Kranë ( sq-definite, Krana; ;

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

''Kraniá'') is a village 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 ...

. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality of

Finiq Finiq (, sq-definite, Finiqi, ) is a settlement, considered a town or village, and municipality in Vlorë County, in southern Albania located 8 km from the Ionian Sea and 20 km north of the Greek border. It was formed at the 2015 local g ...

. It is inhabited solely by

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

History

In antiquity it was an

Epirote Epirus () is a geographical and 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 of Vlorë and the Acroceraunian Mountains in ...

town, known as "Elikranon" (Greek: Ελίκρανον). The ancient ruins can be seen even today. The name "Krania" is firstly mentioned in the ''

Chronicle of the Tocco A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, t ...

'' in 1412. In 1856, the Greek scholar

Panagiotis Aravantinos Panagiotis Aravantinos (, 1809 or 1811 – 1870) was a Greek scholar and educator who was born in Parga. He worked primarily in Epirus, which was then under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. As with many Greek names, his names appears in English lite ...

writes about the village:

Χρονογραφία της Ηπείρου : των τε ομόρων ελληνικών και ιλλυρικών χωρών διατρέχουσα κατά σειράν τα εν αυταίς συμβάντα από του σωτηρίου έτους μέχρι του 1854.
Εκ του Τυπογραφείου Σ. Κ. Βλαστού, Athens 1856 (in Greek) «''... a village with 15 houses, of Greek origin, the spoken language is Greek and belongs to the diocese of Delvino.''» In 1925-1926, the village had a Greek school with 50 students and 1 teacher. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the village was burnt by Albanian partisans. Thimios Lolis (1880-1961) was born in the village, a Greek chieftain who fought in the

Macedonian Struggle The Macedonian Struggle was a series of social, political, cultural and military conflicts that were mainly fought between Greek and Bulgarian subjects who lived in Ottoman Macedonia between 1893 and 1912. From 1904 to 1908 the conflict was p ...

in the group of

Pavlos Melas Pavlos Melas (; 29 March 1870 – 13 October 1904) was a Greek revolutionary and artillery officer of the Hellenic Army. He participated in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and was amongst the first Greek officers to join the Macedonian Struggle. ...

, the

Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus The Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus () was a short-lived, self-governing entity founded in the aftermath of the Balkan Wars on 28 February 1914, by the local Greek population in southern Albania ( Northern Epirotes). The area, known as ...

, the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

and in the

Greco-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian campaign in Greece, Italian invasion of Greece, and War of '40 in Greece, took place between Italy and Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. This conflict began the Balk ...

.Θύμιος Λώλης: Ποιος ήταν ο θρυλικός οπλαρχηγός της Ηπείρου και γιατί ενοχλεί τους Αλβανούς
himios Lolis: Who was the legendary chieftain of Epirus and why Albanians are bothered of him 4 December 2018, iellada A monument to honour him exists in the village. Between 2018-19, the Thimios Lolis monument was vandalized twice by

Albanian nationalists Albanian nationalism is a general grouping of nationalist ideas and concepts generated by ethnic Albanians that were first formed in the 19th century during the Albanian National Awakening (). Albanian nationalism is also associated with similar c ...

Demographics

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 the

Sanjak of Delvina The Sanjak of Delvina (, ) was one of the sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire which county town was Delvinë but during the 18th century became Gjirokastër, Albania. It was created in the mid-16th century, came under the control of the Pashalik of Y ...

from 1431-1432, 4 villages in the area of Vurgu are recorded: Finiki (Finiqi), Vurgo, Jeromi and Krajna, each with very few inhabitants. Among these villages, in the Ottoman register mentioned above typical

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

names are attested, such as: ''Gjin'', ''Reçi'', ''Leka'', ''Gjon'', ''Dorza'', ''Meksh'' ''Nika'' and ''Deda''. Kranë (''Krajna'') is again recorded in the Ottoman register of 1520 as a settlement in the Sanjak of Delvina with a total of 19 households, the vast majority of attested household heads bearing typical Albanian anthroponyms: ''Gjin Ilia''; ''Bardh Kola''; ''Gjon Pelegri''; ''Tole Dhima''; ''Gjin Pelegri''; ''Jorgji Kasneci''; ''Nikolla Murojet''; ''Golem Sirpopi''; ''Bardh Lopci''; ''Lekë Lopci''; ''Teodor Istrozi''; ''Martin Gjoni''; ''Martin Kasneci''; ''Dhimo Gjini''; ''Kosta Kalici''; ''Gjon Marini''; ''Kosta Kosta''; ''Deda Gjoni''; ''Gjin Kasneci''. Kranë is subsequently attested in the ''defter'' of 1583 in the Sanjak of Delvina where its size had decreased to 9 households, the vast majority of attested household heads bearing Albanian anthroponyms: ''Gjin Gjoni''; ''Dhimo Gjon'' ''Pope''; ''Pope Gjin Pope''; ''Dhimo Kondi''; ''Bard Kondi''; ''Gjon Gjini''; ''Ogos'' (possibly, ''Ivgos'') ''Dhimo''; ''Qirko Dhimo''; ''Dhimo Gjini''. According to a research of 1993, the village had a permanent population of 854, of which all were ethnically

Notable people

* Thimios Lolis (; 1880-1961) Greek chieftain who fought in the

, the

, the Struggle for Northern Epirus and the

References

External links

Video showing the village
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kranë Villages in Vlorë County Greek communities in Albania