Peštani ( mk, Пештани) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the

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 ...

Ohrid Ohrid ( mk, Охрид ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the List of cities in North Macedonia, eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording ...

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 ...

, located 12 kilometres south of the city of

. It is a popular beachside town along

Lake Ohrid Lake Ohrid ( mk, Охридско Езеро , al, Liqeni i Ohrit , also referred as ''Liqeni i Pogradecit'';) is a lake which straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern part of North Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of Eu ...

and lies at the foot of

Galičica National Park Galičica ( mk, , sq, Mali i Thatë) is a mountain situated across the border between North Macedonia and Albania. There is a national park on North Macedonia's side of the mountain, situated between the two biggest lakes in the republic: Lake Oh ...

. Originally a fishing village, it now gets most of its income from tourism.

History

At the beginning of the 20th century the village was a homestead owned by a landlord. The houses of the natives were built on his land and that is why they paid an annual fee of 13

groschen Groschen (; from la, grossus "thick", via Old Czech ') a (sometimes colloquial) name for various coins, especially a silver coin used in various states of the Holy Roman Empire and other parts of Europe. The word is borrowed from the late Lat ...

per house and a certain amount of firewood. The "La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne" survey by Dimitar Mishev (D. Brankov) concluded that the Christian part of the local population in 1905 was composed of 720

Bulgarian Exarchists Bulgarian Millet ( tr, Bulgar Milleti) was an ethno-religious and linguistic community within the Ottoman Empire from the mid-19th to early 20th century. The semi-official term ''Bulgarian millet'', was used by the Sultan for the first time in ...

. There was a Bulgarian school in the beginning of 20th century

Demographics

Traditionally Peštani is inhabited by Orthodox Macedonians and in the Ottoman period by a small

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

minority. In statistics gathered by

Vasil Kanchov Vasil Kanchov ( bg, Васил Кънчов, Vasil Kanchov) (26 July 1862 – 6 February 1902) was a Bulgarian geographer, ethnographer and politician. Biography Vasil Kanchov was born in Vratsa. Upon graduating from High school in Lom, ...

in 1900, the village of Peštani was inhabited by 560 Bulgarian Christians and 50 Muslim Bulgarians. The chief Bulgarian teacher in the region of Ohrid, Yakim Derebanov wrote in his report from 1905 that there were 110 Bulgarian houses in the village, inhabited by 640

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 16 Turkish houses, inhabited by 70

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...

-Muslims. There was a tendency for emigration of the local Turks.Етнография на Македония. Извори и материали в два тома, т. 2, София 1992, с. 29 (Ethnography of Macedonia. Sources and materials in two volumes, vol. 2, Sofia 1992, p. 29.) - "Селото има 110 къщи с 640 д. бълг.-християнско население и 16 къщи със 70 д. турско-мохамеданско население...Турците от някое време насам почнали да напускат селото и да продават имуществата си на българите...". By 1920, the

of Peštani ( tr, Peştan) sold their houses and fields, some arable, moving to

where a few families live today known as ''Peştanlı''. Elderly inhabitants of Peštani relate that the Turks of the village were not Islamised Slavs or Albanians, but of pure Ottoman Turkish stock and local traditions are absent about any Islamisation of local Slavic population. "Денеска во Охридско живеат неколку турски семејства познати како Пештанлии. Тие се, имено, преселници од селото. По 1920 год. нема во Пештани „Турци" староседелци. Напуштајќи го селото, муслиманите ги продале куќите и полињата. Главниот дел од обработливата земја ја откупило семејството Зимоски, понапрешни месни богаташи.... Слично како и другите постари жители на селото, така и Зимоски тврди дека Пештанските муслимани биле чистокрвни османлиски Турци, а не биле потурчени Словени или пак Албанци. Потврда за потурчување на месните жители најверојатно би се зачувала во усната традиција." According to the 2002 census, the village had a total of 1,326 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. 151. * Macedonians 1319 *

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

1 *Others 6

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pestani Villages in Ohrid Municipality