Gjirokastër District () was one of the 36
districts of Albania
Districts ( sq, or ) were first and second-level administrative divisions of Albania from 19132000. Their number, size, and status changed over time. From 1991 to 2000, the 36 districts were organized into 12 counties. Pursuant to the 1998 Con ...
, which were dissolved in July 2000 and replaced by 12
counties
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
. It had a population of 55,991 in 2001, and an area of . It contained a large
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 ...
ethnic minority
The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...
.
It is in the south of the country, and its capital was the city of
Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a city in the Republic of Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë mountains and the Drino, at 300 metres above sea le ...
. Its territory is now part of
Gjirokastër County
Gjirokastër County ( sq, Qarku i Gjirokastrës) is one of the 12 counties of Albania. The total population in 2021 was 58,031, in an area of 2884 km². Its capital is the city Gjirokastër.
Administrative divisions
Until 2000, Gjirokastër ...
: the
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
of
Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a city in the Republic of Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë mountains and the Drino, at 300 metres above sea le ...
,
Dropull
Dropull ( sq-definite, Dropulli; el, Δρόπολη or Δερόπολη ''Dropoli'' or ''Deropoli'') is a municipality in Gjirokastër County, in southern Albania. The region stretches from south of the city of Gjirokastër to the Greek–Albani ...
and
Libohovë
Libohovë ( sq-definite, Libohova) is a town and a municipality in southern Albania. It is overlooked by Libohovë Castle and has a main street with views across the Drino valley. Libohovë is at the foot of the Bureto Mountain. The region forms ...
.
Administrative divisions
The district consisted of the following
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
:
*
Antigonë
Antigonë is a former municipality in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Gjirokastër. The population at the 2011 census was 998. The municipal unit is known f ...
*
Cepo
*
Dropull i Poshtëm
Dropull i Poshtëm ( el, Κάτω Δρόπολη, ''Kato Dropoli'') is a former municipality in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Dropull. The population at th ...
*
Dropull i Sipërm
Dropull i Sipërm ( el, Άνω Δρόπολη, ''Ano Dropoli'') is a former municipality in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Dropull. The population at the 2 ...
*
Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a city in the Republic of Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë mountains and the Drino, at 300 metres above sea le ...
*
Lazarat
Lazarat ( sq-definite, Lazarati) is a village in Gjirokastër County, in southern Albania. It is located in the Dropull valley. Formerly functioning as a municipality, as part of the 2015 local government reform, it became a subdivision of the mun ...
*
Libohovë
Libohovë ( sq-definite, Libohova) is a town and a municipality in southern Albania. It is overlooked by Libohovë Castle and has a main street with views across the Drino valley. Libohovë is at the foot of the Bureto Mountain. The region forms ...
*
Lunxhëri
*
Odrie
*
Picar
Picar is a village and a former municipality in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Gjirokastër. The population at the 2011 census was 937.
*
Pogon
*
Qendër Libohovë
Qendër Libohovë is a former municipality in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Libohovë.
The population at the 2011 census was 1,264.[< ...]
*
Zagori
Zagori ( el, Ζαγόρι; rup, Zagori), is a region and a municipality in the Pindus mountains in Epirus, in northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Asprangeloi. It has an area of some and contains 46 villages known as ...
Villages of Gjirokastër
*
Andon Poci
*
Asim Zenel
*
Bularat
*
Cepos
Centre for Political Studies, also known as CEPOS, is an independent association which works as a classical liberal/free-market conservative think-tank in Denmark. It is a strongly right-leaning and highly political association.
History
Inspired ...
*
Derviçan
Derviçan ( sq-definite, Derviçani; gr, Δερβιτσάνη, ''Dervitsani'', also known as Dervician) is a settlement in the former Dropull i Poshtëm municipality, Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it b ...
*
Erind
Erind is a village in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. It belongs to the former Lunxhëri (municipality), Lunxhëri municipality and is part of the wider Lunxhëri region. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municip ...
