Lin ( sq-definite, Lini, ) is a village in the former Udënisht Municipality in

Korçë County Korçë County (), officially the County of Korçë (), is a Counties of Albania, county in the Southern Albania, Southern Region of the Republic of Albania. It is the largest by area and the List of counties of Albania by population, fifth most p ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality

Pogradec Pogradec (,) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, eleventh most populous city in Albania and the capital of the eponymous municipality. It is located on a List of settlements on the Lake Ohrid coastline, narrow plain between two mountain ch ...

Geography

Lin is situated on a small peninsula on

Lake Ohrid Lake Ohrid is a lake which straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern part of North Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of Europe's deepest and oldest lakes, with a unique aquatic ecosystem of worldwide importance, with more th ...

, just south of the Qafë Thanë mountain pass, which is a border-crossing point between Albania and North Macedonia.

is roughly 22 km to the south of the village, while

Struga Struga ( ; , sq-definite, Struga) is a town and popular tourist destination situated in the south-western region of North Macedonia, lying on the shore of Lake Ohrid. The town of Struga is the seat of Struga Municipality. Name The name Struga ...

is about 10 km north, along the lake shore. Radožda is the nearest settlement on the opposite side of the border.

History

The Lin area has been inhabited since at least

Prehistory Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

. New archeological findings indicate Lin to date back to being 8500 years old, meaning as old as at least 6000 BC. This makes Lin the oldest inhabited pile dwelling settlement in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Archaeological findings from the hilltop above the present-day village include foundation walls and mosaics of an early Christian Byzantine church, dating from the 6th century. The church is a

Cultural Monument of Albania In Albania, a cultural monument () is a construction or work of cultural, historical and artistic value that is built in a visible space, made in memory of important events or prominent people. Cultural monuments are usually under state protection ...

and is included within the possible UNESCO site of the Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region (Albania). In 1873, the village was recorded as having 65 households with 90 male Macedonian Orthodox Christians and 62 male Muslims. In 1900,

Vasil Kanchov Vasil Kanchov (26 July 1862 – 6 February 1902) was a geographer, ethnographer and teacher who served as Minister of Education of Bulgaria. Early life and education Vasil Kanchov was born in Vratsa. Upon graduating from High school i ...

traveled throughout the region, and he would report that Lin was a mixed village split equally between 300 Macedonian Christians and 300

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

Muslims.

Demographics

The

Tosk Tosk ( sq-definite, toskërishtja) is the southern group of dialects of the Albanian language, spoken by the ethnographic group known as Tosks. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg (the northern variety) is the Shkumbin River. Tosk is ...

dialect is spoken in the area. Lin is the only place in Albania where the

Vevčani-Radožda dialect The Vevčani-Radožda dialect (, ''Vevčansko-radoški dijalekt'') is a member of the western and north western subgroup of the western group of dialects of Macedonian. Because of the old and rich tradition that this region has and because of th ...

of Macedonian is spoken by Macedonians.Hendricks, P. "The Radozda-Vevcani Dialect of Macedonian". Peter De Ridder Press, 1976, p. 3. The other three villages in which this dialect is spoken are in North Macedonia. During the 2000s linguists Klaus Steinke and Xhelal Ylli seeking to corroborate villages cited in past literature as being Slavic speaking carried out fieldwork. Lin was noted as being a mixed village of Orthodox Christians and Muslims having 1680 inhabitants and 296 families. Local Lin villagers stated that few families still speak Macedonian, such as in instances of marriage with women from neighbouring Radožda in

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

, however, Macedonian overall is not used by the third generation. "Im nördlich von Pogradec unmittelbar am Ochridsee gelegenen Dorf Lin, mit 1680 Einwohnem (296 Familien), leben Orthodoxe und Moslems. Nach den Angaben des Ortsvorstehers Avdullari und denen anderer Informanten spricht man nur noch in wenigen Familien Makedonisch, d.h. wenn dort eine Frau aus dem makedonischen Nachbarort Radožda eingeheiratet hat. Aber auch in diesem Fall wird Makedonisch bereits von der dritten Generation nicht mehr benutzt. Von den aus Radožda zugezogenen Sprecherinnen wurden einige Sprachaufnahmen gemacht, die im Anhang zu finden sind."

Photos

File:Lin_albania_korce.jpg, Panoramic View over the

Ohrid Lake Lake Ohrid is a lake which straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern part of North Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of Europe's deepest and oldest lakes, with a unique aquatic ecosystem of worldwide importance, with more th ...

and Lin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lin, Korce Populated places in Pogradec Villages in Korçë County Albanian Ohrid Lake Coast