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

Vlorë County Vlorë County (; sq, Qarku i Vlorës) is one of the 12 counties of the Republic of Albania with the capital in Vlorë. The county spans and has a total population of 187,675 people as of 2021. It borders the counties of Fier and Gjirokastër, ...

, southern

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, northeast of Saranda. It was formed in the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Delvinë and

Vergo Vergo is a village and a former municipality in the Vlorë County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Delvinë Delvinë ( or , ); is a town and a municipality in Vlorë County, southe ...

, which became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the town Delvinë. The total population is 7,598 (2011 census), in a total area of . The population of the former municipality in the 2011 census was 5,754. 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 medieval castle. To the southwest of the city is the site of ancient

Phoenice Phoenice or Phoenike ( el, Φοινίκη) 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, K ...

, 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: Greece 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 ...

minority. Other communities include

Balkan Egyptians The Ashkali ( sr, Ашкалије, Aškalije), also Hashkali ( sr, Хашкалије, Haškalije), and Balkan Egyptians ( sr, Балкански Египћани, Balkanski Egipćani; sq, Komuniteti i Egjiptianëve të Ballkanit; mk, Ѓуп� ...

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 Saranda.

Etymology

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

dele The ''Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera'' ( en, Diplomas of Spanish as a Foreign Language), or DELE, are official diplomas issued by the Spanish Instituto Cervantes on behalf of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science to participa ...

'', '' 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 ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

tribe of the

Chaonians The Chaonians ( grc, Χάονες, Cháones) were an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region of Epirus currently part of north-western Greece and southern Albania.; ; ; ; ; . Together with the Molossians and the Thesprotians, they formed t ...

. In the Middle Ages, Delvinë was part of the

Despotate of Epirus The Despotate of Epirus ( gkm, Δεσποτᾶτον τῆς Ἠπείρου) was one of the Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 by a branch of the Angelos dynasty. It claim ...

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

Vajunites The Baiounitai ( gr, Βαϊουνίται) or Vayunites ( mk, Вајунити, bg, Ваюнити, sh-Cyrl, Вајонити, војници) were a Sclavene ( South Slavic) tribe which settled the region of Macedonia at the end of 6th century. ...

) migrated to Epirus. Until the 14th century this region in Epirus was referred to as Vanegetia, from the name of this Slavic tribe. Similar toponyms like ''Viyanite'' or ''Viyantije'' survived until the 16th century when they were replaced with the name Delvinë.

Ottoman period

The separate

Sanjak of Delvina The Sanjak of Delvina ( tr, Delvine Sancağı, al, Sanxhaku i Delvinës) 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 centu ...

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 Butrint ( el, Βουθρωτόν and Βουθρωτός, ''Bouthrōtón'', la, Buthrōtum) was an ancient Greek and later Roman city and bishopric in Epirus. "Speakers of these various Greek dialects settled different parts of Greece at differe ...

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

ecclesiastical {{Short pages monitor