Opojë
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Opolje (; ) is a region in the southern part of the municipality of
Prizren Prizren ( sq-definite, Prizreni, ; sr-cyr, Призрен) is the second List of cities and towns in Kosovo, most populous city and Municipalities of Kosovo, municipality of Kosovo and seat of the eponymous municipality and District of Prizren, ...
in southern
Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...
. The region has 19 villages mainly inhabited by
Kosovo Albanians The Albanians of Kosovo (, ), also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars (), constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians belong to the Albanians, ethnic Albanian sub-group of Ghegs, who inhabit the ...
.


Settlements

The region of Opoja includes 18 settlements: *Bellobrad *Blaç *Breznë * Bresanë * Brrut *Buqe *Buzez *Kapre *Kosavë *Kuklibeg *Kuk *Plajnik *Plavë *Rrencë *Zhaplluxhë *Zgatar *Zym *Xërxë


Name

The naming of towns and cities in ancient times, especially during the Hellenization period in the Balkans, was done by adding the word "
polis Polis (: poleis) means 'city' in Ancient Greek. The ancient word ''polis'' had socio-political connotations not possessed by modern usage. For example, Modern Greek πόλη (polē) is located within a (''khôra''), "country", which is a πατ ...
" to the name of the founder. The names of some cities are compound formations, expanding with the addition of the suffix -o from an anthroponym and the lemma -polis (-pol): Konstantin-o-polis, (Konstantin-o-pol), for Istanbul; Alban-o-polis, (Alban-o-pol) for Zgërdhesh of Kruja; Adrian-o-polis, (Adrian-o-pol) for Nëprevishat of Gjirokastra, etc. The evolution from O-polis to Opojë and Opolje follows a similar pattern. According to Milisav Lutovac, the name is of Slavic origin and "had to do with the inhabited localities dotted around a field".Radovanovic, p. 8 The name also appears in Lower Silesia, in Poland -
Opole Opole (; ; ; ) is a city located in southern Poland on the Oder River and the historical capital of Upper Silesia. With a population of approximately 127,387 as of the 2021 census, it is the capital of Opole Voivodeship (province) and the seat of ...
, and in Russia - Opolye.


Geography

Gora, in a collective term, refers to both the Gorani-inhabited ''Gora'' (which greater part is in Kosovo, the rest in Albania and Macedonia), and its sub-region Opolje, which is inhabited by Albanians. According to the
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , SANU) is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters (, DSS). The Academy's membership has included Nobel Prize, Nobel la ...
(1955), Opolje had an area of ca. 108 km2, while Gora had an area of ca. 500 km2.Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti 1955, p. 234 Sheltered by high mountain ranges of strong and cold winds, Gora and Opolje does not have harsh winters. There is no natural border between Gora and Opolje, while the northern part of the town of
Dragaš Dragash or Sharr ( sq-definite, Dragashi or ''Sharri;'' sr-cyr, Драгаш) is a town and municipality located in the Prizren District of Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the municipality has 34,827 inhabitants. The Albanian name ''Shar ...
has been considered part of Opolje as well. Opolje is one of the traditional ''
župa A župa, or zhupa, is a historical type of administrative division in Southeast Europe and Central Europe, that originated in medieval South Slavs, South Slavic culture, commonly translated as "county" or "parish". It was mentioned for the first t ...
'' (county) in the Šar Mountains massif in southern Kosovo, alongside Sredačka Župa, Sirinićka Župa, Gora and
Prizrenski Podgor The Prizren Podgor (; or Prizren Podgur, ) is a geographical region in Kosovo, stretching from the branches of the Šar Mountains, from Prizren to the village of Duhël on the Carraleva, Carralevë mountain. It includes the eastern and northeastern ...
. In the west of Opolje is the region of Lumë, which extends in both Kosovo and Albania.Fejzulla Gjabri (Department of Culture of Albania), Information about the Heroic Epos in the Province of Luma


History


Middle Ages

The Serbian rulers King Stephen Uroš III (in 1326) and Emperor Stephen Dušan (in 1348, 1355) mentioned many of the Opolje and Gora villages in their charters, which shows that they existed before those dates. Opolje was a church estate of the Church of the Holy Theotokos in Prizren throughout the Middle Ages.Mikic 1988, p. 15: "силни Кукли-бег заузео је Опоље, оредњовековни црквени посед Богородичине цркве у Призрену, где је имао свој дворац. После ње- гове омрти сељаци су постали власници земље и корисници планине у границама села." The surrounding region possesses a good amount of Aromanian toponyms which Dumbrowski argues show the linguistic situation before Slavification.Dumbrowski 2012
Phoneme /o/ in Opoja Albanian: Albanian-Slavic Contact and the Slavic Jers
''Journal of Language Contact'' vol 5 issue 2.
In one of Nemanja’s charters giving property to Hilandar, 170 Vlachs are mentioned, located in villages around Prizren. When Dečanski founded his monastery of Dečani in 1330, he referred to ‘villages and katuns of Vlachs and Albanians’ in the area of the white Drin. King Stefan Dečanski granted the Visoki Dečani monastery with pasture land along with Vlach and Albanian katuns around Drim and Lim rivers of whom had to carry salt and provide serf labour for the monastery


