Durrës County ( sq, Qarku i Durrësit), officially the County of Durrës ( sq, Qarku i Durrësit, italic=unset), is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

in the Northern Region of the

Republic of 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 l ...

. It is the smallest by area and the second most populous of the twelve counties, with 292,029 people within an area of . The county borders on the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

to the west, the counties of

Lezhë Lezhë (, sq-definite, Lezha) is a city in the Republic of Albania and seat of Lezhë County and Lezhë Municipality. One of the main strongholds of the Labeatai, the earliest of the fortification walls of Lezhë are of typical Illyrian cons ...

to the north, Dibër to the east and

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

to the south. It is divided into three

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 ...

Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the second most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is located on a flat plain along the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast between the mouths of ...

, Krujë and

Shijak Shijak ( sq-definite, Shijaku) is a town and a municipality in Durrës County, west-central Albania. The municipality was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Gjepalaj, Maminas, Shijak and Xhafzot ...

, with all of whom incorporate sixteen

administrative units Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...

. The county has geographically a coastline on the

Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast The Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast ( — ) stretches in the Southeastern Adriatic Sea beginning at the Gulf of Drin in the north, across the port cities of Shëngjin, Durrës and Vlorë, to the Bay of Vlorë in the south, where the Albanian Rivi ...

and extends in the

Western Lowlands The Western Lowlands ( sq, Ultësira Bregdetare or Ultësira Perëndimore) is a physiogeographical region encompassing the western edge of Albania. It comprises the flat plains extending in the west along the Albanian Adriatic and Ionian Sea Co ...

on a flat

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. All ...

and

coastal plain A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Co ...

. The east is characterised by the

Skanderbeg Mountains The Skanderbeg Mountains ( sq, Vargmalet e Skënderbeut or ) are a mountain range in Albania, Southern Europe. Geography Skanderbeg Mountain is located on the border between the district of Kruja and that of Mat with the highest altitude 172 ...

which splits the Western Lowlands from the

Central Mountain Range The Central Mountain Range is the principal mountain range on the island of Taiwan. It runs from the north of the island to the south. Due to this separation, connecting between the west and east is not very convenient. The tallest peak of th ...

. Its

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...

is profoundly determined by its proximity to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

and its considerable change in terrain. The central city

is one of largest cities on the Adriatic Sea and ranks 5th with a population of 175,110 and one of the world's

oldest continuously inhabited cities This is a list of present-day cities by the time period over which they have been continuously inhabited as a city. The age claims listed are generally disputed. Differences in opinion can result from different definitions of "city" as well as "c ...

. Durrës is home to Albania's main port, the

Port of Durrës The Port of Durrës ( sq, Porti i Durrësit) is the largest seaport of Albania. The port is situated in the city of Durrës. It is an artificial basin that is formed between two moles, with a west-northwesterly oriented entrance approximately wid ...

. The

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

is also the 10th largest cargo port on the

that handle more than 3.4 million tonnes of cargo per year. The historical city of Krujë is the second largest city in Durrës County.

Geography

Durrës County is defined within an area of and is located in the Northern Region of the

bordering the

to the west, the counties of

to the north, Dibër to the east and

to the south. The county lies between

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

s 41° and 23° N and

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lette ...

s 19° and 30° E. Because of its proximity to the

, several rivers, large and small, flow throughout the county. The

Ishëm Ishëm is a former municipality in the Durrës County, northwestern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Durrës. The population at the 2011 census was 5,001.Skanderbeg Mountains The Skanderbeg Mountains ( sq, Vargmalet e Skënderbeut or ) are a mountain range in Albania, Southern Europe. Geography Skanderbeg Mountain is located on the border between the district of Kruja and that of Mat with the highest altitude 172 ...