*
Frashtan
*
Fushë-Bardhë
*
Gerhot
*
Golem (Gjirokastër)
*
Goranxi
Goranxi ( gr, Γοραντζή, , ''Gorantzi'' or Καλογοραντζή, ''Kalogorantzi'') is a settlement in the former Dropull i Poshtëm municipality, Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part o ...
*
Jergucat
*
Kolonjë (Gjirokastër)1
*
Kardhiq
Kardhiq is a village in the former Cepo commune, Gjirokastër County, Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Gjirokastër. The village is inhabited by Muslim Albanians and an Orthodox Albanian population ...
*
Krioner
*
Lazarat
Lazarat ( sq-definite, Lazarati) is a village in Gjirokastër County, in southern Albania. It is located in the Dropull valley. Formerly functioning as a municipality, as part of the 2015 local government reform, it became a subdivision of the mun ...
*
Labova e Zhapes
*
Labovë e Kryqit
Labovë e Kryqit (''Labovë of the Cross'') is a settlement in Southern Albania, which has taken the name of its famous church, the Dormition of the Theotokos Church. It consists of two neighbourhoods: Labovë e Poshtme (''Lower Labovë'') and Lab ...
*
Libohova
*
Mashkullorë
*
Mingul
*
Nivan
*
Palokastër
*
Picar
Picar is a village and a former municipality in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Gjirokastër. The population at the 2011 census was 937.
*
Poliçan
Poliçan ''( sq-definite, Poliçani)'' is a city and a municipality situated in south-central Albania. It was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Poliçan, Tërpan and Vërtop, that became munici ...
2
*
Prongji
*
Valare
*
Vrisera
Vrisera ( el, Βρυσερά/Βρισερά; romanized: ''Vryserá/Vriserá'') is a village in Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality of Dropull. It is inhabited solely by Gr ...
*
Zhej
*
Zhulat
*
Pepeli
1 - not to be confused with
Kolonjë District
Kolonjë is a municipality in Korçë County, southeastern Albania. It was created in 2015 by the merger of the former municipalities Barmash, Çlirim, Ersekë, Leskovik, Mollas, Novoselë, Qendër Ersekë and Qendër Leskovik. The seat of ...
2 - not to be confused with
Poliçan
Poliçan ''( sq-definite, Poliçani)'' is a city and a municipality situated in south-central Albania. It was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Poliçan, Tërpan and Vërtop, that became munici ...
of
Skrapar District
Skrapar District () was one of the 36 districts of Albania, which were dissolved in July 2000 and replaced by 12 newly created counties. It had a population of 29,874 in 2001, and an area of . It was in the centre of the country, and its capital ...
Demographics
![Street_Sign_Goranxi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Street_Sign_Goranxi.jpg)
In fieldwork undertaken by Greek scholar Leonidas Kallivretakis in the area during 1992, the district of Gjirokastër had 66,000 inhabitants of which 40% were Greeks, 12% Vlachs and an Orthodox Albanian population of 21%.
[ These communities are Orthodox and collectively made up 73% of the district's Christian population while the remaining 28% of the population were Muslim Albanians.][ Overall the Greek community was the most numerous ethno-religious group (40%), while Albanians, irrespective of religious background, in 1992 were a plurality and collectively consisted 49% of the district's total population.][ Within Gjirokastër district, Greeks populate all the settlements of both former municipalities of ]Dropull i Sipërm
Dropull i Sipërm ( el, Άνω Δρόπολη, ''Ano Dropoli'') is a former municipality in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Dropull. The population at the 2 ...
and Dropull i Poshtëm
Dropull i Poshtëm ( el, Κάτω Δρόπολη, ''Kato Dropoli'') is a former municipality in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Dropull. The population at th ...
