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121-417: Korçë ( pronounced [ˈkɔɾtʃə] ; Albanian definite form : Korça ) is the eighth most populous city of Albania and the seat of Korçë County and Korçë Municipality. The total population of the city is 51,152 and 75,994 of Korçë municipality (2011 census), in a total area of 806 km (311 sq mi). It stands on a plateau some 850 m (2,789 ft) above sea level , surrounded by

242-678: A Latinis, Grecis et Sclauis ita quod in nullo se intelligunt cum aliis nationibus. (Namely, the above-mentioned Albanians have a language that is different from the languages of Latins, Greeks and Slavs, so that they do not understand each other at all.) The oldest attested document written in Albanian dates to 1462, while the first audio recording in the language was made by Norbert Jokl on 4 April 1914 in Vienna . However, as Fortson notes, Albanian written works existed before this point; they have simply been lost. The existence of written Albanian

363-522: A calendar of events was introduced, building façades painted, and city parks reinvigorated. The European Union is financing the renovation of the Korça Old Bazaar while the city centre was redesigned, and a watch tower constructed. Korçë lies mostly between latitudes 40° and 36° N and longitudes 20° and 46° E . The municipality of Korçë is encompassed in the County of Korçë within

484-451: A census, which counted 15,453 inhabitants in the city, of which 11,453 were designated as "Greeks" and the rest 4,000 as "Albanians", however, the census did not inquire about ethnicity, but rather instead explicitly had all Christians renamed "Greeks" and all Muslims changed to "Albanians", by religious criteria alone. At the time, even ethnographers sympathetic to the Greek claims considered

605-588: A collapsing Ottoman Empire. During the late Ottoman era, Orthodox Albanians involved in the Albanian National Awakening came mainly from Korçë and its surrounding areas. On the other hand, the city council of Korçë, known as demogerontia ( Greek : Δημογεροντία ), and the metropolitan bishop of the city who identified as Greeks sent a secret memorandum to the foreign office department of Greece suggesting various ways to tackle activities by Albanian nationalists. In 1885, Jovan Cico Kosturi became

726-419: A commercial and agricultural centre. Local industries include the manufacture of knitwear, rugs, textiles, flour-milling, brewing, and sugar-refining. The city is home to the nationally famous Birra Korça . According to official reports the city enjoys one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. The majority of foreign investment comes from Greek, as well as joint Albanian-Greek enterprises. The city

847-905: A common branch in the current phylogenetic classification of the Indo-European language family. The first written mention of Albanian was in 1284 in a witness testimony from the Republic of Ragusa , while a letter written by Dominican Friar Gulielmus Adea in 1332 mentions the Albanians using the Latin alphabet in their writings. The oldest surviving attestation of modern Albanian is from 1462. The two main Albanian dialect groups (or varieties ), Gheg and Tosk , are primarily distinguished by phonological differences and are mutually intelligible in their standard varieties, with Gheg spoken to

968-573: A common period of prehistoric coexistence of several Indo-European dialects in the Balkans prior to 2000 BC. To this group would belong Albanian, Ancient Greek , Armenian , Phrygian , fragmentary attested languages such as Macedonian , Thracian , or Illyrian , and the relatively well-attested Messapic in Southern Italy. The common features of this group appear at the phonological, morphological, and lexical levels, presumably resulting from

1089-467: A few small books were published and the script briefly flourished in Korçë. At the end of the 19th century local Albanians expressed a growing need to be educated in their native language. The Albanian intellectual diaspora from Istanbul and Bucharest initially tried to avoid antagonism towards the notables of Korçë, who were in favor of Greek culture. Thus they suggested the introduction of Albanian language in

1210-678: A force of 20,000 Albanians and surrounded Korçë yet again. He sent the French forces an ultimatum, and Korçë was once again handed over to the Albanians rather than the Greeks, as the French wanted to place Korçë under Greek administration. The Conference of ambassadors , considering Albania's claims to the area, commissioned a League of Nations report consisting of three on the ground commissioners in December 1921. One commissioner, Finnish professor Jakob Sederholm noted in 1922 that Korçë's population

1331-563: A great role in the opening of the school. As a high-ranking statesman in the ministry of education of the Ottoman Empire he managed to get official permission for the school. The Ottoman authorities gave permission only for Christian children to be educated in Albanian, but the Albanians did not follow this restriction and allowed also Muslim children to attend. It survived until 1902 under the teachers Leonidis and Naum Naça who were arrested and declared as traitors by Ottoman authorities at

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1452-430: A growing need to revive their cultural past, in particular with the reopening of Greek language institutions. In April 2005 the first bilingual Greek-Albanian school opened in Korçë after 60 years of prohibition of Greek education. In addition, a total of 17 Greek language tutoring centres function in the city. Students of the local Greek minority attend either private Greek institutions or Albanian public schools. In 2009,

1573-472: A large amount (or the majority) of their sea environment lexicon. A similar phenomenon could be observed with agricultural terms. While the words for 'arable land', 'wheat', 'cereals', 'vineyard', 'yoke', 'harvesting', 'cattle breeding', etc. are native, the words for 'ploughing', 'farm' and 'farmer', agricultural practices, and some harvesting tools are foreign. This, again, points to intense contact with other languages and people, rather than providing evidence of

1694-452: A local Islamic centre and to raise it to the rank of kasaba ("town"), through the registration of its inhabitants as citizens instead of farmers. Being subjected to the Kaza of Korça, the villages of Episkopi, Boboshtica, Leshnjë and Vithkuq were used in 1505 as sources of income on behalf of the five institutions of Ilias Bey's vakfa . The vakfa he founded also served the purpose of organizing

