Martanesh ( sq, Martaneshi) is a geographic and

ethnographic Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

region within the

Dibër County Dibër County (; sq, Qarku i Dibrës) is one of the 12 counties of the Republic of Albania, spanning a surface area of with the capital in Peshkopi. The county borders on the counties of Durrës, Elbasan, Kukës, Lezhë, Tirana and the ...

in eastern

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 share ...

. Formerly a commune, at the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision of the municipality Bulqizë. The population at the 2011 census was 1,836.2011 census results
The settlement holding the status of town is Krastë, which was also the center of the commune. The population is largely

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 ...

with a rather small Catholic minority, and the commune contains the Teqe of Martanesh.

History

Martanesh is recorded 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 as a '' hass-ı mir-liva'' settlement in the vilayet of Mati. Although the register's complete survey on the village is missing, the following household heads are attested: ''Pal Rusi'', ''Gjon Liti'', ''Martin Dajxhi'', ''Peter Mirneli'', ''Pelgrin Zaboli'', ''Todor Rusi'', ''Benk Titko'', ''Andrija Çukali'', ''Peter Rusi'', ''Gjon Zhaboli'', ''Ariza Kuqi'', ''Peter Kurpendi'', ''Pelgrin Kurpendi'', ''Gjergj Stepani'', ''Gjon Skani'', ''Andrija Pisha'', ''Gjon Stipani'', ''Lala Pisha'', ''Ilia Manisi'', ''Todor Mani'', '' Dom Lishi'', ''Dom Todori'', ''Gjon Todori'', ''Todor Inboliti'', ''Tanush Gjon Skulja'', ''Nikolla Rusi'', and ''Lazar''. The register records that the village was exempt from paying the ''

haraç Haraç ( hy, խարջ, kharj, mk, арач, arač, gr, χαράτσι, charatsi, sh-Cyrl-Latn, харач, harač) was a land tax levied on non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire. ''Haraç'' was developed from an earlier form of land taxation, ' ...

'' tax.

Notable people

Baba Faja Martaneshi Baba Faja Martaneshi (1910 - 18 March 1947) was an Albanian people, Albanian Bektashism in Albania, Bektashi ''baba'' (Sufi) and a resistance leader during the Albanian Resistance of World War II, National Liberation War of the Albanian People. B ...

References

Former municipalities in Dibër County Administrative units of Bulqizë {{Dibër-geo-stub