240 Muslim Albanians. In 1905 in statistics gathered by Dimitar Mishev Brancoff, Murgaševo was inhabited by 240 Muslim Albanians. The population of Demir Hisar (Murgaševo) are

Tosks Tosks () are one of two major dialectal subgroups of Albanians (the other being the Ghegs) differentiated by their linguistic characteristics. Territory ''Tosk'' or ''Toskëri'' may refer to the Tosk-speaking Albanians, Albanian population of ...

, a southern subgroup of

Albanians The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

. "Monastir (Bitol) auch für das Studium des Alb. geeignet: Ostrec (11 km von Monastir), Zlokućani haben geg., Dihovo, Bratindol, Magarevo, Ramna, Kažani, Dolenci, Lera, Crnovec, Drevenik, Murgašovo tosk. Bevölkerung. Die tosk." In the 2010s, only three Albanian families remain in Demir Hisar and nearby Albanian villagers from Obednik are assisting the community in efforts to repair the dilapidated old village mosque.

Demographics

The Yugoslav census of 1953 recorded 902 people in Demir Hisar of whom 449 were Macedonians, 412 Turks, 27 Albanians and 14 others. The 1961 Yugoslav census recorded 1129 people of whom 1047 were Macedonians, 39 Albanians, 24 Turks, and 19 others. The 1971 Yugoslav census recorded 1828 people of whom 1731 were Macedonians, 34 Turks, 30 Albanians, 4 Romani, 1 Bosniak and 28 others. The 1981 Yugoslav census recorded 2283 people of whom were 2145 Macedonians, 75 Albanians, 19 Turks, 17 Romani and 27 others. The Macedonian census of 1994 recorded 2447 people of whom 2336 were Macedonians, 9 Albanians, 4 Turks and 98 others.. According to the 2002 census, the town had a total of 2593 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. 230. * Macedonians 2,473 (95.37%) *

62 (2.39%) * Turks 22 (0.85%) * Romani 11 (0.42%) *

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

7 (0.27%) *

Vlachs Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula ...

6 (0.23%) *

Bosniaks The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...

2 (0.08%) * Others 10 (0.39%) As of the 2021 census, Demir Hisar had 2,431 residents with the following ethnic composition:Total resident population of the Republic of North Macedonia by ethnic affiliation, by settlement, Census 2021
/ref> *Macedonians 2,281 (93.8%) *Persons for whom data are taken from administrative sources 69 (2.8%) *Albanians 39 (1.6%) *Roma 16 (0.7%) *Vlachs 9 (0.4%) *Serbs 5 (0.2%) *Others 12 (0.5%)

Gallery

ЏамијаМургашево.JPG, Old Ottoman-era mosque of Murgaševo (Demir Hisar) Demir-hisarska nosija.jpg, Couple of Demir Hisar, dressed in folklore costume, photographed in the studio of the brothers Manaki in Bitola, 1916 DemirHisar (1).jpg, Council Seats House of Demir Hisar Niz Demir Hisar (2).JPG, Main road to Demir Hisar, 2010 Niz Demir Hisar (3).JPG, Streets in Demir Hisar, 2010

References

External links

{{Authority control Villages in Demir Hisar Municipality Cities in North Macedonia