1815-659: A madrassa (Islamic highschool) was built in Korçë and is operated by the Muslim Community of Albania . Korçë is the 7th populous city in Albania and the largest city in the Korçë County . In 2007, the population of the city was about 86,176 inhabitants. According to the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT), the city of Korçë include 51,683 (25,478 male; 26,205 female) people as of the 2011 Census. The city of Korçë

1936-475: A number of isoglosses with Albanian. Other linguists linked the Albanian language with Latin , Greek and Armenian , while placing Germanic and Balto-Slavic in another branch of Indo-European. In current scholarship there is evidence that Albanian is closely related to Greek and Armenian, while the fact that it is a satem language is less significant. Armenian Greek Phrygian (extinct) Messapic (extinct) Gheg Tosk Messapic

2057-547: A possible linguistic homeland (also known as a Urheimat ). The centre of Albanian settlement remained the Mat River. In 1079, the Albanians were recorded farther south in the valley of the Shkumbin River. The Shkumbin, a 181 km long river that lies near the old Via Egnatia , is approximately the boundary of the primary dialect division for Albanian, Tosk and Gheg . The characteristics of Tosk and Gheg in

2178-728: A reward and result of Greece's adherence to the Entente alliance along with France. Particularly relevant was the opening in 1917 of the Albanian National Lyceum . The rule of the Ottoman Empire over Korçë lasted until 1912 when Albania declared its independence . The city and its surroundings were supposed to become part of the Principality of Bulgaria , according to the Treaty of San Stefano in 1878, while

2299-518: A reward from the Sultan, seven villages located in the Korçë area: Leshnjë, Vithkuq, Peshkëpi, Boboshticë , Panarit , Treska, and Trebicka. This accord was finalized gradually through four firmans . In the first firman Leshnjë and Vithkuq were accorded to Ilias Bey as mülk (land tenure). However he met difficulties while collecting the incomes and after twelve years these villages turned into their earlier status of timars , being substituted through

2420-454: A second firman in the year 1497 by the locality Piskopiye , which included two sections. In the third firman (1497) the boundaries of Piskopiye were defined, establishing its demarcation between Mborje , Barç and Bulgarec , a site area corresponding to the territory of today's Korçë city. As a product of this process, the town of Korçë dates from the end of the 15th century. The name Gorica corresponded to an older fortified settlement, and

2541-933: A strong sense of identity and are unique in that they speak an archaic dialect of Tosk Albanian called Arbëresh . In the United States and Canada, there are approximately 250,000 Albanian speakers. It is primarily spoken on the East Coast of the United States, in cities like New York City, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Detroit, as well as in parts of the states of New Jersey, Ohio, and Connecticut. In Argentina, there are nearly 40,000 Albanian speakers , mostly in Buenos Aires. Approximately 1.3 million people of Albanian ancestry live in Turkey , with more than 500,000 recognizing their ancestry, language and culture . There are other estimates, however, that place

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2662-480: Is August with an average temperature of 21.3 °C (70.3 °F). By contrast, the coldest month is January with an average temperature of −0.8 °C (30.6 °F). Korçë receives around 766.7 mm (30.19 in) annual precipitation with summer minimum and winter maximum. Temperatures generally remain cooler than western Albania, due to the middle altitude of the plain in which it is situated, but it receives about 2800 hours of solar radiation per year. Korçë

2783-576: Is a municipality governed by a mayor–council government system with the mayor of Korçë and the members of the Korçë Municipal Council authorized for the administration of Korçë Municipality. Korçë is home to two foreign consulates; Greek and Romanian. Korçë is twinned with: Korçë also cooperates with: During the Stalinist rule of Enver Hoxha , Korçë gained a substantial industrial capacity in addition to its historic role as

2904-667: Is also spoken by 450,000 Albanian immigrants in Greece, making it one of the commonly spoken languages in the country after Greek. Albanian is the third most common mother tongue among foreign residents in Italy . This is due to a substantial Albanian immigration to Italy. Italy has a historical Albanian minority of about 500,000, scattered across southern Italy, known as Arbëreshë . Approximately 1 million Albanians from Kosovo are dispersed throughout Germany , Switzerland and Austria . These are mainly immigrants from Kosovo who migrated during

3025-709: Is also spoken in Greece and by the Albanian diaspora , which is generally concentrated in the Americas , Europe and Oceania . Albanian is estimated to have as many as 7.5 million native speakers. Albanian and other Paleo-Balkan languages had their formative core in the Balkans after the Indo-European migrations in the region. Albanian in antiquity is often thought to have been an Illyrian language for obvious geographic and historical reasons, or otherwise an unmentioned Balkan Indo-European language that

3146-601: Is an Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid branch , which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan group . It is the native language of the Albanian people . Standard Albanian is the official language of Albania and Kosovo , and a co-official language in North Macedonia and Montenegro , as well as a recognized minority language of Italy , Croatia , Romania and Serbia . It

3267-510: Is closely related with the actions of Ilias Bey Mirahori , a Muslim Albanian convert born in the village of Panarit in the Korçë area, who acquired large properties in the location of present-day Korçë. Ilias Bey was the 'Master of the Stables' of Sultan Bayezid II , and the first equerry and conqueror of Psamathia in the Ottoman capture of Constantinople . In 1484 Ilias Bey received, as

3388-608: Is considered the closest language to Albanian, grouped in a common branch titled Illyric in Hyllested & Joseph (2022). Hyllested & Joseph (2022) in agreement with recent bibliography identify Greco-Phrygian as the IE branch closest to the Albanian-Messapic one. These two branches form an areal grouping – which is often called "Balkan IE" – with Armenian. The hypothesis of the " Balkan Indo-European " continuum posits

3509-407: Is considered to have been a successful experiment in Albanian self-administration, as the French allowed the entity to "act as if it were an independent state", minting its own coinage, introducing its own flag, and printing its own stamps. According to Stickney, the republic gave Albanians the opportunity for self-government under the light tutelage of the French, and they were able to build a state in