Ottoman era

In 1455, the southern territories of the
Serbian Despotate The Serbian Despotate () was a medieval Serbian state in the first half of the 15th century. Although the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is mistakenly considered the end of medieval Serbia, the Despotate, a successor of the Serbian Empire and Moravi ...
were annexed by the
Ottomans Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...
, and organized into the beylerbeylik of
Rumelia Rumelia (; ; ) was a historical region in Southeastern Europe that was administered by the Ottoman Empire, roughly corresponding to the Balkans. In its wider sense, it was used to refer to all Ottoman possessions and Vassal state, vassals in E ...
. Gora, in its broadest meaning, became a nahiyah of the
Sanjak of Prizren The Sanjak of Prizren (, , / ''Prizrenski sandžak'') was one of the sanjaks in the Ottoman Empire with Prizren as its administrative centre. It was founded immediately after Ottoman Empire captured Prizren from Serbian Despotate in 1455. The res ...
.Бурсаћ 2000, pp. 71-73 (Орхан Драгаш) The Ottoman conquest resulted in the old trade routes that linked the Adriatic to the Aegean and Black sea lost their importance because of the insecurity on the roads, and the towns and villages along the roads stopped growing. There are no sources which name Opolje a nahiya in the 15th century. Ottoman cadastral records indicate that the Opoja region was inhabited by a dominant Albanian majority of mixed Muslim, Orthodox and Catholic faith during the 15th-16th centuries due to the anthroponomy present; additionally, most of the region was islamised by 1571. In the second half of the 16th century, the Ottoman defters of 1571 and 1591 indicated that Opoja had become a territorial administrative division with a dominant
Timar A timar was a land grant by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with an annual tax revenue of less than 20,000 akçes. The revenues produced from the land acted as compensation for military service. A ...
system. 18 timars were recorded in the 23 villages of Opoja in 1571, and 13 timars in 1591. At the end of the 16th century, in the Nahiya of Opoja, of the 27 newly-Islamised households spread across 9 villages, 24 had Albanian last names and only 3 had Slavic last names. Of the 37 Christian households spread across 8 villages, 36 had Albanian or Albanian-Slav anthroponomy whereas only 1 had Slavic anthroponomy. Of the 23 field owners of the Nahiya, 18 had Albanian names and 5 had Slavic names. A prominent family of Opoja in the 16th century emerged in the new social environment. The Kuka, descendants of Iljaz Kuka built many public buildings, trade routes, shops and left a large endowment (waqf) to the city of
Prizren Prizren ( sq-definite, Prizreni, ; sr-cyr, Призрен) is the second List of cities and towns in Kosovo, most populous city and Municipalities of Kosovo, municipality of Kosovo and seat of the eponymous municipality and District of Prizren, ...
. The mosque of Iljaz Kuka, rebuilt by his grandson Mehmed Bey Kuka (known as Kukli Bey) is one of the oldest mosques of Prizren.


Modern

Opolje and other rural areas of the upper Drin valleys were economically tied to Prizren. From 1945 to ometime after 1981Opolje was part of the municipality of Gora, but was then given status of a municipality (due to its Albanian population, as opposed to Gora, which was inhabited by
Gorani people The Gorani (, ) or Goranci (, ), are a Slavic ethnic group inhabiting the Gora region, the triangle between Kosovo, Albania, and North Macedonia. They number an estimated 60,000 people and speak a transitional South Slavic dialect called '' G ...
). It was abolished on November 3, 1992, under the law of the federal Federal Yugoslav Republic of Serbia, and instead joined into the municipality of Prizren. "Consequently, the region extending north of Dragas city to Prizren, known as Opoje, which comprises 24,000 Albanians in 19 villages are grafted on to the Municipality of Prizren" The Gora municipality and Opoja region remained separated during the Milošević period. During the
Kosovo war The Kosovo War (; sr-Cyrl-Latn, Косовски рат, Kosovski rat) was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It ...
(1999), Albanians from Opoja fled to neighbouring
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 ...
in cars, trucks and tractors along with others on foot that following the conflict returned home. After the war, Opoja was merged with Gora to form the municipality of
Dragaš Dragash or Sharr ( sq-definite, Dragashi or ''Sharri;'' sr-cyr, Драгаш) is a town and municipality located in the Prizren District of Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the municipality has 34,827 inhabitants. The Albanian name ''Shar ...
by the United Nations Mission (UNMIK) and the new administrative unit has an Albanian majority. Located in Gora, the town of Dragash is the regional and municipal centre for both the Opoja and Gora regions of Dragash municipality.


Demographics

The population of Opolje, in 19 localities, is totally homogeneously
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 ...
. According to the 1981 census, Albanians constituted 99.9% of the Opolje population (18,003 of 18,036). The ethnic homogeneity of Opolje dates from long before, as evident from the 1948, 1953 and 1961 censuses, when 99.8% declared as Albanians. Opolje had an annual population growth in 1961-1971 of 33 per 1,000, and in 1971-1981, 29.8 per 1,000, which represents an enormous relative overpopulation (Albanian population boom); according to estimates for 1991, there were 173 people per 1 square kilometre, and in some villages, up to 250 per 1 square kilometre, all in conditions of scarce natural and economic resources.Radovanovic, p. 13 The majority professes Islam.


Gallery

File:Bresana.jpg, Bresana File:Brruti.jpg, Brut


References


Sources

* ** ** * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Map of Opolje (Harta e Opojes)
on Albanian Wikipedia


Further reading

* (detailed ethnographic study of the Opoja region) {{commons category, Opolje Regions of Kosovo Former administrative divisions of Serbia Šar Mountains Albanian ethnographic regions