Korçë

History

The area of Korçë was inhabited since the most moved back times since 6000 years Neolithic remainders were found with the site of the city. At the age of iron the cultural influences of the Greece became very strong. A Coviza city is mentioned in the medieval documents in 1280. The modern city completion date of XVe century, when Iljaz Hoxha, under the command of the Sultan Mehmet II, developed Korçë The Othoman occupation began in 1440, and after the heroic role of Hoxha to the seat of Constantinople, in 1453, it to him was allotted the title “Iljaz Bey Mirahor”. Korçë was a Sandjak Vilayet of Manastir in the Ottoman Empire. The Othoman domination of Korçë lasted until in 1912, but because of the proximity of the city of Greece, which regarded as Greek the orthodoxe population of the city, it was violently disputed at the time of the Balkan Guerres of 1912-1913. The city was occupied by Greek forces the December 6th 1912. Its incorporation with the Albania in 1913 was discussed, because Greece claimed it as an element of an area called " Epire of north ". However, according to the Protocol of Corfou signed between the Greece and the Albania in 1914 and the Ethnographic study which preceded it, the city was included in the lately formed autonomous zone of Epire of the north, whose statute, however, never came into effect. The Greek forces returned to occupy the city starting from July 10th, 1914 at the beginning of the First World War. It was then taken by the Austro-Hungarian, then by the Greeks still and finally by the France, which occupied Korçë of 1916 with 1920. In the few months which followed the ratification of the Traité of Versailles, Korçë profited from a statute of independence. The stamps going back to this time currently have a very great value. For this short period of independence, the official language with Korça is the Albanian. It was finally allotted in Albania by the Commission of international border which determined the borders of post-war period of the country. For the period of between two wars, the city became a communist base camp of agitation. Future dictator of Albania, Enver Hoxha, lived there and was a pupil and a professor at the French school of the city. The movement clandestine Communiste of Korçë became the core of the Albanian Parti Work of Hoxha. Korçë was occupied by the forces Italian in 1939, with the remainder of the country. After the declaration of the war Gréco-Italian, it fell to the hands from the Greek army in November 1940, and remained under Greek occupation until the German attack in April 1941. After the withdrawal of the Italy of the war in 1943, the city was occupied by the Germans until the October 24th 1944. During the occupation, the city became an important center of resistance of Communiste inspiration to the occupation of Albania by the forces of the Axe. The creation of the Albanian Left Work, the Communist party, was formally proclaimed in Korçë in 1941. Albanian sovereignty was restored in 1944 according to the withdrawal of the German forces. After the war, the sector suffered from the authoritarian regime of Hoxha, which fought the rich person although those were drawn up against the occupation. Thousands of people of Korca were interned in Concentration camps or carried out, for dissension with the mode of Hoxha. Hundreds of people were exiled in particular with Boston. After 1990, Korçë were one of the six cities where the Democratic party lately formed gained in all the districts. The popular revolts in February 1991 were completed by the fall of the statue of Hoxha. Politically, Korçë is one of the bastion of the Democratic party of Dirtied Berisha whose candidates almost gained all the election at the local level and member of Parliament in 16 years of democratic era. It is an multi-ethnic city, with a population of Albanian majority and a minority made up of Greek, of Aroumains, Slavic Macedonians and of Roms.

Culture

Korçë was an important religious center for the orthodoxe Christians and the Moslems during centuries. It is the seat of an orthodoxe metropolitan bishop and it also has a large mosque of XVe century. There is also an important Muslim community Bektashi (Alevie) in and around Korçë, its center spiritual being Turan Tekke. For the Othoman period, it became one of the centers of the Albanian rebirth. The first school of Albanian language was established there in 1887, followed first school for girls of Albania in 1891.

Economy

During the XXe century, Korçë developed an important industrial sector which was added to its traditional of shopping mall and agricultural function. The plate on which the city is located is very fertile and is one of the principal cereal zones of Albania. Local industries include hosiery, weaving, the textile, the flour mill, of the breweries, and the refining of sugar. Deposits of the lignite coal are extracted in the neighbouring mountains.

Famous characters

Viktor Gjika, realizer of cinema

External bonds

Refer

N.G.L Hammond, Alexander' S Campaign in It , The Newspaper off Hellenic Studies, p 4-25. 1974
James Pettifer, Albania & Kosovo , have & C Black, London (2001, ISBN 0713650168)
François Pouqueville, Voyage in Morée, in Constantinople, year Albania, and in several other parts of the Empire othoman, during the years 1798,1799,1800 and 1801. (1805)
T.J. Winnifrith Badlands-Borderlands has off History Northern Epirus/Southern Albania (2003)

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