3630-687: Is explicitly mentioned in a letter attested from 1332, and the first preserved books, including both those in Gheg and in Tosk, share orthographic features that indicate that some form of common literary language had developed. By the Late Middle Ages , during the period of Humanism and the European Renaissance , the term lingua epirotica ' Epirotan language ' was preferred in the intellectual, literary, and clerical circles of

3751-556: Is home to Fan Noli University , founded in 1971, which offers several degrees in the humanities, sciences and business. The university includes a school in Agriculture, Teaching, Business, Nursing, and Tourism. With the prohibition of Greek education in the city, at c. 1922, there was a constant demand for the reopening a Greek school. After the collapse of the Socialist Republic, part of the local communities expressed

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3872-735: Is of Slavic origin. The word "gorica" means "hill" in South Slavic languages , and is a very common toponym in Albania and Slavic countries (e.g. Podgorica in Montenegro, Gorizia , Dolna Gorica in the Pustec municipality, and so on). It is diminutive of the Slavic toponym "gora", meaning mountain, which is also found in placenames throughout Slavic countries as well as non-Slavic countries like Albania, Greece and Italy. Korçë's foundation

3993-598: Is spoken in North-western Greece, while Arvanitika is spoken by the Arvanites in southern Greece. In addition, Arbëresh is spoken by the Arbëreshë people, descendants of 15th and 16th century migrants who settled in southeastern Italy, in small communities in the regions of Sicily and Calabria . These settlements originated from the (Arvanites) communities probably of Peloponnese known as Morea in

4114-486: Is spoken in the south, and Gheg spoken in the north. Standard Albanian is based on the Tosk dialect. The Shkumbin River is the rough dividing line between the two dialects. Gheg is divided into four sub-dialects: Northwest Gheg, Northeast Gheg, Central Gheg and Southern Gheg. It is primarily spoken in northern Albania, Kosovo , and throughout Montenegro and northwestern North Macedonia . One fairly divergent dialect

4235-576: Is the Upper Reka dialect , which is however classified as Central Gheg. There is also a diaspora dialect in Croatia , the Arbanasi dialect . Tosk is divided into five sub-dialects, including Northern Tosk (the most numerous in speakers), Labërisht , Cham , Arvanitika , and Arbëresh . Tosk is spoken in southern Albania, southwestern North Macedonia and northern and southern Greece. Cham Albanian

4356-399: Is the most probable. Although Albanian shares lexical isoglosses with Greek , Germanic , and to a lesser extent Balto-Slavic , the vocabulary of Albanian is quite distinct. In 1995, Taylor, Ringe , and Warnow used quantitative linguistic techniques that appeared to obtain an Albanian subgrouping with Germanic, a result which the authors had already reasonably downplayed. Indeed,

4477-569: Is the official language of Albania and Kosovo and a co-official language in North Macedonia and Montenegro . Albanian is a recognised minority language in Croatia , Italy , Romania and in Serbia . Albanian is also spoken by a minority in Greece , specifically in the Thesprotia and Preveza regional units and in a few villages in Ioannina and Florina regional units in Greece. It

4598-684: The Albanian-Americans , who had previously emigrated there. After 1990 Korçë was one of the six cities where the New Democratic Party won all the constituencies. Popular revolts in February 1991 ended with the tearing down of Hoxha's statue. After the fall of communism, the city fell into disregard in many aspects. However following the 2000s, the city experienced a makeover as main streets and alleys started to be reconstructed, locals began to renovate their historic villas,

4719-463: The Congress of Dibra decided that Albanian schools would finally be allowed. Albanian is an isolate within the Indo-European language family; no other language has been conclusively linked to its branch . The only other languages that are the sole surviving members of a branch of Indo-European are Armenian and Greek. The Albanian language is part of the Indo-European language family and

4840-628: The Fall of Constantinople . One of the oldest mosques in Albania was built by Iljaz Hoxha in 1484, the Iliaz Mirahori Mosque . The Romani population of Korçë consists of Muslims, who in the 1920s maintained their own mosques in the city, while there are also Orthodox Christian Roma in the city's Varosh neighbourhood. Albanian language Albanian ( endonym : shqip [ʃcip] , gjuha shqipe [ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ] , or arbërisht [aɾbəˈɾiʃt] )

4961-678: The International Boundary Commission , which affirmed the country's 1913 borders. Although assurances were given in the Paris Peace Conference by Albanian officials for the recognition of the Greek minority, Greek speech was prohibited in local education, religious life and in private within Korçë in the 1920s. At November 1921 the Albanian authorities expelled the Greek Orthodox metropolitan bishop Jakob. This event triggered demonstrations by

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5082-629: The Janissary of Muhammad Ali Pasha , an Albanian who became Wāli , and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan . In addition to the dynasty that he established, a large part of the former Egyptian and Sudanese aristocracy was of Albanian origin. In addition to the recent emigrants, there are older diasporic communities around the world. Albanian is also spoken by Albanian diaspora communities residing in Australia and New Zealand . The Albanian language has two distinct dialects, Tosk which

5203-808: The Korçë District , Kamnik in Kolonja , Kolsh in the Kukës District , Rashtan in Librazhd , and Nezir in the Mat District . As in other parts of Europe, these PreIE people joined the migratory Indo-European tribes that entered the Balkans and contributed to the formation of the historical Paleo-Balkan tribes. In terms of linguistics, the pre-Indo-European substrate language spoken in the southern Balkans probably influenced pre-Proto-Albanian ,

5324-812: The League of Prizren and culminated with the Congress of Manastir held by Albanian intellectuals from 14 to 22 November 1908, in Manastir (present day Bitola ), which decided on which alphabet to use, and what the standardised spelling would be for standard Albanian. This is how the literary language remains. The alphabet is the Latin alphabet with the addition of the letters ⟨ ë ⟩ , ⟨ ç ⟩ , and ten digraphs : dh , th , xh , gj , nj , ng , ll , rr , zh and sh . According to Robert Elsie : The hundred years between 1750 and 1850 were an age of astounding orthographic diversity in Albania. In this period,

