Lin ( sq-definite, Lini, mk, Лин) is a village in the former
Udënisht Municipality in
Korçë County,
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 part of the municipality
Pogradec.
Geography
![Basilica_Lin,_Albania_2018_01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Basilica_Lin%2C_Albania_2018_01.jpg)
Lin is situated on a
small peninsula on
Lake Ohrid, just south of the
Qafë Thanë
Qafë Thanë ( sq, Qafë Thanë; ) is a mountain pass on the shores of Lake Ohrid in Albania. It is located in the southeastern Albanian mountains, close to the border between Albania and North Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia ...
mountain pass, which is a border-crossing point between Albania and North Macedonia.
Pogradec is roughly 22 km to the south of the village, while
Struga
Struga ( mk, Струга , sq, Strugë) is a town and popular tourist destination situated in the south-western region of North Macedonia, lying on the shore of Lake Ohrid. The town of Struga is the seat of Struga Municipality.
Name
The nam ...
is about 10 km north, along the lake shore.
Radožda
Radožda ( mk, Радожда ) is a village in the Struga municipality in the southwestern region of North Macedonia.
Geography
Radožda is situated on the western shore of the Ohrid Lake. It is south of the town Struga. It is from the Mace ...
is the nearest settlement on the opposite side of the border.
History
The Lin area has been inhabited since at least the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
. Archaeological findings from the hilltop above the present-day village include foundation walls and mosaics of an early
Christian Byzantine church, dating from the 6th century. The church is a
Cultural Monument of Albania and is included within the possible UNESCO site of the
Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region (Albania).
In 1873, the village was recorded as having 65 households with 90 male Bulgarian Orthodox Christians and 62 male Muslims. In 1900,
Vasil Kanchov traveled throughout the region, and he would report that Lin was a mixed village split equally between 300
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
Christians and 300
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 ...
Muslims
Demographics
The
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 ...
Tosk dialect is spoken in the area. Lin is the only place in Albania where the
Vevčani-Radožda dialect of
Macedonian
Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia.
Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to:
People Modern
* Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...
is spoken by Macedonians.
[Hendricks, P. "The Radozda-Vevcani Dialect of Macedonian". Peter De Ridder Press, 1976, p. 3.] The other three villages in which this dialect is spoken are in North Macedonia.
During the 2000s linguists Klaus Steinke and Xhelal Ylli seeking to corroborate villages cited in past literature as being Slavic speaking carried out fieldwork.
Lin was noted as being a mixed village of Orthodox Christians and Muslims having 1680 inhabitants and 296 families.
Local Lin villagers stated that few families still speak Macedonian, such as in instances of marriage with women from neighbouring Radožda in
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...
, however, Macedonian overall is not used by the third generation.
[ "Im nördlich von Pogradec unmittelbar am Ochridsee gelegenen Dorf Lin, mit 1680 Einwohnem (296 Familien), leben Orthodoxe und Moslems. Nach den Angaben des Ortsvorstehers Avdullari und denen anderer Informanten spricht man nur noch in wenigen Familien Makedonisch, d.h. wenn dort eine Frau aus dem makedonischen Nachbarort Radožda eingeheiratet hat. Aber auch in diesem Fall wird Makedonisch bereits von der dritten Generation nicht mehr benutzt. Von den aus Radožda zugezogenen Sprecherinnen wurden einige Sprachaufnahmen gemacht, die im Anhang zu finden sind."]
Photos
File:Lin_albania_korce.jpg, Panoramic View over the Ohrid Lake and Lin
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lin, Korce
Populated places in Pogradec
Villages in Korçë County
Albanian Ohrid Lake Coast