Korçë
Encyclopedia : K : KO : KOR : Korçë
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History
The city and the surrounding area are home to an Aromanian community. (It also has a small population of Macedonian Slavs.) The first school teaching in the Albanian language was established there in 1887, followed by Albania's first school for girls in 1891.The Albanian Orthodox Church was not established and recognized until the twentieth century. Before then any Albanian or Vlach of the Orthodox faith was registered as Greek according to the Ottoman millet system. Also, Korçë was a sandjak of Bitola (Monastir) vilayet in Ottoman Empire.
Ottoman rule over Korçë persisted until 1912 but the city's proximity to Greece, who claimed the entire Orthodox population as Greek, led to its being fiercely contested in the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913. The city was occupied by Greek forces in 6 December 1912. Its incorporation into Albania in 1913 was controversial, as Greece claimed it as part of a region called "Northern Epirus". However, in accordance with the Corfu Protocol signed between Greece and Albania in 1914 and the ethnographic survey that preceded it, the city was included in the newly formed Autonomous Northern Epirus zone.
Greek forces returned to occupy the city from 10 July 1914 during the early part of the First World War. It was then taken by the Austro-Hungarians, then by the Greeks again and finally by France, which occupied Korçë between 1916-1920. It was ultimately awarded to Albania by the International Boundary Commission which determined the country's post-war borders.
During the inter-war period, the city became a hotbed of Communist agitation. Albania's future dictator, Enver Hoxha, lived there and was both a pupil and a teacher at the town's French school. Korçë's underground Communist movement became the nucleus of Hoxha's Albanian Party of Labour.
Korçë was occupied by Italian forces in 1939, along with the rest of the country. After the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War, it fell to the Greek Army in November 1940, and remained under Greek occupation until the German attack in April 1941. After Italy's withdrawal from the war in 1943, the town was occupied by the Germans.
During the occupation, the city became a major centre of Communist-inspired resistance to the Axis occupation of Albania. The establishment of the Albanian Party of Labour – the Communist Party – was formally proclaimed in Korçë in 1943. Albanian rule was restored in 1944 following the withdrawal of German forces.
After the war, the area remained a bastion of support for the Hoxha régime, which rewarded it with major investments in the local economy such as the building of a major power station and engineering industries. Much of the surrounding region, which had been marshy, was drained to make it a major agricultural production area. Its demographic profile changed significantly during this period, with the city growing in size. It is still ethnically mixed, with a majority Albanian population intermingled with Greeks, Vlachs, Macedonian Slavs and Roma.
Culture
Korçë has been an important religious centre for Orthodox Christians and Muslims for centuries. It is the seat of an Orthodox metropolitan bishop and also possesses a large 15th century mosque. During the Ottoman period it became one of the centres of the growing Albanian identity, housing the first Albanian school. There is also a sizeable Bektashi Muslim community in and around Korçë, with its main center being the Turan Tekke.Economy
During the 20th century, Korçë gained a substantial industrial capacity in addition to its historic role as a commercial and agricultural centre. The plateau on which the city stands is highly fertile and is one of Albania's main wheat-growing areas. Local industries include the manufacture of knitwear, rugs, textiles, flour-milling, brewing, and sugar-refining. Deposits of lignite coal are mined in the mountains nearby.References
- James Pettifer, Albania & Kosovo, A & C Black, London (2001, ISBN 0713650168)
- François Pouqueville, Voyage en Morée, à Constantinople, an Albanie, et dans plusieurs autres parties de l'Empire othoman, pendant les années 1798, 1799, 1800 et 1801. (1805)
- T.J. Winnifrith Badlands-Borderlands A History of Northern Epirus/Southern Albania (2003)
See also
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