5445-553: The Southern Region of Albania and consists of the adjacent administrative units of Drenovë , Lekas , Mollaj , Qendër Bulgarec , Vithkuq , Voskop , Voskopojë and Korçë as its seat. As of the Köppen climate classification , Korçë falls under the periphery of the warm-summer Mediterranean climate ( Csb , bordering on Dsb ) zone with an average annual temperature of 10.4 °C (50.7 °F). The warmest month of Korçë

5566-561: The Sultan's Mosque of Berat . The name Episkopi in Greek signifies a sacred place for the Orthodox faith, however, it is not certain if it was a coincidence or an intended strategy to build a mosque on the site of an older Orthodox church or monastery. With the establishment of the religious, educational and charitable institutions in the area, Ilias Bey must have planned to make the village

5687-632: The Treaty of Berlin of the same year returned the area to Ottoman rule. In 1910, the Church Alliance of local Orthodox Albanians led to the proclamation of an Albanian church by Mihal Grameno , but this effort was too isolated to affect the population. The armed Albanian bands, or çeta groups, of Sali Butka , Spiro Bellkameni and Kajo Babjeni briefly liberated Korçë from the Ottomans in August 1912. Korçë's proximity to Greece, which claimed

5808-477: The United States consisted mainly of Orthodox Albanians from Korçë and surrounding areas who went to work there, save money and intending to eventually return home. At beginning of the 18th century the inhabitants of Korçë attended the schools of nearby Moscopole . The first school, a Greek language school, in the city was established in 1724 with the support of residents of nearby Vithkuq . This school

5929-831: The 10th of December 1916, fourteen Albanian delegates, including seven Muslims and seven Christians, proclaimed the Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korçë. The French agreed to these demands and the fourteen representatives of Korçë and Colonel Descoins signed a protocol that proclaimed the Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korçë under the military protection of the French army and with Themistokli Gërmenji as president. The French pursued policies which strengthened expressions of Albanian nationalism. Greek schools were closed down, Greek clergy and pro-Greek notables expelled while allowing Albanian education and promoting Albanian self-government through

6050-530: The 14th century, but they failed to cite specific words. The oldest surviving documents written in Albanian are the " formula e pagëzimit " (Baptismal formula), Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spertit Senit . ("I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit ") recorded by Pal Engjelli, Bishop of Durrës in 1462 in the Gheg dialect, and some New Testament verses from that period. The linguists Stefan Schumacher and Joachim Matzinger (University of Vienna) assert that

6171-410: The 1990s. In Switzerland , the Albanian language is the sixth most spoken language with 176,293 native speakers. Albanian became an official language in North Macedonia on 15 January 2019. There are large numbers of Albanian speakers in the United States, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Canada . Some of the first ethnic Albanians to arrive in the United States were the Arbëreshë. The Arbëreshë have

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6292-453: The Albanian and Germanic branches share a relatively moderate number of lexical cognates. Many shared grammatical elements or features of these two branches do not corroborate the lexical isoglosses. Albanian also shares lexical linguistic affinity with Latin and Romance languages. Sharing linguistic features unique to the languages of the Balkans , Albanian also forms a part of the Balkan linguistic area or sprachbund . The place and

6413-426: The Albanian language was on 14 July 1284 in Ragusa in modern Croatia ( Dubrovnik ) when a crime witness named Matthew testified: "I heard a voice crying on the mountain in the Albanian language" ( Latin : Audivi unam vocem, clamantem in monte in lingua albanesca ). The Albanian language is also mentioned in the Descriptio Europae Orientalis dated in 1308: Habent enim Albani prefati linguam distinctam

6534-435: The Albanian language was put to writing in at least ten different alphabets – most certainly a record for European languages. ... the diverse forms in which this old Balkan language was recorded, from the earliest documents to the beginning of the twentieth century ... consist of adaptations of the Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Cyrillic alphabets and (what is even more interesting) a number of locally invented writing systems. Most of

6655-413: The Albanian nationalist uprising; by converting the Albanian uprising to the Allied cause, Sarrail hoped to protect his left flank and enable it to join up with the Italians in Vlorë and discourage the Austrians from trying to advance through Albania. Furthermore, a peaceful and stable allied Korçë under French influence would reduce the number of troops the French army needed to commit to hold the area. On

6776-444: The Church that was located there. Görice was incorporated as a sandjak in the Manastir Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire . When the nearby town of İskopol (Moscopole or Moschopolis or Voskopojë) was destroyed by Ali Pasha 's men in 1789, some of its commerce shifted to Görice (Korçë) and Arnavud Belgrad (Berat). Korçë grew as part of its population came from nearby Moscopole. Greek sources (Liakos and Aravandinos ) have noted of

6897-399: The Dutch. Under the terms of the Protocol of Corfu (May 1914), the city became part of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus inside the borders of the principality of Albania , but on 10 July 1914 the Greek Northern Epirote forces took over the city. Under Greek occupation, for the purpose of convincing the Congress of London of Greek expansionist claims, the Greek authorities took

7018-411: The French assured the Italians that they did not have any territorial claims on either Korçë; General Sarrail's reports insisted that the local Albanians had proclaimed the republic, then asked for it to be put under French protection, and that Descoins had merely complied with the wishes of the local population. On 16 February 1918, Sarrail's successor officially abrogated the proclamation, and following

7139-449: The French for allowing them to continue their self-governance without much interference. The Autonomous Republic of Korçë was greatly important for the Albanian nationalist movement, as it demonstrated to the world a resurgence in power for Albanian nationalism in one of the areas where it had been the strongest before the war, and it also demonstrated the successful cooperation of Albanian Christians and Muslims in governance. The government

