Berat County

Berat County (Albanian: Qarku i Beratit) is one of the 12 counties of Albania. The population at the 2011 census was 141,944, in an area of 1798 km². Its capital is the city Berat.

History

Archaeologists have found artifacts including silver women's earrings and bronze belt-buckles in Bronze Age tumuli in Pëllumbas, one of the villages of Berat. These items are similar to other artifacts found in northern Albania (Kukës and Mat), Kosovo (Gjilane) and northwestern Greece (Pogoni).

Antipatrea (Greek: Αντιπάτρεια) was an ancient Greek polis in the region of Epirus, now Berat. It was founded by Cassander as Antipatreia, who named it after his father Antipater at 314 BC. An ancient Greek fortress and settlement are still visible today.Dassaretae tribe existed in the area, as early as the 6th century BC. It was captured by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. Livy (31.27.2) describes Antipatrea as a strongly fortified city in a narrow pass that the Romans sacked and burned. The city was composed of two fortifications on both banks of the Osum River.

Berat

Berat is a city and a municipality located in south-central Albania, and the capital of the County of Berat. In July 2008, the old town (Mangalem district) was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The municipality was formed at the 2015 local government reform by the merger of the former municipalities Berat, Otllak, Roshnik, Sinjë and Velabisht, that became municipal units. The seat of the municipality is the city Berat. The total population is 60,031 (2011 census), in a total area of 379.98 km². The population of the former municipality at the 2011 census was 32,606.

Name

The name of the city in Albanian is Berat or Berati, which is probably derived from the Old Bulgarian Бѣлградъ or Bel(i)grad (Белград, meaning "white city" in the South Slavic languages), under which name it was known in Greek, Bulgarian, Latin and Slavic documents during the High and Late Middle Ages. That name was rendered as Bellegrada (Βελλέγραδα) in Greek. It is believed to have been the site of an Ancient Macedonian stronghold, Antipatreia (Ancient Greek: Ἀντιπάτρεια "city of Antipater") or Antipatrea in Latin, while during the early Byzantine Empire the name of the town was Pulcheriopolis (Greek: Πουλχεριόπολις, "city of Pulcheria"). In the Republic of Venice the city was known as Belgrad di Romania, while in the Ottoman Empire it was also known as Belgrad-i Arnavud (Albanian Belgrade) to distinguish it from Belgrade.

Berat (name)

Berat is a Turkish given name for males. People named Berat include:

Beratlı

Berat was the name of the license (patent) which granted their non-Muslim Ottoman bearers, the beratlı, a variety of tax exemptions and access to European law. They were also known as "honorary dragomans". The access to European law helped its agents dominate European commerce.

References