Nižepole ( mk, Нижеполе, rup, Nijopolea, ) is a village in the municipality of

Bitola Bitola (; mk, Битола ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki ...

, North Macedonia and is an alpine settlement 7.85 kilometers from

History

The population of Nižepole was made up of older inhabitants of Aromanians (Vlachs) and later Arvanito-Vlachs who formed a large part of the village population. A small number of Muslim Albanians over time settled in Nižepole originating from the Korçë region. During the first World War, Nižepole fell on the Allied side of the

Macedonian front The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of German ...

and its Aromanian villagers first fled to Florina and then most went to Katerini, Greece. After the war, most Nižepole Aromanians preferred to remain in Katerini after a few returnees came back telling of the destruction of the village. Only in 1923 with the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey and arrival of Greek refugees after the

Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) The Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, ota, گرب جابهاسی, Garb Cebhesi) in Turkey, and the Asia Minor Campaign ( el, Μικρασιατική Εκστρατεία, Mikrasiatikí Ekstrateía) or the Asia Minor Catastrophe ( el, Μικ ...

did some Nižepole inhabitants return to the village. p. 299. "One of the most noteworthy cases was quite a large group which settled among the older Vlach residents of Nižepole, close to Magarevo, making the Arvanitovlachs a significant part of the population of the village."; p. 352. "A small group of Moslem Albanians from the Korçë area gradually settled in Trnovo and Nižepole."; pp. 468-469. "The inhabitants of Nižepole, the only Vlach village behind Allied lines fled to Florina and, mainly to Katerini."; p. 470. "Most of the inhabitants of Nižepole opted to remain in Katerini when the first people to return brought home the news of the utter devastation of their village. It was not until 1923 and the arrival of the refugees from the Asia Minor disaster that some of them went back to Nižepole."

Demographics

Nižepole is attested in the Ottoman

defter A ''defter'' (plural: ''defterler'') was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire. Description The information collected could vary, but ''tahrir defterleri'' typically included details of villages, dwellings, household ...

of 1467/68 as a village in the vilayet of Manastir. The inhabitants attested largely bore mixed Slavic-

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 ...

anthroponyms, such as ''Gerg'' son of ''Boris'', ''Leko'', or ''Gin'' son of ''Lavre''. In statistics gathered by Vasil Kanchov in 1900, the village of Nižepole was inhabited by 1590 Aromanians, 250 Orthodox Albanians and 190 Orthodox Bulgarians. According to the statistics of Geographers Dimitri Mishev and D. M. Brancoff, the town had a total Christian population of 940 in 1905, consisting of 780 Vlachs and 160 Patriarchist Bulgarians.Dimitri Mishev and D. M. Brancoff
''La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne''
p. 168 According to the 2002 census, the village had a total of 186 inhabitants. Ethnic groups in the village include:Macedonian Census (2002)
''Book 5 - Total population according to the Ethnic Affiliation, Mother Tongue and Religion''
The State Statistical Office, Skopje, 2002, p. 71. * Vlachs 105 * Macedonians 47 *

Albanians The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Se ...

30 *

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

People from Nižepole

Theodoros Adam Theodoros Adam (Greek: Θεόδωρος Αδάμ) was a Greek chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle. Biography Adam was born in the late 19th century in Nižepole, then part of the Ottoman Empire (now in North Macedonia). He organized the Natio ...

, Greek chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle

References

External links

Villages in Bitola Municipality Aromanian settlements in North Macedonia Albanian communities in North Macedonia {{Bitola-geo-stub