7260-412: The French in the city, Butka continued the encirclement; eventually, Butka and the Albanians sent their demands to the French, which ultimately culminated in the creation of the Autonomous Province of Korçë . After coming to the conclusion that the local Albanians thoroughly disliked the Greek administration of the area, on 8 December 1916, Sarrail cabled that French military policy should change to support

7381-414: The Greek population residing in the region of Korçë, who asked the intervention of the Greek army. This rebellion was initially suppressed by the Dutch commanders of the Albanian gendarmerie, that consisted of 100 Albanians led by the Orthodox Albanian nationalist Themistokli Gërmenji , and as a result the local Greek-Orthodox bishop Germanos and other members of the town council were arrested and expelled by

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7502-502: The Iliaz Mirahor mosque was declared a religious Cultural Monument of Albania . After the end of Communist rule in the 1990s, the minaret was not rebuilt until 2014 when it was reconstructed in a slightly different and more simple style compared to the original one. The Ottoman Clock Tower of Korçë in front of the mosque has also been rebuilt afterwards. 40°36′57″N 20°46′31″E  /  40.61583°N 20.77528°E  / 40.61583; 20.77528 This article about

7623-462: The Korçë Aromanian populations' origins that in addition to many being from Moscopole, others settled during a time of calm and were from the village of Shalës, Kolonjë and established the market district of Korçë known as Varosh. Aromanians from the Arvanitovlach subgroup that in the early 19th century arrived to the Korçë area played a significant role in establishing the Korçë Christian urban class. In Psalidas ' work Geography from 1830 noted that in

7744-404: The Middle Ages. Among them the Arvanites call themselves Arbëror and sometime Arbëresh. The Arbëresh dialect is closely related to the Arvanites dialect with more Italian vocabulary absorbed during different periods of time. The Albanian language has been written using many alphabets since the earliest records from the 15th century. The history of Albanian language orthography is closely related to

7865-402: The Morava Mountains. The area of the Old Bazaar , including Mirahori Mosque , is considered as the urban core of the city. Founded by the local Ottoman Albanian nobleman Ilias Bey Mirahori , the urban area of Korçë dates back to the late 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, however its actual physiognomy was realized in the 19th century, during a period that corresponds with

7986-412: The Orthodox community of the city. Immigration quotas during 1922-4 restricted former migrants returning to the United States and Korçë residents instead migrated to Australia to Moora , Western Australia and Shepperton , Victoria working in farming and agriculture related employment. Italian forces occupied Korçë in 1939, along with the rest of the country. During the Greco-Italian War it became

8107-443: The Shkumbin river since the Post-Roman and Pre-Slavic period, straddling the Jireček Line . Centuries-old communities speaking Albanian dialects can be found scattered in Greece (the Arvanites and some communities in Epirus , Western Macedonia and Western Thrace ), Croatia (the Arbanasi ), Italy (the Arbëreshë ) as well as in Romania , Turkey and Ukraine . The Malsia e Madhe Gheg Albanian and two varieties of

8228-412: The Tosk dialect, Arvanitika in Greece and Arbëresh in southern Italy, have preserved archaic elements of the language. Ethnic Albanians constitute a large diaspora , with many having long assimilated in different cultures and communities. Consequently, Albanian-speakers do not correspond to the total ethnic Albanian population, as many ethnic Albanians may identify as Albanian but are unable to speak

8349-421: The absence of the great power rivalry that had beset King Wilhelm's earlier government. However, this French initiative of Albanian self-rule ended without success and the head of this Republic was shot on the accusations of being an Austrian spy. It later became clear that the military tribunal had made a grave judicial error, its members having been led astray by Greek informers who wished Gërmenji removed since he

8470-434: The ancestor idiom of Albanian. The extent of this linguistic impact cannot be determined with precision due to the uncertain position of Albanian among Paleo-Balkan languages and their scarce attestation. Some loanwords, however, have been proposed, such as shegë ' pomegranate ' or lëpjetë ' orach '; compare Pre-Greek λάπαθον , lápathon ' monk's rhubarb '. Mirahori Mosque, Kor%C3%A7%C3%AB The mosque

8591-401: The atheistic campaign. The St. Sotir Church serves the Aromanian community of Korçë. It was built from 1995 to 2005. The church had already existed in the early 20th century, having been completed in 1925, but it was demolished by the Albanian communist authorities in 1959. Islam entered the city in the 15th century through Iljaz Hoxha , an Albanian janissary , who actively participated in

8712-445: The autonomous Korçë republic, although Greek schools were reopened after a year and two months in February 1918. Another factor that reinforced Albanian sentiments among the population was the return of 20–30,000 Orthodox Albanian emigrants mainly to Korçë and the surrounding region who had attained Albanian nationalist sentiments abroad. The change in French policy to support the Albanians did create some tensions between France and Italy;

8833-477: The city Albanian. Since the passes over the Pindus mountain range were much difficult, the Greeks wished to retain this city after the 1914 occupation of parts of southern Albania because only Korçë granted the successful maintenance of communications by land between the territories of Epirus and Macedonia that were acquired by Greece in 1913. In October 1914 the city came again under Greek administration. During

8954-527: The city during this period. Under these developments, a special community fund, named the Lasso fund , was established in 1850 by the local Orthodox bishop Neophytos, in order to support Greek cultural activity in Korçë. At the eve of the Balkan Wars (1912) the total number of students attending Greek education in the city numbered 2,115. Around 1850, Naum Veqilharxhi created an Albanian alphabet in which

9075-418: The city was under French administration in 1916 (the Republic of Korçë ), Greek schools were closed and 200 Albanian schools were opened. In the city of Korçë itself, four primary schools opened, and one secondary school opened and functioned quite successfully. A plebiscite was held and voters indicated that they wanted the Albanian schools to stay open. However, a few months later Greek schools were reopened as

