Peštani () is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the

municipality 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 Ohrid,

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 ...

, located 12 kilometres south of the city of Ohrid. It is a popular beachside town along Lake Ohrid and lies at the foot of Galičica National Park. Originally a fishing village, it now gets most of its income from tourism.

History

At the beginning of the 20th century the village was a homestead owned by a landlord. The houses of the natives were built on his land and that is why they paid an annual fee of 13

groschen Groschen (; from "thick", via Old Czech ') is the (sometimes colloquial) name for various coins, especially a silver coin used in parts of Europe including Kingdom of France, France, some of the Italian states, and various states of the Holy R ...

per house and a certain amount of firewood. The "La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne" survey by Dimitar Mishev (D. Brankov) concluded that the Christian part of the local population in 1905 was composed of 720 Bulgarian Exarchists. There was a Bulgarian school in the beginning of 20th century.

Demographics

Traditionally Peštani is inhabited by Orthodox Macedonians and in the Ottoman period by a small Turkish minority. In statistics gathered by Vasil Kanchov in 1900, the village of Peštani was inhabited by 560 Bulgarian Christians and 50 Muslim Bulgarians. The chief Bulgarian teacher in the region of Ohrid, Yakim Derebanov wrote in his report from 1905 that there were 110 Bulgarian houses in the village, inhabited by 640 Bulgarian Christians and 16 Turkish houses, inhabited by 70 Turks-Muslims. There was a tendency for emigration of the local Turks.Етнография на Македония. Извори и материали в два тома, т. 2, София 1992, с. 29 (Ethnography of Macedonia. Sources and materials in two volumes, vol. 2, Sofia 1992, p. 29.) - "Селото има 110 къщи с 640 д. бълг.-християнско население и 16 къщи със 70 д. турско-мохамеданско население...Турците от някое време насам почнали да напускат селото и да продават имуществата си на българите...". By 1920, the Turks of Peštani () sold their houses and fields, some arable, moving to Ohrid where a few families live today known as ''Peştanlı''. Elderly inhabitants of Peštani relate that the Turks of the village were not Islamised Slavs or Albanians, but of pure Ottoman Turkish stock and local traditions are absent about any Islamisation of local Slavic population. "Денеска во Охридско живеат неколку турски семејства познати како Пештанлии. Тие се, имено, преселници од селото. По 1920 год. нема во Пештани „Турци" староседелци. Напуштајќи го селото, муслиманите ги продале куќите и полињата. Главниот дел од обработливата земја ја откупило семејството Зимоски, понапрешни месни богаташи.... Слично како и другите постари жители на селото, така и Зимоски тврди дека Пештанските муслимани биле чистокрвни османлиски Турци, а не биле потурчени Словени или пак Албанци. Потврда за потурчување на месните жители најверојатно би се зачувала во усната традиција." According to the 2002 census, the village had a total of 1,326 inhabitants. Ethnic groups in the village include:Macedonian Census (2002)
''Book 5 - Total population according to the Ethnic Affiliation, Mother Tongue and Religion''
The State Statistical Office, Skopje, 2002, p. 151. * Macedonians 1319 *

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...

1 *Others 6

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pestani Villages in Ohrid Municipality