Tirana County Tirana County ( sq, Qarku Tiranë, italic=unset), officially the County of Tirana ( sq, Qarku i Tiranës, italic=unset), is a county in the Central Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the tenth largest by area and the most populous of the t ...

and flowing through the county until it reaches the Adriatic Sea at the

Cape of Rodon The Cape of Rodon or Cape of Skanderbeg ( sq, Kepi i Rodonit or ''Kepi i Skenderbeut'') is a rocky cape on the Adriatic Sea north of Durrës, Albania. On the Cape is the Rodoni Castle, built by Skanderbeg in 1463. and a Saint Anthony Church. Fu ...

along the

Gulf of Drin The Gulf of Drin or Bay of Drin ( sq, Gjiri i Drinit or ''Pellgu i Drinit'') is an ocean basin of the Adriatic Sea within the Mediterranean Sea along the northern coast of Albania. Roughly scythe-shaped, it extends immediately from the Delta of ...

. The

Erzen The Erzen ( sq-definite, Erzeni) is a river in central Albania. The length of Erzen is , while the catchment area is including the southern Tirana District and eastern Durrës District. Name The ancient Illyrian name of the river was ''Ardax ...

, the second longest river in the county, begins nearby the village of

Shëngjergj Shëngjergj (Albanian for Saint George) is a village and a former municipality in the Tirana County, central Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Tirana. The population at the 2011 census was 2,18 ...

, flows into northwest and empties into the sea at the Gjiri i Lalzit. The city of Krujë is found at an altitude of 600 m (1,969 ft) on the foot of Mount Krujë ( sq, Mali i Krujës) of the Krujë Gorge, while south and west of the town is found the plain of the Ishëm River. The town is located in the northern part of the outer Albanides tectonic unit, which consists of anticlines of Mesozoic carbonate platforms.

Climate

The climate is generally Mediterranean but varies by local topography. There are diverse microclimates in the county. Summers are dry while heavy rains are experienced during the winter.

Demography

Durrës County is the second most populous and

densely populated Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

county of the

, with an increasing number of population. The Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) estimated the county's population in January 2021 at 292,029. At the 2011 census, there were 263,711 people living in the county with a population density of 343 people per square kilometres. As of the 2011 census, in terms of ethnicity, Durrës County was 77.54% Albanian, 0.36%

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 ...

, 0.18%

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 ...

, 0.07% Macedonian, 0.05% Aromanian, 0.02%

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

and 0.02% Montenegrin. By language, 99.5% spoke Albanian as a first language. Other spoken languages were

(0.12%),

(0.05%), Macedonian (0.05%),

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

(0.02%), Turkish (0.02%) and Aromanian (0.02%). By religion, there were 177,274 (67.46%) Muslims, 19,322 (7.35%)

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

s, 8,675 (3.30%)

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...

, 4,215 (1.60%)

Bektashi The Bektashi Order; sq, Tarikati Bektashi; tr, Bektaşi or Bektashism is an Islamic Sufi mystic movement originating in the 13th-century. It is named after the Anatolian saint Haji Bektash Wali (d. 1271). The community is currently led by ...

s, 325 (0.12%) Evangelists, 167 (0.06%) other

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

, 9,131 (3.47%) believers without denomination and 41 (0.02%) of other religions. Nonetheless, 2,901 people (1.10%) were irreligious while 33,754 (12.84%) did not declare their religion.

Settlements

There are three

(''bashkia'') and 16

(''njësi administrative'') incorporated in Durrës County. The majority of its population is predominantly concentrated in the county's capital city of

. As of the 2011 Census, the population of the administrative unit Durrës stands at 113,249 with the adjacent eponymous municipality having a population of 175,110. Other units with a population over 10,000 include

Fushë-Krujë Fushë-Krujë is a city in Durrës County, Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Krujë. The population at the 2011 census was 18,477.Katund i Ri Katund i Ri is a village and a former municipality in the Durrës County, western Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the second most populo ...

, Kodër-Thumanë, Krujë,

Rrashbull Rrashbull is a village and a former municipality in the Durrës County, western Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the second most populous ...

, Sukth and Xhafzotaj.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durres County

Geography

Climate

Demography

Settlements

See also

References