9196-465: The city, in particular the Kulla e Hirit neighborhood and their presence in the city mainly dates to the early 20th century when they migrated from Turkey to Florina and ultimately Korçë. For centuries Korçë has been an important religious centre for both Orthodox Christians and Muslims , hosting a significant Orthodox community as well as significant Sunni and Bektashi communities in and around

9317-476: The city. Sali Butka's Albanian band burned Moscopole in response to the pro-Greek behaviour of the French administration, and threatened that Korçë would share the same fate. Meanwhile, the Venizelos Movement of National Defence was unable to dispatch reinforcements to the region, and French General Maurice Sarrail demanded the withdrawal of the local Greek garrison. While Gërmenji negotiated with

9438-576: The city. The main centre of the Bektashis of the area is the Turan Takya . In modern days, there are also smaller numbers of Catholics and Protestants in the city, as well the irreligious . The second Albanian Protestant church was opened in Korçë. In 1940, Korçë's Evangelical Church was closed down by the Italian fascist forces. Even before the foundation of the modern town, the Korçë district

9559-457: The contact between the various languages. The concept of this linguistic group is explained as a kind of language league of the Bronze Age (a specific areal-linguistics phenomenon), although it also consisted of languages that were related to each other. A common prestage posterior to PIE comprising Albanian, Greek, and Armenian, is considered as a possible scenario. In this light, due to

9680-745: The cultural orientation and knowledge of certain foreign languages among Albanian writers. The earliest written Albanian records come from the Gheg area in makeshift spellings based on Italian or Greek. Originally, the Tosk dialect was written in the Greek alphabet and the Gheg dialect was written in the Latin script . Both dialects had also been written in the Ottoman Turkish version of the Arabic script , Cyrillic , and some local alphabets ( Elbasan , Vithkuqi , Todhri , Veso Bey, Jan Vellara and others, see original Albanian alphabets ). More specifically,

9801-522: The district of Varosh in Korçë, 100 Aromanian families lived there. According to French diplomat François Pouqueville there were 1,300 families living in the city in 1805 with two thirds of them being Christian. Korçë went from having a population of 8,200 (1875) to 18,000 (1905) and of those 14,000 adhered to Orthodox Christianity. Of those considered as Greek in Korçë, this was because they adhered to Orthodox Christianity, but Michael Palairet argues that most were probably Aromanians (Vlachs). Sources of

9922-559: The early 20th century report that the population was primarily ethnic Albanian. Greek was the language of the elite and the majority of the Aromanian population engaged in commerce, crafts and international trade becoming one of the wealthiest communities in Epirus and Macedonia. Albanians of Korçë engaged mostly in stockbreeding, agriculture and were poor. The inhabitants of the city spoke both Albanian and Greek. Korçë's cultural isolation

10043-413: The entire Orthodox population as Greek, led to its being fiercely contested in the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913. Greek forces captured Korçë from the Ottomans on 6 December 1912 and afterwards proceeded to imprison the Albanian nationalists of the town. Its incorporation into Albania in 1913 was disputed by Greece, who claimed it as part of the region called Northern Epirus , and resulted in a rebellion by

10164-578: The existing Greek Orthodox schools, a proposal which was discussed with the local bishop and the city council, the demogeronteia , and finally rejected by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople . In the late 1870s the Albanian Committee of Patriots devised a Latin-based Albanian script which was also adopted by British and U.S. Protestant missionaries The Central Committee for Defending Albanian Rights founded in

10285-534: The first Albanian girls school in 1891. It was started by Gjerasim Qiriazi and later run by his sisters, Sevasti and Parashqevi Qiriazi , together with Polikseni Luarasi (Dhespoti). Later collaborators were the Rev. & Mrs. Grigor Cilka and Rev & Mrs. Phineas Kennedy of the Congregational Mission Board of Boston. Both schools were closed by the Ottoman authorities during 1902–1904. When

10406-459: The first literary records of Albanian date from the 16th century. The oldest known Albanian printed book, Meshari , or "missal", was written in 1555 by Gjon Buzuku , a Roman Catholic cleric. In 1635, Frang Bardhi wrote the first Latin–Albanian dictionary. The first Albanian school is believed to have been opened by Franciscans in 1638 in Pdhanë . One of the earliest Albanian dictionaries

10527-599: The founder of a committee called the Albanian Cultural Society, along with co-founders Thimi Marko and Orhan Pojani , but the formation of the organization was suppressed by both the Ottoman and Orthodox Church authorities, so it went underground and carried on its activities as the Secret Committee of Korça ( Albanian : Komiteti i Fshehtë i Korçës ), and two years later, in March 1887, with

10648-483: The help of the Frashëri brothers, the Secret Committee set up the first Albanian school. In the late Ottoman period, inhabitants from Korçë and surrounding areas emigrated abroad for economic opportunities, often by the Orthodox community who mainly as qualified craftsmen went to Romania, Greece and Bulgaria while Muslims went to Istanbul performing mainly menial labour work. Late nineteenth century Albanian migration to

10769-477: The institutions established by Ilias Bey. The Christian population inhabited Varosh, which was subdivided in Varosh i Sipërm (Upper Varosh) and Varosh i Poshtëm (Lower Varosh). Varosh i Sipërm was further subdivided into the smaller neighborhoods of Mano, Barç, Jeni-Mahallë, Qiro, Penço, Manço, Manto and Kala, while Varosh i Poshtëm consisted only of Katavarosh, which was known also as "Lagja e Shën Mërisë", named after

10890-541: The language. Standard Albanian is a standardised form of spoken Albanian based on Tosk . The language is spoken by approximately 6 million people in the Balkans, primarily in Albania, Kosovo , North Macedonia , Serbia , Montenegro and Greece . However, due to old communities in Italy and the large Albanian diaspora , the worldwide total of speakers is much higher than in Southern Europe and numbers approximately 7.5 million. The Albanian language