and also all settlements of Pogon municipality (except the village of Selckë).[Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière (1967). ]
Epirus: the Geography, the Ancient Remains, the History and Topography of Epirus and Adjacent Areas
'. Clarendon Press. p.27. "The present distribution of the Albanian-speaking villages bears little relation to the frontier which was drawn between Greece and Albania after the First World War. In Map 2 I have shown most of the Greek speaking villages in Albanian Epirus and some of the Albanian-speaking villages in Greek Epirus. The map is based on observations made by Clarke and myself during our travels between 1922 and 1939."; p.28-29. In Llunxherië the villages are more compact but smaller, Shtegopul and Saraginishtë, for instance, having only fifty houses each; the people of Llunxherië are all Albanian Orthodox Christians, except those of Erind, who are partly Christian and Mohammedan, and the men, but not the women, know some Greek. Zagorië has the same characteristics, its ten villages extending from Doshnicë to Shepr; the group is endogamous and does not marry with the people of Llunxherië. Pogoni, or Paleo-Pogoni as some people call it, consists of seven Greek-speaking villages near.y 3,000 ft. above sea-level (Poliçan, Skorë, Hlomo, Sopik, Mavrojer, Çatistë, and, on the Greek side of the frontier, Drimadhes), the biggest, Poliçan, has a population of 2,500 persons and Sopik has 300 houses. The Pogoniates normally marry only within their group, but occasionally a bride may be taken from Zagorië and then she is taught Greek." Gjirokastër has a mixed population consisting of Muslim Albanians, Greeks and an Orthodox Albanian population while the city in 1992 had an overall Albanian majority.[Kallivretakis, Leonidas (1995).]
Η ελληνική κοινότητα της Αλβανίας υπό το πρίσμα της ιστορικής γεωγραφίας και δημογραφίας [The Greek Community of Albania in terms of historical geography and demography
" In Nikolakopoulos, Ilias, Kouloubis Theodoros A. & Thanos M. Veremis (eds). ''Ο Ελληνισμός της Αλβανίας [The Greeks of Albania]''. University of Athens. p. 34. "Στα πλαίσια της επιτόπιας έρευνας που πραγματοποιήσαμε στην Αλβανία (Νοέμβριος-Δεκέμβριος 1992), μελετήσαμε το ζήτημα των εθνοπολιτισμικών ομάδων, όπως αυτές συνειδητοποιούνται σήμερα επί τόπου. s part of the fieldwork we held in Albania (November–December 1992), we studied the issue of ethnocultural groups, as they are realized today on the spot.; p. 42. "Στο Νομό του Αργυροκάστρου: Έλληνες 40%, Βλάχοι 12%, Αλβανοί Χριστιανοί 21%, Αλβανοί Μουσουλμάνοι 28%, επί συνόλου 66.000 κατοίκων, 63% Χριστιανοί, 49% Αλβανοί." p. 43. "4) Ακόμη και εκεί που η ύπαιθρος είναι ελληνική ή ελληνίζουσα, οι πόλεις διαθέτουν αλβανική πλειοψηφία. Αυτό φαίνεται καθαρά στις περιπτώσεις Αργυροκάστρου και Δελβίνου, όπου οι Νομαρχίες πέρασαν στα χέρια της μειονότητας, όχι όμως και οι Δήμοι των αντιστοίχων πόλεων." "[4) Even where the countryside is Greek or Greekish, cities have an Albanian majority. This is clear where the prefectures of Gjirokastër and Delvinë were passed into the hands of the minority, but not the municipalities of the respective cities.]"; p. 51. "Ε Έλληνες, ΑΧ Αλβανοί Ορθόδοξοι Χριστιανοί, AM Αλβανοί Μουσουλμάνοι, Μ Μικτός πληθυσμός...." p.55. "GJIROKASTRA ΑΡΓΥΡΟΚΑΣΤΡΟ 24216 Μ (ΑΜ + ΑΧ + Ε).”; p.57.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gjirokaster District
Districts of Albania
Geography of Gjirokastër County