Korçë

Korçë (IPA: [kɔɾtʃə]; (definite Albanian form: Korça, other names see below) is a city and municipality in southeastern Albania, and the seat of Korçë County. It was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Drenovë, Korçë, Lekas, Mollaj, Qendër Bulgarec, Vithkuq, Voskop and Voskopojë, that became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the city Korçë. The total population is 75,994 (2011 census), in a total area of 805.99 km² (311.19 sq mi). The population of the former municipality at the 2011 census was 51,152. It is the sixth largest city in Albania. It stands on a plateau some 850 m (2,789 ft) above sea level, surrounded by the Morava Mountains.

Name

Korçë is named differently in other languages: Aromanian: Curceaua or Corceao; Macedonian archaic form: Горица, Goritsa; Greek: Κορυτσά, Korytsá; Italian: Coriza; Serbian: Корча, Korča; Turkish: Görice.

History

Antiquity

The Copper Age lasted from 3000 BC to 2100 BC. Mycenean pottery was introduced in the plain of Korçë during the late Bronze Age (Late Helladic IIIc), and has been claimed that the tribes living in this region before the Dark Age migrations, probably spoke a northwestern Greek dialect. The area was on the border between Illyria and Epirus and according to a historical reconstruction was ruled by an Illyrian dynasty until 650 BC, while after 650 BC a Chaonian dynasty. During this period the area was inhabited by Greek tribes of the northwestern (Epirote) group, possibly Chaonians or Molossians, which were two of the three major Epirote tribes inhabiting the region of Epirus. Archaeologists have found a gravestone of the 2nd or 3rd century AD depicting two Illyrian blacksmiths working iron on an anvil near modern Korçë.