11011-601: The larger number of possible shared innovations between Greek and Armenian, it appears reasonable to assume, at least tentatively, that Albanian was the first Balkan IE language to branch off. This split and the following ones were perhaps very close in time, allowing only a narrow time frame for shared innovations. Albanian represents one of the core languages of the Balkan Sprachbund . Glottolog and Ethnologue recognize four Albanian languages. They are classified as follows: The first attested written mention of

11132-515: The late 1870s promoting Albanian cultural development set up an Albanian secondary school for boys. The founding in 1884 of the boy's secondary school is regarded as the first Albanian school in Korçë and established in 1887 by the Drita (English: the Light ) organization and funded by notable local individuals. Its first director was Pandeli Sotiri . Naim Frashëri , the national poet of Albania played

11253-465: The latter alphabets have now been forgotten and are unknown, even to the Albanians themselves. Albanian constitutes one of the eleven major branches of the Indo-European language family , within which it occupies an independent position. In 1854, Albanian was demonstrated to be an Indo-European language by the philologist Franz Bopp . Albanian was formerly compared by a few Indo-European linguists with Germanic and Balto-Slavic , all of which share

11374-560: The main forward base of the Italian air force. Nevertheless, the city came under the control of the advancing Greek forces, on 22 November 1940, during the first phase of the Greek counter-offensive. Korçë remained under Greek control until the German invasion of Greece in April 1941. After Italy's withdrawal from the war in 1943, the Germans occupied the town until 24 October 1944. During

11495-429: The names for fish and for agricultural activities (such as ploughing ) are borrowed from other languages. A deeper analysis of the vocabulary, however, shows that could be a consequence of a prolonged Latin domination of the coastal and plain areas of the country, rather than evidence of the original environment in which the Albanian language was formed. For example, the word for 'fish' is borrowed from Latin, but not

11616-456: The north and Tosk spoken to the south of the Shkumbin river . Their characteristics in the treatment of both native words and loanwords provide evidence that the split into the northern and the southern dialects occurred after Christianisation of the region (4th century AD), and most likely not later than the 6th century AD, hence possibly occupying roughly their present area divided by

11737-518: The number of people in Turkey with Albanian ancestry and or background upward to 5 million. However, the vast majority of this population is assimilated and no longer possesses fluency in the Albanian language, though a vibrant Albanian community maintains its distinct identity in Istanbul to this day. Egypt also lays claim to about 18,000 Albanians, mostly Tosk speakers. Many are descendants of

11858-573: The occupation, the city became a major centre of Communist-led resistance to the Axis occupation of Albania. The establishment of the Albanian Party of Labour —the Communist Party—was formally proclaimed in Korçë in 1941. Albanian rule was restored in 1944 following the withdrawal of German forces. Right after World War II many people fled to Boston , United States joining a community of

11979-412: The only surviving representative of its own branch , which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan group . Although it is still uncertain which ancient mentioned language of the Balkans it continues, or where in the region its speakers lived. In general, there is insufficient evidence to connect Albanian with one of those languages, whether Illyrian , Thracian , or Dacian . Among these possibilities, Illyrian

12100-545: The period of the National Schism (1916) in Greece, a local revolt broke out, and with military and local support Korçë came under the control of Eleftherios Venizelos ' Movement of National Defence , overthrowing the royalist forces. However, due to developments in the Macedonian Front of World War I the city came soon under French control (1916–1920). The French initially awarded control of Korçë and

12221-525: The rapid growth and development of the city. The Old Bazaar has played a dominant role in Albania's market history. Korçë is the largest city of eastern Albania and an important cultural and industrial centre. Korçë is named differently in other languages: Aromanian : Curceaua , Curceauã , Curceau or Curciau ; Bulgarian , Macedonian and Serbian : Горица, Goritsa ; Greek : Κορυτσά , Korytsa ; Italian : Coriza ; Romanian : Corcea or Corița ; Turkish : Görice . The current name

12342-424: The re-entry of Greece into the war, made concessions to Greek interests including the reopening of Greek schools, but the Albanians were assured that this did not threaten their independence. The Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korçë remained a reality on the ground, continuing to rule its territory and fly its flag, while inter-religious cooperation was also maintained with both Muslims and Christians being grateful to

12463-553: The request of Greek clergy with the school being closed down, vandalised and wrecked. Albanian efforts for an Albanian school are represented in Greek sources as a failure due to weak demand and limited funding, but Palairet notes that Greek interference undermined the school. In the late 1880s Gjerasim Qiriazi began his Protestant mission in the city. He and fellow members of the Qiriazi family established Albanian speaking institutions in Korçë, with his sister Sevasti Qiriazi founding

12584-414: The settlement of Muslim inhabitants in an area that was recently abandoned by the original Christian inhabitants. The new town must have been dominated initially by the old castle of Mborje . Throughout the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century the castle was maintained by the Ottomans. The Tapu Defter of 1519 records a cemaat of Christian müsellems in the castle. According to this document

12705-435: The surrounding area to Greek allies, but Albanian çeta guerilla bands led by Themistokli Gërmenji and Sali Butka fought against Venizelist forces for Albanian self-administration. In response to the French administration supporting the Greek demands of Eleftherios Venizelos for the partition of southern Albania, Sali Butka - accompanied by Themistokli Gërmenji's small armed band - led 1,500 men towards Korçë and surrounded

12826-478: The time that the Albanian language was formed are uncertain. The American linguist Eric Hamp has said that during an unknown chronological period a pre-Albanian population (termed as "Albanoid" by Hamp) inhabited areas stretching from Poland to the southwestern Balkans. Further analysis has suggested that it was in a mountainous region rather than on a plain or seacoast. The words for plants and animals characteristic of mountainous regions are entirely original, but

