Prespa ( mk, Преспа, sq, Prespa, el, Πρέσπα) is a region shared between

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 Yugoslavia. It ...

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 ...

and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. It shares the same name with the two

Prespa lakes The Lake Prespa is located on the tripoint of North Macedonia, Albania, and Greece. It is a system of two lakes separated by an isthmus: the Great Prespa Lake, divided between the three countries, and the Little Prespa Lake, mostly within Greece ...

which are situated in the middle of the region. The largest town is Resen in North Macedonia with 9,000 inhabitants.

History

In today's borders, the region is divided between three countries, which is result of the division of the Ottoman territories of Europe after the two Balkan Wars. Prespa itself has an important

geostrategic Geostrategy, a subfield of geopolitics, is a type of foreign policy guided principally by geographical factors as they inform, constrain, or affect political and military planning. As with all strategies, geostrategy is concerned with matching m ...

position. During the Roman rule through Prespa, the famous ancient Roman road "

Via Egnatia The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thracia, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey as a continu ...

" was built. In addition to road, several settlements were also built. In the 6th and 7th centuries in Prespa didn't settle permanently Slavic tribes. The Slavs skipped the region that had been already plundered and depopulated, but continued south to the Mediterranean coast. Yankovets Selianka

In the late 10th and early 11th centuries, during the reign of the

Cometopuls The Kometopuli dynasty ( Bulgarian: , Bulgarian; ; Byzantine Greek: , ) was the last royal dynasty in the First Bulgarian Empire, ruling from ca. 976 until the fall of Bulgaria under Byzantine rule in 1018. The most notable member of the dynas ...

, besides Prespa Lake was mentioned also the town of Prespa, as the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire. This city was also the seat of the

Bulgarian Patriarchate The Bulgarian Orthodox Church ( bg, Българска православна църква, translit=Balgarska pravoslavna tsarkva), legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria ( bg, Българска патриаршия, links=no, translit=Balgarsk ...

, whose seat was later transferred to

Bulgarian Patriarchate of Ochrid The Archbishopric of Ohrid, also known as the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid *T. Kamusella in The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Springer, 2008, p. 276 *Aisling Lyon, Decentralisation and the Management of Ethni ...

. During 1888 in the village of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, in Lower Prespa, the headstone of Samuel's parents was found, his father Nicholas, his mother Ripsimia and his brother

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, dating from 993.Florin Curta, Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500-1300) (2 vols) BRILL, 2019, , p. 581. It is one of the first written monuments in the Old Church Slavonic language. It is currently located in the Sofia Museum, most probably portrayed in the wake of the wars. From that period on the island of Achilles, in the small Prespa Lake, there are still remains of the Cathedral church erected by Samuel in honor of St. Achilles. St. George's Church in the village

Kurbinovo Kurbinovo ( mk, Курбиново) is a village in the Resen Municipality of North Macedonia, northeast of Lake Prespa. The village is located nearly south of the municipal centre of Resen. The village is best known for being home to the 12th c ...

with a remarkable fresco painting of 1191, a notable example of medieval painting located within North Macedonia.

References

External links

* * {{coord, display=title, 40.855222, 20.982750 Geography of North Macedonia Resen Municipality Historical regions in Greece Florina (regional unit) Historical regions in Albania

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links