Golaj is a village and a former

municipality 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 ...

in the

Kukës County Kukës County (; sq, Qarku i Kukësit) is a landlocked county in northeastern Albania, with the capital in Kukës. The county spans and had a total population of 74,388 people as of 2021. The county borders on the counties of Dibër, Lezhë a ...

, northeastern

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 ...

. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Has. The population at the 2011 census was 6,187. In the Ottoman Defter of 1571 for the Sanjak of Dukagjin, Golaj was part of the Nahiya of Pashtrik and was part of the

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 ...

of Hasan. The inhabitants of Golaj had a predominantly Christian Albanian anthroponomy with a degree of

Islamisation Islamization, Islamicization, or Islamification ( ar, أسلمة, translit=aslamāh), refers to the process through which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam and becomes largely Muslim. Societal Islamization has historically occurre ...

: ''Mustafa Koka, Iljas Koka, Hasan Deja, Ali Deja, Memi Tusha, Ali Puta, Hasan Tola, Ahmed Benku, Papa Deja, Deda Papa, Tita (Dida) Gjeci, Prend Tita (Dida), Deda Kola, Benk Gika, Gjon Gjika, Mark Koka, Gjin Deja, Gjin Lika, Tola Koka, Gjon Lika, Gjin Andrea, Nina Gjoni, Papa Tola, Kola Bardi, Papa Nina, Papa Baci, Puta Gika, Bac Puta, Draga Progoni, Deja Lika, Gjon Lika, Draga Maza, Gjon Lika, Progon Gjura, Lika Progoni, Diraga Draga, Vata Gika, Kraga Gika, Gjon Vata, Biba Gaci, Mark Gaci, Gika Dida, Gjec Deda, Lika Kola''. There were 35 Christian homes in total, and 8 Muslim household heads - all Albanian.

References

Former municipalities in Kukës County Administrative units of Has (municipality) Villages in Kukës County {{Kukës-geo-stub