12947-510: The time, and used as a synonym for the Albanian language. Published in Rome in 1635, by the Albanian bishop and writer Frang Bardhi, the first dictionary of the Albanian language was titled Latin : Dictionarium latino-epiroticum ' Latin-Epirotan dictionary ' . During the five-century period of the Ottoman presence in Albania , the language was not officially recognised until 1909, when

13068-572: The treatment of the native words and loanwords from other languages are evidence that the dialectal split preceded the Slavic migrations to the Balkans , which means that in that period (the 5th to 6th centuries AD), Albanians were occupying nearly the same area around the Shkumbin river, which straddled the Jireček Line . References to the existence of Albanian as a distinct language survive from

13189-402: The village of Mborje ( Emboryo ), which depended on Korçë ( Görice ), numbered 88 households of Christians and 18 households of Muslims. Korça was divided into two great neighborhoods: Varosh and Kasaba. In the 16th century Muslims constituted the 21% of the population of the town and inhabited Kasaba, which was subdivided into the smaller neighborhoods of Çarshi, Ratak, Qoshk and Dere, including

13310-421: The word for 'gills' which is native. Indigenous are also the words for 'ship', 'raft', 'navigation', 'sea shelves' and a few names of fish kinds, but not the words for 'sail', 'row' and 'harbor'; objects pertaining to navigation itself and a large part of sea fauna. This rather shows that Proto-Albanians were pushed away from coastal areas in early times (probably after the Latin conquest of the region) and thus lost

13431-480: The writers from northern Albania and under the influence of the Catholic Church used Latin letters, those in southern Albania and under the influence of the Greek Orthodox church used Greek letters, while others throughout Albania and under the influence of Islam used Arabic letters. There were initial attempts to create an original Albanian alphabet during the 1750–1850 period. These attempts intensified after

13552-539: Was "entirely Albanian; the numbers of Greeks being insignificant" and continued that "there are, however, amongst the population two parties, — one nationalist and the other Grecophile" Sederholm also stated that the Orthodox inhabitants of Korçë abstained from the elections, and criticized the Albanian government for drawing electoral districts in such a way so as to practically disenfranchise the Christian inhabitants. It ultimately remained part of Albania, as determined by

13673-493: Was a powerful Albanian leader. The severity of this decision seems to indicate that the French military authorities favored the movement of Eleftherios Venizelos and their Greek allies who entered the war alongside the Entente on 12 June 1917, and were against the Albanian national movement led by Gërmenji. In response to the French turning on the Albanians and the subsequent execution of Themistokli Gërmenji, Sali Butka gathered

13794-534: Was built in 1494 and finished in 1496 by Iljaz Hoxha (also known as Iljaz Bey Mirahori), who was a veteran of the Istanbul Conquest and the city-founder of Korçë. According to the writer Sami Frashëri , it was built on the foundations of an existing monastery, then called dedicated to Saint Paraskevi (Kisha e Shën e Premtes) . With its minaret being torn down during the Communist dictatorship,

13915-409: Was closely related to Illyrian and Messapic . The Indo-European subfamily that gave rise to Albanian is called Albanoid in reference to a specific ethnolinguistically pertinent and historically compact language group. Whether descendants or sisters of what was called ' Illyrian ' by classical sources, Albanian and Messapic , on the basis of shared features and innovations, are grouped together in

14036-670: Was destroyed during the Greek War of Independence but it reopened in 1830. In 1857 a Greek school for girls was operating in the city. During the 19th century various local benefactors such as Ioannis Pangas and Anastas Avramidhi-Lakçe donated money for the promotion of Greek education and culture in Korçë, such as the Bangas Gymnasium . Greek education was also financed by members of the diaspora in Egypt. Similarly, kindergartens, boarding and urban schools, were also operating in

14157-531: Was initially part of the Metropolis of Kastoria (15th century), but in the early 17th century became the seat of an Orthodox bishop and in 1670 was elevated to metropolitan bishopric . The city remained entirely Christian until the first half of the 16th century. The Orthodox Cathedral of Saint George, a significant landmark in the city, was demolished by the authorities of the People's Republic of Albania during

14278-472: Was later attached to Piskopiye, which was a separate community, and as suggested by its name, a bishop's residence. Ilias Bey founded his works of charity in Piskopiye, building a mosque , an imaret and a muallim-hane and a hammam . Built between 1484 and 1495, the mosque, named after him , represents one of the most important examples of Islamic architecture of Albania and its second oldest mosque after

14399-521: Was one of the major centres of the Greek minority in southern Albania, the other being Gjirokastër, A Greek minority still found in Korçë. Aromanians of Korçë live mainly in one neighborhood of the city where they speak Aromanian, have Aromanian cultural associations that are divided between pro-Romanian and pro-Greek factions, receive church liturgy in Aromanian and maintain cultural and economic connections to Romania and Greece. Romani also inhabit

14520-433: Was reduced due to Greek schools, the first one being founded in the city at 1724. Subsequently, Muslim Albanian revolutionary intellectuals from the city emerged in the 1840s that wanted to preserve a Muslim Albania within a reformed Ottoman state. Due to increasing Hellenisation by the 1870s, those sentiments became replaced with the concept of an Albanian nation based on linguistic and cultural factors through struggle against

14641-680: Was written in 1693; it was the Italian manuscript Pratichae Schrivaneschae authored by the Montenegrin sea captain Julije Balović and includes a multilingual dictionary of hundreds of the most frequently used words in everyday life in Italian, Slavic, Greek, Albanian, and Turkish . Pre-Indo-European (PreIE) sites are found throughout the territory of Albania. Such PreIE sites existed in Maliq , Vashtëmi , Burimas , Barç , Dërsnik in

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