Gjirokastër District
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Gjirokastër District () was one of the 36
districts of Albania Districts ( or ) were first and second-level administrative subdivisions of Albania, administrative divisions of Albania from 19132000. Their number, size, and status changed over time. From 1991 to 2000, the 36 districts were organized into 12 ...
, which were dissolved in July 2000 and replaced by 12
counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
. It had a population of 55,991 in 2001, and an area of . It contained a large
Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...
ethnic minority The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...
. It is in the south of the country, and its capital was the city of
Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in Southern Albania, southern Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë moun ...
. Its territory is now part of
Gjirokastër County Gjirokastër County () is one of the 12 counties of Albania. The total population in 2023 was 60,013, in an area of 2884 km2. Its capital is the city Gjirokastër. Administrative divisions Until 2000, Gjirokastër County was subdivided into thre ...
: the
municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
of
Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in Southern Albania, southern Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë moun ...
,
Dropull Dropull ( sq-definite, Dropulli; ''Dropoli'' or ''Deropoli'') is a municipality in Gjirokastër County, in southern Albania. The region stretches from south of the city of Gjirokastër to the Greek–Albanian border, along the Drino river. The reg ...
and
Libohovë Libohovë ( sq-definite, Libohova) is a town and a municipality in southern Albania. It is overlooked by Libohovë Castle and has a main street with views across the Drino valley. Libohovë is at the foot of the Mount Bureto, Bureto Mountain. The r ...
.


Administrative divisions

The district consisted of the following
municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
: * Antigonë * Cepo * Dropull i Poshtëm * Dropull i Sipërm *
Gjirokastër Gjirokastër (, sq-definite, Gjirokastra) is a List of cities and towns in Albania, city in Southern Albania, southern Albania and the seat of Gjirokastër County and Gjirokastër Municipality. It is located in a valley between the Gjerë moun ...
* Lazarat *
Libohovë Libohovë ( sq-definite, Libohova) is a town and a municipality in southern Albania. It is overlooked by Libohovë Castle and has a main street with views across the Drino valley. Libohovë is at the foot of the Mount Bureto, Bureto Mountain. The r ...
* Lunxhëri * Odrie * Picar * Pogon * Qendër Libohovë *
Zagori Zagori (; ), is a region, a municipality, and a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the Pindus mountains in Epirus, in northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Asprangeloi. It has an area of some and contains 46 v ...


Villages of Gjirokastër

* Andon Poci * Asim Zenel * Bularat * Cepos * Derviçan *
Erind Erind is a village in the Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. It belongs to the former Lunxhëri (municipality), Lunxhëri municipality and is part of the wider Lunxhëri region. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municip ...
* Frashtan * Fushë-Bardhë * Gerhot * Golem (Gjirokastër) * Goranxi * Jergucat * Kolonjë (Gjirokastër)1 * Kardhiq * Krioner * Lazarat * Labova e Zhapes * Labovë e Kryqit * Libohova * Mashkullorë * Mingul * Nivan * Palokastër * Picar * Poliçan2 * Prongji * Valare * Vrisera * Zhej * Zhulat * Pepeli 1 - not to be confused with Kolonjë District
2 - not to be confused with Poliçan of Skrapar District


