Devoll District

Excavations at Tren cave unearthed Mycenaean Greek pottery of the Late Bronze Age. This appears to be of possible local manufacture.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last1=Wardle|first1=Nicola M. H. |title=Centre and Periphery: The Impact of Mycenaean Civilization on its Neighbours|date=2005|page=9|url=http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk/en/theses/centre-and-periphery--the-impact-of-mycenaean-civilization-on-its-neighbours(3dc471a9-ea97-42e7-9993-4229edc2c5f4).html |publisher=University of Bristol|quote=Albania too has recently been the focus of increasing archaeological activity with excavations at sites such as the Tren cave and the Barc cemetery in the Koritsa basin, which indicate that Mycenaean pottery (when it is found) is sometimes of crude and possibly local manufacture.}}

The district is known in history for the Devol fortress, where the Treaty of Devol between Bohemond I of Antioch and Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos was held in 1108. Its site became forgotten in modern times, however it has been tentatively identified with the site ZvezdëTalbert, Richard J. A., and Roger S. Bagnall, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, Princeton University Press, 2000. p.752 (located at {{coord|40|43|N|020|51|E|display=inline}}US National Geospacial Intelligence Agency, Search [http://geonames.nga.mil/ggmagaz/geonames4.asp GNS Search] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608000000/http://geonames.nga.mil/ggmagaz/geonames4.asp |date=June 8, 2008 }}), a conjecture already proposed by the 19th century British traveller William Martin Leake in 1835.Leake, William M., [https://books.google.com/books?id=9XUKAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage&dq=Devol+Deabolis&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0#PPR3,M1 Travels in Northern Greece]. London: J. Rodwell, 1835. p. 339.

It was in Devoll, while the region was within the Serbian Empire, that Emperor Stefan Dušan died in 1355.

In late Ottoman times and early Independence era, much of the Christian population emigrated abroad and then returned, and later a part of the Muslim population did the same. Today, there is again mass emigration, although this time the local Muslim population is emigrating in larger numbers and higher proportions than the Christian population, a reverse of the "Kurbet" of the previous century.

==Population==

The population is overwhelmingly ethnically Albanian, with the majority of Albanians there having been Muslim (many of these belonging to the Halveti Order) at the end of the Ottoman era, while a minority of the Albanians, especially those that resided especially in high altitude areas, remained Orthodox Christian. The Albanian Christian population lives mostly in the upper valley of the Devoll river, in the town of Hoçisht,{{cite web |last=de Rapper|first=Gilles|title=Religion on the border: sanctuaries and festivals in post-communist Albania |website=HAL: Sciences humaines et sociales |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00400432/document |year=2010|pages=2–3, 6, 8, 12–13}} in Bilisht and in the village of Tren, and insist on being called only Albanian and not Greek. De Rapper. 27 June 2008. "'The son of three fathers has no hat on his head'. Page 2: "The Devoll, the Albanian district in which Vërnik is included, is mainly Muslim. Christian villages are located in the upper valley of the Devoll River, and do not have relations with Vërnik. They are all Albanian-speaking Christians, although some old people have been to Greek village schools by the beginning of the 20th century. They are insisting on being Albanian and not Greek. Christians can also be found in the town of Bilisht, very close to Vërnik, and in the village of Tren, two hours from Vërnik (footpath). " Additionally, a part of the original post-Ottoman Albanian Muslim population has converted to Orthodoxy as part of emigration to Greece. De Rapper, Gilles. 2005. Better than Muslims, not as good as Greeks. Page 1: "My first encounter with Albanian emigration happened in 1995-96, when I was doing fieldwork in the border district of Devoll, in south-eastern Albania. I was staying in an Albanian-speaking Christian village, up in the mountains and close to the Greek border. Villagers told me about people from the closest Muslim village, down in the valley: 'Look at them, down there. At the time of the cooperative, they used to insult us by calling us "damned Greeks", "bloody Greeks". But today they all work in Greece and have Greek names, while we did not go to Greece. Who is Greek then?' As a matter of fact, people from the Christian villages – who insist on their Albanian national identity and refuse to be called Greek – have been moving to the town and even more to the United States, where they retain links dating back to the time of the pre-World War II migration known as kurbet. Meanwhile, their Muslim neighbours started in the early 1990s to migrate to Greece, where most of them changed their names and some converted to Orthodoxy. " There are also Roma present as well as Slavic Macedonian speakers in the village of Vërnik. The Slavs of Vernik identify as Aegean Macedonians and refuse any Bulgarian or other identity, however their Albanian neighbors often casually refer to them as bullgare (Bulgarians). The Roma are mainly Muslim while the Macedonian Slavs are Orthodox Christians. In modern times, among the Albanian population, there has been extensive intermarriage between the Muslim and Christian populations, with the result being that many of the ethnically Albanian youth in the area identity with both traditions, as "half-Muslim, half-Christian". Like elsewhere in Albania, actual religious observance is typically lax although due to Ottoman history even among some non-practicers, religious identity may still plays a role in social relations, being more significant among the older generations.

The Albanian population speaks with a Tosk dialect, while the Macedonian Slavic population speaks the Kostur dialect. The entire Slavic Macedonian population is also bilingual in Albanian nowadays.De Rapper. 27 June 2008. "'The son of three fathers has no hat on his head'. Life and social representations in a Macedonian village of Albania". Page 2-3

The district consisted of the following municipalities:

• Bilisht
• Hoçisht
• Miras
• Progër
• Qendër Bilisht

Note: - urban municipalities in bold

{{colbegin|colwidth=15em}}

• Arrëz
• Bilisht
• Bitinckë
• Braçanj
• Bradvicë
• Cangonji
• Çetë
• Çipan
• Dobranj
• Ecmenik
• Fitore
• Gjurëz
• Grapsh
• Koshnicë
• Kurilë
• Menkulas
• Miras
• Poloskë
• Kuç
• Perparimaj
• Ponçare
• Progër
• Qytezë
• Sinice
• Shuec
• Sul
• Tren
• Trestenik
• Vernik
• Vishoshicë
• Vidohovë
• Ziçisht
• Baban
• Zvezdë

{{colend}}

• Dritëro Agolli, Albanian writer.
• Eulogios Kourilas, Christian Orthodox Bishop of Korçë and author.
• Nikolaos Dailakis, Greek revolutionary of the Macedonian Struggle
• Costa Chekrezi, Albanian publicist and historian
• Bashkim M. Gjoza, Albanian poet and writer
• Petraq Zoto, Albanian writer

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.devolli.net/ Visit Devoll Tourist Guide]

{{coord|40|35|N|20|56|E|display=title|scale:200000}}{{Districts of Albania}}

{{Korçë County}}

Category:Districts of Albania

Category:Geography of Korçë County

Category:Albanian ethnographic regions