Demographics

In fieldwork undertaken by Greek scholar Leonidas Kallivretakis in the area during 1992, the district of Gjirokastër had 66,000 inhabitants of which 40% were Greeks, 12% Vlachs and an Orthodox Albanian population of 21%. These communities are Orthodox and collectively made up 73% of the district's Christian population while the remaining 28% of the population were Muslim Albanians. Overall the Greek community was the most numerous ethno-religious group (40%), while Albanians, irrespective of religious background, in 1992 were a plurality and collectively consisted 49% of the district's total population. Within Gjirokastër district, Greeks populate all the settlements of both former municipalities of Dropull i Sipërm and Dropull i Poshtëm and also all settlements of Pogon municipality (except the village of Selckë).Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière (1967).
Epirus: the Geography, the Ancient Remains, the History and Topography of Epirus and Adjacent Areas
'. Clarendon Press. p.27. "The present distribution of the Albanian-speaking villages bears little relation to the frontier which was drawn between Greece and Albania after the First World War. In Map 2 I have shown most of the Greek speaking villages in Albanian Epirus and some of the Albanian-speaking villages in Greek Epirus. The map is based on observations made by Clarke and myself during our travels between 1922 and 1939."; p.28-29. In Llunxherië the villages are more compact but smaller, Shtegopul and Saraginishtë, for instance, having only fifty houses each; the people of Llunxherië are all Albanian Orthodox Christians, except those of Erind, who are partly Christian and Mohammedan, and the men, but not the women, know some Greek. Zagorië has the same characteristics, its ten villages extending from Doshnicë to Shepr; the group is endogamous and does not marry with the people of Llunxherië. Pogoni, or Paleo-Pogoni as some people call it, consists of seven Greek-speaking villages near.y 3,000 ft. above sea-level (Poliçan, Skorë, Hlomo, Sopik, Mavrojer, Çatistë, and, on the Greek side of the frontier, Drimadhes), the biggest, Poliçan, has a population of 2,500 persons and Sopik has 300 houses. The Pogoniates normally marry only within their group, but occasionally a bride may be taken from Zagorië and then she is taught Greek."
Gjirokastër has a mixed population consisting of Muslim Albanians, Greeks and an Orthodox Albanian population while the city in 1992 had an overall Albanian majority.Kallivretakis, Leonidas (1995).
Η ελληνική κοινότητα της Αλβανίας υπό το πρίσμα της ιστορικής γεωγραφίας και δημογραφίας [The Greek Community of Albania in terms of historical geography and demography
" In Nikolakopoulos, Ilias, Kouloubis Theodoros A. & Thanos M. Veremis (eds). ''Ο Ελληνισμός της Αλβανίας [The Greeks of Albania]''. University of Athens. p. 34. "Στα πλαίσια της επιτόπιας έρευνας που πραγματοποιήσαμε στην Αλβανία (Νοέμβριος-Δεκέμβριος 1992), μελετήσαμε το ζήτημα των εθνοπολιτισμικών ομάδων, όπως αυτές συνειδητοποιούνται σήμερα επί τόπου. s part of the fieldwork we held in Albania (November–December 1992), we studied the issue of ethnocultural groups, as they are realized today on the spot.; p. 42. "Στο Νομό του Αργυροκάστρου: Έλληνες 40%, Βλάχοι 12%, Αλβανοί Χριστιανοί 21%, Αλβανοί Μουσουλμάνοι 28%, επί συνόλου 66.000 κατοίκων, 63% Χριστιανοί, 49% Αλβανοί." p. 43. "4) Ακόμη και εκεί που η ύπαιθρος είναι ελληνική ή ελληνίζουσα, οι πόλεις διαθέτουν αλβανική πλειοψηφία. Αυτό φαίνεται καθαρά στις περιπτώσεις Αργυροκάστρου και Δελβίνου, όπου οι Νομαρχίες πέρασαν στα χέρια της μειονότητας, όχι όμως και οι Δήμοι των αντιστοίχων πόλεων." "[4) Even where the countryside is Greek or Greekish, cities have an Albanian majority. This is clear where the prefectures of Gjirokastër and Delvinë were passed into the hands of the minority, but not the municipalities of the respective cities.]"; p. 51. "Ε Έλληνες, ΑΧ Αλβανοί Ορθόδοξοι Χριστιανοί, AM Αλβανοί Μουσουλμάνοι, Μ Μικτός πληθυσμός...." p.55. "GJIROKASTRA ΑΡΓΥΡΟΚΑΣΤΡΟ 24216 Μ (ΑΜ + ΑΧ + Ε).”; p.57.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gjirokaster District Districts of Albania Geography of Gjirokastër County